On a scorching afternoon in Cheppodu, an sad G. Maaran sits outdoors his mud home beneath a protruding thatched roof product of supplies gathered from the forests. The outdated man owns a herd of goats, which stand bleating beneath a withered tree towering over his small home. Maaran used to dwell in Bennai, only a stone’s throw away, in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve of Tamil Nadu. Maaran says the Forest Department tried relocating him and different Adivasi households to areas outdoors the tiger reserve. But dissatisfied with what was promised to them, these households have moved from Bennai to Cheppodu, which can be in the reserve.
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Maaran is a member of the Kattunayakan tribe, an indigenous group who dwell in the forests of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve and Guldalur in the Nilgiris. The Kattunayakans, Irulas, Paniyas and Kurumbas have been incentivised to depart the tiger reserve as part of the ‘golden handshake’ settlement between the Tamil Nadu Forest Department and greater than 700 households.
The settlement was formulated by the authorities after the Mountadden and Wayanadan Chetty communities obtained an order from the Madras High Court in 2007 in search of relocation away from the forest citing an absence of fundamental facilities. The Adivasis declare that the Chettys have been inclined to relocate as that they had no conventional ties to the forest, whereas the Adivasis do. They say they have been both coerced into shifting or misinformed about the advantages of relocation. The goal of the ‘golden handshake’ was to not simply profit the native communities inside the tiger reserve, but additionally support conservation efforts.
The 701 households from 30 small hamlets have been to be relocated in three phases, with every choosing a one-time cost of ₹10 lakh, or land and housing equal to the land they forfeited to the authorities. The first part started in earnest solely in 2017, a decade after the settlement. Till date, 569 households from the 4 Adivasi teams and the Mountadden and Wayanadan Chetty communities have been relocated, say officers from the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, whereas 132 households stay inside the tiger reserve. A complete of ₹66.19 crore has been sanctioned for the undertaking.
‘We feel cheated’
Angry with the Department for “cheating them,” Maaran and 40 households from the Kattunayakan tribe from Bennai have as soon as once more constructed homes on the forest land. It is in this hut surrounded by goats that Maaran sits now.
“I thought I was being promised ₹10 lakh in cash, a house and land by the government. But in the end, I only got some money, not the full amount I was promised,” he says.
G. Appu, one other resident in Cheppodu, says the communities didn’t obtain paperwork for the land that they bought. “With the money and through mediation by a Forest Department personnel, I purchased around 25 cents of land (one cent is 0.01 acres). But I still don’t have a patta (documentation). The owner of the land says the land documents are with the Revenue Department and that he is yet to see them,” says Appu. “As we are poor and many of us haven’t gone to school, many of the landowners have cheated us.”
The Kattunayakans and Paniyas of Bennai village say they have been both coerced into shifting or misinformed about the advantages of relocation.
| Photo Credit:
M. Sathyamoorthy
Like Appu, Maaran opted for a one-time payout and purchased a automobile that he rents out to move items. According to Maaran, the Forest Department stated that every one his sons, who have been above the age of 18 when the scheme was applied, can be eligible for compensation. “Even though three of my children are eligible for compensation, only one of them has got the money,” he says.
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Okay. Mahendran, an Adivasi rights activist from the Nilgiris, says lots of the Adivasis who have been resettled outdoors the tiger reserve are unclear about what they have been owed in the first place. “While the Mountadden and Wayanadan Chettys wanted to relocate from the reserve, and have largely been able to do so with few complications, the Kattunayakans and the Paniyas have not been resettled fairly. As many people seem to have been involved in the process of resettlement, and promises were made with little paperwork or documentation, it seems that most people were not informed clearly or were even misinformed about what they would receive for relocating,” he says.
The two communities declare that they’ve been cheated by a couple of Forest Department workers, some landowners and middlemen. “While this is difficult to prove, it should be probed by the police,” says Mahendran.
The activist has been making an attempt to establish the degree of fraud dedicated towards the group members, however says it is a problem. “First, it is difficult to gain the trust of the community as they are suspicious of outsiders. And even when you gain their trust, it is difficult to ascertain exactly who has cheated them,” he explains. “For instance, one old woman told me that she has ₹3 lakh inside her house. When I asked her to show me the money, she only had ₹3,000 with her. Someone had told her that it was ₹3 lakh and had given it to her.”
Based on his interactions with the group, Mahendran says that almost all of the individuals who purchased land with the cash they got would not have pattas. “My suspicion is that either the land brokers over-inflated land prices and took a share of the money, or that they took the money from them and made them settle on government lands,” he says.
G. Malaichamy, a Nilgiris-based lawyer who has filed a grievance with the police together with 21 Adivasis from Nagampalli and Puliyampara, says there have been many circumstances of fraud. “Based on our complaint, a case had been registered by the District Crime Branch Police for fraud and under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against a forest ranger, a guard, a lawyer and some brokers for cheating the Adivasis who were relocated,” he says.
