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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Bonded labourers get land title after 70 yrs by Ashish Tripathi

Bonded labourers get land title after 70 yrs by Ashish Tripathi

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published Published on May 23, 2011   modified Modified on May 23, 2011
Octogenarian Sita Devi was in tears when district magistrate of Gonda, Ram Bahadur, handed her the land ownership title. She was five-year-old when her family was forced into bonded labour by British forest officers posted in Gorakhpur. The family was given a piece of land for planting trees and to grow crop for its survival. They family was shifted to other place after five years for the same job. From 1930 to 1985, Sita's family was constantly on the move. Even after Independence, it did not get the rights guaranteed to every citizen by the Constitution. However, the Forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006 seems to have undone the historical injustice.

Sita is among 33 families, residents of forest village, Maheshpur in Gonda who were given land ownership title by the district magistrate, Ram Bahadur on Saturday. Each family got around 16 hectare land for agriculture and around 13 hectare for building a house under the FRA. These families belong to Taungya community, which has been working as bonded labourers for the forest department since 1925. Maheshpur is the first Taungya forest village in the state to get land rights under 'other forest dwellers' category of FRA. The Act provides that besides tribals, communities traditionally dependent on the forests for their survival for last three generations, that is, 75 years, will be entitled for individual and community ownership of forest land.

A Burmese term, Taungya means planting trees between crops -- hill (Taung) and cultivation (Ya). British officers, posted in Burma when sent to UP in 1920s, used bonded labourers for forestation in regions, where forests were plundered for timber. The labourers comprised dalits, backward castes and backward Muslims. The labourers were given a piece of land for five years for plantation and then shifted to another place for the same job. They were not paid for the service, but allowed to grow crop in the allotted piece of land for livelihood. The Taungyas regenerated one lakh hectare of forests in 12 districts of UP between 1925 and 1980. The practice was abolished in 1980. But, Taungyas were not given the land to settle down, as promised by the rulers.

The community continued to live in the forests, although declared encroachers and told to evict. There are around 100 Taungya forest villages with a population of around two lakh in UP. These villages are in Gonda, Saharanpur, Bijnor, Lakhimpur Kheri, Pilibhit, Gorakhpur, Maharajganj, Shravasti, Balrampur, Bahraich and Basti. Members work as daily wagers and have no access to basic facilities such as education and health. Their names are in electoral rolls, but do not exist in revenue records, hence they cannot get below poverty line cards


The Times of India, 20 May, 2011, http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-05-20/lucknow/29564062_1_forest-dwellers-forest-rights-act-land-rights


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