Dalit land rights cover right over homestead land, agriculture land and commons which have been denied to them for centuries due to continued caste system and Government apathy of last sixty five years.
land includes revenue land, forest land, land under water and land in coast. land is central to human development without which right to housing, livelihood, food security, social security and dignity cannot be realised. The development of Dalit communities/Scheduled Caste is largely linked to their rights over land. There has been a need for land distribution as well as protection from land alienation along with land development for its productive use. The Scheduled Caste Sub Plan (SCSP) should be used to for this purpose.
The Scheduled Caste population of Odisha is 17.1 per cent. As per census 2011 it is about 72 lakh out of which 62 lakh people are living in rural areas. A vast majority of households depends on agriculture as agricultural workers or sharecroppers with small and marginal land holdings. landlessness is very high among SC households. As per a private survey, in the absence of valid State data, out of 15.56 lakh households as per 2011 Census, about 20 per cent of the households do not have homestead land to construct a house in their own land. There are hamlets in the outskirts of the village over inhabitable category of land, land owned by former land lords, temple land and land remained unsettled by revenue authority. It has been decided by the State Government since establishment of constitutional governance to distribute land to the landless for housing purpose, especially to historically marginalised Scheduled Castes and others. The Government of Odisha has been distributing land since 1974-75 but justice has not been done to a vast section of homestead landless families where SCs constitute a majority. Every year the State Government has been coming up with new statistics but many of the landless Scheduled Caste families have been routinely visiting Revenue Inspector (RI) or Tehsil offices with application From-I (Rule-5(2) under OGlS Act 1962 bearing undeclared delay and stress of apathetic behaviour of revenue officials. The few families having four decimal land Patta under Vasundhara scheme have been waiting for possession for years. The revenue officials have very less time to attend the issues of landless rural poor and this non-negotiable human need has been getting shifted for years together without human sympathy for the marginalized communities. The homestead landlessness issues have ramifications over their life, livelihood, food security and social dignity in the village life. Our socio-legal identity and status are land-based and most of the Government development schemes are linked to land ownership. The Central Government has made provision of support to States to purchase private land in case suitable Government land is not available and distribute the land to deserving SC families with priority but this has not been implemented though there has been budgetary allocation. The State Government has limited the provision of land distribution to rural areas and there has been no attempt to distribute land to urban homestead landless families in slums and urban peripheries.
The Census 2011 shows that a very insignificant percentage (only 0.80) of SC households is doing salaried jobs. Of the SCs, 46,543 are in Government, 5,388 in PSUs and 17,247 are in private jobs. There is very insignificant number of families among SCs those who have landholding above five acres. The vast majority of Scheduled Castes families are small and marginal farmers and primarily depending on sharecropping over the land of absentee landlords of upper caste families. It has been decided by the Government since 1974-75 to distribute ceiling surplus land, Bhoodan land and Government waste land to landless families with priority to landless SC families for agriculture purpose but this has been still an unfinished task with the Government in spite of provisions under law such as the OlR Act. It has been promised under constitution to ensure land for poor SCs but in spite of availability of Government land the land distribution has been deliberately delayed which has taken a back seat in development agenda due to lack of political will and bureaucratic apathy for the marginalised, especially SCs.
The landless sharecroppers have been deprived of all kinds of Government subsidy, MSP, compensation, insurance and a host of all other facilities and schemes for farmers by Central and State Government. The agricultural schemes are land based that deny rights of the landless engaged in agriculture. The land ownership is central to production as mostly SCs are small producers and to improve the agricultural production of the State, it is highly essential to distribute land to the SC households engaged in agriculture and other productive activities in rural areas. It will create scope for poor SC households to get engaged in agricultural activities throughout the year. The production of cereals, vegetables, milk, fish, egg, meat, fruits etc. can be enhanced in rural area by engaging the labouring class. It will contribute to create employment, income and increase the production and reduce the State’s dependency on neighboring States. The food security of the rural poor can be maintained.
The SCs have been largely denied the rights over forest land under FRA. Though the SCs are also forest based communities but their rights over forest have not been recognized at par with STs. The Government has to consider the livelihood of the landless SCs in scheduled areas/forest areas who are also forest dependent communities like STs and mostly depend on forest land for survival. SCs constitute about 20 per cent of the total population in scheduled areas. The SC population in districts of Malkangiri is 22 per cent and in Kalahandi it is about 18 per cent. The landlessness among SCs encourages distress migration. The South Odisha revenue division has major districts such as Gajapati, Kalahandi, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nawarangpur, Kandhamal under Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) area and these area is also home to a sizable SC population. The land ownership and land alienation issues have been major cause of social conflict among the locals in the absence of a valid land title. In spite of protective laws to arrest land alienation and attempt to restore the SCs and STs land from potential none SC and ST encroachers and land grabbers, still many of the families have been deprived of justice from revenue administration.
The SCs all over the State have been facing social discrimination while accessing common land such as cremation ground, village forest, water bodies, playground and all other common space available in a village. They have to struggle to use such land and in many villages the brutal attack from the dominant caste in the village. The SCs have very restricted access to common property resources of the village due to caste system. Therefore it is highly essential for the State Government to recognize the rights of Dalits over the land and make effort under proper implementation of schemes under Scheduled Caste Sub Plan (SCSP) and revenue laws for the distribution of land as well as for the protection of land from illegal possession.
(Email: manasbbsr15@gmail.com, Mob-09437060797)