|
Land Rights Campaign and Sustainable Development in
Jharkhand |
Situation Analysis
The State of
The major rivers that flow through the region are the
Damodar with a dam at Panchet, Barakar with dams at Tilaiya and Maithan,
Subernarekha, North and
Demographic
Profile
|
Jharkhand Profile [Published
by ABHYAN, Madhupur, Deogarh] |
||||||||
|
|
|
Total |
Rural |
Urban |
|
% age |
||
|
01 |
Geographical
area (Ha) |
79,71,400 |
77,87,594 |
1,83,806 |
18,42,343 |
23.11 |
||
|
02 |
Population |
Total
% |
Nos. Male % |
Nos. Female % |
||||
|
a.
|
Rural |
172,02,684
|
78.75 |
88,21,832
|
51.28 |
83,80,852
|
48.72 |
|
|
b.
|
Urban |
46,41,227 |
21.25 |
25,42,021 |
54.77 |
20,99,206
|
45.23 |
|
|
|
Total
Population |
218,43,911 |
100 |
113,63,853 |
52.02 |
104,80,058 |
47.98 |
|
|
|
Population
Density per 2 km |
332 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
d.
|
Schedule Tribes |
60,44,010
|
27.67 |
30,59,715
|
50.62 |
29,84,295
|
49.38 |
|
|
e.
|
Scheduled Caste |
25,89,252 |
11.85 |
13,47,256
|
52.03 |
12,41,998
|
47.97 |
|
|
f.
|
Other Backward Class
(OBC) |
75,32,710
|
34.48 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
|
|
|
Sub-Total |
161,65,972 |
74.00 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
g. |
Minorities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Muslim |
26,59,865
|
12.18 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
|
|
|
Christian |
6,41,652 |
2.94 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
|
|
|
Sikh |
62,542
|
0.29 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
|
|
|
Sub-Total |
33,64,059 |
15.41 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
h.
|
General |
23,13,880 |
10.59 |
|
|
|
|
|
Jharkhand
is one of the richest states in the country in terms of natural resources and
minerals, with huge reserves of coal, iron ore, mica, bauxite and limestone and
has considerable reserves of copper, chromate, asbestos, kyanite, china-clay,
fire-clay, statute, uranium, manganese, dolomite, tungsten and others. Yet 69.83
of the total population lives below the poverty line. This is extraordinarily
high as compared to the national figure of 29 per cent. Among the poor people,
the percentage of the tribal adivasi
(indigenous people) is more than any other community.
The tribal economy is based on agro-forestry. More
than 86 percent tribal population is involved in cultivation, collecting minor
forest produce, labouring for a daily wages, rearing small livestock and
poultry are the major sources of their livelihood.
Tribal life is primarily based around the natural
environment with strong cultural-spiritual as well as economic
relation to the forest they live in. For ages and centuries they have lived
there, yet today they are denied access and control over these very resources
they protected even going to the extent of fighting off the British.
Agriculture is mainly rain-fed with paddy, ragi and
maize being the main crops. Though some communities have very successfully
adapted to vegetable cultivation. But cultivation provided employment for six
to eight months and the rest of the time they depend on forest produce and or
daily labour when and where they get it. Agriculture in this area
is quite uneconomical, since the major part of land is non-irrigated. Though
there is 38 lakh hectares of cultivable land, merely 18.04 lakh hectares is the
net sown area of which only 01.57 lakh hectares is the net irrigated area.
The forests provide them with Mahua flowers and
fruits, Sal flowers and leaves, gum, firewood, lac, Karanj and Neem seeds for
oil and medicines. Their knowledge of herbal plants and roots for their
sustenance and medicine is extensive, but market demand from pharmaceutical and
cosmetic industry and continuing deforestation is fast depleting this resource
and the loss in bio-diversity is playing havoc with local eco-systems.
The terrain over the entire region is undulating with
gentle and sharp slopes, hills and hillocks criss-crossed with innumerable
mountain springs and streams. Most of the water courses were perennial not so
long ago, but now forested areas have been denuded causing rampant erosion and
drying up of springs and streams during the summer months. Industry, mining,
urbanisation and illegal felling have all contributed to loss of forest cover
and climate change for the worse.
One major problem is that the entitlement and
ownership rights over the land on which the people have settled and cultivate
is not regularised this makes them vulnerable to various forms of harassment
and exploitation especially at the hands of the Forest Department. For this
reason they are denied benefits from government social security and welfare
schemes. There are crores of rupees earmarked for tribal welfare and apparently
spent but hardly a trickle
actually reaches these adivasi and
other backward communities.
There are 12 National Parks and Sanctuaries,
ostensibly to protect wildlife and forest, yet the people who have coexisted
and cohabited in this environment are being denied access and forcibly evicted
from their traditional home and environment. The government’s Forest Department
has proved to be both incompetent and inadequate in protecting or managing our
wealth of biogenetic diversity. Though they are quick to harass and assault
poor villagers on any pretext, taking bribes and opening the gates to outside
contractors to cart away truckloads of timber and other forest produce.
Moreover, there are various departments of forest but none of them work with
any cohesion. On the other hand the adivasi
communities have vast knowledge and techniques of forest conservation and
management, yet the government steadfastly refuses to include them as partners
and joint owners in its management policies.
Political
Status
There are 82 assembly and 14 parliamentary constituencies in Jharkhand.
In the State Legislative Assembly 28 seats are reserved for Scheduled Tribes
(ST) and 8 for Scheduled Caste (SC). In the Parliament there are 6 seats for ST
and 2 for SC.
