A Fact Finding Report

UNCLEAN INTRIGUES BEHIND CLEAN ENERGY:

Dhule Adivasis’ Glorious Struggle for Land Rights





Dr. Anand Teltumbde
Dr. Sanjay Dabhade
Mr. Akram Siddiqui
Mr. S. Ansari

COMMITTEE FOR PROTECTION OF DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS
MUMBAI
August 2007

Introduction

On July 14, 2007, the Adivasis of Pangan and Mograpada, small villages at about 70 Km from Dhule suddenly found a fleet of more than 40 vehicles entering their village and before they could comprehend what it was they found themselves getting thrashed. It was at about 1 pm, the police and the Suzlon goons got out in an inebriated state and began thrashing the stray people they found on the roads and putting them into a van. They headed to the spot in Mograpada, about a km away where Suzlon had dug up the first pit for constructing foundation for the tower in the encroached land under Adivasi cultivation in February this year. Adivasis have been agitating against it and had succeeded in preventing the company to work there. Wondering what the police and the company were up to, some 40 to 50 people collected around the land in question from Mograpada. Some people pelted stone to enable the police burst tear gas shells. Adivasis panicked that it was gun fire and ran helter skelter. The police then ran after them and thrashed wounding some 30-40 people, many among them women variously. 18 people, one of them a girl studying for her D Ed were arrested and detained for three days before they were released on bail.

In the face of it, it was a minor incidence by the contemporary standard. Indeed it may not appear noteworthy these days to people inured to read about police firing on hapless Dalits and Adivasis and perpetrating torture and fake encounters stamping them as naxalites. If it was not for its context, it would not have been possible for anyone to take a special note of it. This historical context comprised their agitation that goes back to early sixties; the agitation to secure ownership rights for the forest land they cultivated for generations. It is the agitation that took the issue to the Supreme Court for the first time in the country and won its favourable verdict for all the Adivasis that acknowledged the historical wrong done to them and legitimated the process for its correction. Many corrective legislations also came, before and after the Supreme Court verdict, the latest being the Forest Act in 2006, but nothing changed for the Adivasi on ground. Their agitation continued as before, now for getting the law implemented by the nonchalant Administration. While this was on, they found their lands already transferred to a Wind Energy Multinational over night. The Adivasis’ agitation was now naturally directed against the company’s occupation of lands, although it was basically against the Administration that facilitated it. The Administration succeeded in killing two birds with one stone: one, they could effectively divert the issue and two; they could project the agitation as anti-development, anti-clean energy, anti-Suzlon, which goes well with the contemporary neoliberal paradigm.

This context made this minor-looking incident intriguing enough as it bared the partial character of the state machinery that persistently ignores Adivasis’ lawful demands but bends backward to facilitate the business interests of a multi-national corporate at the expense of justice. This prima facie reading of the information that reached us on August 05, 2007 prompted us to constitute a Fact Finding Enquiry into the incident. A team of the following members was constituted for the purpose:

Dr. Anand Teltumbde
Dr. Sanjay Dabhade
Mr. Akram Siddiqi
Mr. S. Ansari

Terms of Reference

To enquire into the incident on July 14 in which 30-40 Adivasis were wounded in the lathi charge of the police.

To understand the new phase of struggle of Adivasis that appears to resist entry of the Wind Energy companies in the area.

Methodology

Since the struggle of Adivasis in Dhule and Nandurbar districts has a history of more than four decades, a good deal of documentation is available. Its review could set the context for the enquiry. In view of the limited resources with us the enquiry was limited to the interviews with the key officials of the Administration, namely, the district collector and the police superintendent; the key official of the forest department, the chief conservator of forests, Adv. Nirmalkumar Suryavanshi of Vidhi Adyayan va Sanshodhan Kendra, Dhule who reportedly studied this agitation of Adivasis in March 2007; the leader of the Satyashodhak Grammen Kashtakari Sabha (SGKS), an organization that spearheaded the agitation, Com. Kishor Dhamale; key representatives of the Adivasis, and Adivasi victims themselves at Pangan and Mograpada.

The team contacted Com. Kishor Dhamale on phone and had interview with him at Pune on August 6, 2007. The team decided to pay a field visit to Dhule, Pangan, Mograpada on August 11 and accordingly sought appointments with the district collector, superintendent of police, Dhule by fax and with Adv Nirmalkumar Suryavanshi and the Deepak Jagtap on phone.

Fact Finding Enquiry

Interview with Adv. Nirmalkumar Suryavanshi and Avinash Patil

Adv. Nandkumar Suryavanshi and Avinash Patil are known to have studied the issue of land transfer to Suzlon from the legal viewpoint through their Vidhi Adhyayan va Sanshodhan Kendra, Dhule. We met them at Mr. Suryavanshi’s house. They spent considerable time with us in explaining the legal intricacies of the matter as follows:

The lands acquired for the project fall in various categories. There are lands which are privately owned by farmers and there are lands which are given to farmers by the government for the sole purpose of cultivation. Some lands are called Adivasi lands. Even in this, above two categories exist. Some lands are fallow or forest lands which are encroached by Adivasis, Dalits and other backward castes. While in government parlance these farmlands are referred to as encroachments, in reality, they are under cultivation of these people for generations. There is a long history of how the people living in forests have been denuded of their rights from colonial times. Like wise it is the known fact that even after the transfer of power, most colonial policies and Acts have been continued by the government during the post-independence period. As a result these people have remained without ownership rights merely for technical reasons.

These people have been struggling to secure them since last four decades and compelled the governments to take cognizance of their rights. Consequently, the Maharashtra Government had issued orders to restore the land rights to these so called encroachers on certain conditions in 1978. Even the central government has issued similar directions in 1980 in the wake of Forest Conservation Act. According to them, the process of carrying out requisite enquiries to issue land rights to people is said to be in progress. The Supreme Court has issued clear stay orders on any kind of dispossession (bedakhal) of these people of their farmlands while this process is on. In December 2006, the Parliament passed an Act to make these land rights inviolable and thereby provided protection to the Adivasi and dalit encroachers up to December 2005. However, in violation of all these provisions, the government officials have been vying with each other to give away the so called encroached Adivasi farmlands to the wind energy company, Suzlon.

Basically, irrespective of whether it is owned or whether it is given on conditions, the law prohibits alienation of farmlands under Adivasi control except for certain special circumstances. While the divisional commissioner is reportedly vested with authority to permit alienation of these farmlands in such circumstances, they can do so only after complying with the rules laid down for it. It includes observing certain processes and taking Adivasis within the radius of five kilometers into confidence by notifying them through village announcements and soliciting their objections. Only after satisfying them completely, can they permit such alienation.

The company has already erected the wind turbine towers on the Adivasi farmlands of Walve, Pangan, Mograpada, Navapada, Jamde, etc. These Adivasis had submitted applications for restoration of land rights by issuing them 7/12 extract. But whenever they approached the Talathi for getting the same, they could not get him. According to Land Revenue Act -The Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, 1966 and The Bombay Tenancy and Agriculture Lands Act, 1948, permission of a competent revenue official is required for the sale of agricultural land to a person who is not a farmer. It requires permission of the district collector to use this land for the non-agricultural purpose. Obviously, such permissions were readily given by the district administration. The Adivasis who have suffered the lethargy of the Administration for thirty long years, inasmuch as it could not even complete the process of identifying Adivasi farmers who encroached forest lands, were stunned to see their efficiency in relation to the company.

Meeting with the District Collector Ms. Prajakta Lavangare

The collector started off saying that this issue should not be seen emotionally and should be seen within the legal framework. She explained how the agitators did not have legal locus standi. The committee reminded her of the 1978 resolution of the Maharashtra Government that the so called forest encroachment lands under cultivation of the farmers should be legally restored to them. Even when this verdict also remained unimplemented in Sakri, the Adivasis had begun their agitation again in 2002. The implementation of this resolution was certainly under the collectorate. Whatever may be the reasons, the fact remains that it has not been implemented over the last 30 years. The collector explained that she had taken her charge just in May 2007 but stated that the collectorate has done their part of work and the papers were submitted to higher authorities. She did not however elaborate where these papers were lying for how many years and what follow up action the collectorate had taken to implement the resolution.

The committee asked the collector what steps have been taken by the Administration to convert the forest lands to revenue lands. Without this conversion, the question of restoration of these farmlands to Adivasis would not arise. The collector said that according to their enquiries only 18 cases were found to for such restoration and the Administration is looking into the matter. Notwithstanding the number of cases, obviously, no action was yet taken to convert the forest land into the revenue land. The committee explained to her that this non-performance of the collectorate is basically at the root of the current agitation as well as most problems of the Adivasis. As the lands are still under forest department, the Adivasis suffer from perennial harassment of the forest staff. They are deprived of all concessions the government announces because such concessions are applicable only to revenue lands. As a result, it sets in motion a vicious cycle, which is responsible for most familiar problem of this section of population such as poverty, lack of education, malnutrition, health problems and so on. The collector, who cautioned against taking the issue emotionally, herself agreed and emoted that she identified and had sympathy with the Adivasis. To a specific question as to when she thinks this conversion would be accomplished, she did not give a specific answer and instead reiterated that her department had put up all necessary papers to appropriate authorities.

The committee pointed out to her the bland feature of the case that despite a plethora of resolutions, legislation and Acts, the government has not even accomplished even the most basic tasks over a long period of three decades in the process of restoring legal titles to Adivasis but when it came to the wind energy companies, its entire machinery has enthusiastically allotted them lands wherever they wanted within no time seemingly complying with the most complex processes laid down for the purpose. The collector agreed that there have been delays but now the necessary legal formalities have been completed for concluding the matter. Even if the collector was right, it did not explain at the first place the anomalous situation how the forest department proposed the forest land for sale to Suzlon and how this proposal was accepted in the labyrinthine process of approvals without bringing in the issue of Adivasi encroachments, which was yet unresolved.

On asking about the lathi charge, the collector said that there was violence and the police had to control it. They tried dispersing the crowd with tear gas but the mob could not be controlled and hence the police had to resort to a mild lathi charge. She elaborated that there are two groups among the Adivasis and basically there was a clash between them. One group belonging to Dongar Bagul, want the wind turbine towers to come whereas those belonging to SGKS opposed it. On that day, according to her, there was a clash between these two groups. If police had not done what they did, the situation would have been worse. She said both the groups were pelting stones on each other and in between many policemen sustained injuries.

The collector tried to explain that the wind turbine towers do not require much land and in most cases the land is chosen at the edge of the farmland so that there is no obstruction to the cultivators in their farming processes. She proposed that equivalent land could be given to farmers adjacent to their existing farmland. She complained that there was no effective communication between the Administration and the agitating Adivasis. She lamented that there were no NGOs to mediate between the agitating Adivasis and the Administration. The committee cautioned her that NGOs constitute a risky terrain and the Administration had better strived to establish communication with people that seeking mediation.

Interview with the SP- Mr Vijay Chauhan

In response to our question as to why the police had to resort to a lathi charge when the entire agitation can be attributed to the inaction of the Administration, the SP stated that the agitators created a serious law and order situation and hence for self defence the police had taken the action. He informed the team that Suzlon had taken the paid police protection because of the obstruction of the Adivasis in their work. He began saying how big Suzlon was, that it ranked 4th in the world in wind energy business implying that it cannot indulge in unethical practice. In the same breath he complained about the obstinate attitude of the agitators. He said that he himself had tried to mediate in a meeting with Com. Kishor Dhamale and the company officials but even in that meeting the leaders were so aggressive that there was no communication. He paused and commented, “we are paying a huge cost for democracy!” He further complained, “.. these leaders even accused me publicly of being a dalal (agent) of the company”. He said that in public meetings they keep challenging the police and in even threatened to break our limbs. The SP said that they forget that policemen were also citizens of this country and they too had rights of self defence.

