Dalits-Adivasis and the Land
Rights
-SR Darapuri I.P.S.(Retd) and
National Spokesman, All India Peoples Front
India is a country of
villages. According to 2011 Census it has got 6,40,867 villages. According to
the same Census, out of a total population of 121 crores 83.3 crores live in
villages and 37.7 crores live in cities. As such nearly 70% population of this
country is rural and 30% only is urban. Out of the total 24.39 crore families
17.96 crores live in rural area and out of them 3.31 crores are Scheduled
Castes (Dalits) and 1.96 crores are Scheduled Tribes (Tribals/Adivasis). In
India the population of Dalits is 20.14 crores which forms 16.6% of the total
population of the country. The total population of Adivasis (Tribals) is 10.42
crores which is 8.6% of the total population of the country.
According to Socio-Economic and Caste Census -
2011, 56% Rural families are landless and out of them 73% are Dalits and 79%
are Tribal families. Out of Rural families 45% Dalit and 30% Tribal families
are Manual Labourers only. Similarly out of Rural families 18.35% Dalit and 38%
Tribal families are agriculturists. From this Census report it has come to
light that out of our total population only 40% are regularly employed and 60%
are casual workers who remain unemployed for most of the time.
From the above statistics some
important aspects of Dalits and Tribals come to the forefront. One is that
about 73% of Rural Dalit families and 79% of Tribal families depend on manual
labour only. Secondly most of Dalit and Tribal families are deprived. Thirdly
they do not own any means of production like land etc. and due to lack of any
other skill they are dependent on manual labour only. They are mostly landless
and very few of them own land. As such most of the Dalit and Tribal families
are dependent on land owning communities. Not only this they depend on them for
cutting grass for their animals and even for natural call. Due to landlessness
and limited seasonal agriculture employment, they remain unemployed for most of
the time.
It is well known that India is
an agriculture country and its 60% population is either agriculturist or agriculture
labour. From the above statistics it is clear that most of the Dalits and
Tribals are landless and are capable of doing manual labour only. As such
landlessness and being manual labourers only are their biggest vulnerabilities.
On account of it they are neither able to face the atrocities committed on them
due to caste discrimination and untouchability nor they are in a position to
fight for proper wages. Agriculture employment being seasonal they have to
search for employment elsewhere or remain unemployed. On account of this 73%
Dalits and 79% Tribal families are vulnerable and landless.
It is a fact that in rural
India land is not only a source of production but it also symbolises the
respect and social status. In the village the person who owns land is not only
economically secure but he is also socially respected. Now as most of the
Dalits neither own land nor they have regular employment, as such they are
neither economically secure nor are they socially respected. Rural Dalits can
get empowered only if they get land and regular employment. Hence land
redistribution and secure employment is the first need of landless Dalits and
Tribal families.
After India became independent Zamindari
Abolition and Land Reforms were the measures adopted for redistribution of
resources. Under this scheme Land Ceiling Laws were enacted to make land
available for redistribution to the landless. But open dishonesty was practiced
in the implementation of these laws because most of the leaders of the then
ruling Congress Party were big land holders and the same class dominated the
bureaucracy. The result was that very little land could become available for
distribution to the landless by the implementation of the land reforms and even
that land was not distributed. This resulted in the land remaining in the hands
of the earlier owners. Even today huge land is with individuals, public trusts
and temples and anonymous owners. As a result of it there are 18.53% small and
64.77% marginal farmers in the country who own only 41.52% of total agriculture
land. The remaining 59% area is in the possession of 17% medium and big
farmers.
Socio-Economic and Caste
Census statistics show that land right is the most important question for rural
Dalits and Adivasis (Tribals) which cannot be solved without proper
implementation of Land Reforms but the tragedy is that Land Reforms and Land
Distribution do not figure in the agenda of any Dalit and Non-Dalit political
party. It is seen that the states like West Bengal and Kerala where land
reforms were strictly enforced by Left Party governments and land was made
available to the Dalits and Adivasis their social and economic condition has
improved.
It is known that in Uttar
Pradesh from 1995 to 2012 Mayawati, a Dalit, was Chief Minister for four times.
