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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Adivasis on march to Mumbai seeking forest rights by Meena Menon

Adivasis on march to Mumbai seeking forest rights by Meena Menon

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published Published on Mar 8, 2011   modified Modified on Mar 8, 2011
While the Maharashtra government contends that there is a large number of false claims under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Rights) Act 2006, Adivasis feel they have been short-changed by the State, which has denied legitimate claims. Thousands of Adivasis are marching to Mumbai from all parts of the Maharashtra to highlight the lacunae in the system. The march will culminate in a public rally on March 15 at Azad Maidan.    

The main demand of the protesters is a review of the claims, 60 per cent of which have been rejected, and proper implementation of the Act.

Maharashtra Home Minister R.R. Patil recently decided to set up special SETU or Citizen Facilitation Centres in every taluka in Thane and Nashik district to clear claims to forestland in a time-bound manner.

A total of 3, 39,689 claims, including 3988 community claims, were received in Maharashtra, according to the status report on the implementation of the Act till November 30, 2010, put up on the Ministry of Tribal Affairs website. Of this, 2,21,795 claims — including 1273 community claims — were rejected and 1,04,767 claims, including 423 community claims, were approved. This covered an area of 2,25,340 acres for individual claims and 18,964 acres for community claims, with a disposal rate of 96.13 per cent.

But at the ground level, things were different. Last year, the former Chief Secretary, J.P. Dange, issued orders to do away with land-mapping using GPS, which was time-consuming. As a result, there was no measurement of land before the titles were distributed. Official sources said this was a blunder, and had led to much confusion. In some cases, Adivasis had got as little as 20 gunthas, or half-an-acre, while their claim was much more.

Ratan Hadal from Sukhadamba in Dahanu taluka of Thane district said he had four plots but the government only accepted his claim to 35 gunthas (one acre is equal to 40 gunthas). Salu Babar had about six acres, which he had been cultivating since decades, but now he had rights to only about two-and-a-half acres.

People were busy filing appeals for the rejected claims and all their time was spent in running around with bright plastic bags full of paperwork which they could neither read nor understand.

The Hindu, 9 March, 2011, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article1521728.ece


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