The Hindu : Karnataka News : Gangooru Dalits continue 13-year battle for land

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 30, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Others

Gangooru Dalits continue 13-year battle for land

Staff Correspondent

240 acres of forest land yet to be approved by Forest Department

GANGOORU (HASSAN DIST.): Frustrated by the apathy of successive Governments, Dalits of Gangooru village in Arkalgud taluk of Hassan district have erected temporary sheds in the Gobbali forest area and started ploughing the land as a mark of protest. Government officials have again urged the Dalits to vacate the land.

For the 91 Dalits of Gangooru, who were freed from bonded labour by the district administration in 1995, it has become an endless quest for land. The Forest Department acquired their lands in 1992, and since then the Dalits have been waiting for the sanction of alternative land as compensation.

The district administration, which promised time and again to allot them alternative land, has failed to keep the promise even after 13 years, the Dalits said.

Freed

Gangooru, a village of around 500 families belonging to the upper and lower castes, hit the headlines in 1992 when the Dalita Sangharsh Samithi (DSS) brought to the fore the plight of 91 Dalits who were working as bonded labourers. In 1994, Mahendra Jain, the then Deputy Commissioner of Hassan district, visited Gangooru and freed the Dalits.

He promised that they would be suitably rehabilitated and given free sites. He also promised to open an industrial training centre for them. Though funds were released under the Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) for the purpose, the schemes did not materialise. The building of the industrial training centre stands as a mute spectator to the failure of successive Governments to rehabilitate the Dalits. With no land to cultivate and no work, they are struggling for survival.

According to G.H. Chandrappa, a rescued bonded labourer, the situation was different in 1992. They had around 100 acres of forest land to cultivate and were happy. The trouble started when they started growing tobacco on the land.

Fearing the economic progress of Dalits, members of the upper castes in the village allegedly lobbied with politicians and got them evicted from the land, which was subsequently transferred to the Forest Department, he said. Meanwhile, 25 Dalits who had remitted the "kimmat" (a small fee towards cultivating government land) urged the administration to provide them alternative land.

Though the authorities promised to do so, no action was taken in this regard. Protesting against the indifference of the authorities, the Dalits uprooted saplings planted on the land acquired from them. There was a clash between Dalits and forest officials and cases were booked against the Dalits.

Eeriah, another Dalit, says that after loosing their lands, they started searching for work. But people from the upper castes convinced residents of the neighbouring villages against employing them.

With no land to cultivate and no work, they were forced into bonded labour. However, the district administration freed them when the issue rocked the Legislative Assembly.

Not aware

According to sources in the Revenue Department, the Dalits were cultivating land in the Gobbali reserve forest since 1972. The department was not aware of the fact that the land was a part of a reserve forest when it was sanctioned to Dalits under the Dharkasht Act.

It came to the notice of the department while it was issuing pattas (permission to cultivate). Subsequently, the department stopped issuing pattas and directed the Forest Department to acquire the land. When the Dalits protested, trespassing cases were booked against them.

Irked by the apathy of the Government, the Dalits erected temporary sheds in the Gobbali forest area and started ploughing the land in July 2004. The Dalits sat on a dharna for nearly 100 days. When this news hit the headlines, the Commissioner of Social Welfare, Shivaram, and the Additional Director General of Police, Subash Bharani, rushed to the spot and promised to help the Dalits.

According to sources in the Department of Social Welfare, a few schemes were implemented to help the Dalits after the Commissioner's visit. But no alternative land has been allotted.

Participating in 114th birth anniversary celebrations of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the Minister for Public Works and in charge of the district, H.D. Revanna, said he is aware of the problem and that the State Government will solve their issue after getting the appropriate land.

According to the Arkalgud tahsildar, A. Jagannath, a stay order was obtained from the court when land was identified for rehabilitating the Dalits.

An additional 240 acres of forest land, transferred by the Revenue Department, has been identified but has not been approved by the Revenue and Forest Department officials.

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