Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on May 17 this year pulled up the top bureaucrats of the Forest Department for ‘harassing’ forest dwellers by forcibly evicting them from the encroached forest lands. He also set a deadline of three months for officials to prepare a detailed report on the status of encroachments in the forests of Kodagu, Chikmagalur, Hassan, Uttara Kannada, Dakshina Kannada and Shimoga districts.

The CM’s outburst came after a group of legislators from Uttara Kannada and other districts complained to him that forest officials were forcibly evicting the encroachers. Kumaraswamy’s grouse was that forest laws which are anti-people are being implemented in the guise of conserving forests. The forest-dwellers have been harassed for no reason, he argued.

Probably, there would not have been any scope for politicians, including the CM, to speak harshly in this manner if the Forest Department had implemented the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 in letter and spirit. In June 1996, the Karnataka Government sent a proposal to the Centre requesting it to allow the regularisation of 14,000 ha of encroached forest land and rehabilitation of 19,000 families. The permission received was to regularise only forest land which was encroached before April 27, 1978 and the land holding by each of the family should not exceed three acres. There should be no regularisation of land in wildlife reserves and national parks. The State has no option but to abide by the Centre’s direction.

Though armed with Supreme Court directions and Government orders, the Forest Department officials have not been able to retrieve all its land from the encroachers. In fact, the department has been sluggish both in regularising the encroached land prior to the cut-off date as well as evicting those who have illegally occupied the forest land post-1978.

The statistics available with the Forest Department as of February this year indicates that 9,685 families encroaching 8,864.297 ha across 26 districts are yet to be evicted. These encroachments were prior to April 27, 1978.  The actual encroachment was in an area of 12,389.912 ha. As many as 6,399.711 ha are yet to be regularised as of today.

The statistics post-1978 is shocking. The department has the daunting task of taking back 54,871.732 ha involving 86,645 families across 27 districts.

Why has the Government failed to repossess its own land over decades? The answers are numerous and sound mostly like excuses.

Among the reasons offered are the tribals’ stiff resistance to moving out of forests, poor compensation package worked out by the Government and the inordinate delay in releasing money by the Centre to the State Government towards rehabilitation. On top of it, many NGOs have been supporting tribals who are hell bent on not moving out of forests. Besides, political interference at times in support of tribals has also tied the hands of officials to implement the rehabilitation programme.

All these sound like excuses once you visit Bandipur from where nearly 152 tribal families were rehabilitated about a decade ago. Of course, the population of tribals here was small, unlike in Hunsur division which includes the Rajiv Gandhi (Nagarahole) National Park and the Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary.

Contrary to Bandipur, in Nagarahole hardly 300 of the 1,700 tribal families have been rehabilitated. There are no tribal hamlets in Brahmagiri. No official in the division likes to place the reasons or the constraints for the delay on record. Off the record, however, they say that politicians should stop giving assurances to tribals that they can continue to remain in forests. Also, DCFs and their junior rank officers, who are sincerely and efficiently carrying out eviction and rehabilitation programmes should not be transferred till the work is completed. The Hunsur division has had seven DFOs in the last four years! Such frequent changes hamper the rehabilitation programme, argue forest officers.

They point out that those tribals who are living in Nagarahole seem to have been brainwashed by some NGOs who are getting huge foreign funds. When the law of the land says that there should be no human occupation in a national park, the Government has not been allowed to rehabilitate the tribals because certain NGOs put up a fight against the authorities under the banner ‘struggle for human rights’ and ‘save tribals’ campaign. When the whole world is progressing, some NGOs are arguing that tribals should remain as they are.

If the Government decides that Nagarahole should remain as a national park, then there is absolutely no room for human population here. Either humans or animals can exist in the forest. There cannot be co-existence because humans are greedy and the animal population will further dwindle. The argument that tribals are one with nature/ forest and they have been the saviours of forest wealth does not hold good now. Over the years, they too have ‘changed’ and many have been enlisted by people engaged in timber smuggling and poaching of animals.

