Now, in an order dated May 25, the Forest Department has flagged procedural violations in the issue of these eviction notices. It directed the officials to note that their settlements, known as Khattey, can be removed only when proper provisions are made for their resettlements, reported The Hindu.

Van Gujjars from several villages in the Terai East and West Divisions had received such eviction notices. However, when TOI spoke to forest range officer Laxman Singh Martolia of Bannakheda range in Terai West division, he said, “The letter were solely intended to inform them that anti-forest activities would not be tolerated within the forest area.”

The Uttarakhand Forest Department had issued eviction notices to approximately 400 Van Gujjars to vacate their houses as a part of a drive to clear encroachments on forest property, like religious places, settlements or any other structures that cropped up illegally. It is also pertinent to note that most of these Van Gujjars belong to the Muslim community.

Van Gujjars are nomadic forest dwelling pastoral communities residing in Uttarakhand. The Van Gujjars of Uttarakhand mark the onset of summer season with their annual migration to the Himalayan ‘bugyals’ or meadows, and in the winter season they move towards the lower mountains of the Shivalik range. As reported in Times of India, Van Panchayat Sangharsh Morcha (VPSM), an organization working towards safeguarding the rights of the forest dwellers has written to the Principal Forest Secretary requesting the Government to halt the displacement of these forest dwellers and highlighted the procedural issues and lapses in the orders. Tarun Joshi, a member of VPSM highlighted one of the issues as “such notices can be issued by an officer holding the rank of a divisional forest officer”. As reported in the Times of India, on May 22, around 100 Van Gujjars, including women and children protested the order “to immediately vacate the land” in Ramnagar, Nainital district.

The Van Gujjars have stated that their claims filed under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (also known as the Forest Rights Act) are still pending with the government.
The Forest Rights Act, 2003

The Section 3 of Forest Rights Act, 2003 recognizes the right of the forest dwellers to ‘hold and live in the forest land under the individual or common occupation for habitation or for self-cultivation for livelihood by a member or members of a forest dwelling Scheduled Tribe or other traditional forest dwellers’. Further, Section 4 of the Act clearly states that in case they are residing in ‘critical wildlife habitats of National Parks and Sanctuaries’ these forest dwellers need to be rehabilitated first.

Further, the Guidelines on the implementation of Forest Rights Act issued by the Ministry for Tribal Affairs clearly state,

“Section 4(5) of the Act is very specific and provides that no member of a forest dwelling Scheduled Tribe or other traditional forest dwellers shall be evicted or removed from the forest land under his occupation till the recognition and verification procedure is complete. This clause is of an absolute nature and excludes all possibilities of eviction of forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes or other traditional forest dwellers without settlement of their forest rights as this Section opens with the words “Save as otherwise provided”. The rationale behind this protective clause against eviction is to ensure that in no case a forest dweller should be evicted without recognition of his rights as the same entitles him to a due compensation in case of eventuality of displacement in cases, where even after recognition of rights, a forest area is to be declared as inviolate for wildlife conservation or diverted for any other purpose. In any case, Section 4(1) has the effect of recognizing and vesting forest rights in eligible forest dwellers. Therefore, no eviction should take place till the process of recognition and vesting of forest rights under the Act is complete.”

They further lay down, “in view of the provisions of Section 4(5) of the Act, no eviction and resettlement is permissible from the National Parks and Sanctuaries till all the formalities relating to recognition and verification of their claims are completed.”

It is the duty of the State Level Monitoring Committee to ensure that these guidelines are followed.

Uttarakhand High Court order

In the Think Act Rise Foundation through Arjun Kasana vs State of Uttarakhand and Ors. Writ Petition (PIL) No. 140 of 2019 (order dated 25th May 2021) the Uttarakhand High Court through an interim order upheld the right of a qafila (caravan) of Van Gujjars to migrate to their summer homesteads in the bugyals (Himalayan alpine meadows) in the Govind Pashu Vihar National Park in Uttarkashi district. The court noted,

“It is, indeed, trite to state that Article 21 of the Constitution of India forbids the State from reducing the lives of its people below the animal existence. Every citizen not only has a right to live, but also has a right to live with dignity.”

