Tribals Given Training in Land Survey
The Hindu, April 6, 1999.
By Our Staff Reporter
Eluru, April 5: With each passing day, a rapid transformation is taking place in the agency villages of West Godavari . While millitants are criss-crossing the Polavaram villages to build a base, the Jeellugumilli tribals have set about to develop a parallel system.
Under the "capacity building programme", the SAKTI, a voluntary organization promoting the cause of tribals, imparted one-month training for both educated and illiterate tribals in land survey. Out of 26 people trained from a dozen villages, 15 learnt the skill to read village land maps, adangal, field measurement book (FMB) and re-survey register (RSR) and can locate the targeted plot in the field. The next step they plan is to decipher title deeds.
The tribal survey teams have been taking up field exercises for the last one month in Panduvarigudem, P. Rajavaram, Vankavarigudem, Tapasivarigudem, Chandramma Colony, Barrenkalapadu Colony and other villages. The experimental survey is held in the presence of the residents of the respective village. Dr. Sivaramakrishna of SAKTI observed the expertise of one such team at Panduvarigudem on sunday.
The teams have detected several "errors" in the official records given to them under the direction of the High Court. As per the records, Tellam Ademma, a tribal, is the owner and cultivator of the land measuring 6.37 acres in the survey no. 32. The actual position is that Ademma's family had cultivated only 1.37 acres while the remaining five acres was under the enjoyment of one Mr. M. Venkatareddy and his brothers. Tribals could not raise objection over this during the verification of records in the presence of officials recently. This is one such example. The survey teams have detected 69 objections.
Teaching through games
According to Dr. Sivaramakrishna, tribals lost land resources because of their ignorance about the law and record-keeping. In the initial stages, tribals were taught about the acts that protected their interests. Games like snakes and ladders and "thokkudubilla" were designed to educate illiterate tribals. As there was delay in implementing the Act by the administration, the tribals resorted to snatching of land from non-tribals by force. According to an estimate, non-tribal farmers had been displaced from over 10,000 acres in Jeelugumilli mandal. Tribals find it difficult to manage the orchards, paddy fields and oil palm plantations deserted by non-tribals. Many gardens started degeneration due to lack of irrigation and care.
The tribals shared the deserted fields among themselves by measuring with a barge pole. While the paddy growing land was given to families, orchards were distributed among
villages.
The families share equally the cashew kernel or mango fruit collected from the orchards measured over 2,000 acres. Mr. Somaraju of Tatiramannagudem has been accepted by tribals as the expert "barge-pole surveyor". It was he who distributed land in over a dozen village in the area. Also, his assistance is sought to resolve inter-family or inter-village land disputed. A few women were also trained in the use of barge-pole aided land measurement.
Tribals of Jeelugumilli have started disproving the theory that tribals are lazy and can not man age land resources effectively. Each tribal family had a yield of 200 paddy bags in Tatiramannagudem and 40 bags in Jillellagudem. Mr. Somaraju had a harvest of 200 bags of paddy, 12 bags of cowpea and two bags of blackgram last year. The tribals of Tatiramannagudem, Jillellagudem and Lankalapalli occupied 1500 acres of wet land and cultivated for the third consecutive year. Now each village is planning to buy a tractor for ploughing and transport purpose. The other villages are lagging behind in sowing crops on the occupied land due to lack of financial resources, inputs and agriculture aids like plough bullocks.
To overcome the problem, tribal leaders and concentrating on schemes available with the government agencies for their development. The SAKTI employed an agriculture graduate, also a tribal from the area, to coordinate the development plan. His job is to collect the information of various programmes available for tribal development and guide them in agriculture activities. The authorities did not take seriously when he approached them for a copy of tribal action plan. The idea behind is that the officials should sanction financial assistance to only those recommended by the village body.
Mean while, the House Committee on tribal land disputes which toured the agency noted the arguments of both sides. The panel desired the government to carry out the title verification in all villages adopting the method followed in Reddyganapavaram villages where the Joint Collector, Mr. M. Subramanyam, supervised the survey which was acceptable to both groups. The land detected as disputed would be leased to tribals. The panel noted the predicament of the genuine non-tribal owners, who had no crops for the last four years due to the unrest.
The question now is that what happens to villages like Tatiramannagudem and Lankalapalli, which had been completely liberated and where tribals consolidated their hold. Will the tribals vacate the land if the survey ascertains the ownership of non-tribals? Logistically it is difficult for non-tribals to take back lands from tribals in remote villages. |
