Dear Girish,

 

Let me also add a few words on the Orissa situation. Here also the land transfer from tribals to non-tribals is regulated by law. The main laws  are the Orissa Scheduled Areas (transfer of immovable property by Scheduled Tribes) Regulation 1956 applicable to scheduled V areas and Orissa Land Reforms Act for the non-scheduled areas. The OSATIP 1956 ws strenghtened in 2000 and now completely bans all land transfers from STs to non-STs. The OLR allows the transfer of tribal land to non-tribal with permission.

 

However, most land transfers from STs to non-STs have taken place before 2000 (and even before 1956), even though there were restrictions even during the colonial period. At the same time, there is largescale undetected loss of tribal land through debt mortgages. Also, there has been allegations of manipulation during the Land Survey and Settlements when lands claimed by tribasl were settled with non-tribals. Part of the Kandhamal tension between tribals and panas (SCs) arises from this fact.

 

But more than the land alienated to the non-tribals, it is the land alienated by the State which have had much more consequence for the STs of Orissa. First, all the shifting cultivation land (some estimates put the shifting cultivation areas as comprising almost 20% of Orissa's land area) was converted to forest and non-forest land during Land Survey and Settlements and through forest notifications. Rights of tribals on land haven't been settled in many remote areas.

 

Unlike AP (based on AP regulation and Samata Judgemen), in Orissa, the OSATIP (1956) doesn't forbid the government from transferring land to non-tribals in schedule V areas. This has been interpreted to mean that government can acquire tribal land under Land Acquisition Act, 1894 and transfer it to other parties, which is going on a large scale with mining and industrialisation. More important, in most tribal districts, the customary tribal claimed lands have been categorised as government land and is being transferred to private parties and corporate sector merrily, even though these lands maybe in possession of the tribals.

 

In districts like Kandhamal and Gajapati, the  more than 85% of the district land area are categorised as forest land and revenue wastelands, even though most of the areas in these districts are claimed by tribal communities as their customary lands for shifting cultivation. Unlike the Northeast, where communities have some control over the land within their customary boundaries - the tribal communities in Orissa have lost all rights and controls over their customary lands/forests except for small amounts of valley land settled with them. In some villages, barely 1-5% of the village area is settled with cultivators with the rest settled as Government land.

 

This has been a major reason for conflicts in tribal areas. The situation has been exacerbated by the poor state of land records and the fact that they have not been updated for many decades. Tribals are in possession of land for generations but the land hasn't been settled with them. That was a key reason for Kalinganagar agitation and the firing that took place.

 

More is available on a report that I had prepared and which is available online at http://www.freewebs.com/epgorissa/World%20Bank%20Study%20Report.pdf

 

Regards 

 

Kundan

 

Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe