Indian Director Shriprakash screened his documentary film "Buddha Weeps in Jadugoda," which shows the plight of Indian villagers living near uranium mines Wednesday night.
The screening was part of "Stories from the Land: Environmental Films from the Asian Diaspora," a unique film festival focusing on the Asian-Pacific region and Asian-American communities in the United States.
The festival began last week and screenings have been held at Tufts' Medford and Boston campuses, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem.
"Buddha Weeps in Jadugoda" is a documentary focusing on the environmental and health issues facing Adivasi villagers of the Singhbhum district in India, which are due to uranium mines located near their homes.
"Wherever Adivasis dwell the land is rich with minerals below, but these natural minerals ... are not for our prosperity. They have become a curse," one Indian journalist in the film said.
The mines were first opened by the British, but are now under Indian control. The film highlights the seeming willingness of the Indian government to subject its own people to radiation from the mines' waste.
The people of the village claim they were not informed of the hazards of living near the mines until after they had been affected. "The ore is hard rock - if we cut our foot on these stones, it will take a long time to heal ... we realized there must be something hazardous in it," one villager said.
"Our elders say that they never saw such diseases before," villager Sairam Murmu said.
Villagers must cope with radioactive water, since mining waste has seeped into the area's groundwater and contaminated it. The people are also exposed to radiation when they eat animals or plants from contaminated areas, according to the film.
"We call this fruit Tiril ... it used to be like this, but now it is deformed and we don't know why," villager Kundu Melgari said, showing withered and blackened fruits to the camera.
Villagers have been suffering from serious health problems related to uranium radiation. Dr. Sangamita Gadekar examined some of the village children in the film and encountered numerous cases of polydactyly, or extra digits; tumors; skin diseases; and Down's syndrome.
"Whether man or woman, all people die here young," villager Manju Das said.
The infant mortality rate is particularly alarming - Das has lost two children in infancy. Laxmi Das said, "Three of my children died, two in the womb ... The boys lived for a few hours. The girl lived longer, a week."
According to the film, the incidence of cancer deaths and birth defects more than doubles when patients are exposed to radioactive waste, a fact government and mining company officials have concealed from villagers.
The film shows R. P. Varma, a representative of UCIL, the company with operates the Jadugoda mines, meeting with villagers. "In the dam, we treat the waste ... after mining, very little ore is left behind," he told villagers.
Another representative later told villagers, "Yellow cake does not give any harm unless it is goes inside your body." Yellow cake is processed uranium ore.
But one retired mine worker said almost all of his coworkers are dead. ""Maybe one, two are alive ... both are sick," he said.
"Our people have no warning that it is dangerous," villager Ghanshiyam Beruli said.
The end of the film shows the villagers resisting the mining companies' efforts to build another dam, which would require some of their homes to be razed. The companies satisfy some minor demands, including an apology for the "desecration of sacred groves" and guarantees of jobs.
But the villagers' lot has hardly improved by the film's end. "This is not about rehabilitation of jobs," Beruli said, "but those who are going to be sick tomorrow."
"Buddha was born in this land. He is our ancestor ... Today it is said that he is smiling, but when our children are born with birth defects ... he is weeping," Beruli said.
A lengthy question and answer session with the director followed the screening. Shriprakash said unemployment is "used by the mining companies to open more mines."
One audience member compared the Indian government to the U.S. government, which has relocated uranium waste on Navajo lands in the United States.
"The most energy-consuming countries are American and European, but the uranium is produced in the third world." Shriprakash said. "80 to 90 percent [of uranium] ... is mined on indigenous lands and where is it dumped? It is not white or black, it is lower class land."
The film festival continued last night with a screening of "Alexei and the Spring," which focuses on radiation from Chernobyl. Screenings will run though Sunday.
Sponsors of the program include the University College of Citizenship and Public Service, and a variety of departments and offices from both Tufts and Harvard.
