RIGHT TO LAND

The Districts of undivided Koraput have seen several hydel power projects, industries, and mining projects over the last five decades of independence. While all this might have contributed to the economy of the state, it has played havoc with the lives and livelihoods of the local people, majority of whom are tribal. Several communities of people have suffered displacement twice or thrice, and have completely lost their sense of security and identity. There are still thousands of families who do not even possess the land they have settled in after displacement. These displaced ommunities are threatened and disliked by the local population, wherever they go to settle, as their presence increases the competition for scarce natural resources. Rendered landless, homeless and jobless, several of them are yet to be even brought into the state social security net systems. Their untold miseries through no fault of their own tell a stark story of the result of badly planned modernization projects.

All this has made local communities in the region quite wary of new efforts and interventions for industrial or technological development. Thus, when such proposal have come up over the last decade, a resistance movement has grown in which the tribal communities demand that they be ensured their land and livelihood resources prior to finalisation of such plans. This has brought the people of undivided Koraput in confrontation with the state, which has chosen to worry more about its economic resources, than about its human communities. Agragamee has upheld the right of tribal communities to their land and livelihood resources, and networked widely to draw the attention of national and international groups to the unjust displacement of tribal communities in this region. It has also drawn attention to the legal and constitutional rights of the tribal communities as enshrined in the fundamental rights, as also in the various Acts passed subsequently. This has drawn the state ire against Agragamee also, and the organization has been threatened with de-registration, as also been harassed by false cases against several of its workers, including the Director.

LAND TRANSFER AND SOCIAL SECURITY

In tribal areas forest, water, dongar land etc are common property which highly does not permit the tribals to use. Agragamee always in the process of advocacy for land rihtgts. Govt. has taken steps to transfer land to landless. Agragamee has written several times to the govt. for land transfer and settlement.

ISSUES- RIGHT TO LAND

Agragamee is a group of professionals, activists and thinkers working with marginalized and underprivileged communities in the tribal districts of Orissa,in India. Our efforts at initiating a people-centred development have combined an issue-based approach with programmes for socio-economic development.
In India, tribal societies have remained sidetracked from the main historical current of development for centuries. In many instances industrialization and mining operations have led to the uprooting of tribal villages, and the displaced were forced to lead the lives of industrial nomads. They have lost their traditional occupations, agricultural land, houses and other immovable assets. They are left unemployed and face unfair competition with others in the Indian labour market.

You can make a difference

To help a poor family lead a life of dignity and self-reliance.

Donate Now

SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER