Summary
About 1,267 Adivasi families (indigenous people
who are traditional forest-dwellers) has been forcibly
evicted without prior notice from their 59 forest
villages in Lungsung Block, under Haltugaon Forest
Division, in Kokrajhar district of Assam, since 30
October 2010. The eviction team led by the District
Forest Officer has also burnt down 8 Lower Primary
Schools and 3 places of worship. More than 6,919 victims
including women, children and babies and the infirm, lost
all their belongings as their houses were looted and
torched and their livestock taken away. The situation of
the homeless evictees was further deteriorated by the
winter and no relief supply have reached them since 30
October 2010. To add to their woes, 228 makeshift tents
in 8 villages - which had been ravaged already on 30 and
31 October - were again torched and destroyed on 22
November.
However, the local administration has not responded to
their plight. Expecting the relevant authorities to carry
out their obligations, the forest-dwelling tribes are
seeking international support to their cause.
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letters to: |
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- Dr. Manmohan Singh
Prime Minster of India
Prime Minster's Office, South Block
Raisina Hill, New Delhi- 110 011, INDIA
- Honourable Justice Shri K.G. Balakrishnan
Chairperson
National Human Rights Commission
Faridkot House, Copernicus Marg,
New Delhi- 110001 INDIA
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Fax: + 91 11 23019545/ 23016857
Fax: +91 11 23384863
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copies to: |
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- Shri Tarun Kumar Gogoi
Chief Minister of Assam
Janta Bhawan, Dispur,
Guwahati – 781 006, INDIA
- Shri Kanti Lal Bhuria
Union Minister
Ministry of Tribal Affairs, A-Wing,
Shastri Bhavan,
New Delhi – 110 015, INDIA
- Shri Janaki Ballav Pattanaik
Governor of Assam
Raj Bhawan, Kharguli, Guwahati-781004
Assam, INDIA
- Sri Hagrama Mohilary
The Chief of Bodoland Territorial Council
BTC Secretariate, Bodofa Nwgwr
Kokrajhar-783 370,
Assam, INDIA
- Diplomatic representatives of India in
your countries.
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Fax: +91 36 12262069 Fax: +91
11 23013677
Fax: +91 36 12540310
Fax: +91 36 61270897
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Sample
Letter
We write with grave concern
over the eviction of 6,919 Adivasis, mostly
Santhals and Kurux (Oraons) and some Mundas and
Bodos, without prior notice, from 59 villages
under Haltugaon Forest Division in the Kokrajhar
district of Assam. Their houses have been torched
and looted since 30 October 2010. Eight lower
primary schools and three places of worship have
been destroyed. Enduring starvation and illness,
the evictees – including women, children and
babies (3,106 minors), lactating mothers,
pregnant women, the sick and the infirm –
have been languishing under the open sky for a
month. However, the local administration has not
responded to their plight.
Please be reminded that International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), to
which your country is a party, calls for
recognition of “the right of everyone to an
adequate standard of living for himself and his
family, including adequate food, clothing and
housing, and to the continuous improvement of
living conditions” (Article 11). In its
Concluding Observations, the Committee of ICESCR,
has also recommended that “the State party
take immediate measures to effectively enforce
laws and regulations prohibiting displacement and
forced evictions, and ensure that persons evicted
from their homes and lands be provided with
adequate compensation and/or offered alternative
accommodation…” (Para 71, Fortieth
session, 28 April - 16 May 2008)
In this connection, we urge you to provide
compensation, relief and rehabilitation to the
evictees and immediately restore education of
thousands of evicted Adivasi children in Lungsung
area, in compliance with Article 21A of the
Constitution of India and Article 3 of The Right
of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act,
2009.
We also urge you to accord Scheduled Tribes
status to Santhals, Kurux (Oraons), Mundas,
Kharias, and Ghonds who are traditional forest
dwellers and make them eligible for protection
under Forest Rights Act 2006.
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Background
The Supreme Court Directive
The massive October 2010 eviction took place in
the Lungsung Forest Block under Haltugaon Forest Division
in Kokrajhar District of Assam. The same district is also
part of Bodoland Territorial Areas District (BTAD).
In December 1996, the Supreme Court of India issued a
directive to nine State governments, including Assam, to
prevent further encroachment of reserve forest lands,
which was commonly cited to justify evictions. On 15
January 1998, the Apex Court directed that resources of
forests be protected in the north eastern states.
Subsequently, major eviction drives were initiated, and
1996 and 1998 witnessed massive evictions and
displacement in Assam. Thousands of Adivasis were forced
to live in makeshift refugee camps.
The October eviction also infringed the directive as the
Forest Department launched the eviction drive without
demarcating the forest area. Moreover, the authorities
have neglected the Supreme Court’s instruction that
the government evict only encroachers and that such
evictions be done only after giving a month's notice.
Ethnical Composition and the Scheduled Tribes Status
Assam is one of the seven north eastern states and is
home to several tribal groups – those who live in
the plains, and those who live in the forests. Bodos are
a major tribe among them. Found in Assam are also many
non-scheduled tribes, who are known as Adivasis. The
Adivasi communities, like Santhals, Oraons, Mundas,
Khamers, etc are the descendants of forest dwelling
tribes brought from the neighbouring states by the
British India to work as indentured tea labourers in the
tea estates of Assam, during nineteenth century.
While Bodos enjoy the Scheduled Tribes (ST) status in
Assam, the Adivasis, including Santhals, Kurux (Oraons),
Mundas, Kharias, and Ghonds, are yet to get that status
in Assam. As the traditional forest dwellers, the
Adivasis have lived there long enough to rightfully claim
ST status; and actually they have been successfully
granted ST status in the neigbouring states of West
Bengal, Jharkhand and Orissa.
The Scheduled Tribes (ST) status entitles a tribal group
to special affirmative actions from the Government. For
example, the Forest Rights Act 2006 states that “the
recognised rights of forest dwelling Scheduled
Tribes… include the responsibilities and authority
for sustainable use… of the forests” for their
livelihood. To enjoy similar rights, the non-ST Adivasis
or other traditional forest dwellers must have been
living on forest land for not less than three generations
– 75 years – before 13 December 2005, for bona
fide livelihood needs. Being denied of the ST status, the
Adivasis are prone to eviction, as they are considered
‘encroachers’.
Bodoland Territorial Council
The early 1960's saw the emergence of Plains Tribals
Council of Assam (PTCA), a political party representing
Bodos and other plains tribals of Assam. Complaining of
neglect in the area of development, the Bodos organized
themselves into a movement for a separate state of
Bodoland. The 1985 to 1992 vigorous and violent agitation
ended with the signing of the Bodoland Accord with the
State Government on 20 February 1993. Later, on 10
February 2003, a Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) was
signed between the Government of India, the Government of
Assam and the Bodo organizations. In pursuance of MoS, an
autonomous district known as the Bodoland Territorial
Areas District (BTAD) has been constituted under the
Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India. Its
jurisdiction covers the four districts, including
Kokrajhar (where the eviction took place), Udalguri,
Baska and Chirang. The BTAD is administered by Bodoland
Territorial Council (BTC) with legislative,
administrative, executive and financial powers.
According to a website maintained by BTC, “the
Government is equally committed to the empowerment of the
Bodos as also the protection of the existing rights
including land rights and privileges of the non-tribals
in the BTAD.” However, the BTC Forest administration
has remained silent and inactive to the plight of the
evictees since the October eviction.
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