Maharashtra Adivasi farmers march home with hope

Namdev Bhangre started the protest march on January 25 with uncertainty and bitterness. Three days later, he returned home with hope – along with tens of thousands of other Adivasi farmers mainly from Nashik and Ahilyanagar (formerly Ahmednagar).

Belonging to the Mahadev Koli tribal community in Khadki Budruk village of Ahilyanagar district, Bhangre’s family has been cultivating six acres of forest land in Akole taluka for generations. But, like tens of thousands of Adivasis in Maharashtra, they never owned the plot of land they cultivated.

“Since my grandfather’s time, we have been harvesting rice and finger millet,” he says. “But we have never known security. We could be evicted any time.”

In 2006, the Indian government passed the landmark Forest Rights Act (FRA) to mitigate that acute insecurity. After years of struggle, the act became a law. It vests forest land and resource rights in Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers who have resided in such areas for generations. Gram sabhas initiate claims, verified through sub-divisional and district committees, protecting dwellers from eviction until their rights are settled.

However, the enforcement of the law has remained suspect on the ground.

Bhangre filed the claim for the six-acre-plot he cultivated right after the FRA was passed. “My file was deemed eligible by the gram sabha, after which it was transferred to the tehsil,” he says. “The hearings happened, and the process went on and on. Eventually the claim was rejected after four years or so.”

And so the insecurity persisted. Just recently, forest officials landed up in a village near Bhangre’s and kicked out a family he knew from the land they cultivated for generations. “It could also happen to me any time,” he says.

The Adivasi farmers in Maharashtra – led by the All India Kisan Sabha – have carried out dozens of protest rallies over the last decade to claim what is rightfully theirs. None more famous than the Long March to Mumbai in March 2018 when tens of thousands of them walked 180 kilometres from Nashik to the Azad Maidan in the financial capital of India.

The chief minister of the state, back then too, was Devendra Fadnavis, who sat across the table with representatives of the farmers and promised better implementation of the Forest Rights Act, more employment opportunities, and better rates for their crops.

Eight years later, the same contingent of thousands of farmers launched another rally along the same lines this January 25 and decided to enter Mumbai on foot with similar demands.

“We are sick of promises,” Ashok Dhawle, farm leader with the AIKS says. “This time, we needed something concrete.”

This protest march came riding on the back of another one the week before that, when the AIKS – affiliated to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) -carried 50,000 farmers to the collectorate of Palghar district. While the administration could only deal with some of their local demands, the collector didn’t have the power to do anything about the larger issues of the Adivasi farmers. Which prompted the second march to Mumbai.

However, as the farmers entered the second day of the march, lawmaker Girish Mahajan reached out to the farm leaders and requested them to cut it short. The next day, a team of representatives met with the cabinet of Maharashtra, including chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, and had a detailed discussion. On January 28, the march was called off. The farmers had already covered about 80 km on foot and reached Khardi – about a halfway point between Nashik and Mumbai.

One of the most important things the farm leaders got the state government to agree to, the AIKS said in a statement, was the reopening of the rejected claims under the Forest Rights Act. Besides, it was announced that crop inspection would be conducted on forest lands, and all government schemes would be extended to forest landholders, which they are currently not eligible for.

“The Chief Minister gave a complete assurance and a personal guarantee regarding the implementation of the accepted demands,” Dhawle says. “He also assured continuous follow-up at the ministerial level to ensure that there are no shortcomings in the implementation.”

For this purpose, committees of officers will be appointed in each district under the chairmanship of the sub-divisional officer (SDO) to examine each forest rights case, the AIKS said. “This entire exercise will be completed within the next three months.”

It means the Adivasi farmers that had their claims rejected can once again dream of being landowners – officially.

Over the next few days, the farm leaders would be helping Adivasi farmers file for land rights. Bhangre, too, is looking forward to it. He has a son and a daughter. Both in their teens. He hopes that they, at least, would get to live with a bit of security that hasn’t yet been a part of his destiny.

“It has been a long time coming,” he says.