Large chunks of tribal lands under non-tribals

Telangana celebrated the 75th death anniversary of Tribal leader Komaram Bheem who fought for the land rights and rights on water and forests of tribal people at Jodeghat village in Kerameri mandal in Adilabad district.

The district is increasingly witnessing skirmishes over land issues between tribals and non-tribals. While non-tribals are pressing for relaxation of the ‘trbal land for tribals only’ act, tribal groups are vehemently fighting to protect their rights.

The tribal population in Telangana accounts for 9.34 percentage of the total population, which is significantly higher compared to the percentage of 6.99 STs in the combined State of AP. Most of the tribals living in Adilabad are facing land issues.

In many tribal areas, the names of current holders and actual cultivators are not recorded in land registers. As such, cultivators are not eligible for institutional finance and a range of other public benefits such as compensation in the event of natural calamities, and so on.

The Andhra Pradesh State Scheduled Areas Land Transfer Regulation 1959 and its subsequent Amendment 1 of 1970 (LTR) prohibits transfer of land and other immovable property between tribals and non-tribals. Yet, its tardy implementation has left much to be desired and dispossession of the Adivasis of their lands continues in some form or the other.

It is learnt that a few thousands of acres of land belonging to Adivasis and at least 80,000 acres of government land are under illegal possession of non-tribals in the five agency mandals of Indervelli, Utnoor, Narnoor, Jainoor and Sirpur (U) in addition to over 20,000 units of immovable properties.

In order to protect the interests of Adivasis, the Nizam's government in 1946 incorporated the 1917 British regulation on land transfer in agency areas. And it was subsequently converted into the LTR in 1959 and amended by an order of the Supreme Court in 1970 only to prohibit land transfer between tribals and non-tribals and rendering null and void all earlier transfers which had been done without permission of the District Collector.

The LTR Amendment 1 of 1970 also envisages restoration of lands to original tribal owners through the office of the Special Deputy Collector (SDC) looking after its implementation. In spite of the stringent land transfer regulations, tens of thousands of acres of land have been illegally possessed by non tribals. Non-tribal population holds as much as 51 per cent of the lands in the scheduled areas and more and more lands are going into the hands of the non-tribals.

An assessment of the cases disposed of by the LTR authorities in the agency areas of Telangana shows that more than 50% of the cases have gone in favor of the non-tribals. Out of 45,595 cases booked under LTR (1, 86, 664 acres), to date 8,394 cases of encroachment on tribal lands had been booked involving an extent of 54,421 acres of which 7,888 cases involving 53,034 acres were disposed of. As many as 4,334 cases involving 28,500 acres of land were decided in favour of the Adivasis and nearly 23,900 acres of land was restored to 3,386 of them, according to the statistics available. There are about 506 cases still pending trial.

The figures may not reveal the actual intensity of the problem as Adivasis continue to shy away from lodging cases against encroachers. The population of the aboriginal tribes is about 3.5 lakh only but it is spread over three-fifths of the 16,000 sq km of the district's geographical area incorporating 412 notified villages in 32 of the 52 revenue mandals.

It is time to restore, protect and develop lands of the poor with a special focus on SCs, STs and other marginalised groups. A significant percentage of land assigned to the landless poor was already alienated to others and they are in possession of about five lakh acres of assigned land.

The government should strictly implement the laws prohibiting land alienations and restore the land to the original owner/beneficiary. Further, measures are required to prevent distress sales. Also, steps are needed for development of the lands of the poor. (The writer is a Deputy Statistical Officer at the Telangana Secretariat)

By G Rajendera Kumar