Brutal
suppression of tribal rights in Andhra Pradesh
THE HANS INDIA | May 25,2016 , 03:32 AM IST
By Dr Palla Trinadha Rao
tribal rights
The
recent attack on an adivasi woman in the agency areas of West Godavari district
is raising serious concern about the effectiveness of the tribal development
agencies in implementing land rights protections extended to adivasis.
- Non-tribals cannot have rights
on tribal lands as per LTR 1 of 70
- Officials for over a decade
dithered on restoring land to her
An
adivasi women land rights activist, Chodem Durga of Andhra Pradesh Girijan
Sangham affiliated to CPI (M), has been spearheading land struggles against
non-tribal occupations in the Scheduled Areas of West Godavari district. She is
embroiled in several criminal cases, and is herself a victim of oppression and
exploitation by non-tribals and unscrupulous revenue administration.
According
to her, she filed a petition (SR NO 15/2005) before the Special Deputy
Collector (Tribal Welfare) court at KR Puram in West Godavari district, seeking
restoration of land Ac 4.72 and other parcels of land Ac 6 in Survey No 1469
and Ac 5.56 in 572/1 from the illegal possession of non-tribals. The disputed
land is situated in the scheduled village of Turpurekulagunta village in
Buttayagudem mandal in the district.
The
court allowed her claim under Land Transfer Regulations 1 of 70 in 2006 to the
extent of Ac 4.72 in Survey No 1469 and further directed the Tahsildar,
Buttayagudem, to take possession of the land from non-tribals and induct her
into the possession. However, the Tahsildar has been sitting pretty over the
order of the court for the last decade.
Non-implementation
of the court order for about a decade speaks volumes of the fallacy of legal
structures as well as the monitoring mechanisms from district to the State
level meant for protecting the tribals in agency areas. With the support
of other tribal women in the village she lodged a fresh application in April
seeking implementation of the court order.
The Tahsildar
this time raised a query asking her to show boundaries to the land for Ac 4.72
in the court order. The illiterate woman had no option and approached the SDC
Court again and expressed her displeasure over the response of Tahsidar in
implementing the order. The SDC court directed the Tahsildar to conduct a filed
survey and fix the boundaries for the land Ac .4.72 separately and hand over
the same to her.
Despite
several representations seeking the implementation of order, there is no
response either from district administration or Tahsildar in specific. Against
this background, the adivasi activist, who experienced a decade of negligence
of law enforcing officials in implementing the order in her favor, unable to
contain her frustration and humiliation, stepped into the land with the support
of other tribal women and plucked the harvested mango crop and brought it to
home, declaring their disgust at the apathy of officials and exploitation of
non tribals.
The non
tribals and their supporters brutally attacked them in their village
Turpurekulakunta on May 17 and snatched away the mangoes. The tribal woman received severe injuries, and
a case against non-tribals was registered by Buttayagudem PS in Cr No
86/2016. The entire episode has a direct correlation to the erratic
revenue administration in the Scheduled Areas which is leading to unwarranted
land conflicts, without implementing the tribal land laws.
One can
gauge the neglect of the law enforcing authorities on the basis of a number of
land holdings of non-tribals. The land under occupation of Scheduled Tribes
officially is only 58.50 per cent, the remaining land is held by non tribals.
Non-Tribals could able to gain access to tribal lands in spite of LTR 1 of 70
which completely bans the land transfers in the Scheduled Areas in favour of
non-tribals.
As per
the reports of ITDA, K R Puram, by August 2014, tribals could able to succeed
in only 2,584 (22 per cent) cases covering an extent of Ac.11082, while
non-tribals could retain the land covering an extent of Ac 30774 by getting
favourable orders in 8,923 cases (78 per cent). There is an urgent need to
implement the tribal protective land laws without further dillydallying and put
an end to the growing unrest among the adivasis in the Scheduled Area of West
Godavari district.
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