Constitution mandates a gram sabha of local villagers to decide on matters pertaining to their lives and livelihood. This has been proved in case of Dangaria tribals of Niyamagiri hills, a Primarily Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), who in a series of village meetings gave a clear verdict against mining in the hills in Rayagada as well as Kalahandi districts.
Till 2012, not a single community right was bestowed with any village in the whole of Rayagada district under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) for Schedule Tribes and Traditional Forest Dwellers.
However, between 2012 and March, 2013, the Government claimed that as many as 28 community claims were settled without a single rejection. This is something unbelievable. The Government officials have manipulated the decisions at the forest rights committees (FRCs) and hurriedly allocated a few acres of community land to the Dangarias.
let us look at some statistics regarding the FRA position in the entire Rayagada district. There are two wings of the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) in Rayagada district for Rayagada and Gunupur, which are the nodal agencies to coordinate the implementation of FRA.
According to the statistics of achievement of implementation of the FRA in Rayagada, there are 2,469 villages in the district where FRCs have been constituted. Till now, 16,389 claims have been settled out of 28,147 approved by the gram sabha and sent to the Sub-Division level Committee (SDlC) for settlement. So, 42 per cent of claims have been rejected only at SDlC level. 26,278 acres have been distributed among 16,122 families. On an average, a family has received 1.6 acres whereas there is a provision of 10 acres to a claimant.
Since the promulgation of the law in 2006, the district administration has been able to cover only six-seven families in a village whereas, according to a crude estimate, it should have been at least 30-40 families per village.
Dangaria tribes in all their villages, where palli sabhas were held, had rejected the decision of DlC (District level Committee) with regard to settlement of claims on forest land. land is an emotive issue for the tribals. The FRA, which was brought after a long struggle, is meant to mitigate the historic blunder meted out to tribals for long. The process of mismanagement of information system and statistical jugglery by the ‘Babus’ needs to be checked by an independent agency. The nexus among the State apparatus and the corporates can only be exposed by the empowered tribals of the region.
When issue of land comes to the forefront, tribals give less priority to issues like health, education, employment and Government entitlements etc. During a recent consultation organised by an NGO on NREGA, RTI and FRA in Rayagada district, the participants only raised issues of forest land rights leaving hardly time for discussion on the two flagship schemes.