On February 13 2019, the apex court of India announced a decision, that 17 state governments should forcefully evict 1.84 million tribal population from the forest land which they have ‘encroached.’
The environmental journalist Nitin Sethi called the decision the “largest mass scale, legally sanctioned eviction of tribal in independent India.” The paper attempts to trace the forest land laws and corresponding tribal evictions in India through a recent sanction by the Supreme Court of India, simultaneously pointing out at the atrocious means which the authorities acquire to execute this immoral task, and briefly, the paper will also discuss the consequences, resistance and submission to the evictions.
Before understanding the bigger problem of forest land and traditional practices conflict, it is important to know that, by definition, the sanctioned is a transfer of population.
In the transfer of population, the affected population is transferred by force to a distant region, perhaps not suited to their way of life, causing them substantial harm. In addition, the loss of all immovable property, incoherent traditions and customs and, when rushed, the loss of substantial amounts of movable property, is implied.
The overview of the conflict is between forest land and the traditional practices of natives. There are environmentalists, governments, etc. who wish to save the forest land and resources from the encroachers. On the other hand, it is about the rights of the tribals who have been living on the same land for years and have been following their traditional practices. Also, certain tribes have adapted their practices in keeping with the availability of forest resources in the contemporary world.
Neither party is at fault, their agendas are well suited for their respective causes but the manner is wrong. Here, the question is on the government and how they dealt with the issue of forest rights.
The recent eviction has a significant history, from Indian Forest Act 1865 to the Forest Rights Act 2006, which leads to the perpetual discrimination which tribal people have faced during land allocation. History has been the witness to the bigotry of the forest rights acts, which were initiated by the British Raj for their economic development.
Even after independence, during the process of amalgamation of princely states, the activity of consolidation of government forests continued. The State Governments/UT Administrations proclaimed the lands of ex-princely states and the zamindari lands as Reserved Forests and the tribal land issues remained unacknowledged.
The 42nd Amendment 1976, Forest Conservation Act 1980, the National Forest Policy 1988 and the subsequent 1990 Guidelines gave the tribal population hope of change in their fate. The absence of records of forest land rights and a tedious verification procedure became the main constraint in resolving this issue. As a result, the rural people, especially tribal and forest dwellers who have been living in the forest since time immemorial, have come to be erroneously looked upon as encroachers of forest lands.
After 1990 Guidelines and before the Forest Rights Act 2006, tribal evictions were still happening. A letter was submitted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests in 2004 to the PMO and other responsible authorities to stop those violent evictions. An independent researcher, during his tribal eviction research, between 2002 and 2004 recorded that around 3 lakh tribal families were impacted by these evictions.
Further, the evictions have often taken place in the most brutal manner. Houses have been set on fire or trampled by elephants, standing crops have been destroyed, women have been molested, people killed in police firing, etc. In Madhya Pradesh alone, more than 125 villages were burned to the ground. There is a long catalog of well-documented atrocities.
The frequent forest law changes left the tribals with just two options. First, to entirely disclaim the forest land and leave or second, to live in the forest or nearby as ‘criminals.’ Some preferred to stay back, keep on fighting for their land and rights through active and passive resistance.
They established unions and conducting protest rallies. Their folk songs begun to have a mention of the problems they faced. While others disclaimed their land and resettled elsewhere, drifting away from their culture and tradition.
The entire history of the forest laws leads to the present scenario. Soutik Biswas in his article for BBC writes, “Tribespeople support groups say the implementation of the law has been faulty. They blame overzealous environmentalists and wildlife groups for the present state of affairs.”
In the recent case, the absence of defense in the court reestablishes the trivialization of the entire matter by the central government. Simultaneously, we should also consider the widespread unrest and violence during such a large-scale eviction in 17 states including Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh.
If the question is to save the forest area, then the industries and mines are doing more harm than the tribal population. For example, the constant depletion and exploitation of Aravalli hills hasn’t stopped even after multiple statements by the Supreme Court of India. The Haryana government recently passed an amendment to legalize the construction on the Aravalli Hills.
In just 30 years, India has lost large forests to 23,716 industrial projects. Now, this kind of development is something which should be taken into account.
For tribal people, the forest was and is their first home. Their traditional practices are in line with the forests. A certain environmentalist claims on the basis of satellite surveys, that the forests are being destroyed, the water level is depleting, and the flora and fauna are being impacted due to intervention of the tribal people. I think it is because of the delayed state intervention instead of tribal people who are doing nothing but residing in a place where they have lived for centuries.
To conclude, we have a limited understanding of the people we live around and an even lower understanding of those we don’t have an association with. We have heard little or no stories about them.
What we have heard has overrun, all thought and effort has been exhausted. And then we realize that our stories of them aren’t their real stories. This frustrates us. To overcome this frustration, we tend to move to practicality, which in this case are records, documentation, satellite surveys, opinions, etc.
This practicality doesn’t really end here, instead moves to a conclusion that all ‘real’ stories are invalid, rather, illegal. Only our stories of you are valid and legal. Hence, we pass judgment to the marginalised community of tribal people to evict their homes.
The tribal population in India have lost their homes, land, traditions and culture, and even themselves in the name of dams, mines, factories, industries, tourism, etc.
Now, this Supreme Court proclamation of ‘forceful’ eviction has made their life even more vulnerable than it was. The situation is so bad that the then Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, in his 29th Report, said, “The criminalization of the entire communities in the tribal areas is the darkest blot on the liberal tradition of our country.”
The solution isn’t the displacement of the most vulnerable 8.6% (104 million) of the population, instead it is a well thought out solution with an efficient implementation.