The eviction notices to the Van Gujjars again show an attempt on the part of the state to remove them from their lands which in itself is violative of Article 21 of the Constitution and their rights under the Forest Rights Act, 2006.

Related:

A Day in the Life of Van Gujjars

HC order empowers Van Gujjars during Covid-19

Bullets and bureaucracy: Van Gujjars of Shivalik hills are caught in the crosshairs

How can you ever ‘resettle’ an ancient way of life?

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Burhanpur, March 2023: Two Adivasi activists associated with the Jagrit Adivasi Dalit Sangathan (JADS) claim that they were threatened with arrest during police questioning following the arrest of 35 other Adivasi activists after a face-off with the Forest Department in Madhya Pradesh’s Burhanpur region. The two have been also called for questioning today.

The region has seen a history of violence against Adivasi communities by the notorious Forest Department. The Forest Department periodically attempts to illegally “evict” Adivasis of Pachayat Baldi from their land by using force, sometimes employing violence and intimidation tactics such as illegal detention, physical assault, and even money extortion. This is a violation of section 4 (5) of the Forest Rights Act which does not recognize eviction at all. These section of the emancipator law states that forest dwelling person from a Scheduled Tribe or other traditional communities should not evicted or removed from the forest land they occupy until the recognition and verification procedure is complete.

In a statement released by JADS recently, they detail the following: JADS activists received a call from the locals of Baldi Panchayat on February 2, 2023 informing them about the illegal arrest of four people – two men and two women. They were picked up from their homes and taken to an unknown location with no information given to their families, a violation of settled law and jurisprudence. At this stage when this happened, JADS activists immediately contacted the DFO (District forest officer) and District Collector, Burhanpur, asking them to intervene in the matter and ensure that due process of law was followed. Anxiously looking for those who were picked up, other villagers went to the Range Office in Burhanpur and heard shouts and screams and other sounds of torture from the office building. Thereafter there was a reported clash between villagers and the forest staff after this. It was after this ‘confrontation’ that around 20 men and 15 women were arrested by the police while they were on their way back to their village.

The very next next day, Antaram Awase, a young Advisadi activist, and Nitin, a graduate from TISS, went to meet the DFO, SP and District Collector, to find out what had happened. Instead, they found themselves implicated in the conflict for merely speaking to the arrested villagers on the phone. The two were in fact not in Burhanpur at the time. They have called the two for questioning on March 9, yesterday.

These two activists, both Antaram and Nitin have been working with JADS for over five years and are at the forefront of the campaign to spread awareness about legal Forest Rights. JADS, currently active with tribals across four districts in MP – Barwani, Khargone, Khandwa and Burhanpur – is a community led organisation and plays an important role in highlighting illegal fellings of trees on Adivasi land and underhanded attempts to suppress their forest rights. The attempt to implicate the two JADS activists can only be read as an attempt to suppress this campaign.

Related:

Adivasis of Burhanpur rejoice as all demands get fulfilled, verification of claims for the entire district

Minister inquires about implementation of FRA in states, MoTA dodges any accountability

Tribals Allege Officials Use Forest Rights Act to Harass, Demand Money; Picket DM’s Office

First Fired Upon, Now Criminal Cases Registered Against Tribals in Madhya Pradesh

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“We are fighting the Forest Department for our right to the water, the forests and the land. We say that all of this [forests] is ours and shall remain ours. This forest is our livelihood. This is our ancestor’s land. We have been living here forever,” said 65-year-old Adivasi, Ram Surat Singh.

However, the frustrated Adivasis’ claims were never accepted by the forest department that kept enforcing numerous laws upon the forest-dwellers living in Kaimur Pahar, Bihar.

“We are left helpless. What do we do? Where can we go? We have no idea. No one in our homes has a government job or a business to earn a living. On the other hand, the forest department capitalises on the forest wealth. They have made life difficult for lakhs, crores of Adivasis,” he said.

