Restoration of Land to Tribals

Abstract

Parmoita Goswami works in the interiors of rural Maharashtra in the Jivti area of district Chandrapur. This area consists of about eighty villages. This part of the district used to be part of the estate of the Nizam of Hyderabad. During the reorganization of the states, this sub-division was attached with Maharashtra, initially as part of Nanded district and thereafter with Chandrapur district. As part of the reorganization process, the land was first brought under the control of the Maharashtra State. Thereafter pieces of it were allotted to the occupants (both adivasis and others) as per their occupation. Part of the land was also transferred to the Forest Department (FD) or marked for various purposes. Around 1975-76 there was a drought in Nanded and non-adivasis entered the Jivti area to escape the drought. The adivasis who were shy and afraid of outsiders and who did not speak Marathi were no match for the 'Marathas'. They were beaten out or cheated out of their land.Once the non-adivasis realised how easy it was to take possession of adivasi land, they informed others back home and the process continued till recent times. Over the years some non-adivasis bribed revenue officials and entered their names into the revenue records. In some cases the non-adivasis hounded the adivasis out of the land and then brought it to the notice of the revenue officers that the land was lying fallow and should be recovered by the government and re-distributed to the non-adivasis. All revenue officials in the area as well as some police officials were aware of the land grabbing in the area, but nobody came forward to help the adivasis.