During her regime only some land was distributed in 1995 in Central and Western
Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) and that too in a very small quantity and no land was
distributed in the remaining parts of the state. In Eastern U.P. which has got
a dense population of Dalits no land was distributed except in Gorakhpur
district which was due to the initiative of Mr. Harish Chandra, the then Commissioner
of Gorakhpur Division. I witnessed the pitiable condition of landless Dalits in
Sonbhadra and Chandauli districts of eastern U.P. when I contested Lok Sabha
election in 2014 from Robertsganj constituency. The condition of the Adivasis
of these districts is really very shocking.
It is a fact that in 1995 there was
sufficient land available under Ceiling Surplus Land, Gram Samaj, Fallow Land
and Bhoodan Land in U.P. for distribution to landless Dalits, Adivasis and
other landless families but Mayawati did not distribute it with the result that
it continued to remain in the possession of illegal occupants. Not only this,
she did not take any action to give possession of land to the families who were
given land pattas (land entitlements) during earlier Congress regime. After
1995, Mayawati did not take any initiative to distribute land or restore possession
to the owners of Land Pattas just to avoid ire of the powerful communities who
became her voters under the so called "Social Engineering." It came
to light from the Land Owners statistics of 2001 Census that during 10 years
span of 1991-2001, 23% of Dalits became landless who previously owned land. It
is worth noting that during this period Mayawati was thrice Chief Minister of
U.P.
For empowerment of Adivasis,
Forest Rights Act - 2006 and Rules came into force in 2008. Under this Act the
Adivasis and others living in the Protected Forest area were to get title of the
land which they had in their possession and under cultivation. For this they
had to submit their claims to the Revenue authorities. Mayawati was the Chief
Minister of Uttar Pradesh from 2007 to 2012 but Mayawati government did not
take any effective action to implement this Act with the result that as on
30.1.2012 out of 92,406 claims 74,701 claims i.e. 81% claims were rejected. The
result was that only 17,705 claims (19%) were accepted and 1,39,777 hectares of
land was distributed.
Now when we come to Gujrat, a
beneficiary of Modi's Development Model the situation is very dismal. As on
30.04.2016, under Forest Rights Act out of 1,90,097 claims only 77,038 were
accepted and only a total of 11,92,351 hectares land was distributed. As such
65% of the claims were rejected and only 35% claims were accepted. That is why
in Gujrat Dalits and Adivasis had to launch a Land Rights Agitation demanding 5
Acres of land to each landless family.
In the face of Mayawati's
calaousness and anti-Dalit/Adivasi policy All India Peoples Front (AIPF) had to
file a Public Interest Litigation PIL) in Allahabad High Court in which the
Court gave an order for reprocessing of claims under Forest Rights Act but neither
Mayawati nor Akhilesh Yadav government took any interest to reprocess the
claims
At the national level as on
30.04.2001 out of 44,23,464 claims 38,57,379 claims were disposed off out of
which only 17,44,274 claims have been accepted and 1.03,58,376 Acres land has been
distributed which comes out to be about 5 Acres per claim. At the national
level the rate of rejection of claims is 53.8% whereas it is 80.15% for the
state of Uttar Pradesh which has been ruled by Mayawati, a Dalit and Akhlesh
Yadav, a Backward Class Chief Minister. It transpires that, both Mayawati and
Akhilesh Yadav are responsible for the tardy implementation of Forest Rights
Act in Uttar Pradesh.
From the above it becomes
clear that both the Central and State governments have been careless and
disinterested in the empowerment of Dalits and Adivasis through distribution of
land to them. The political parties both Dalit and Non-Dalit do not want to
empower Dalits and Adivasis as they want to keep them poor and dependent for
using them as vote banks. U.P. is a classical example of this mentality where
Mayawati, a Dalit and Mulayam Singh, a Backward Claws has been Chief Minister
four times and three times respectively. All the political parties are
indulging in caste and communal politics. None of them has any agenda for Land
Reforms and Land Distribution to Dalits-Adivasis and other landless categories
for empowering them. As we know land is
a very valuable asset for Dalits and Adivasis.