On asking why the police resorted to beating poor Adivasis, the SP said that there was a heavy stone pelting on the police and therefore in self defence the police had to resort to the lathi charge. He said that his Dy SP also had a hit of stone on his arm and other constables also sustained stone hit injuries. He gave out certain details of the incident that the agitators were pelting stones from the elevation and hence even though the police had opened the lathi charge, the distance being large, not many people could be reached.

The committee enquired that the police have sapped fake cases on the agitators and keep threatening the SGKS leaders variously. It is complained that police go to the office of SGKS at odd hours and keep asking for their names to spread terror. They issue threats that they would be banned from entering the district; they would be slapped with MOCCA and so on. The SP denied that his police harassed the agitators or their leaders. He dismissed the possibility of MOCCA. However, he said if they continued to cause disturbance to the law and order situation, he would be compelled to take stern action as he deems fit.


This is what happened to forests.

Non-Cooperation of Chief Conservator of Forests: Mr. Nigam

We had sought interview with Mr. Nigam by fax on the previous day. We learnt at Dhule that he was in Pune. We phoned him up on his cell and introduced ourselves and explained the purpose of our visit. He said that it was holiday for his office. Moreover, even though he would return to Dhule on Sunday, he would be busy on Monday with paper work and so could see us only on Tuesday. We explained that we had come from Mumbai and Pune and it would not be possible for us to stay on just for meeting him. We requested him to suggest one of his deputies for an interview but he was not cooperative at all. He kept on reiterating that office was closed and he could not meet us before Tuesday. He even sounded unduly belligerent. Even our explaining to him that he could speak to us on telephone right away and there was no need to go to office for either of them, did not help. He did not agree and kept on repeating that we could meet him on Tuesday in the office.

Interview with one of the leaders of the Adivasis: Mr. Deepak Jagtap

Deepak narrated what happened on July 14 as follows:

While their agitation for getting the 7/12 for their lands was on, the wind turbine towers began dotting the surrounding landscape. The government had already leased out the forest lands to the company ignoring our lawful rights to get ownership rights over our lands. Until February, the wind power company had not come to the encroached forest lands although we were suspecting they would come and were trying to resist it. Suddenly the company brought its equipment in February and by early March completed the pit for foundation in the farm land cultivated by an Adivasi named Narayan Kokani. The Adivasis resisted it and the work had stopped. The company tried to terrorize the leaders. There were three attempts of attack on Com Kishor Dhamale. We reported at least one of them to the Collector.

We had a massive morcha on 5 June to the Collector Office. More than 10000 Adivasis had participated. When the memorandum was submitted, the Collector assured us that the wind power companies would not come to the encroached lands. We had a Satyagraha the next day at the spot where the pit was left by the company. All the participants had symbolically put a handful of earth into the pit to restore the land for farming. Our leader Com Kishor Dhamale received many threatening phone calls since then, apparently on behalf of Suzlon. Things had nearly cooled off. Suddenly on July 14 at about 1 pm, police and company people came to Pangan in a big fleet of vehicles. There were more than 40 vehicles. They brought some hired Adivasis, whom we could identify to be the people of Dongar Bagul. They were mostly drunk. As they entered the village, the police began picking up stray people on the streets and beating them and putting into a van. They proceeded towards the spot where the tower was to be put up. By then the people began collecting from surrounding fields and Mograpada. There may not have been more than 40 to 50 people. Dongar Bagul’s people began pelting stones at the Pangan Mograpada Adivasis. There may have been response from the other side too. But the situation was not that grave to warrant the police to burst the tear gas shells and scare Adivasis who thought the police opened fire. The Adivasis ran in scare in all directions and the police followed them and beat them. More than 30 to 40 persons, many of them women, sustained serious injuries, which could be seen even today. The police picked up 18 people and they were released after three days on bail.

