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Maoist offensive will further delay land titles to tribals

Just 13% of titles have been disbursed so far; deadline 2 months away

Gyan Varma. New Delhi



With only two months left for the government to finish distributing land titles to tribals in the jungles, experts believe the target cannot be met because of never-ending delays and the major security offensive being planned against the Maoists.
Tribal affairs ministry sources said, only 13% of the titles have been distributed in the past two years while 19 lakh claims are still pending with the Centre and state governments.
"The state forces and paramilitary are forcing tribals and adivasis to vacate their land and so far around 700 villages in Chhattisgarh and Orissa have been forced to vacate their land and move to other places," noted forest rights activist Madhu Sarin said.
Sarin further said, "The government is talking about rule of law. Then, they should implement it and not force poor adivasis to vacate their houses because they want to carry out an operation against Maoists."
In the past two years, the ministry of tribal affairs has received 22.99 lakh claims from the state governments but a little over 300,000 claimants have received titles. Sources in the ministry say another 1.54 lakh titles are ready. But they have not been distributed. 
"The government has got a new excuse and in the name of Maoists they are forcing tribals to vacate land," said Vijay, another forest rights activist.
He said that 65% of forests that have survived are in 187 districts that have a significant presence of tribals. "Tribals protect forests. We can't throw them out of their houses and allow multinational companies to set up industries on their land," Vijay said.
The states that have received most number of claims are Andhra Pradesh (3.29 lakh), Maharashtra (2.45 lakh), Chattisgarh (4 lakh), Madhya Pradesh (3.66 lakh), Orissa (2.92 lakh) and West Bengal (1.38 lakh).