Jungle law: Land for votes?

It is the view of this column that the proposal to give Adivasis land rights in what remains of our forests is probably the most dangerous a...

It is the view of this column that the proposal to give Adivasis land rights in what remains of our forests is probably the most dangerous act of any Indian government since 1947. There have been bad policies in the past that have caused the poisoning of our rivers, the pollution of the air we breathe and the denudation of the Himalayas but if this latest Bill goes through it is likely to be more destructive than anything we have seen so far. I say this after having listened at length to the government8217;s side of the story.

What is their side of their story? That the Scheduled Tribes Recognition of Forest Rights Draft Bill is an attempt to rectify the historical wrong done to the Adivasis the word means original inhabitant by taking away their lands and not allowing them to preserve their traditional way of life. The government8217;s side is that 8216;8216;not an inch8217;8217; of forest will be destroyed by giving each Adivasi family the right to own 2.5 hectares of forest land because they are occupying the land already. The government8217;s side of the story is that since Adivasis already cultivate the land they occupy, all that is happening is that they will now have land records establishing their ownership of the land. Should they not have the same rights as you and I? This is about equal rights, said the official in the Prime Minister8217;s office who explained the government8217;s view.

When I asked if the land could be sold, he said that 8216;8216;tribals8217;8217; were not allowed to sell their land to 8216;8216;non-tribals8217;8217; and that once they owned it they would become part of the process of conserving the forest. Had I not heard of 8216;8216;sacred groves8217;8217; that existed in tribal lore, had I not noticed that the forests have been destroyed by corrupt officials and timber mafias and not by the poor old Adivasis. 8216;8216;Nothing is going to happen that will further damage the forests,8217;8217; he said, 8216;8216;those who are saying that 50 million hectares of forest land will be given to the tribals are lying. They will have to eat crow when the Bill is posted on the web which the Prime Minister has asked us to do.8217;8217;

Look out for it please and write to the Prime Minister damning his Bill because the government8217;s side of the story leaves me totally unconvinced. If the Adivasis are already living happily in the forest why do they need ownership rights? Why should politicians and officials who have not bothered to bring even minimal development to the Adivasis suddenly become so caring that they are prepared to allow them to own forest land? If the motive is not political it is hard to think what it is.

Now, let me tell you why I believe the proposed law is dangerous and must be fought. To start with, it is a retrograde measure. When countries develop and prosper people usually move off the land into urban centres, so in supposedly booming 21st century India why are we making it attractive for Adivasis to continue living their miserable, subsistence existence? The answer is that government policies have failed so totally to improve their lives that giving them 2.5 hectares of land for 8216;8216;livelihood8217;8217; uses is a sop of the most cynical kind.

The solution is not to encourage them to continue living as semi-savages but to offer them the benefits of modern education and ideas so that they can at least have a choice between the 21st century and the stone age. At the moment they do not. The officials that draft laws in Delhi have little experience of living conditions in the Adivasi villages or their 8216;8216;traditional way of life8217;8217; or they would have known that it is a lifestyle in which babies die routinely of starvation, in which whole families live in tiny mud huts in conditions that should be considered unfit for human habitation, in which the women are lucky to have one piece of cloth to cover their bodies. It is not a standard of living that is worth preserving and if the 8216;8216;tribals8217;8217; were asked whether they would like to trade it for a comfortable apartment with running water, electricity and colour television they would trade in a minute.

In giving them the 2.5 hectare sop this government, possibly under pressure from its loony Left friends, is taking the risk of destroying the 20 forest cover we have managed to hang on to after the depredations of corrupt officials and poachers. It is a risk we cannot allow this government to take. If it wants to help the Adivasis lead better lives then it must build the schools, hospitals, roads and electricity that would help them transform their lives and if after that they wanted to continue living their 8216;8216;traditional8217;8217; way of life then of course they can.

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Meanwhile, we need to ensure that nobody is trying to create a political vote bank in the name of helping the Adivasis. Please let us remember that in the name of protecting the rights of Muslims and Harijans, certain political parties kept them poor and illiterate for decades and certain other political parties now play that same game. Maybe I am a cynic 8212; it8217;s hard not to be if you cover Indian politics 8212; but the way I see it is that the Adivasis have become the latest plaything of the Congress Party which needs to build a political base but has given up on the possibility of Muslims and Harijans coming back to be the building blocks. Every political party has the right to build a political base but it cannot do it by doing permanent damage to India.

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