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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | 'Chhattisgarh's 100% settlement claim hollow' by Supriya Sharma

'Chhattisgarh's 100% settlement claim hollow' by Supriya Sharma

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published Published on Jun 17, 2010   modified Modified on Jun 17, 2010


The might of the Indian state is unable to turn the tide in Chhattisgarh. A violent Maoist insurgency continues to rage despite massive deployment of security forces.

Ever wondered why? Part of the answer has come now with the findings of a joint committee that recently visited the state to take stock of the implementation of the Forest Rights Act.

The Act, legislated in 2006 to provide tribals legal access to forest land and resources, was meant to be a crucial antidote to tribal alienation and unrest. Chhattisgarh government has claimed the four-year-old law was fully implemented by March 2010.

Data submitted to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs showed it had settled ‘‘100% of individual claims’’ made by tribals, making it the best performing state in the country. Maharashtra next door had settled just 46% claims, West Bengal 66% and Orissa 87%.

But the team’s visit to just 10 villages in Chhattisgarh exposed the state government’s claim of 100% settlement as merely ‘‘statistical’’. The joint committee, formed in April by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the Ministry of Environment and Forests for a national review of the Act, visited the state in the last week of May. In his report, N C Saxena, the head of the committee, says the implementation of the Act ‘‘cannot be described as satisfactory’’. He then goes on to make strong observations:

Large scale ‘‘wrongful rejections’’ and ‘‘blatant irregularities’’ at the level of gram sabha, not verified by block and district level officials.

Monitoring has been only statistical with a focus on quick disposal, rather than on ensuring justice to occupiers of land.

The chief secretary admitted that the entire campaign was launched with a view to complete the work by August 2008, since elections were due a year later. Hence, the focus was on speed rather than on quality.
The process is being controlled by forest and revenue officials, with no people’s participation as per law.

Tribal Development Department has not taken the lead and is performing a ‘‘post office’’ job of collecting and forwarding statistical information.

The level of awareness is very weak. No translation in Adivasi languages. No involvement of professional organizations.

The report says the process of settlement has not even begun in 917 villages in Bastar region due to Maoist occupation. But activists say even in places where the process began, it ended hastily without fair settlement. More than half of the nearly five lakh claims were rejected. Since the committee found several instances of wrongful rejection, the number of people denied legitimate rights could be extremely high.

Worse, the state has stopped receiving fresh applications, creating an arbitrary deadline of December 2009.

‘‘If the state ensures livelihood rights, tribals are in a better position to bargain democratically, and the conflict gets minimized. But instead, by denying them their rights, we are creating more conflict,’’ says Gautam Bandhopadhyay, activist, Nadi Ghati Morcha.

The Chief Secretary, P Joy Oommen, said, ‘‘We are taking a decision to re-open applications. We will review any cases of rejection if appeals are filed.’’ Nearly half of Chhatisgarh’s land is under forest cover and one third of its population is tribal.


The Times of India, 18 June, 2010, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Chhattisgarhs-100-settlement-claim-hollow/articleshow/6061263.cms


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