News Analysis India

Tag: Chhattisgarh tribals

  • Irked over Maoist violence, Chhattisgarh village turn up at police station to complain

    Express News Service

    RAIPUR: In a rare occurrence, the residents of Manonar village in the Maoist-affected district of Narayanpur in south Chhattisgarh stood firmly in support of development and against the violence perpetrated by the outlawed CPI (Maoist) and lodged a police complaint against the rebels.

    The tribal inhabitants, including women, expressed strong resentment against the killing of supervisor Sandeep Jala and the thrashing of scores of labourers who were engaged in the construction of a bridge and road under the PMGSY in their area on Friday. The rebels also set on fire all the engaged vehicles and equipment.

    “This is an indication of how the tribals of a village arrived on their own at the Chote-donger police station to lodge their grievances. The police have registered the case on their complaint. Villagers had categorically asserted that they are not ready to compromise any longer on the development that improves connectivity to their region and open the door for growth”, said U Uday Kiran, Narayanpur district police chief.

    The villagers, who walked around 8 kilometres to reach the Chote-donger thana, had asked the police to ensure that the Maoists shouldn’t be allowed to disturb development projects in and around their rural area.

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    According to the Narayanpur police, the villagers can’t be a party to such a complaint that relates either to the killing of the construction company’s staff or the halting of the work. “Only the firms involved in the project can do so. But we have assured the people of our full support. We remained concerned over these villagers being harassed by the Maoists”, the SP said.

    As the construction work stopped following the Maoists’ violence, the local tribals were unhappy. The locals protested against the Naxalites and demanded to re-start the development works.

    “The Maoists even attack and intimidate us. But we are now much aggrieved with their obstructive actions. The road construction will help our habitat with more facilities”, the villagers averred.

    The locals though were not seen as much against the raised demands that they face from the rebels than the shattering of the scope of development owing to the left-wing extremists who are known to halt the project initiatives in their stronghold, the police officials said.

  • Chhattisgarh gives forest resource rights certificates to tribals in urban area

    By PTI

    RAIPUR: The Chhattisgarh government on Monday distributed community forest resource rights (CFRR) certificates to tribal groups living in an urban area, empowering them to protect, regenerate, conserve and manage customary forest area within its traditional boundary, officials said.

    This has made Chhattisgarh the first state in the country to recognise community forest resource rights of tribals in urban areas, they said.

    During a virtual programme to mark the International Day of World’s Indigenous People at his official residence here, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel distributed CFRR certificates to three ward sabhas of Nagri Nagar Panchayat, an urban body in Dhamtari district, a government official said.

    Besides, Baghel distributed CFRR certificates to gram sabhas of five villages located in the core area of the Udanti-Sitanadi tiger reserve, he said.

    Speaking at the function, the chief minister said, “The indigenous people living in urban municipalities of the Fifth Schedule areas have kept their forest well preserved and intact. It is, therefore, important to recognise their pre-existing community resource rights over these forests in order for them to continue doing so.”

    The Fifth Schedule of the Constitution deals with administration of scheduled areas where tribal communities are in a majority.

    Ensuring the rights of local communities on resources, including water, forest and land, and raising their standard of living is one of the top priorities of the state government, Baghel said.

    The government has been taking continuous steps towards the cultural development of tribal communities as well as their socio-economic upliftment, he said.

    “World Tribal Day is a big festival for us and it is associated with self-respect, pride, culture and dreams of about 31 per cent tribal population of the state. Therefore, a government holiday has been declared on this day,” Baghel added.

    Commissioner of state’s Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste Development department Shammi Abidi informed that Chhattisgarh has become the first state in the country to recognise the forest resource rights of tribal communities in urban areas.

    Nagri Nagar Panchayat, surrounded by forests and located around 65 km away from Dhamtari district headquarters, was constituted by clubbing three villages – Churiyara, Tumbahra and Nagri – which have now become wards.

    The resource rights of these three wards have been recognised over their 10,200 acres of forests, Abidi said.

    The CFRR of five villages have been recognised over 13,700 acres of forests which is spread within the core area of the Udanti-Sitanadi Tiger Reserve, located across two districts -Dhamtari and Gariaband, she said.