Hence in the face of the complacent and
unconcerned attitude of political parties towards land reforms and empowerment
of Dalits and Adivasis, there is no alternative but to agitate for land rights.
Dalits have a long history of agitation for land. In 1953 land agitation was
launched in Marathwara area of Hyderabad state and in 1958 in Konkan area of
Maharashtra under the guidance of Dr. Ambedkar. The biggest land rights
agitation was carried out by Republican Party of India from 6th December, 1964
to 10th February, 1965 in which more than 3 million Dalits courted arrest. As a
result of it, the then Congress government had to agree for land distribution
to Dalits. “Land to the Landless" was the key slogan of this agitation.
But unfortunately later on no such agitation was launched by Dalits with the
result that no land was distributed and majority of the Dalits have remained
landless. No doubt Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Kanshi Ram had given the sloga
"Jo Zamin Sarkaari hai vo zamin hamari hai" (All government land is
ours) before coming into power but this slogan was easily forgotten once BSP
got into power.
In his historical speech at Agra on 23rd
March, 1956 Dr. BR Ambedkar had pointed out the importance and need of land for
Dalits where he said," I am much worried for the landless labourers living
in the villages. I could not do much for them. I cannot bear with their sorrows
and woes. The main reason for their ruin is that they do not own land. That is
why they are victims of atrocities and insults. I will struggle for them and if
the government creates hurdles I will lead them and fight legal battle for
them. But I will make every possible effort to get land for them." From
this statement it is clear that Dr. Ambedkar knew the importance of land for
empowerment of Dalits and he was prepared to take recourse to legal battle and
public agitation to get it. But unfortunately he did not live long to give it a
practical shape.
In the meanwhile Adivasis have been carrying
out "Land Rights Movement" in different parts of the country but
Dalits did not launch any such movement as a result of which no land has been
distributed to them. The main agenda of Naxalbari movement was to get land to
the landless. Recently a call for allotment of 5 Acres of land to Dalits in
Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh has been given by Dalits and
Adivasis. The latest Dalit agitation of Gujrat has also demanded 5 Acres of
land for landless Dalit families and land titles under Forest Rights Act for
Adivasis. This movement can take the Dalits out of the cow web of identity
politics which has reduced them to just vote bank for unscrupulous Dalit
politicians. If this demand spreads to other states also it will give a radical
agenda to Dalit movement and force the political parties to give a place to
land rights in their political agenda. Hence land rights demand should be
raised immediately in the states where Assembly elections are going to be held
early next year. It will put all the political parties to test for their
concern or lack of it for Dalit empowerment.
Real empowerment of Dalits and
Adivasis is possible only through strict implementation of land reforms and
giving land to them. Adivasis should be given land titles by proper implementation
of Forest Rights Act. It requires a strong political will which is totally
lacking at present. It is certain that no government is going to do it
willingly unless Dalits and Adivasis launch a strong agitation for land
allotment. The political parties like BSP which believe in easy identity
politics cannot undertake land struggle on its political agenda because it
shuns all types of struggle. Actually Dalit politics needs a new radical agenda
covering their material issues like land distribution, poverty, unemployment
and atrocities etc. All India Peoples Front (AIPF) has given a prominent place
to Land Reforms and distribution of land to landless people. It had filed a
Public Interest Litigation in Allahabad High Court for proper implementation of
Forest Rights Act which was badly failed by Mayawati and Mulayam Singh
government in U.P. The High Court had issued directives to the state government
for reprocessing the land claims of Adivasis which had suffered wholesale
rejection by the authorities. AIPF has again launched a struggle for proper
implementation of Forest Rights Act in eastern U.P. It is going to hold a big
dharna at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on 9th November demanding reprocessing of
land claims of Adivasis under Forest Rights Act. All pro-people and progressive
organisations are requested to come forward and join hands to compel the
governments to take up Land Reforms and all the political parties to declare
their agenda regarding implementation of Land Reforms and distribution of 5
Acres of land to Dalits including other landless families. Proper
implementation of Forest Rights Act also needs to be reemphasised at political
level.