The three tires Panchayti Raj system was introduced in
Jharkhand through the Panchayat Raj Institution Act 2002 by the State
Government. But the Panchayat elections are still to be held. However, the
tribal people are not very keen on the Panchayat system because they already
have a very effective autonomous system of self-rule like the Manjhi-Pargana among the Santhal and Munda-Manki system that the Munda tribe
follows. These systems have well defined democratic processes through which its
office bearers are elected and the body has legislative, executive and
judiciary functions
within the community. It also appointed persons to manage the religious affairs
of the community. As a matter of fact the government has granted recognition to
these systems and waived the introduction of PRI where the tribal self-rule is
still functional in 12 out of the 22 districts in the State.
However, every natural resource has been appropriated and
under the control of the State or private sector and the laws and policies over
ride the tribal system. The ‘mainstream’ decision and policy-making bodies
generally have a heavy urban bias and are hardly sensitive to the real needs
and conditions of the poor and marginal communities. The influence of urban
consumerist culture and lifestyle on the younger generations within the tribal
communities and out-migration are factors that lead to the weakening of these
self-rule systems. Even so, in times of crisis it their own systems that they
still have faith and belief in. Many adivasis have made good in the larger
political arena but have by and large alienated themselves from their own
communities and failed to deliver changes for their betterment.
Health
and education status
With
the degradation of the environment they have lived in for centuries the overall
health status of rural communities especially the adivasis who live in and
around forests is fairly precarious. The government hospitals and Primary
Health Center (PHC) and Sub-Centers are situated far from villages, sometimes
at a distance of 10-20 km. Moreover, most of them are non-functional as they do
not have proper or adequate medicines and equipment and most are hardly ever,
if at all, attended by medical personnel or health workers. Lack of proper
access roads, transportation and communications only makes matter worse.
Tribal
communities have an extensive knowledge and practice of herbal medicinal
systems to cure a variety of ailment and diseases. However, the degradation of
the eco-systems and their being
denied access and control over what remains forces them to depend on the cash
oriented private dispensaries and practitioners who are usually town based
quacks.
Though
the Constitution of India enjoins the State to provide free and compulsory
education to all children in the age groups of 6 to 14 years, the State’s
illiteracy rate is quite high. Though crores rupees is spent on state run
education programmes like the Education Guarantee Scheme, Total Literacy
Programme, Alternative Education Programme and the District Primary Education
Programme Jharkhand still remains way behind.
|
Literacy 2001 |
Male % |
Female % |
Total
% |
|
Overall
(Jharkhand) |
53.49 |
24.02 |
39.27 |
|
ST
(Jharkhand)* |
38.40 |
14.75 |
16.99 |
|
Overall
( |
75.85 |
54.16 |
65.38 |
* 1991 Census Records
Culture and identity
Freedom,
autonomy, co-existence, self-rule, self-dignity and self-determination have
long been the significant aspects of tribal life and culture. This culture and
autonomy derived from their proximity and harmony with their natural
environment nature is unique to the forest dwellers and their lifestyle depends
on it.
Tribal
communities are known for their rich culture of traditional folk dance, song
and art forms. Their expertise in archery and their knowledge of forest
management and herbal medicines and gender equality are very much a part of the
cultural ethos. But this is all gradually declining. Alienation from land and
natural resources as well as a deliberate denial of the rights of the poorer
rural communities is resulting is resulting in a gradual erosion of their
culture, autonomy and identity.
Ekta Parishad Advocacy:
Land rights
¨
Land for the
landless and homeless
¨
Re-distribution of
land reacquired by the State under the Land Ceiling Act and the land donated
under the Bhudan Board.
¨
Recovery and
redistribution of tribal land now illegally or forcibly occupied by non-tribal
and upper caste.
¨
Equal land and
property rights for women.
¨
Ensure safe
drinking water for all
¨
Small-scale irrigation
projects that will benefit small and marginal farmers.
¨ Prevent
privatisation of natural water sources by the corporate sector.
¨
Stop any further
eviction of communities from these areas.
¨
Granting proper revenue
village status for these traditional forest dwellers.
¨
Proper compensation and
rehabilitation for those who have been already evicted.
¨
Ensure people’s access
to usufructs and forest produce.
¨
Prevent destruction of
forest due to large development projects of mining, dams, industrialisation and
urbanisation.
¨
Proper compensation and
rehabilitation for people and communities displaced by government and private
sector development projects.
¨
Ensure basic minimum
facilities and services for the re-settled communities.
¨
Full participation of
people in watershed rejuvenation and soil-water conservation.
¨
Reforestation programmes
with community involvement.
¨
Promotion of rural
crafts and small-scale industries.
¨
Implementation of
rainwater harvesting for agriculture with community involvement.
¨
Re-introduce and encourage
cultivation of indigenous grains, cereals and oil seeds.
¨
Promote mixed,
rotational cropping, agro-forestry and horticulture through sustainable organic
practices to ensure soil health and fertility.
¨
Promote
community-farming ventures for home food production especially by women’s
groups.
¨
Resist privatisation of
agriculture by the corporate sector and production of food as a market
commodity.
¨
Build people’s awareness
against superstitions and practices of untouchability, child marriage, dowry,
witch-hunting and other social evils.
¨
Ensuring delivery of
basic primary health and nutrition needs of rural communities and people
settled in urban slums and in and around mining and industrial areas.
¨
Demand for more wide
spread and effective execution of all education programmes.
¨
Promotion of life based
cultures and traditions to counter ill effects of modernised urban consumer
culture and lifestyle.