[Reader-list] CPI-M activists evict Kerala tribal families

[Anivar Aravind]

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CPI-M activists evict Kerala tribal families
Web posted at: 11/27/2007 0:54:59
Source ::: The Peninsula/ By John Mary
http://tinyurl.com/2thxab

Thiruvananthapuram • In a Nadigram-style operation minus the violence, 
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) activists drove out tribal people 
from Government land atop the Munnar hills today, thwarting their move 
for a permanent settlement.

Tribal families, who had pitched tents on 1,500 acres allotted to 
Hindustan Newsprint for its captive plantation at Chinnakkanal, were 
caught unawares as the CPM cadres staged the takeover operation this 
morning. The activists, backed by local party reinforcements later in 
the day, tore down tents and put party flags, declaring the success of 
the operation.

Local people said tension prevailed in the area since tribal activists 
have threatened to recover the land and not to leave until the 
Government honored its commitment to distribute land to all landless 
Adivasi families in the State.

Tribal families, including children, had occupied the land under the 
banner of the Adivasi Punaradhivasa Samrakshana Samithy (tribal 
rehabilitation protection committee).

The provocation had come as the fallout of the deal struck between Chief 
Minister AK Antony and tribal leader C K Janu. At a grand function, 
Antony distributed title-deeds but only 540 families out of the 798 
families got the land.

“They had waited for more than five years for the land. The Government 
had forced them to resort to direct action. They have run out of 
patience and there’s no question of returning without getting the land”, 
said tribal solidarity leader C P Shaji.

However, the local CPM leaders alleged that Congress and Communist Party 
of India had instigated the tribal people to occupy Government land so 
they could grab the land once the dust settled.

Tribal agitation has traversed a chequered course in Kerala. Janu had 
led many families on a 48-day sit-in in front of the Government 
Secretariat soon after Antony came to power in 2001.

The agitation ended with Antony agreeing to a seven-point demand, mainly 
five acres to each landless tribal family and a rehabilitation package 
to ensure that the land was not alienated.

However, the pact suffered a setback after Janu led a tribal band to the 
Muthanga wildlife sanctuary in the northern Wynad district two years 
later, leading to deaths a policeman and a tribal youth.

The most important fallout of agitations has been that both the 
Government and the tribal activists succeeded in shifting the focus of 
the nearly 50-year-old tribal struggle in Kerala from the issue of 
“restoration of alienated land” to one of “land for the landless tribal 
people”.

In April 1975, Kerala Assembly unanimously adopted the Kerala Scheduled 
Tribes (Restriction on Transfer of Lands and Restoration of Alienated 
Lands) Act, which sought to prevent the lands of the tribal people from 
falling into the hands of non-tribal people. The Act also sought to 
restore to the tribal people their previously alienated lands.

But that has remained mostly on paper.