Obviously people are very angry that they caught them unaware. The intension of the police was naked: to terrorize the Adivasis so that they give up their resistance. So far the Adivasis have succeeded in stopping the work. But this kind of precedence would not be tolerated by the company and they would do everything possible. That was precisely done by the police and their goons on that day.

Interview with one of the leaders of the SGKS: Com. Kishor Dhamale

Com Kishor Dhamale briefed the committee on the issue of encroached land on which the Adivasis of Dhule-Nandurbar have been struggling since 1960s. This phase of the agitation under Satyashodhak Grameen Kashtakari Sabha had begun four years ago. While the struggle for getting various government directives implemented by the district administration was on, the government had sold out vast tracts of forest lands to a wind power company Suzlon. It gave a tilt to entire agitation. Since then we have had many morchas and other actions. On February 14, 2007, a massive morcha was taken which was led by Shri N. D. Patil. On February 22, 2007 Adivasis had gheraoed the Tahsildar and compelled him to declare work stoppage by Suzlon on the encroached land. On February 26, 2007 a meeting was held with the collector to ask the status of 7/12 for the encroached Adivasi-plots. He said that although the Act was passed, many of its clauses and sub-clauses were being worked out. The issuance of 7/12 can be considered only after they were ready. He said that they will survey the encroachments up to December 2005 as specified in the Act.

When asked for how the lathi charge took place, Com Kishor Dhamale charged that the police, forest department and some agents of Suzlon wanted to terrorize agitators who have been persistently resisting the intrusion of the company into their farmlands. The place where the lathi charge took place was the first tower that was coming on the encroached land belonging to an Adivasi. The foundation was dug by the company without any intimation to its owner. The Adivasis members of the SGKS resisted it and compelled the company to withdraw their crew and machinery. The company tried pressure tactics and attempted unsuccessfully three attacks on him. On June 5, we had a massive morcha to the collector office in Dhule. The collector assured us that no tower will be erected on the encroached land. With that assurance, the Adivasis performed satyagraha at the spot and symbolically put a handful of earth each to fill back the pit.

Suddenly on July 14, the police descended down in huge numbers along with many Advises hired by Suzlon. They came in a fleet of more than 40 vehicles, the sight of which itself was terrorizing enough for the Adivasipadas. The Adivasis, who had come with the police, were fully drunk. They had brought stones with them in the vehicle. The police began picking up people randomly from the streets and beating them. They went to the spot at which the satyagraha had taken place. There was panic among the villagers who began collecting there. As they reached the plot where the pit was dug by Suzlon, the Adivasis began pelting stones at them. The agitators also may have responded. At that point the police burst the tear gas shells, which the Adivasis mistook as firing and began running in all directions. The police ran after them and beat them mercilessly. In all over 30 persons, many of them women, sustained injuries and 18 were arrested and detained for three days in jail before they were released on bail. He alleged that this was a preplanned attack to demoralize the agitators. He demanded that the authorities must enquire into the incident and punish the police official responsible for this highhanded act against the Adivasis.

Com Dhamale, who has been leading the struggle of the Sabha, explained how the state administration has given all kinds of land to Suzlon whereas the lawful demands of the Adivasis are being ignored for the last 30 years. The Sabha has spearheaded the agitation of the Adivasis to secure them ownership rights for the plots they cultivated for years in Dhule Nandurbar belt. As this agitation had almost reached its fruition, insofar as the drafting of the Scheduled Tribes and Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of forest Rights) Act, 2006 was in process, since the last 3-4 years a new obstacle is created in the form of handing over land including the encroached forest lands under Adivasi cultivation to the wind power companies. How can the Administration restore lands to an Adivasi after it is sold out to a private MNC?, he asked. He said, while the Administration has certainly committed irregularity in selling off the forest land before resolving the question of land rights to Adivasis in its vicinity, there is a fundamental question that it needs to answer: why is the Administration antagonistically disposed towards the poor Adivasis who have been agitating for their legal rights for decades while it is so enthusiastic to facilitate the resourceful multinational like Suzlon that it is ready to trample upon every norm and nicety with impunity. The land is the only source of livelihood for the people of this area. The indiscriminate handing over of vast tracts of land for putting up corporate wind energy farms is going to jeopardize not only the basic economy of this belt but also devastating the livelihood of the scores of people. The companies have bought over the entire state administration, the forest department, revenue department and police, which are bending backward to facilitate them in every manner, he accused. Their partial behaviour is nakedly exhibited over the last 3-4 years in securing all kinds of permissions for the company but ignoring the rightful demands of the poor Adivasis for which they have struggled for more than 40 years.