Resolved to act against this injustice, the aged resident of Baradih village in Kaimur district wrote letters to the Citizens for Justice and Peace, the All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP) and a delegation of the Delhi Forum who visited Adhaura from September 22 to September 27 to look into the repressive action of the local police.

According to Singh, the forest authorities, after declaring the Kaimur Wildlife sanctuary, banned Adivasis from collecting herbs like Lasha, Melavar, Gurmar, Shatavar and Tendu. As a result, local inhabitants of the plateau suffered losses in crores of rupees. He said the authorities had cut off their prime source of earnings.

Moreover, they also banned wood-cutting despite long-standing traditions, depriving local forest-dwellers of basic amenities like charpoys, posts, chairs, tables, plows and houses among other things. Singh said that Adivasis have a right to sell wood at markets but are unable to do so because of the harassment of the forest department.

“We live under the dominance of the forest department. They beat us, lodge fake cases against us and send us to jail. We have to fight these lawsuits. They have stolen the axe from us when in fact it is a Constitutionally-granted weapon to fend off wild animals,” he said.

Adding insult to injury, he narrated how forest rangers pressured villagers to provide them with chicken, mutton, curds, milk and ghee.

“We fearfully give them whatever they want so that they don’t lodge a case against us. We are tortured and exploited in this manner,” he said.

Singh alleged that the forest department had taken control of the entire area using the labels of Wildlife Sanctuary and the Tiger Reserve as an excuse.

“Technically, this land was given to us by Vinoba Bhave but now the government [forest department] has taken it from us for plantation purposes. They are breaking down our houses and fields in the forest for plantation! They seem to have made it their agenda to destroy our co-existence with the forest and wild animals,” he said.

The aged Adivasi argued that the forest department was the real obstacle to ‘the development’ of the area.

“They do not build nor do they let us build schools, hospitals, anganwadis, fair-price shops, electricity, water, road, telecommunications, reservoirs, water harvesting, non-traditional energy sources, vocational training and community centres. Even the roads that they make are shabby and hazardous,” he said.

Singh said Adivasis have had to fight against the tyranny of the forest authorities ever since Independence. He recollected an incident in September 2020 when they had organised a two-day sit-in protest under the banner of the Kaimur Mukti Morcha with six demands to the forest department and the administration.

These were the six demands of the protesters:

1.       Administrative reorganisation of Kaimur Pahar along with its declaration as a scheduled area under the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution.
2.       Implement the Chotanagpur Tenancy Act.
3.       Immediately implement the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996.
4.       Implement the Forest Rights Act of 2006.
5.       Withdraw the proposed Indian Forest Rights Act 2019.
6.       Remove the Wildlife Sanctuary and Tiger Reserve status from Kaimur Hill.

However, these demands for thorough implementation of pre-existing laws only got a response in the form of batons and bullets, recalls Singh.

Related:

Bihar police shower bullets and lathis on Adivasis in Kaimur!
Bihar Adivasis revive the call for ‘Jal-Jungle -Zameen’
AIUFWP writes to Collector against forest authorities in Bihar violating the Forest Rights Act

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Accusing an officer from the forest department of allegedly subjecting a tribal to harassment in regards to a seizure case, villagers in Dhana area of Sagar district, Madhya Pradesh, staged a road blockade and place the body of the deceased tribal on the road, the Hindustan Times reported.

Sequence of events

Gond’s younger brother Mukesh told HT that the forest officers had seized his tractor trolley on accusations of encroachment of forest land and promoting encroachment. Mukesh said that Maniram had requested the forest officer to not take away his equipment as it was the time to sow seeds as per his contract of farming 5 acres of land. However, the officer didn’t listen to him and later allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs. 1 lakh.

Gond’s wife, Ashok Rani, who is also the Sarpanch of the Belai Mafi Panchayat said that Gond had gone to get back his tractor on Saturday evening. He had arranged Rs. 30,000 to free the same, but Gautam demanded nothing less than Rs. 1 lakh. Allegedly, the officer scolded at him and Gond suffered a cardiac arrest on his way back due to which he passed away.

HT reported Ashok Rani as saying, “My husband was mentally disturbed and couldn’t bear the trauma.”

Gopal Bhargava, the PWD minister who supported the blockade said that he had spoken to CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the matter and promised monetary compensation to Gond’s family said that he himself had intervened in the matter and asked the forest officer to leave the tractor but to no avail, HT reported. Bhargava also said that he had spoken to the District Forest Officer (DFO) in the matter too but no heed was paid. HT reported Bhargava as saying, “Being a minister when they are not listening to me, I can understand how they are harassing tribals. That’s why I joined the protest against the officer of forest department. Suspension is not enough, we want FIR against him.”

However, MS Uika, the DFO Sagar south range was said that while he was aware of the matter and had spoken to minister Gopal Bhargava, he wasn’t aware of the fact that Devesh Gautam had demanded a bribe.

As per HT, the police said that the villagers accused a forest range officer Devesh Gautam of harassing the deceased tribal, Maniram Gond and allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs. 1 lakh to free his seized tractor trolley. Gopal Bhargava had also threatened to call over 10,000 people if the matter wasn’t investigated promptly. A police complaint was also registered at the Dhana police outpost 15 days ago when Gond’s tractor was seized.

आज मेरे विधानसभा क्षेत्र की ग्राम पंचायत बेलईमाफी के सरपंच पति श्री मनीराम गौंड उम्र 40 वर्ष के दुखद निधन की सूचना 9 बजे प्राप्त हुई। सूचना मिलते ही मैं तत्काल घटना स्थल पर पहुँचा। ग्राम के सभी लोग ढाना के मुख्यमार्ग पर धरना देकर बैठे थे। pic.twitter.com/0yHXI4nN0W

— Gopal Bhargava (@bhargav_gopal) July 19, 2020

It was also reported by HT that Sagar district collector Deepak Singh had ordered a magisterial inquiry into the matter and that the Chief Conservation of Forests (CCF), Amit Dubey had suspended Devesh Gautam for not handling the case adequately.

Related:

Dalit couple attempt suicide after forceful eviction, police brutality
MP Forest Department allegedly burns down tribal family’s home  

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“They have crushed everything. People were not even given time to remove their belongings. Everything they own now lies under the rubble,” says Bilal Khan of the Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan (GBGBA), an organisation that has been fighting for the rights if slum dwellers. These pictures show how the entire neighbourhood was razed to the ground.

     
Image Courtesy: Bilal Khan

On May 6, GBGBA that is a part of the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), had issued a press release warning against the forcible demolition of slums in Cheetah Camp in Trombay as well as Bheemchhaya in Kannamwar Nagar. “Bheemchhaya is a Dalit majority community with 800 households while Cheeta Camp is a Muslim majority slum community with 600 households,” said the press release. “These slums are protected as per Maharashtra Slum Act but the Forest Department has notified these areas as ‘reserved forest’ and is disrespecting the housing rights of the slum dwellers by refusing to rehabilitate the protected slum dwellers,” it continued.

The demolition at Bheemchhaya will take place later this month. GBGBA says, “This government is disregarding the vulnerabilities of the Dalits and minority communities in this country by demolishing their only shelter. This will lead to further marginlisation of these communities.”

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Chileshwari Devi laments that they could not salvage even a single thing from their house which was ravaged to ground. Despite repeated requests, the forest officials and guards did not give them any time to shift their furniture and other things. A same story is shared by Ludhia Malla’s family whose children were made to leave their ready food as they witnessed their house being bulldozed. Around 56 families had to undergo such an ordeal in Chandordingha. Situated at a distance of around 240 km from the capital of Assam, Chandordinga Pahar (hill) is a part of the border District Dhubri. It is situated in Ward No 5 of Hatipota village of Chapor. On 28^th December, 2016 the District Administration and Forest Department carried out an eviction on forest land and 56 families were evicted while 117 homes were destroyed.

