Restore alienated land to tribals: LDF

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, OCT. 8. In what seems like a strategic shift in its stand on the tribal land question, the Opposition LDF has asked the Government to restore to the Adivasis the exact extent of land that had got alienated and to ensure that all landless tribals received land which was sufficient for sustenance.

A resolution adopted by last week's LDF State committee meeting, released for publication here today, seems to suggest that the LDF is not happy with the Government offer to provide one acre to each Adivasi family. ``The Government now says that it would provide one acre of land to each Adivasi family. But it is observing silence on the question of restoring alienated land to the Adivasis and providing shelter to homeless tribals. Those who have lost land should be compensated with the same extent of land. It should also be ensured that all the landless (among the tribals) get land,'' the resolution says.

Significantly, the LDF resolution is silent about the ongoing Adivasi agitation for land and employment, but has the finding that Adivasis in Kerala are faced with serious problems such as unemployment and widespread poverty. It also notes that in recent times there have even been some instances of starvation deaths in Kerala.

The resolution claims that the LDF Government had done much to solve the tribal land issue, provide shelter to the homeless and create more employment opportunities and educational facilities for Adivasis. In 1996, the LDF Government brought forward a Bill and the Assembly adopted it unanimously. The main provision of the Bill was for compensating the Adivasis with land equivalent in extent to their alienated holdings. In 1995, the then Antony Government also had prepared the draft of a similar Bill. The provision in that draft was for providing one acre of land for Adivasis who had lost their land. Under the provision of this draft Bill, even those who had lost 10 acres would get only one acre of land.

When the President refused assent to the 1996 Bill, the LDF Government introduced a new Bill in 1999. Besides ensuring provision of land equivalent in extent to the alienated Adivasi holdings, it provided for granting one acre of land to each landless Adivasi family. It was also provided that in the case of Adivasi families that had less than one acre of land, sufficient land would be given to take their total holdings to one acre. The Bill also envisaged provision of shelter to all homeless tribal families and nullification of all transactions that had resulted in alienation of Adivasi land after 1986 when the 1975 Tribal Land Act came into effect. The Government had retrieved some alienated land under provisions of the Bill, the resolution says.

The LDF committee recalls that the Centre had accepted in principle the LDF Government's demand for 25,000 acres of land from the vested forests for distribution among Adivasis. Private forests were nationalised in 1971 with the stipulation that cultivable forest land should be distributed among Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes and the landless farmers. Surveys at the time had put the extent of cultivable land at 58,000 hectares. Out of this, only 10,000 acres could be distributed. With the enactment of the Forest Protection Act in 1980, it has become mandatory for the State to obtain Central clearance to distribute cultivable forest land to the landless Adivasis. The State Government should exert pressure on the Centre for this clearance, the resolution says.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Southern States
Previous : Conspiracy, murder, and quick detection
Next     : Minister denies new directive from Centre on
           tribal issue