In lots of the circumstances, Adivasis have been offered land for which there was no documentation, says Malaichamy. The lawyer argues that the funds for the relocation ought to have been handed over by at the least 2010, when land was reasonably priced. But now, resulting from inflation, the cash given to them will get them no quite a lot of cents of land, which he says is just unsustainable to earn a residing by means of agriculture.
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“In 2010, one cent of land in the area sold for around ₹25,000. Now the rates have increased, with people finding it difficult to purchase land for anything less than ₹3 lakh per cent,” he says.
Poor high quality of life
In the village of Palapally, G. Bindu lives in a small two-room home along with her husband. They have been relocated to the village in 2018 from the Nagampally settlement in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve. Bindu has planted greens in the one acre of land. But she has no paperwork to show possession of the property. “Last year, due to heavy rain, we suffered crop damage amounting to ₹1 lakh. Even if we want to apply for a loan or compensation, we are not able to, since we don’t have the documents to prove that we own the land. We fear that the government may evict us in the future,” she says. Bindu additionally says the high quality of life too has not improved in their new residence. “Our houses don’t have electricity connection or running water,” she says.
The authorities constructed homes for a couple of Adivasi households from Bennai. In one settlement, often called Bennai Number 1, residents dwell in dilapidated homes. Many of those constructions suffered harm throughout the heavy rains in 2018 and 2019.
Maadhan, a 76-year-old resident who will depend on the Public Distribution System for meals, doesn’t perceive the rationale behind the relocation course of. He factors out that the households have been moved just some hundred yards from their village, which was inside the tiger reserve. “Is the forest safer now that we have moved?” he wonders.
Children of Bennai village inside the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.
| Photo Credit:
M. Sathyamoorthy
He too complains about the constructions. “During the rains, the roofs leak and these places get flooded. Our thatched roofed houses, which we had built ourselves, used to protect us more effectively than these homes built by the government. At least those houses could be repaired with materials from the forests nearby. These houses are expensive to repair and renovate without the government’s help. It is almost impossible to stay here,” he says.
A way of remorse
Stan Thekaekara, co-founder of Action for Community Organisation, Rehabilitation and Development (ACCORD), an NGO which has been working to guard the rights of Adivasis in Gudalur for over three many years, says there have been many circumstances of fraud perpetrated towards Adivasi teams throughout the relocation course of. “What is clear from the bank passbooks of the community members is that they were pressured into withdrawing large sums of money. They were promised land and housing but after the money was handed over to the middlemen, they did not get what was promised. They allege that they were shown government lands and government housing for the money they paid. Many Adivasis who opted for the one-time payment option of ₹10 lakh said that during the disbursement of the first phase of the payment of ₹7 lakh, they only received a few thousands. The rest, they say, was pocketed by various people,” he says.
Thekaekara additionally speaks of the deep connections the communities have with their land. “For many older community members, it is almost impossible to leave the forests, which are home to sacred groves and sites where they worship,” he says.
When the plans of relocation have been first conveyed to them, the Adivasis handed resolutions in Gram Sabhas refusing to maneuver out from the forests. But after this, say villagers of Cheppodu and Bennai Number 1, group leaders have been persuaded or coerced into negotiating with the villagers by the Forest Department, and they lastly agreed to the transfer.
Maaran from Cheppodu factors to a temple the place the Adivasis pray. Leaving the forest was tantamount to abandoning the gods, he says. “We now fear that if we leave, the Forest Department may stop us from visiting our temples and praying here in Cheppodu.”
Maaran says many Adivasis who’ve moved out as a part of the relocation plan have informed him that they remorse their resolution. “Our lives are intertwined with the forest and its animals. None of us have ever had problems with elephants or tigers, though we spot them regularly near the village. If we are forced to move, our identities too will be lost,” he worries.
Conducting an inquiry
Despite these allegations of fraud and dishonest, the Forest Department is continuous with the relocation course of. D. Venkatesh, Field Director of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, confirms that the third part of the relocation course of is ongoing, with the Collector guaranteeing oversight of the relocation course of. In the first two phases, a complete of 569 households have been relocated. Another 132 households, together with Adivasis and Chettys, are to be relocated in the subsequent part, say officers.
Nilgiris Collector S.P. Amrith says the Adivasis who declare to have been cheated ought to strategy him with a grievance. He guarantees to look into the allegations made by the residents. He provides that the technique of issuing pattas is ongoing, with greater than 100 households who’re a part of the relocation plan having been provided pattas lately.
When requested about the allegations of fraud towards the Forest Department workers, C. Vidhya, Deputy Director of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (Core Area), says following the First Information Report, which was filed in 2019 (towards Forest Department workers and land brokers), a sub-committee was shaped to “enumerate the number of families affected by the malfeasance.” Once this inquiry is accomplished, steps can be taken to compensate affected individuals, she says.
“Neither us nor the forests have benefited from the relocation scheme,” says Maaran. “Only a few Forest Department staff and some middlemen have profited from the funds that were meant for the Adivasis. Why would we trust anything the government says in the future?”
Maaran contends that the villagers won’t go away Cheppodu till there are extra beneficial negotiations or, at the very least, they’re given what they have been promised as a part of the authentic relocation plan.
