Forest dwellers stuck between dispossession, deprivation

Negotiating the muddy roads of Belagavi's Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary on his two-wheeler with his 58-year-old ailing father riding pillion, Dattatreya Arjun Ayyaur had just one thing on his mind — reaching the hospital in Khanapur, some 23 km from his home in Jamgaon, as soon as possible.

It was for the fourth time in a week that Dattatreya was on his way to the hospital with his father, who was struggling to breathe.

Given the condition of the road, made worse by the pre-monsoon showers, it took him two hours to reach the hospital.

By then, his father’s condition had worsened. A CT scan confirmed his father had contracted Covid-19. He passed away three days later, despite spending Rs 4 lakh on the treatment.

“Had there been a primary health centre (PHC) near our village or a better road to drive to the nearest town, my father would be alive today,” an emotional Dattatreya said.

Similar stories of helplessness can be heard some 100 km away, from the residents of Dudmala inside the Kali Tiger Reserve in Uttara Kannada district. The nearest PHC is just 3 km away from their hamlet but no emergency vehicles reach there. Except for two days a week, the health centre does not have any doctors to attend to patients.

“Every time we have a woman in labour or a sick person unable to walk, we have to carry them on a cot or a chair to the hospital, braving the dangers of the forest,” said Ajit Maharshi, a resident of Dudmala.

Maharshi said that there is a proposal to shift their hamlet out of the tiger reserve and local residents too are interested in moving out and settling in a safer place. But the hardships that other rehabilitated communities have been facing in other parts of the state makes them apprehensive about leaving.

“We are not sure if the government will give us fair compensation in return for our lands where we grow paddy now. We would be left in the lurch in case the compensatory land that the government would offer us does not turn out to be fertile. Just money won’t sustain us in the long term,” Ajit said, echoing the sentiment of forest dwellers.

While people from Jamgaon, Dudmala and many such hamlets want to shift out of the forest, Mare (54), Soudamma (64) and 10 other families from Shettihalli Rehabilitation Colony want to go back to their Haadi (a tiny forest settlement) lying within the Nagarhole National Park.

Mare and Soudamma were among the 42 families relocated from Bogepura Haadi in Kakanakote range of the national park in 2011. While 27 of the families received three acres of compensatory land as assured by the government, the others including Mare and Soudamma’s families did not get land compensation owing to problems with documentation, forcing their children to work as labourers.

“We are unable to adjust to this hostile environment,” said Soudamma, who has approached the forest department seeking its approval to return to her Haadi which is 84 km away from her current home.

“It looks like our Forest Goddess is punishing us for deserting her. I lost three of my family members in quick succession. My children who worked as labourers had no jobs during the lockdown and we had to starve,” she said.

Soudamma hopes to restart her life by collecting tubers, honey and other minor forest products once she returns to their Haadi.

“While in our Haadi, we could have somehow survived by eating tubers, leaves and fruits. Here we are forced to depend on ‘government’ ration. Many of us are now suffering from blood pressure and diabetes which our ancestors hardly had. Unlike earlier, we do not have access to herbal medicines even for minor problems like head and stomach aches,” said Mare.

Data from the forest department shows that from 2015 - 16, of the 10,898 families being considered for the rehabilitation schemes across five protected forest areas in Karnataka, just 684 have been rehabilitated.

And Dattatreya, Ajit, or Soudamma, who are in three different phases of rehabilitation, all have one thing in common — their right to life is at stake.

Forest dwellers who wish to relocate are mostly those who have been denied basic facilities like healthcare, education, road connectivity due to the Wildlife Protection Act, which restricts any kind of permanent construction within the protected area of the forest.

Win-win situation

Experts believe that done right, rehabilitation of tribals is a win-win situation for both the forest dwellers and forest conservation. But successive governments in the state ignored the issue, which is evident in the inadequate funds allocated to rehabilitation schemes, leaving the tribals in abeyance.

For instance, there are 13 villages inside the Bhimgad Wildlife sanctuary and at least 11 of them are willing to relocate in Khanapur taluk if the government offers them fair compensation and fertile land equivalent to the current landholdings.

