Panel for Odisha model of tribal education

As primitive tribes continue to be in a state of acute poverty, ‘schedule area’ status for settlements of evicted tribals from Nagarahole National Park will favour their development.

The status will also solve the problem of representation of tribals in political institutions, which will help them benefit from the welfare programmes aimed at them, said Muzaffar Assadi, Chairman of the High Court-appointed Committee on Tribal Issues of Rajiv Gandhi National Park.

The Committee will submit its final report and recommendations to address the ‘development deficit’ of tribals by March-end.

The interim report of the committee was submitted in 2006.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Assadi said the ‘scheduled area’ status in Manipur, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and other states has turned out to be a boon for tribals. “Since scheduled area status was given to Manipur, literacy level of tribes in the North-Eastern state has increased. The tribes also witnessed a decrease in poverty levels,” he said.

Affirmative actions aimed at primitive tribes has not benefited the tribals.

“Even though there is reservation for tribals in all sectors, very rarely we find graduates or post-graduates from Jenu Kuruba, Kaadu Kuruba, Soliga or Erawa tribes. Since some tribes, which are better off than the primitive tribes, avail the benefits of reservation, it is necessary to provide internal reservation for primitive tribes within the limit of reservation provided for STs,” he opined.

Rehabilitation

The committee is contemplating to recommend establishment of educational institutions on the lines of Kalinga Institute of Information Technology and Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences in Odisha.

 The tribals are provided education from first standard to post graduation courses in these institutions. Such an institution is essential for Karnataka, which is home to a good number of tribes, he said.

Commenting on the condition of rehabilitated tribals, he alleged that the lands given to tribals are being leased out to merchants from Kerala, who use them to grow ginger, resulting in alienation of land. The land provided for them is ill-irrigated and barren too, he noted.

He said the population of evicted tribes had not grown much in the last four decades. He attributed it to the ‘disturbance in cultural ecology’ of the tribes.

He said the accurate details of the number of tribals who were evicted from Nagarahole National Park, since 1970, is hard to gauge, as some haadis have ‘disappeared’. The committee was mandated to document the displacements in Hunsur and HD Kote taluks of Mysore.

Twenty-two haadis in each of the taluks, as per the report, qualified for ‘displacement’ criteria. “However, a large number of tribals were evicted towards the Kodagu region, particularly Virajpet taluk. These tribals were soon employed as agricultural labourers in coffee plantations. The haadis in which primitive tribes lived have now disappeared,” he said.

“There is a conflict between Forest Dwellers Act and Wildlife Act. While the former allows tribals to have seven to eight acres of land in the forest, the latter prohibits ownership of land in forests. Which Act should supersede the other?” he wondered. More than 1,000 families still live inside Nagarahole National Park.

P K Ramu of Nagarahole Hakku Sthapana Samithi said the evicted tribes still live in poverty, with many of them yet to get voters identity and ration cards. “Many people do not have access to the public distribution system,” he complained.

S Srikanth, State convenor of Girijana Kriyakoota, said the State government was yet to implement the directives of the High Court, aimed at development of tribals.

The directives were issued following the submission of an interim report by the committee. “We are thinking of lodging a contempt of court case against the State government,” he said.