Land alienation is a serious threat to Tribals of Jharkhand

Tribals land alienation is one of the major issues of Jharkhand. The tribal community is under the threat due to illegal land alienation today. Though the Chotanagpur Tenancy Act 1908 and Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act 1949 prevent the transfer and sale of tribal land to a non-tribal but these laws were not enacted honestly caused tribals deprivation of land said the Mr Kumar Chand Mardi, convenor of CREJ (Campaign for right to education Jharkhand ) Jan Mukti Andolan; an state level alliance fight for people's right' while addressing in Mahadharna organized by the Crej Jan Mukti Andolan in front of Raj Bhawan on May 17.He said that during 1951 to 1991 about 22 lakh acres of land has been alienated from them .This was done for setting up industries, mines, large dams, sanctuaries, highway and also illegal transfer of land to non – tribals and the practices of the moneylenders system too snatched land from the tribals. The restoration of illegally alienated land has been one of the important mandates of the Bihar Scheduled Area Regulation Act 1969. According to government records, up to 2001-02, 60,464 cases for restoration involving 85,777.22 acres of land were filed out of which 34,608 cases were upheld involving 46,797.36 acres of land and rest were rejected.

He further said that the tribal land alienation is on the rise in the state. A total of 2,608 cases of tribal land alienation were registered under the Special Area Regulation Court in 2003-04, 2,657 cases in 2004-05 and 3,230 cases in 2005-2006. According to the 2004-05 Annual Report of Ministry of Rural Development of the Government of India, the Jharkhand topped the list of tribal land alienation in India with 86,291 cases involving 10,48,93 acres of land. Therefore we demand that the tribal land alienation should be stopped and the Chotanagpur Tenancy Act 1908 and the Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act 1949 must be enforced with the true spirit. Therefore today we are publicly announcing that we shall not give even one inch of land for the Industries, Dam, Mining, Power Plant or any other development project. The member of NAFRE (national Allaince for right to equity and education)Jan Andoland, is a national alliance workingfor people's right's Lakhi Das said that we are in a serious threat because the state government has signed 65 MoU and they need huge land for it.

The first Chief Minister of Jharkhand Babulal Marandi has started signing of MoU and brought the industrial policy in the state. He also advocated for the amendment of CNT Act to sale the tribal land. His successor Arjun Munda went much further and singed MoU with 43 companies, which created upheaval in Jharkhand. UPA came to the power and we were hopping that these MoUs would be revised and rejected but our demands of rejection of MoU was accepted and they are also promoting the same thing which NDA government did. We oppose the corporate development model which induces displacement.

The members of CREJ ( Campaign for Right to Education ) Jan Mukti Andolan; an state level alliance working in Jharkhand on people's right, Arun Anand, Subhan, Jerom Jerald Kujur, Kaleshwar, Pravin Kumar, Roselina Kishku, Gladson Dungdung also addressed the Mahadharna. A memorandum was also submitted to the governor of Jharkhand with 10 points demand. There were hundreds of people participated in the Mahadharna protesting fro their rights.

Source: Gladson Dundung ( social Activist) writer of Mynews.in