A proposal in this regard has been pending with the state government since 2015. Experts estimate that at least Rs 20 crore is required to relocate the 600 willing families and meet their basic requirements of land and financial aid. But the state government is ready to offer a package of Rs 15 lakh (a total package of Rs 10 crore) to each family, as per National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) guidelines. The villages feel this compensation is inadequate.

Professor Muzaffar Assadi, chairman of a three-member committee constituted by the Karnataka High Court to look into the ‘Tribal Issues of Rajiv Gandhi (Nagarhole) National Park’, said forest dwellers are not a priority for governments as they do not form a ‘large vote bank constituency’.

The committee had recommended a ‘choice/option based’ relocation of the tribals and not forcible evacuation. It had advised the government to ensure that the rehabilitation process elevates the tribals from poverty, provides them employment, facilitates education through a dedicated tribal university that imparts native knowledge and allows the community to have a cultural connection with the forests.

Administrative apathy

“The Karnataka High Court had instructed the state government to implement our committee report within three months in 2016. But the majority of these recommendations have still not been implemented and this shows how much importance the government gives to tribal issues,” he said.

Between 1960 and 2006, Nagarhole has seen a displacement of 250 tribal habitations. Nearly 11,000 people have been displaced for construction of the Kabini dam and laying of power lines, in addition to the voluntary rehabilitation schemes.

But the mismanagement of the rehabilitation process in the past makes the others — another 3,000 to 4,000 forest dwellers still inside the national park — hesitant to take up relocation under the current scheme.

B Kavera, who was part of the 90-odd families relocated from Kumalgolikere in 1972 to make way for construction of the Kabini dam, claims that so far, only 65 families have received the compensation package including three acres of land at Udbueaadi in HD Kote taluk.

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While the displaced families have now been provided with school and primary health care facilities, what worries them the most is finding an alternative livelihood.

According to Assadi, when it comes to issue of the ‘Forest Dwellers Right (The Scheduled Tribes and traditional forest dwellers—Recognition of Forest Rights Act, 2006)’ verses the ‘Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972’, preference should be given to the former as it has a holistic approach.

“Unfortunately, the Wildlife Act is applicable only to tribals and not to the government, that allows laying railway lines/roads, taking up hydropower generation units and drawing power lines in the core areas also,” said Assadi.

On the other hand, unlike some tribals who want to join the mainstream, a portion of the rehabilitated forest dwellers are now demanding to be allowed to return to the forests.

Dr S Sreekant, founder of the Mysuru-based Development through Education that is working for tribal rights said these demands are fuelled by inadequate facilities coupled with “psychological trauma” that comes with living in an unfamiliar location.

“Due to the lack of proper documents, the majority of these forest dwellers are denied Aadhar and ration cards. Nearly 40% of the families rehabilitated at Nagapur and Shettihalli rehabilitation camps in HD Kote do not have cards to procure ration,” Sreekant said.

Shortage of funds

However, at the government’s end, there is not much clarity on who has to shoulder the responsibility of monitoring the financial aspect of rehabilitation, with the forest department, revenue department and the ST Development Corporation constantly passing the buck.

“The responsibility of relocation of forest dwellers lies with the government, as the Forest Department does not have funds for this purpose,” said Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) Vijaykumar Gogi, while the Revenue Secretary Manjunath Prasad said allocation of funds for rehabilitation must be done by the Scheduled Tribe Development Department.

State Forest Minister Arvind Limbavali too admits that allocation of funds for relocation and rehabilitation from the Revenue Department is a bit challenging.

“We are convincing forest dwellers to move out of forest as providing basic facilities to them at their hamlets/villages is a costly affair and not sustainable for a longer period. At the same time, we are also pursuing the issue with the revenue department,” he said.

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“We are also tying up with the Housing Ministry to provide housing for the relocated forest dwellers. For those who do not wish to come out of the forest, we are contemplating providing eco-friendly sources of energy like solar power and LPG connection through various schemes,” he said.

Canara Circle Chief Conservator of Forest Yatish Kumar, who is monitoring the rehabilitation of Kali Tiger Reserve, said, “The forest dwellers and tribal people have a strong connection with the forest. They are the ones who have been conserving the forest as they consider it as their God and mother. We have to devise such a programme that the tribals are neither disconnected from the forest nor become vulnerable to human-animal conflict.”