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Tribals get back forest by KM Rakesh

Chikkamade Gowda had once told the Centre to give him poison. It was better than being evicted from his forest habitat.

That was in 1974. Thirty-seven years on, the Soliga tribal and some 16,500 fellow sufferers are celebrating their homecoming, thanks to a landmark central amendment.

The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2008, allows them to use nearly 60 per cent of their ancestral land, a 570sqkm forest area in Karnataka’s Chamrajnagar district, some 250km from here.

“I can’t describe the feeling in being once again allowed to use our ancestral land to earn our livelihood,” Gowda told The Telegraph from the periphery of the forest where they now live in several villages that have sprung up over three decades.

The October 2 order means the tribals, who now live in 62 settlements on the outskirts of the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Hills forest, can again freely collect honey, gooseberries, elephant grass, wild mangoes, silk cotton and other forest produce which are marketed through the Large Adivasi Multi-Purpose Co-operative Society.

“It is like getting a new life for all of us who cannot live anywhere but the forest,” Gowda, who led the fight from the front to win back their rights, said.

In 1974, it had seemed like the end of the road when they were pushed out of the core forest area as part of a wildlife conservation drive. The eviction was based on the 1972 Wildlife Act that did not allow any human settlements in protected areas.

In January this year came the double whammy. The forest, where the brigand Veerappan once roamed before he was taken out, was declared a tiger reserve. It meant at least 1,500 Soliga families faced further eviction. Plus, whatever little leeway they had of slipping into the forest had gone in one stroke.

The amended 2008 law has, therefore, come as a lifesaver for the indigenous residents who are now allowed to pick non-timber forest produce. “This government order now gives us complete rights to use non-timber forest produce to make a living,” said Made Gowda, a local tribal. “At least, now our people can use and sell forest produce as our ancestors did.”

The Soligas can also visit core areas they consider sacred.

The state forest department is monitoring the situation as the Soligas have resumed collecting forest produce and those who had migrated in search of livelihood are likely to return. “We are ensuring everything goes smoothly and the order is properly implemented,” said deputy chief conservator of forests Manikandan.

He said the produce collected by the Soligas would be marketed through existing channels set up by the state welfare department.

So attached are the Soligas to the forest that they now want direct participation in the wildlife conservation efforts. “There can’t be anyone who knows the forest better and the tribals want a role in protecting the wildlife from poachers,” said Made Gowda, referring to letters written to the Prime Minister and the chief minister.

Made Gowda is associated with the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment that works closely with the Soliga tribals.

The tiger reserve, which has an estimated 30 Royal Bengal tigers, was the centre of a controversy when the then state government headed by B.S. Yeddyurappa granted permission to a sugar factory to operate just 1.5km from its boundary against a Supreme Court directive that says there should be a gap of at least 10km.

The project has since been put on hold mainly because of protests launched by the Soligas.