For a dignified and decent living, there must not be any social discrimination against anyone based on his identity by birth in a particular caste or community and every family must have access to basic amenities for which possessing homestead land is important.
The land is the basis to build a house and access all other necessities for life such as drinking water, toilet, electricity, healthcare and primary education but unfortunately, there are still many people who have been deprived of homestead land for centuries.
The non-implementation of land Reforms law of 1960 is a prime cause of denial of homestead land to all. There has been a long history of struggle for rights over land in Khordha during the Paika Rebellion in 1817 and later, murder of Major Bezelgatte in 1938 during the Prajamandal movement and struggle of peasants and landless workers against kings and Zamindars and British administration during independence struggle for judicious distribution of land and other resources. The fruits of these struggles contributed for enactment of a land reform legislation but its benefits have not reached to the poorest of the poor in the villages. This issue has remained a concern and distribution of land is still an unfinished task in feudatory areas of the State which needs to be resolved by the Government.
As per 2011 census, the SCs and STs constitute 20 per cent of the total population of the Khordha district and there are communities such as Sara/Sabar and Mehentara who are not being scheduled because of Government apathy and deprived of their constitutional rights. The district has 95 per cent of Hindu and 4 per cent Muslim population with large presence of temples and Matha and religious places of worship owning rent free land. But the Hindus in lower social strata remain excluded of resources and human dignity. The district has the
State capital, the major growing Smart City of the State, and it is in a process of major expansion creating a demand for homestead land. The landless natives of the district are pushed into the periphery and further marginalization in spite of protective laws.
This writer recently visited few SCs hamlets in Khordha block and had interaction with people to know their condition and the revelation of the people shows huge callousness of the State Government in resolving some of the basic issues of the people. Kaimatia is a village in Dhaulimuhan panchayat of Khordha block, about 40 km from the State capital and mostly inhabited by around 200 SC families, who generally work as agriculture workers and stone crushing workers. The women collect firewood from the nearby forests to survive. They have no agricultural land and about 50 per cent of the households have no proper homestead land to construct house of their own. Many of the families have not been able to access Prime Minister Awas Yojana because of homestead landlessness. The people go for open defection as there is scarcity of land and water in their hamlet for construction of toilets. They have only a tube well for 200 households for drinking water purpose and in summer, it has been a very bad time to manage. The people depend on a pond for daily bath, sanitation and other regular consumptions. The situation of the landlessness is almost the same in other nearby villages such as Nuasahi, Ramachandi and Patana of the same panchayat and the Naranagada and Nijigada
Tapanga panchayats also have similar poor state of affairs. Many of the habitations and households have been staying over the Jagannath Temple land, forest land or Government land without record of rights and that possession without proper record of rights over the land is a hurdle to construct house and have access to all kinds of Government schemes and programmes. In this context, the personal narration of a few women and men of the community can be taken as testimony to their plight.
Sabitri Behera (55), a landless poor widow, has planted cashew tree in the Jagannath Temple land in Puri, but before the plant bears fruit, the temple administration representative arbitrarily collected fine of Rs10, 000 charging Rs 25 per tree for 80 trees for five years (2012-2017) by printed receipt of the Jagannath Temple office, Puri in 2017. She mortgaged her utensils and borrowed money to make the payment.
Upendra Bhoi (45), who recovered from TB, has been staying over the Jagannath Temple land for last 20 years. He is an agricultural worker but has no homestead land to construct a permanent house for his family. There has been widespread TB in the area and many people suffer without proper healthcare and awareness as the overall health condition of women and children in the area is most vulnerable.
Sebati Behera (40), used to go to forest every day to collect firewood but recently was prevented by the dominant local groups to do so. They have to travel a distance to collect the firewood. She said the Ujjwala scheme has not reached to them.
Kanchan Behera (45), a SC woman, complained about the discrimination in the schools where usually SCs children are allowed to eat midday meal after general students finish their mealtime. She does not know where to lodge a complaint for such discrimination.
Added to landlessness, as wage labourers of informal sector, they are deprived of minimum wage and social security benefits provided under provisions of law. The district has 65,000 agricultural workers as per Census 2011. The crusher units which function in the area are violating all pollution control norms under the provision of Minor Mineral Rules of the Government of Odisha which has not been monitored by the concerned authorities. Someone travelling from NH-16 to Dhaulimuhan railway station, about six km on road, can better experience the volume of dust pollution and its ultimate impact on human and cattle population of the area. The huge dust pollution has severe impact over health condition of labourers working in the crushers and the people of the adjacent villages, especially women and children. The victims have complained that the number of TB patients in the area has been on the rise without any control. The issue has not yet drawn the attention of the trade unions, health and environmental rights activists of the State. The social movements of SCs and STs in the area have not helped in visibly raising the basic issues of the local community.
(manasbbsr15@gmail.com)