Living just two kilometers away from the river Brahmaputra, these people were mostly Rajbongshis or Assamese Muslims of East Bengal origin. The ethnic tribal people lived in nearby areas and scarcity of land and food pushed them to this hill where they have been living for the last fifty years. The Assamese Muslims of East Bengal origin were inhabitants of nearby Krishtimoni Char and Cholakura Char of Goalpara district. Land erosion rendered these people homeless and they moved to Chandordinga hill which is at most 4 to 5 km away from these two river islands. These river islands were submerged in the Brahmaputra during the floods of 1978-80. A similar eviction drive was carried out in 1997 and around 30-35 families were displaced. However the people had no other place to go and they resettled again in the same place.

Forest Minister Pramila Rani Brahma visited this place twice and hinted on an impending eviction. Such declarations also saw the local people come together and start a movement against such forced eviction without any proper rehabilitation. While political parties fell short of rising to the occasion and stand by these homeless displaced people, the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti raised a voice for the rights of these people. A mass movement grew up under the leadership of KMSS. The local people raised demands against forced eviction and no eviction without proper rehabilitation of these landless people. However the government and administration evicted these people without providing them any alternative.

Every evicted family of Chandordinga is landless. Lack of land forced them to move away from their ancestral activity of agriculture. Most of these people are fishermen and work as daily labourers in neighbouring areas of Dhubri and Chapor. Apart from these, many of them work in brick kilns and as carpenters in different parts of Assam. Left with no land, these families don’t have the option of going back to agriculture.

There was a primary school by the name of Poschim Chanderdinga Prathamik Bidyalay. Around 120 students were enrolled in the school. The school was not yet provincialised because of land related issues. On 28^th December, 2016 the school was razed to ground and despite repeated requests from the local people, the school was not spared. 120 students are left with a bleak possibility of continuing their education. The people requested the administration to give them 24 hours to shift the school, however in the end it met the same fate like other bulldozed homes. Many students who go to nearby schools in Tilapara are also in a daze. Kodorbhan who will write her tenth board exams has no place to study and is living in a makeshift tent.

According to some news papers, there was a confrontation between the local people and the forest guards during eviction. 8 people were left wounded and the forest guards had to open fire. The immediate cause for this confrontation was a specific incident.

According to local people, a family wanted some time to shift their house. While they were discussing this, the forest guards started lathicharging and they hit two women. This led to the violent outburst and army was deployed to control the situation. A local resident, Zakir Hussain was also arrested in connection with the incident.

Almost all the families living in Chandordinga Pahar have moved there after losing everything to the mighty Brahmaputra. Left with no option they tried to rebuild their lives amidst utmost hardship. While politicians and many news outlets have already expressed doubts about the citizenship of these people, the fact that aborigines like Koch Rajbongshis have also faced similar fate needs to be brought forth. The evicted families are living in makeshift tents in this extreme weather. The Rajbongshi families have put up temporary houses in an extremely low flood prone area. Access to clean drinking water is difficult. Use of river water and lack of sanitation facilities have created diseases and health hazards to the people. Their pleas continue to fall on deaf ears of Administration. Banes Ali who has a land patta and claims to have one katha eighteen lasas of land laments that going to court to challenge the eviction will be a costly affair for these poverty stricken people. Chileshwari Devi who also claims to have land patta says that the response of the local BJP MLA to solve the pathetic condition of these people have been lukewarm.

KMSS has been raising the issue that in the name of evicting illegal encroachers, forest department has been harassing common people for quite sometime. The eviction notice issued on 11 November, 2016 by the Salkocha Forest Department giving a maximum of 15 days to the people to leave their homes gave a momentum to the movement started by KMSS. A memorandum was submitted to the Chief Minister of the State demanding an end to the forced eviction and a demand for resettlement. The local people have been approaching the officials for quite sometime with requests to not carry out the eviction. On 28^th November, 2016 a heavily attended public meeting with Joydev Barua as the President was held and a memorandum was submitted to the Deputy Commissioner’s office. However the displaced landless people were evicted without any rehabilitation.

Courtesy: raiot.in

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