    With these rights recognised under the Forest Rights Act, 2006, the ward sabhas and gram sabhas would be able to protect, conserve, regenerate and manage the entire forest area falling within their traditional boundary, Abidi added.

  • Chhattisgarh government firm on paramilitary camps in Bastar despite protests by tribals

    Express News Service
    RAIPUR: Amid continuing protests by tribal communities against the setting up of a paramilitary camp in south Bastar, the Chhattisgarh state government has adopted a tough stance, saying not one, but six more camps are to come up in the region.

    Thousands of residents from 20 villages have been demonstrating against a CRPF camp in Silger, located along the border with two of the state’s worst Maoist-affected districts of Sukma and Bijapur, for the past 17 days. The camp was set up in Silger on May 12. 

    The state government has categorically said that under no circumstances would the Silger camp be shifted or abandoned. The government has called the protesters’ demand “unjustified”. “The government is going to establish six more camps in the same region,” said Ravindra Choubey, senior cabinet minister and the government spokesperson.

    Officials say the camps will bring more security to the region and help facilitate its development. However, villagers say the new camp will bring in more forces, which, they fear, will lead to atrocities being committed against them. 

    The villagers also claimed they are fighting for their rights over ‘jal, jungle and jameen’ (water, forest and land) that “belong to them”. “We will continue our peaceful protest till the camp is removed from here,” the villagers said.

    The Bastar Police have blamed the Maoists for instigating tribal communities to oppose the camp. “It’s a known fact who all are protesting and why at Silger,” said Choubey.  The Bastar police meanwhile are also gathering intelligence inputs about the protesters.

    The Bastar administration and the police have repeatedly tried to convince the agitators to stop protesting and return to their villages, fearing such big gatherings could spark a rise in COVID cases.

  • Tribals’ protest against security camp in Chhattisgarh enters 17th day, efforts by police go in vain

    Express News Service
    RAIPUR: Silger, a tribal habitat located along the border of two worst Maoist-affected districts of Sukma and Bijapur, about 450 km south of Raipur, persistently witnesses a strong protest by thousands of local villagers against the security base camp, which was set up on May 12.

    While the villagers apparently continue to nurture trust deficit with the police force alleging such camps will further add to the atrocities they face by the deployed security personnel in the conflict zone, the Bastar police however blamed the Maoists to have instigated the innocent tribals to oppose the camp.

    The villagers also claimed to be fighting for their rights over ‘jal-jungle-jameen’ (water-forest-land) that they candidly cited belonged to them. “We will continue our peaceful protest till the camp is removed from here,” the villagers contended.

    The Bastar administration and the police have repeatedly tried to convince the agitating tribals to withdraw the protest and return to their villages. “Our fear is with such huge gathering there arises a bigger risk for these villagers likely to turn into super spreaders in their hamlets amid pandemic,” said IG (Bastar zone) P Sunderraj. 

    However the tribal villagers refused to budge and even claimed that they were not taken into confidence before setting up the camp.

    The locals are claiming that the camp has been built on the land owned by some villagers, though an official clarification countered that given area was actually encroached in the past by the locals but still they will be compensated with the similar land at some other place.

    The human rights activist Bela Bhatia who visited the area couple of days ago insisted that all major projects causing any dispute with villagers should be put on hold during the pandemic. “The peaceful protest of the tribals should be taken into account,” she said.

    On Saturday, a 6-member fact-finding team of opposition BJP on their way to Silger had to return owing to the security reasons.

    Silger and adjoining areas happen to be in the Maoist stronghold and the rebels might never wish to let the region go under the influence of the state administration, opined Brigadier (Rtd) BK Ponwar, a jungle warfare expert.

    The police though have plans to set up more camps further inside the same area to strengthen their hold.

    However the tribals from over a dozen nearby villages expressed their objection through their sit-in demonstration at Silger. Later the protest turned violent leading to direct confrontation with the forces on May 17 when the police firing killed 3 and injured 18 others.

    “We have already spoken to a 40-member team representing the tribal villagers appealing them to restore peace and return owing to the risk of coronavirus infections. The camps are meant to ensure security in the region and foster development. Maoists are on the backfoot and frightened  with more camps coming up. Any decision on the camp is to be taken at the government level,” the Bastar IG said.