Born in Jaggayapeta of Krishna District, Sivaramakrishna got a Telugu language teacher job in the upper primary school of tribes in Pedagaddada village of Rampachodavaram Mandal in East Godavari District. He joined Osmania University for Doctoral research. During the field study he realized that tribes are intimidated by various Govt. Depts. and market forces. Instead of joining the academic institutions, he felt, he can help the tribes staying with them in the field.
Land alienation is important problem in tribal areas of India. In spite of protective and benevolent legislations, regulations, the land in the tribal areas identified as scheduled areas in the Indian Constitution is being occupied/ colonized by the migrating non tribals in to the area.
SAKTI has been working on over a decade with Chenchu PVTs. The support through IPAP helped to scale up the activities through availing the new opportunities created by the implementation of ROFR, PESA, NREGS etc.
In the year 2002 SAKTI was instrumental in getting the Chenchus enrolled as
Nallamala forest in the midst of Andhra Pradesh spread over 10416 .76 sq.kms in 6 districts of A.P. 3568 square kilometers is wildlife sanctuary and also a tiger reserve in this forest. It is inhabited by a PVT (Particularly Vulnerable Tribe) Chenchus, having a population of 70,000. Nallamala is a rocky region supporting moderate forest but rich in wild grass. The forest being a catchment provides ecological security for the dry land parts of
40% of the Godavari basin is populated by tribals. The Rampa rebellion (1880) – the Bhumakal in Bastar (1910) – the fituries in Rampa and Gudem(1798 - 1924), the martyrdom of Komaram Bheem (1942) – the Telangana armed struggle (1948) – the killing of tribals in police firing in Indravelli (1982) – the tribal land right movement in West Godavari and Khammam districts (1995…) are some land marks in the struggles of tribals in the Godavari valley.
- When intellectuals Balagopal etc were emerging as spokes persons of human rights, Siva left the university to work for economic rights of tribes and free them from the fear of police, forest, and revenue and market forces (Hitharksha).
FORESTS ARE RESERVOIRS OF WATER AND LUNGS OF OUR ENVIRONMENTS.
SAVE THEM FROM MINING AND DESTRUCTION.
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TRIBAL UNREST IN W GODAVARI
TRIBAL UNREST IN W GODAVARI FACT, FICTION AND FIRST INFORMATION REPORTS The non - tribal farmers’ associatation has been emboldened to complain that if the police had been stern from the begininning, things would not have come to such a pass. Let us remind ourselves that the tribal unrest of West Godavari is being led, not by the Naxalites or any violent group but by an entirely law abiding voluntary organisation ‘Sakti’. Can one hope that sense will prevail some-where in the official hierarchy concerned with the welfare of tribals and the tribal unrest will be met with justice and not further threats of ‘stren’ action and police cases? K.Balagopal (The author is general secretary of Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee) - Deccan Chronicle, Monday, May 5, 1997.
Forest working plan East godavari Dist. 1995 - 2005
50% of mango trees occupy the total no.of trees in kota Range and 30% in Pullangi range. Since there was an agitation from the tribals against the felling of mango trees, the department has decided to restrict the felling to 2.5 to 3 cum on an average in Kota range and 3 trees per hectare and around 4 cum per hectare on an average in Pullangi range, as against the above figures. The supply of wood to the factory was totally stopped by the High court of Andhra Praadesh as the felling orders issued by the state government are not obtained with prior permission of Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of India.