SUFFERING INDIA: Jhabua tribals denied land under Forest Rights Act

Jhabua tribals denied land under Forest Rights Act

Mahim Pratap Singh

JHABUA (MADHYA PRADESH): In recent local media reports and a half-page advertisement carried in a national daily, the Madhya Pradesh government has claimed to be number one in implementing the Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.

Evidences from the field fly in the face of this claim, suggesting that the State stands first in rejecting claims made by forest-dwellers.

Jhabua, where 86 per cent of the population is tribal, is also the district with the highest density of tribal population. As many as 1,645 claims and one community claim were received from the district, and of these, only 120 were approved by the district-level committee as on July 24 this year.

In Morjhariya and other hamlets of Mohankot village in Petlawad block, the committee rejected 228 claims without consulting the sub-divisional level committee. At Rasodhi in Rama block, all 380 claims were rejected.

“I recommended that the claims of the Morjhariya tribals be approved, but the SDM and CEO didn’t listen,” says Kesar Bai, the only female member of the sub-divisional level committee. Moreover, the rejection letters issued to the claimants cited no reason, a serious violation of the rules and procedures of the Act.

The local people say the Revenue Department had acquired the land of the Bhil tribals for digging an irrigation pond, paying them a meagre compensation of Rs.300-400 apiece. With their land taken away, the tribals started working in forestland 25 years ago.

According to the Recognition of Forest Rights Act, 2006, all individuals and communities cultivating forestland on or before December 12, 2005, could claim the rights for the land.

Barely a month after claims were filed, Forest and Revenue Department officials, accompanied by 250 policemen, descended on the area and threatened the claimants. “They pushed us around, took away our beds and destroyed our ‘taprees’ (sheds),” says Viru Singh, one of the claimants. “They said, ‘tum log chale jao yahaan se, ye tumhaari zameen nahi hai, na kabhi hogi (leave this land, it does not belong to you and it never will)’,” he said. Thereafter the Department established a a vigilance chowki in the area with a guard.