DISHA

Our campaigning led the state to place 124,000 acres of cultivatable land in the ownership of 67,000 tribal forestland horticulturalists. So far, 22,000 farmers have received their land, and we are generating pressure to speed up this process.

One of DISHA ís most important causes has been fighting for jungle jameen, or forest land, rights alongside tribal communities; this battle epitomizes DISHAís work and approach.

The Forest Act of 1927 and its amendments officially declared the forested areas of the Gujarati tribal belt under the control of the Indian government. The Gujarat government subsequently cleared vast forest lands for lumber using tribal labor; the plan to plant trees to reforest the felled areas failed, leaving the forests clear to this day. The tribal population continued to cultivate this land, despite its degradation and poor soil quality, because of increasing population pressure and a lack of cultivatable land. Low rainfall and the lack of capital to purchase agricultural inputs aggravated the situation and economic hardship, while the declining forested areas led to a decline in income from forest goods and alternative employment. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Gujarat government began declaring much tribal land as ìreserved forestsî to be reforested. Moreover, irrigation projects submerged 15% of the ever diminishing tribal lands. With no other option, the tribals continued to cultivate the ìreserved forestsî and became ìencroachersî on their own property.

Tribal forest land cultivators demanding their rights over the land in huge numbers under conventions organised.

Hence the antagonism between the Forest Department and tribal farmers amplified. Forest Officers levied fines for encroaching on the land, while accepting bribes, give false receipts, unlawfully seize property, and beat those who were unable to pay the fines.

Hence the antagonism between the Forest Department and tribal farmers amplified. Forest Officers levied fines for encroaching on the land, while accepting bribes, give false receipts, unlawfully seize property, and beat those who were unable to pay the fines.

A 1992 Government Resolution directed the Forest Department to abstain from reforesting land entitled to tribal cultivators and to provide tribal cultivators with new land if their property had been highly affected by reforestation. To enforce this resolution, we filed a petition on the behalf of 270 affected cultivators.

DISHA began in 1986 in Panchmahal, Gujarat, a district with a 45% tribal population. As DISHA became aware of the general tension between the tribals and the Forest Department, and the corruption of the latter, we printed and distributed a handbill to articulate the struggles of the tribals. We held meetings with villagers and surveyed the reasons why people cultivated the forest land and the problems that they faced. Eventually, the Land Rights Protection Committee (LRPC) was started to organize the people to fight against government policies and protect their livelihood. All of the office bearers of the LRPC were from the villages, save the general secretary (which was a DISHA worker).

We had received many complaints that forest officials were not recognizing deeds for regularizing forest-land cultivation. We filed a petition to the Gujarat High Court on the behalf of 200 families in Panchmahal, and the Forest Department eventually conceded to accept proofs of land rights.

The process get forest land rights began with a letter writing campaign, which flooded the state government with complaints of the mistreatment of the people by the Forest Department. Mass mobilization culminated in two major rallies of thousands of tribals in Ahmedabad (1992) and Gandhinagar (1994). Finally, the state of Gujarat released 1.25 lakh acres of land to 68,000 tribal families ñ an achievement without precedent in the arena of indigenous rights.