A group of tribal women are seen running towards forest officials with dogs on their heels in the Kakardonda forest stretch in Gangaram mandal in Telangana’s Mahabubabad district. Even as the women try to thrash a forest official, security personnel intervene to control the clash. Irate locals are seen asking officials why they were there and saying that this was their land.
This video of a confrontation between locals in Telangana and forest officials is now being shared widely. The incident took place on Tuesday after officials allegedly stopped the tribal people from ploughing land that they had been cultivating for years, to carry out a plantation drive. The local police have now booked a case pertaining to the incident against several farmers. The incident has pointed to the continuing saga of conflict that is simmering between forest-dwelling adivasis and Forest Department officials in Telangana over podu (agriculture) lands. It also highlights how the lack of proactive steps by the state government towards addressing the issue is continuing the friction between the two groups.
For the last few years, adivasis and the Forest Department have been at loggerheads. The Forest Department says that it has orders to carry out afforestation drives in forest lands. However, tribal people say that lands that they have been cultivating for years are now being snatched away under the guise of forest conservation and afforestation. In June 2019, the issue had a violent fallout in Sarasala of Komaram Bheem Asifabad district as a woman forest officer was assaulted and suffered injuries. While the state government has given repeated assurances that it would solve the issue, legal claims made by the tribal people for the land that they have been cultivating continue to remain in limbo or get rejected.
The conflict over podu lands b/n tribals & forest authorities continues in forest areas of #Telangana.The incident took place on Tuesday in Madagudem of Gangaram in Mahbubabad Dst.While tribals seek implementn' ROFR Act &officials takesup afforestation in forest lands. pic.twitter.com/7I35aHrK0o
— CharanTeja (@CharanT16) July 15, 2021
In March this year, speaking in the Assembly, Tribal Welfare Minister Satyavathi Rathod said that the state government has sanctioned 94,774 pattas (title deeds) for podu lands for eligible tribal people, covering around 3.03 lakh acres under the Recognition of Forest Rights (ROFR) Act, since 2008. According to reports, the minister informed the Assembly that there were 27,990 claims filed since 2018 relating to 98,745 acres, of which the District Level Committee (DLC) found 2,401 claims pertaining to 4,248 acres as eligible and 9,976 claims pertaining to 40,780 acres as ineligible. According to the minister, about 15,558 claims pertaining to 53,565 acres of land are still pending before DLCs.
As per a study conducted in Telangana by Rights and Resource Initiative and Oxfam in 2019, only 43.5% of the total claims had been recognised. The study also said that the Forest Department was ignoring the rights of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) and added that the state was witnessing high rates of rejection and poor implementation of Individual Forest Rights.
Recently Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) said that the resolution of the podu land issue in the state would start with Nagarjuna Sagar. However, the statement was seemingly aimed at the votes of tribal people in the constituency, as an important bye-election was going to be held. The TRS later won the election, but the promise is yet to be fulfilled.
However, tribal activists allege that the government's negligence is further worsening the situation on the ground with each passing monsoon season, as Forest Department officials conduct frequent checks of adivasi land under the name of plantation drives, especially in some pockets of erstwhile Adilabad, Khammam and Warangal districts. They argue that this violates their rights guaranteed under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.
Speaking to TNM, Vasam Ramakrishna Dora, an activist based in Bhadradri Kothagudem and who is the convenor of the Adivasi Joint Action Committee said, "It's been more than two and a half years since the ruling government promised to address the issue. However, they are saying one thing and doing another thing on the ground."
Vasam further said that tribal people who could afford to reach the Telangana High Court in Hyderabad are getting stay orders on forest officials entering into their lands, while others are left to live in fear and fend for themselves. According to him, Bhadradri Kothagudem alone has pending claims concerning over 1.40 lakh acres of land, while the figure for the whole state is 4 lakh acres. Vasam said, "The government is trying to subvert the Forest Rights Act by ignoring to address the concerns of forest dwellers. This is unfair."
Tudum Debba, an adivasi rights group, alleges that the continued delay in issuing pattas (title deeds) is affecting adivasis, as they can’t avail agriculture-related schemes such as Rythu Bandhu and other infrastructure support.
Tudum Debba president Godam Ganesh, who is based in Adilabad, which saw a large-scale conflict over podu lands, said, "We are not asking for the pattas (deeds) to new lands. We seek rights over lands which were under possession by tribal people before 2005, as per the Forest Rights Act, 2006."
According to him, over 10,000 farmers have pending claims in erstwhile Adilabad district. He said "It's unfair that forest officials are making the tribals live like thieves in their own lands by accusing them of encroachment. This kind of treatment will further deteriorate the development of tribal communities."
"The CM said that he will not let the tribal people lose even an inch of land, but he has failed to give pattas (deeds) to even an inch of land. For whatever reasons, the delay has happened. At least now, the government should consider the issue and solve it on a priority basis," Ganesh said.