Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

LDF order on land assignment annulled

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Saturday cancelled the order issued by the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government under which the government could assign land only to tribals who did not own even a cent of land. He did it on a memorandum submitted to him by the Adivasi Gothra Mahasabha leader C.K. Janu.

The memorandum said even those who owned only three or four cents of land were being denied more land on the basis of this order. The Chief Minister said the question of withdrawing the cases registered in connection with the tribals' Muthanga agitation, except that involving the killing of a policeman, was under the government's active consideration.

The group of tribal organisations led by M. Geethanandan and Ms. Janu demanded that the government provide land to the families evicted by police from Muthanga in Wayanad district 10 years ago.

At a press conference convened here, after presenting a memorandum to the government, the leaders said these tribal people had rights over forest land as per the provisions of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act of 2006. They were originally removed from the forests in the name of conservation in the 1940s and so were original tenants of the forests of Muthanga.

Mr. Geethanandan said the group (which included Gothra Maha Sabha, Adijana Maha Sabha, Adivasi Gothra Maha Sabha, Adivasi Coordination Committee and the Attappady-based organisation called Guruva) requested the Chief Minister and also the Minister for Tribal Development P.K. Jayalakshmi to reactivate the Tribal Rehabilitation Mission started soon after the Muthanga police action by the then A.K. Antony government.

The group welcomed the government's new pronouncements regarding the introduction of a special quota for tribal children in CBSE schools and a special package to assist unwed mothers among tribal communities.

It also welcomed the government's decision to launch the fourth stage of land distribution for tribal people in Aaralam Farm in Kannur district.

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