Brutal suppression of tribal rights in Andhra Pradesh

The recent attack on an adivasi woman in the agency areas of West Godavari district is raising serious concern about the effectiveness of the tribal development agencies in implementing land rights protections extended to adivasis.

• Non-tribals cannot have rights on tribal lands as per LTR 1 of 70
• A tribal woman could not get her land back in her lifetime despite a favourable court order
• Officials for over a decade dithered on restoring land to her
• She recently died in a brutal attack by non-tribals in possession of her land

An adivasi women land rights activist, Chodem Durga of Andhra Pradesh Girijan Sangham affiliated to CPI (M), has been spearheading land struggles against non-tribal occupations in the Scheduled Areas of West Godavari district. She is embroiled in several criminal cases, and is herself a victim of oppression and exploitation by non-tribals and unscrupulous revenue administration.

According to her, she filed a petition (SR NO 15/2005) before the Special Deputy Collector (Tribal Welfare) court at KR Puram in West Godavari district, seeking restoration of land Ac 4.72 and other parcels of land Ac 6 in Survey No 1469 and Ac 5.56 in 572/1 from the illegal possession of non-tribals. The disputed land is situated in the scheduled village of Turpurekulagunta village in Buttayagudem mandal in the district.

The court allowed her claim under Land Transfer Regulations 1 of 70 in 2006 to the extent of Ac 4.72 in Survey No 1469 and further directed the Tahsildar, Buttayagudem, to take possession of the land from non-tribals and induct her into the possession. However, the Tahsildar has been sitting pretty over the order of the court for the last decade.

Non-implementation of the court order for about a decade speaks volumes of the fallacy of legal structures as well as the monitoring mechanisms from district to the State level meant for protecting the tribals in agency areas. With the support of other tribal women in the village she lodged a fresh application in April seeking implementation of the court order.

The Tahsildar this time raised a query asking her to show boundaries to the land for Ac 4.72 in the court order. The illiterate woman had no option and approached the SDC Court again and expressed her displeasure over the response of Tahsidar in implementing the order. The SDC court directed the Tahsildar to conduct a filed survey and fix the boundaries for the land Ac .4.72 separately and hand over the same to her.

Despite several representations seeking the implementation of order, there is no response either from district administration or Tahsildar in specific. Against this background, the adivasi activist, who experienced a decade of negligence of law enforcing officials in implementing the order in her favor, unable to contain her frustration and humiliation, stepped into the land with the support of other tribal women and plucked the harvested mango crop and brought it to home, declaring their disgust at the apathy of officials and exploitation of non tribals.

The non tribals and their supporters brutally attacked them in their village Turpurekulakunta on May 17 and snatched away the mangoes. The tribal woman succumbed to severe injuries, and a case against non-tribals was registered by Buttayagudem PS in Cr No 86/2016. The entire episode has a direct correlation to the erratic revenue administration in the Scheduled Areas which is leading to unwarranted land conflicts, without implementing the tribal land laws.

One can gauge the neglect of the law enforcing authorities on the basis of a number of land holdings of non-tribals. The land under occupation of Scheduled Tribes officially is only 58.50 per cent, the remaining land is held by non tribals. Non-Tribals could able to gain access to tribal lands in spite of LTR 1 of 70 which completely bans the land transfers in the Scheduled Areas in favour of non-tribals.

As per the reports of ITDA, K R Puram, by August 2014, tribals could able to succeed in only 2,584 (22 per cent) cases covering an extent of Ac.11082, while non-tribals could retain the land covering an extent of Ac 30774 by getting favourable orders in 8,923 cases (78 per cent). There is an urgent need to implement the tribal protective land laws without further dillydallying and put an end to the growing unrest among the adivasis in the Scheduled Area of West Godavari district.

By Dr Palla Trinadha Rao