Land warriors of the Konkan
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For over 25 years, land rights activist Surekha Dalvi has been championing the cause of tribal ownership of land in Maharashtra's picturesque Konkan region
Locating the rightful owners of 13,000 hectares of land in Maharashtra's Konkan belt must be an exhausting job for frail activist Surekha Dalvi and her small band of loyalists. But then, Surekha is not the kind of person to give up without a fight. Of late, there's been a sense of urgency in her efforts. The government has plans to give the land away to the highest bidder instead of passing ownership on to the tribal community to whom it 'historically' belongs. "There is an unending battle between the government authorities and us as regards true ownership and, most times, our records do not match what they have put down on paper," says Surekha.
To put the issue in its proper context, the present case of 'dalhi' lands in the Konkan region is one of alienation of tribal land rights. In this coastal region, the districts of Thane and Raigad have a substantial tribal population.
The problem of ownership of the various plots goes back before British rule when tribal farmers practised slash-and-burn cultivation on common lands. Subsequent land settlement operations carried out by the British administration had an adverse affect on the hill tribes. Later, as people began to protest, certain concessions were granted. One of the more important was to lease out patches of forestland to tribal communities. These annual leases granted to individuals were called 'eksali' leases. In Raigad district, they were granted to communities and were called 'dalhi' assignments. The system of leasing continued even after Independence.
In 1970, the government of Maharashtra decided to confer individual property rights onto dalhi plot-holders. But, due to bureaucratic inertia and lack of political will the decision was not implemented. Around this time, a mass movement was organised by various action groups in Raigad for implementation of the government regulation.
Surekha Dalvi has been part of this social call for the last 25 years. "At present," she says, "the land problem has become compounded due to the onslaught of industrialisation, urbanisation, commercialisation and infrastructure development. The traditional modes of securing livelihoods are seriously threatened without any appropriate alternatives in sight."
With more than 10,000 tribal households suffering the effects of the bureaucratic muddle, the need of the hour, as Surekha sees it, is to expedite the matter as early as possible. Unravelling the mystery of dalhi land, Surekha explains that the system of dalhi cultivation on hilly tracts was prevalent during the Peshwa rule and a tax was levied on it. Dalhi is a mode of preparing land not suitable for sedentary cultivation by burning vegetation and ploughing, hand-digging and sowing the burned area. Mostly, millets are grown on these lands -- ragi ( Eleusine coracana ), varai ( Panicum miliare ) and kodu ( Paspalum scrobiculatum ). "The dalhi system is a sound and fair way of making use of the available resources. A variety of other products like cereals, pulses, oilseeds, tubers, fuel wood, pulses and fruits can be produced, both for their consumptive and commercial value," Surekha adds.
Explaining how this present ownership mess came about, Surekha explains that at the time of the district's consolidation, land that was not privately owned was transferred to either the revenue or the forest departments. Dalhi land thus came under the domain of the forest department. "Complications about ownership rights have come about because of the system prevalent during the regime of the British forest department. The dalhi lands were leased out to a community and the actual lease title was made in the name of the local headman (called naik). The dalhi lease was renewed annually and the forest department issued regular passbooks. The names of those who cultivated the land were registered and if someone died, the next of kin was considered to be the successor," says Surekha.
With an amazing display of persistence and perseverance, Surekha and her activist colleagues have searched through old land records either in the possession of individuals or archival institutes like the Pune-based Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics to source and verify actual owners. "We have been cross-checking our findings with those of the government agencies and have found many inaccuracies in the latter. That is why we have had no option but to apply pressure on the government to take cognisance of this fact," she says.
The pressure tactics have taken the shape of legal cases, tribal protest marches, road agitations and meeting members of the legislative assembly to ensure media attention and bring the issue into the limelight.
Meanwhile, Surekha's statement about the government dragging its feet is evident from the following: The forest department initiated a survey of dalhi lands in late 1996. The survey enumerated the names of the inheritors and actual cultivators as well as the land cultivated during that year and the area under residential purposes. But it did not record the 'warkas' (non-cultivable) land that was essential for millet cultivation. Hence, a number of objections were raised against the survey. A fresh survey was initiated in September 1998, but this too proved inaccurate. As a result, another round of surveys was undertaken in December 1998 -- the sixth survey since the allotment decision was made in 1970!
Stressing the need for all arguments to come to their logical conclusion, Surekha believes that the present challenges facing the land rights issue are more threatening than ever. "We fear land usurpation by vested interests once the dalhi plots are transferred to individual names, because tribal land rights are often circumvented with ease. Moreover, it has become amply clear that the state forest department does not want to part with the land even as tourism and industrialisation have already created their own set of problems," she says. Taking the larger perspective, Surekha feels that the long-drawn-out battle over land rights has halted the socio-economic progress of tribal populations in the coastal areas. "The lack of gainful employment, ill health, poverty, malnutrition of women and children and addiction to alcohol seem to have become permanent factors in the lives of the tribals," she says.
The long wait may however be inching towards an acknowledgement, if not resolution. "In the past couple of years, even the forest department has had a change of heart and many officers are willingly supporting the tribals by making government records available and informing them in advance about survey visits. Support from activists Anna Hazare and Medha Patkar have also helped build up the resistance and awareness parameters," says Surekha. Today, with increasing numbers of tourism entrepreneurs who are making a beeline for scenic Raigad, Surekha Dalvi has been forced to make her punches stronger. "The fact that our movement has sustained itself for more than 30 years gives me hope that we will continue the fight," she promises.
InfoChange News & Features, March 2004