SULTAN BATHERY: Even as the Adivasi Gothra Maha Sabha (AGMS) is planning to launch a second land struggle demanding land for all landless tribal families, the government is focusing on transforming their lives through empowerment.
“Of course, land allocation process will be expedited, but the government is giving priority to integrating the community with mainstream society by providing quality education and creating jobs,” said SC/ST Welfare Minister K Radhakrishnan.
Under the Forest Rights Act the government has provided 36,578.60 acres of land to 27,630 tribal families. Only record of rights can be provided under the Act. The government is exploring the possibility of converting forest villages where record of rights have been distributed to revenue villages.
The Ministry of Environment and forest has accorded sanction based on a Supreme Court order to distribute 19,002 acres of forest land to tribal people. As many as 3,610 families have been provided record of rights to 5,050.73 acres of land under the scheme.
Under the Land Purchase Scheme, 816 families have been provided 386.04 acres of land. The ST department has provided 53.71 acres of land to 306 families under Land Bank Scheme. Besides 6,343 tribal families have been provided 7,004.79 acres of revenue land. The Tribal Rehabilitation Development Mission has provided 49,094 acres of land to 39,276 beneficiaries since 2001, said the minister.
“If we give absolute title deeds to the tribals, encroachers will cheat them and acquire the land. These vested interests are behind the demand for title deeds. The government is providing land for cultivation and houses to the community. We don’t want the land mafia to exploit them. Hence, we are focusing on making the community self-reliant by providing land, livelihood, houses and infrastructure facilities. All tribal settlements will be provided basic amenities, road, water and power,” said Radhakrishnan.
“I had visited the tribal settlements in Sultan Bathery immediately after the police firing at Muthanga in 2003. I found women and children with grievous injuries in the colonies. They were scared of going to hospitals. We shifted them to hospitals. Most of them didn’t have clothes, food grains and kitchen utensils. We collected money from the public and distributed clothes and essentials to all,” he said.
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