Naresh Biswas, a tribal rights activist who has been fighting for the grant of habitat rights to the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups under the Forest Rights Act writes about the obstacles to the process in Abujhmarh in south Chhattisgarh -
Abujhmarh
in the extreme south of the state of Chhattisgarh has a unique geography of
dense forests in a hilly area crisscrossed by rivers. Peopled by the Maria
Adivasis it has become notorious as the stronghold of the Maoists who are
conducting an armed struggle against the Indian State. These days Abujhmarh is
in the news again as the Maria Adivasis, who are classified as a Particularly
Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), are preparing to claim Habitat Rights under the
provisions of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers
(Recognition of Rights) Act 2006. The statute, which is popularly known as the
Forest Rights Act (FRA) in section 3 (1)(e), provides as follows - "In
view of the differential vulnerability of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups
among the forest dwellers, the District Level Committee should play a
pro-active role in ensuring that all PVTGs receive habitat rights in
consultation with the concerned PVTGs’ traditional institutions of these
groups, after filing claims before the gram sabha.” Thus, in addition to
individual and community rights, the PVTGs can claim habitat rights to a
contiguous area they have been residing in for generations.
The first meeting in
this regard was held on 23rd June 2019 in Narayanpur which is one of
the district headquarters in the Abujhmarh area which is spread over the three
districts of Narayanpur, Dantewara and Bijapur in the South Bastar region. I
was also present in the meeting. I had been invited to speak about the process
that had been adopted by the Baiga Adivasis in Dindori district who had
successfully claimed the Habitat Rights for their area for the first time in
the country as is detailed here.
This was a civil society initiative and so the Narayanpur district
administration did not give it any importance. However, later I had a
discussion with the district administration on 7th August 2019 and
after that a workshop on Habitat Rights was organised on 27th August
2019 in which the members of the District Level Forest Rights Committee and the
Subdivisional Level Forest Rights Committees participated. A consultation
followed on 14th September 2019 with the traditional Mukhia Majhis,
Gaytas and Patels of the Abujhmaria Adivasis under the provisions of the FRA
for habitat rights organised by the District Level Forest Rights Committee. I
too was present in this consultation in which the Abujhmaria Adivasis passed a
resolution to claim habitat rights.
The process of documentation, mapping and
filing of claims for habitat rights was taken forward after this consultation
by the district administration in association with the Abujhmaria Adivasi
community. However, five months after this process had started suddenly the
Maoists opposed this it. The Marh Divisional Committee of the Maoists published
three pamphlets in Marhi and Hindi languages opposing the process of claiming
Habitat Rights. They said that this was a fraud being committed by the
Government to give the Adivasis only one or two acres and the rest would be
given to capitalists to set up industries. This was a gross distortion of the
provisions of the FRA which if properly implemented would give Maria Adivasis
the habitat rights to the whole Abujhmarh area which covers 3905 square
kilometers across 237 villages in 37 Gram Panchayats. This area has never been
surveyed and so is not there in either the revenue or the forest department
records.
The opposition to the Maria Adivasis claim to
habitat rights over the whole of Abujhmarh comes not only from the Maoists but
also local political leaders and the district administration. These latter want
that the Adivasis should be given individual land holding rights and a process
of mapping through satellite imagery has been started by IIT Roorkee to this
end. These leaders who are not Maria Adivasis had to stop their demand for
individual rights after the Abujhmaria Adivasis expressed their desire to claim
habitat rights to the whole of Abujhmarh instead. Currently the Abujhmarias use
their land under the direction of their traditional community leaders and so
they are apprehensive of the process initiated by the Chhattisgarh Government
on 30th August 2019 of declaring the whole of Abujhmarh a revenue
area and giving individual and community rights to the Adivasis instead of
habitat rights as is their right under FRA. Once the area becomes recorded as
revenue land then its sale and purchase and transfer for industrial use will
become possible and this is what the Government, local non Maria Adivasi leaders and the district
administration want.
The Abujhmarias, however want the area to be
handed over to their traditional communities under habitat rights. The
Abujhmarias practice slash and burn shifting cultivation which they call penda
kheti. Because the area is hilly only about 1 percent of the land is suitable
for settled agriculture and the rest is under shifting cultivation. The
Government wants to put a stop to shifting cultivation and that is why it wants
to settle the Abujhmarias in a permanent piece of land and claim the rest of
the forests for itself. Since the population of the Abujhmarias is very low
compared to the huge area of dense forests, their shifting cultivation does not
affect it and instead it has been hailed as a very good means of maintaining
the forests while also providing sustenance to the Adivasis. The Government of
Madhya Pradesh had made a rule on 8th February 1991, before the
state of Chhattisgarh was created in 2000, preventing entry of outsiders into
Abujhmarh. Thus, even though there was not official survey of the area, the
Abujhmarias had a clear idea of the extent of their traditional habitat. Thus,
the state should assist the Abujhmaria Adivasis to prepare a map of their
traditional habitat and grant them habitat rights in their area as per the
provisions of the FRA.
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA)
Government of India had circulated guidelines for the implementation of habitat
rights to the Governments of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha on 13th
November 2014 but these Governments had ignored them and not done anything
towards their implementation. These guidelines were sent again to the states by
MoTA on 18th December 2019. A letter was also sent to the Chief
Secretaries of all concerned states on 23rd April 2015 clarifying
what was meant by habitat rights. A letter has also been sent to the Directors
of the Tribal Research Institutes of all concerned states on 17th
December 2019 asking them to provide research support for the implementation of
habitat rights of PVTGs.
There are five PVTGs in Chhattisgarh. Apart
from the Abujhmarias, there are the Pahari Korbas, Birhors, Baigas, and Kamars.
However, in the absence of a standard set of guidelines for implementation of
habitat rights, the district administrations concerned have not initiated the
process of granting them to these PVTGs. The MoTA has constituted an expert
committee on 21st February 2020 to draw up guidelines for the
implementation of habitat rights in a simple manner by the concerned district
administration. The first meeting of this expert committee was held on 16th
March 2020 in Delhi. A team of this expert committee is scheduled to visit
Abujhmarh in the near future. Thus, the moment is ripe for the grant of habitat
rights to the Abujhmarias. Even though the MoTA is keen on the implementation of
habitat rights the state governments and district administrations are not showing
any enthusiasm for this. So apart from the Baiga Adivasis of Madhya Pradesh none
of the other PVTGs have got habitat rights yet. Both the Maoists and the Government
should cooperate and assist the Abujhmarias to get their habitat rights and so continue
to maintain their forests and their agriculture in their traditional manner.
No comments:
Post a Comment