Ownership rights on forest land for the Adivasis in Sonbhadra UP a Landmark victory for the Forest right movement in UP

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Ownership rights on forest land for the Adivasis in Sonbhadra UP a Landmark victory for the Forest right movement in UP

It was a historical event on 20th December 2009 when the State Government of UP created a history in distributing 3100 ownership titles to Adivasis in district Sonbhadra UP which is famously known for the country’s most complicated land disputes that also finds its mention in the 29th report of Commission of Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes. The tribals and other forest dwellers could see real glimpse of “azaadi” when for the first time the distribution of these titles took place in a very big ceremony where they were treated respectfully and granted their due share after a long wait since independence. There is no doubt that the government showed its strong political will in distributing such titles though a very small portion of the land, 3250.50 acres. However this is a clear message to tribal community in UP and States bordering UP that the State Government has granted a big political space and by recognizing the titles the state government has also strengthened the democratic space which will surely address the Maoist question in the forest region of Kaimur. This is a great historical event not only for Sonbhadra or State of UP but for entire country where in a district which saw a worst displacement of this century in the name of dams and industrialization process the advasis were honored for the first time in a very big ceremony where more than 10,000 people were present.

Advises and dalits of Kaimur region ( Mirzapur, Chandauli, Sonbhadra, Gadwa of Jharkhand and Bhabua of Bihar) have been struggling vigorously to reclaim their lost land from the clutches of Forest Department(FD) and the local feudal forces since 2000 under the banner of Kaimur Kshetra Mahila, Mazdoor, Kisan Sangarsh Samiti (KKMMKSS) and Jan Mukti Andolan, constituent groups of National Forum of Forest People and Forest Workers (NFFPFW). The struggle got intensified and rose to a new height with the enactment of Forest Rights Act (FRA) in December 2006, when the community started to take actual possession of land which belonged to their ancestors. All these land were taken way by FD since independence i.e. from1948 onwards. The land belonging to adivasis previously was under ZA system and through manipulation and corruption in land records and the connivance of FD and revenue officials, the land were illegally transferred to Forest Department under section 4 of Indian Forest Act 1927.
Since 2007 adivasis and dalit forest dwelling communities are in direct conflict with the vested interest which had a strong base in the local government machinery. They are facing intimidation, victimization, false cases, encounters, illegal detention and harassment from the state machinery but continue the struggle more strongly with a strong determination to take back their lost land.
The government of UP under the leadership of CM Ms. Mayawati showed a strong political will for an effective implementation of this act which will empower the adivasis and dalit communities in so called Maoist influence area, thus created a political space for marginalized sections.

Orders and directions were issued accordingly from the CM office but the local administration in connivance with the feudal mafia’s and the mining lobby has been consistently ignoring the state government orders and thus creating a situation where it came into direct conflict with the growing assertion of the adivasis and dalits.

Singnificantly this area is also known as Maoist area being in Jharkhand, Bihar border. In this critical situation local peoples organization KKMMKSS and Jan Mukti Andolan (founded by Late Dr. Viniyan) collectively formed Kaimur regional body for the implementation of FRA through a democratic and transparent process in October 2009. The conflict situation took a new turn last month when the district collector in collaboration with some big Ngo’s issued a statement that ‘ownership rights on land and forest resources would not be given to advisis under FRA’ and it will be treated as Patta which will have the status of government grant land. This statement was a direct provocation for the local feudal mafias, FD and police forces to attack the ongoing struggle. Just after this statement within a day one tribal village Dhooma was torched by the local feudals and firing too took place by FD in other parts of the district. This was heading towards an armed conflict. The local organization and NFFPFW immediately took step to resolve this dangerous situation which would hamper the actual implementation process of FRA. Published a pamphlet and distributed it widely opposing the statement of District Collector and strengthening the ownership issue through the debate on Historical Injustices. A delegation also met the state government officials at CM office and also raised the issue at State Level Monitoring Committee, UP constituted under FRA in Lucknow on 2nd dec 2009. The organization was successful in motivating the state government to take immediate steps from the CM office. An order was issued by the CM herself to implement this act strongly in Mirzapur and Sonbhadra especially as maximum number of claims so far has been received from Sonbhadra. Further, the senior officials actually planned to monitor the process of implementation and especially on providing ownership rights to adivasis and dalits over the disputed forest land in Sonbhadra. Within less than a month after DM issued the conflicting statement the State Government acted proactively and finally on 20th Dec' 2009 the high power team was sent to sonbhadra under the leadership of Principal secretary CM, Mr. Anil Sant, where Mr. Prem Narayan, Social welfare department, Principal Secretaries from other departments Revenue, Forest and Panchayat and other officials from different departments such as Tribal Welfare were part of the delegation.

It is important to note that NFFPFW has been consistently demanding the involvement of Key Ministries, Revenue, Panchayat, social welfare and FD an for effective implementation of this act.
It was a matter of great honor that the top level officials recognized the contribution of NFFPFW in bringing awareness in the region and launched a decade long effective movement on forest rights. Our senior women activist Shanta Bhattarcharji, Ad vinod Pathak were invited on the Dias where Ms. Shantaji delivered a speech welcoming this historical movement and congratulated CM Ms. Mayawati.

However this distribution of land is not enough.There is a long way to go and there are numerous challenges coming forward in granting titles to other traditional forest dwellers. If the question of distribution of titles to ST and non ST’s are not addressed properly there can be a possibility of tension among the communities. Their lies a very big responsibility on the District Administration to keep a close watch on this situation and immediately take the task for regularization of the rights of other forest dwellers. The question of community rights also needs to be addressed which so far is being ignored by the district administration.

In this great event around 10,000 people were present. Half of the mobilization was done by NFFPFW in less than 36 hrs. It is to be mentioned here that the titles have been also recorded in the name of women which is a great victory for movement lead by women in kaimur region. This action of state government has given confidence to marginalized adivasis and dalits to continue their struggle for reclaiming their lost space, land and political space. This has also given a clear signal to the neighboring states also. This step also signifies honor to the adivasi struggle for their constitutional democratic rights.

Long live the victory of forest people!

Note: After this great historical event the FD is still not learning a lesson despite warning by Principal Secretary Mr. Prem Narayan that if any official is found to act in derogation of implementation of FRA he/she will be punished. But in a shameful incident on 27 December 2009, Ranger Vindhanganj attacked dalit families of village Kewal and looted their houses. They were warned by the Ranger that they should vacate their houses before 31st December 2009 other wise they will be killed as they are not eligible for ownership titles under FRA, it is only for adivasis. By misinterpreting this act the FD is trying to build an atmosphere of caste tension in the area to again increase the influence of Maoists. A report of this incident has been also published in TOI.