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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Eye on tribals, Cong plans meet on forest land by Syed Khalique Ahmed

Eye on tribals, Cong plans meet on forest land by Syed Khalique Ahmed

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published Published on Oct 11, 2011   modified Modified on Oct 11, 2011

With tribals accounting for about 14 per cent of the total population in the state, the Congress party is organising a one-day conclave at Kevadia Colony in the tribal-dominated Narmada district on October 15 to discuss the issues of interest to them.

Aimed at wooing the tribal heartland for 2012 assembly elections, the party has decided to focus mainly on the issue of allotment of forest land. The issue of forest land allotment had been agitating the tribals for a long time as most of them live in forest areas and have been having conflicts with the forest department.

Two years ago, tribals had an armed clash with the Forest and police personnel in Ratangarh area of Sabarkantha district on the issue of cultivation in the forest areas.

The Congress is focussing on tribals as they had been traditional supporters of the party since Independence. But with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Vishwa Hindus Parishad having established themselves in the tribal areas, a sizeable section of the adivasis has become attracted politically to the BJP as well. Although with 16 tribal MLAs and three MPs from tribal areas compared to BJP’s 12 MLAs and one MP, the Congress is still having sway over majority of the tribal population. The party is also determined to strengthen its base as the community plays a crucial role in the outcome of 42 assembly seats, including 26 reserved for them.

According to party sources, all the prominent tribal leaders from across the state, including sitting MLAs, zilla panchayat presidents, former ministers and some of the former legislators will be attending the day-long conclave to deliberate on the issues pertaining to the forest-dwellers.

Tribal MP and a minister in the UPA government Tushar Chaudhary, when asked about the chief agenda, said it was the allotment of forest land. According to him, after the Central government brought a law in 2006 for allotting the forest land being cultivated by tribals to them, a total of 1.91 lakh tribals from across the state submitted their applications but only a little over 25,000 of them were considered by the state and the rest were rejected. He said this led to the clash between tribals and Forest officials in Ratangarh jungles.

Chaudhary, who himself was the minister for Tribal affairs in the Central government, said as per the law the state government is required to take a final decision on the recommendation of the gram panchayats in finalising the allotments but the state government here relied on the report of the Forest department. As a result, more than 70 per cent of the applications were rejected.

The conclave, said Chaudhary, would also discuss the implementation of other programmes for tribals by the state government like development works pertaining to setting up of schools, training centres, constructions of roads, irrigation canals and schemes for promoting agriculture in tribal areas.

The Indian Express, 11 October, 2011, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/eye-on-tribals-cong-plans-meet-on-forest-land/858395/


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