The population of tribals has been steadily increasing as there is no family planning concept among them. If tribals fail to get formal education and gainful employment, then they may come under the influence of anti-social elements. So, the tribals should be treated as invaders of forest and should be rehabilitated elsewhere, the officers argue. When officers begin the process, there should be no room for political intervention, they say. However, they do admit that tribals cannot be forcibly evicted but they can be rehabilitated. They fear that forcible eviction may eventually push tribals into the Naxal fold.

So, what should be done to convince the tribals to move out of the forest? Many forest officers say that the Government must immediately establish a wing for implementing the rehabilitation programme. It is not the work of the Forest Department to rehabilitate tribals. Such tasks should be taken up by the Social Welfare Department or a separate wing should be set up for the same, they insist.

‘It’s hell here’
Tribals living in Nagapura resettlement colony speak out:

Hareesha: “I was working as a coolie in coffee estates when I was living in the forest. Now, I am functioning as a valve operator for the Grama Panchayat. As a coolie I was getting Rs 70 a day, but now my monthly salary is Rs. 1,000. I have just 3 acres of agriculture land. I cannot raise a loan on the house which has been sanctioned to me by the Forest Department because the Revenue Department has not yet given me the revenue transfer certificate.”

Shanti: “We cannot grow anything in our land because of the elephant menace. We do not get compensation when we lose our crops. The community hall is in a bad shape. Solar lighting system is not working. There is no anganwadi here. Not even a grocery shop. We walk at least 2 km to buy our daily needs.”

Kyatha: 87-year-old Kyatha says he became unemployed once he was moved out of the forest 8 years ago. “What can we grow when there is elephant menace here? My son is a daily wager in the Forest Department. I only get Rs 200 as pension and free ration. It is hell here.”

Resettled and unhappy
Relocation of tribals is a mega task. And, to a marginal extent the task has been met in the case of Nagarahole. The entire programme is funded by the Centre. According to the Forest Department’s 1989 report, there were 1,550 tribal families in Nagarahole. But it has increased to 1,730 according to the 2001-02 report.

The land identified for the relocation or formation of housing colonies is around 1,931 ha, all in Hunsur. The places are – Veeranahosally reserve forest (RF) – 401 ha, Sollepura RF – 330 ha, Shettally Lakkapatna RF – 500 ha.

So far, 280 tribal families have been relocated in Nagapura of Veeranahosally in Hunsur taluk. Though the process began in 1999, the progress is tardy. In the whole of 2006, hardly 30 families were moved out of the forest and in the current year, the target is to relocate 45 families. In Sollepura, which is on the fringes of Nagarahole, the Government has constructed 75 houses but they are yet to be allocated to tribals. In Shettally Lakkapatna, 500 ha were denotified in 1999 for constructing houses for tribals. But the work is yet to begin.

Those settled in Nagapura are not a happy lot. They have free houses, electricity, health care, schools and limited agriculture land to cultivate. They are vociferously demanding land at Shanthapura, Gonigaddhe of Nagarahole and Sujjilu, Bandihadlu, Anesathegaddhe and Eermanehadlu in Kallalla range, situated deep inside Nagarahole.

A majority of the houses in Nagapura rehabilitation centres are in a poor shape. Water leakage is a common complaint. An auditorium is also in a dilapidated condition. But the roads are broad and there are schools. But the very fact that they cannot access the forest easily has left them disgruntled.

- A K, on her visit to the relocation
centre in Hunsur.

‘This is our land’
A bunch of Jenukuruba tribals in Nagarahole speak out:

Annaiah, 37 yrs: “I have been living here with my family for many decades now. My wife is working in an anganwadi in the forest. We have no choice but to live here because we do not get employment elsewhere. We have been asked to move out of here. But this is our land. Why should we go?”

Raju, a nonagenarian: “We were born here and we are not going anywhere else. Those tribals who have been relocated in new housing colonies have become coolies in coffee estates. If we have to be translocated, then we have to be settled in the border areas of forests like Sujjalagudda.

Thimma, 36: Our ancestors have been living in forests for centuries now. We can only work in the forest and not elsewhere.”

Lakshmi, mother of Thimma: “The Whites (Britishers) did not allow us to live here. Now our people too are doing the same. Because of us, the forest is safe. Come what may, we will not go to Nagapura.”