An existential threat to bare lives: Adivasi woman gives birth on road

The image showcases ingenious women. https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2018/07/with-sickle-and-stick-adivasi-women-save-a-forest/

When we hear the word security, what is the first thing that strikes you? Being a visual person, when I hear the word security, I see images of CCTV, army men preparing for war and a vivid picture of a government monitoring and driving the process. For me, security does not stop at maintaining a nation's sovereignty, but for Ole Wæver, it does for fair reasons. Although his way of understanding echoes a traditional way of thinking about security, it is the post-positivist approach as he recognises that there are different sectors which have other actors to resolve issues. Ole Wæver contends that security issues are events or developments that pose a significant and immediate threat to the sovereignty or independence of a state. Such crises often prompt changes in the existing political order and spur mobilisation efforts. He asserts that the State or the elites are the only securitising actors who decide the referent and threat object and means to resolve the problem using the speech act. He highlights the issue of too much security leading to elites dictating society by making state-centric solutions for self-serving purposes. Therefore, he advocates for a more restrained approach to security, suggesting that the scope of security measures should be limited to specific areas rather than being overly broad. He proposes we adopt alternative approaches to deal with some problems by leaving them insecuritised. There are ongoing social processes in which societies are beginning to view themselves as security actors.

I do understand his argument because the State becomes the only securitising agent and tends to ignore what the citizens want and end up enacting according to their convenience. However, this logic sets the nation free from its duties towards its citizens. In certain areas, broadening the scope of what constitutes a threat is necessary, as citizens cast their votes expecting the State to ensure a better life for them, aligning with Hobbes' notion of the social contract between the State and its citizens. I will argue that there are insecurities that need state intervention despite not being a threat to state sovereignty. 

On April 8th, a 28-year-old woman, Killo Vasantha, from a tribal community in Cheedivalasa village, Andhra Pradesh, gave birth to a baby on the roadside during the early hours of Monday. The ambulance arrived at the nearest road point, approximately 1 km from the village, as the village lacked proper road infrastructure. Unable to reach the village directly, Vasantha's husband, Bhaskara Rao and several other women from the village carried her from the village to the ambulance. The mother experienced heavy bleeding, and the ambulance staff rushed on foot to provide immediate medical assistance. They aided the villagers in transferring Vasantha to the ambulance, which then transported her to the Health Centre at Hukumpeta for further treatment. The State fails to recognise the basic needs of its citizens. Ole Wæver argues that the elite wouldn't be efficient with issues and make false promises in order to get their support, which was evident in this case.

K. Govinda Rao, a CPI(M) district secretariat member, asserted that despite significant funds being allocated for various projects like MNREGS, roads are not being constructed in tribal villages. He alleged that dishonest contractors have misappropriated the funds over the years (Hindu, 2024) Rao criticises political leaders for making promises to lay roads before every general election but failing to follow through on their commitments. Now, the question arises of whom these citizens should go to rather than the elites who promised to provide essential amenities for their livelihoods. How can they believe non-state actors to meet their needs when people whom they elected to represent would not? Despite their appeals, they demanded that the government complete the construction of the road to ensure timely medical assistance for pregnant women and the sick in the village. 

Despite the fact that Ole Wæver views security negatively because the State is at the focal point, he fails to understand that this makes states immune to being seen as the threat object. Hence, leaving citizens to have no one to depend on. Additionally, if an individual voices an insecurity, it might not be seen as a good thing as this will lead to more security, which Wæver advocates to avoid. However, what about the right to freedom of speech granted by the government? How will individuals seek answers and potential solutions if they refrain from sharing their opinions? Another analytical blindspot is that what if there is no elite to voice the demands of some marginalised people? Wæver securitisation removes certain subjects from the domain and frees the State from internal responsibilities.  

On the other hand, Lene Hansen critiques the formulation of a solution by scholars from the Copenhagen School, which permits the broadening and deepening of security without allowing for unlimited expansion(Hasen, 2000). The states are complicit in dealing with issues that are not "collective issues". The issue faced by the Adivasi women will be seen as an individual issue rather than the collective, even though not having health facilities and proper infrastructure is an existential threat. World Health Organisation states that "Indigenous women die in pregnancy and childbirth more often than other women" (World Health Organisation, 2023). The blindspot of Copenhagen school and Ole Wæver don't see gendered issues as insecurity despite it creating issues for half of the world's population. The news might be regional, but most indigenous people worldwide face health issues due to unequal power relations and inadequate policy responses.

Lene Hansen also talks about 'security as silence', which refers to a situation where the potential subject of security lacks the ability or opportunity to voice their security concerns (Hasen, 2000). One reason for this silence is the fear that speaking up could worsen the situation. For instance, in the case of Adivasi communities, advocating for improved infrastructure could result in deforestation to create more amenities, which would foster greedy elites. This silence arises from the understanding that raising their concerns may lead to detrimental consequences. The mere connectivity could also be an issue leading to rich sections of the society not only obtaining resources but also converting the area into a concrete jungle. Political Anthropological Research on International Social Sciences (PARISS) coined a metaphor,(In)security, which implies that the pursuit of security stemming from insecurity often leads to more insecurity. It's akin to a Möbius strip, appearing to have two dimensions but possessing only one. Additionally, indigenous women, in fact, women in cities, don't voice their 'private issues' in this case related to maternal health in public because they would get backlash from the patriarchal society. Heteromasculine men would deem their necessities as demands and embedded women might belittle their experience and pain because giving birth without Western sciences is not a new phenomenon.

The silence also arises because they don't believe there will be someone to hear their voice and implement the required measures (Hansen, 2000). Women undergo psychological and physical pain throughout pregnancy and even after childbirth. However, their sharing of these experiences is viewed as 'women's issues', which are kept only in the private realm as they don't concern the public realm. This lack of acknowledgement can make women feel compelled to adapt to their circumstances without anyone listening to their concerns. There are multiple women there who undergo similar issues due to a lack of facilities. At the maximum limit, these issues are usually seen as regional issues, underdevelopment issues, and insufficient government response. What tends to get sidelined is viewing them as a gendered issue. This is what Lene Hansen calls subsuming security, which deals with issues concerning the construction of identity within communities whose security concerns often diverge or conflict with those of the State's political security. This ignorance towards women's health stems from patriarchy and not viewing the needs of impoverished sectors as important, which emerges from the social hierarchy where the states feminise them. In terms of gendered issues, if it comes to the referent object, then it would change the very nature of the masculine State.

Furthermore, Butlers highlights the importance of viewing the speech act with the body's performativity. Women's bodies will portray that she is in pain and frustrated with subjugation, but they can not say it because the patriarchal structure wouldn't let women discuss their issues out loud or might punish them for doing so. 

The pastoral power 

Michael Foucault argues that the State has the right over death, which is its judicial power to take away life to protect the society or sovereignty of the states(Foucault, 1978). However, it also exercised the power of life/ biopower; this power is invisible as it can't simply be determined who asserted this power. This power requires continuous regulatory and corrective mechanisms. States now organise and manage the population based on value and utility. This power involves evaluating, measuring, appraising, and hierarchising individuals rather than showcasing itself through violent acts. It does not need to draw a clear line between the enemies of the sovereign and obedient subjects; instead, it operates through the normalisation of behaviours and distributions around societal norms. The states use social norms to tame their citizens, ensuring that they conform to certain behaviours to prevent them from being perceived as threats.

Adivasis are ready to live in the insecurity of losing their homes to industrialisation, mining for minerals, tourism, and establishing nature and wildlife parks. The State often justifies these actions as efforts to improve the livelihoods of these communities, despite the possibility that it amounts to a form of 'internal colonisation' for them. The bare truth that they have their home leads to having a sense of debt to the State, which results in no further demand or protest to fulfil their needs. The State treats them as bare lives where women face subjugation from patriarchally embedded men and the State. 

Jeremy Bentham's architectural design of power coins the term fanaticism, which means few people are controlling and large populations are being controlled. The State make them docile bodies, resulting in manageable deviation. Foucault criticises Hobbes' social contract as he believes that the State acts like a pastoral power over its citizens; hence, they need to behave in a certain way, and if they did behave in a certain way willingly, the people could come out of the social norms.

Reference 

Foucault, M. (1978). The history of sexuality [Book; Print]. In R. Hurley & Random House, Inc. (Trans.), Volume I: An Introduction. Pantheon Books. https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/currentstudents/undergraduate/modules/fulllist/special/endsandbeginnings/foucaultrepressiveen278.pdf

Hansen, L. (2000). The Little Mermaid’s silent security dilemma and the absence of gender in the Copenhagen School. Millennium, 29(2), 285–306. https://doi.org/10.1177/03058298000290020501

Indigenous women’s maternal health and maternal mortality. (n.d.). United Nations Population Fund. https://www.unfpa.org/resources/indigenous-womens-maternal-health-and-maternal-mortality

Lipschutz, R. D. & Ole Wæver. (n.d.). On security. In Chapter 3 (pp. 1–31). https://dl1.cuni.cz/pluginfile.php/872615/mod_resource/content/1/Waever.pdf

Minority Rights Group. (2024, January 13). The Adivasis of India - Minority rights Group. https://minorityrights.org/resources/the-adivasis-of-india/

The Hindu Bureau. (2024, April 8). Pregnant woman delivers baby on road in Anantagiri mandal of ASR district. The Hindu. https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Visakhapatnam/pregnant-woman-delivers-baby-on-road-in-anantagiri-mandal-of-asr-district/article68042030.ece

Thresia, C. U., Srinivas, P. N., Mohindra, K. S., & Jagadeesan, C. K. (2020). The health of Indigenous populations in South Asia: a critical review in a critical time. International Journal of Health Services, 52(1), 61–72. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020731420946588

World Health Organization: WHO. (2023, February 22). Maternal mortality. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/maternal-mortality