The state administration has been violating its own laws with impunity. We have been demanding that the process of enquiry leading to issuance of land rights be completed. We had to take out five morchas to the tehsil office in Sakri, do a rasta roko at Dahiwel, a conference in Sakri, and a satyagraha to voice this demand. We have persistently represented to the District Collector to implement the verdict of the Supreme Court on March 3, 1995, the directions issued by the state government vide its GR no. 372/J-1, and also the directions/guidelines given by the central government vide letters no. 1) NO-2-3/2004-1 (PT-11) dated 21.12.2004, 2) FNO 2-3/2004-FC dated 12.05.2004, and 3) FNO 2-3/2004-FC dated 03.11.2005 but without any outcome.

Meanwhile, Tahsil Office had announced the time table on 06.06.2006 for the enquiry into the forest land encroachment. Thereafter, on 03.07.2006 the collector, Dhule and on 11.09.2006 RFO, Kondaibari had given written assurances to our Kashtakari Sabha (SGKS) that they would approve of these enquiries when they presented a memorandum during one of the Sabha’s morchas. The demands of the Sabha to regularize the encroachments up to 1980 have not been fulfilled by the collector as well as the forest department. The Administration has consistently ignored the lawful demands of the Adivasis.

He then narrated how many laws relating to the issue have been violated in process. In 1954, in order to promote food production, Adivasis were given ‘Eksali’ plots. This process in fact came through the colonial times. These plots cultivated by Adivasis for years have not been regularized in their names. In 1969 an Act was promulgated for such regularization but still the Adivasis in this belt were deprived of its benefits. In 1978 Sharad Pawar government in Maharashtra adopted a resolution to regularize the encroached lands during the periods from 1930 to 1972 and thereafter up to 1978. As this resolution was not properly implemented, the SGKS has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court in 1982. In this context, the Supreme Court issued directions to Agriculture University, Dhule to investigate Ph values of the lands in question and also to conduct a survey constituting the vllage committees, Gram Sabhas and a taluka level committees. In 1983 the Vasave committee enquired into the encroachments. In 1990 the central government issued directives to grant lands but even then the Adivasis did not get their ownership rights. On 07.03.1995 the Supreme Court gave verdict in favour of Adivasis but still they did not get their land rights. On the contrary, according to one of the Supreme Court verdicts in 2001, the government began devastating the homesteads and crops of Adivasis. In protest to this action of the government, thousands of Adivasis had come to Mumbai on 10.10 2002 under the banner of Dadasaheb Gaikwad Bhumihakka Andolan. On that day, the government announced its decision to start the process of enquiry to grant lands to Adivasis. However, even this decision of the government remained unimplemented. Thereafter, the central government issued three orders to regularize the encroached forest lands. Instead of implementing the Supreme Court verdict and plethora of government orders in favour of Adivasis, the district administration has conferred lands to an MNC overnight.

Com Dhamale alleged that the state administration has violated many Acts in process such as the Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, which stipulates that any project within the jurisdiction of Gram Sabha should be discussed in Gram Sabha with all its pros and cons. Even Adivasi Van hakka Kayada 2006 (The Scheduled Tribes and Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006) stipulates that while giving forest lands for any project including school, roads, tanks, and non-conventional energy, the approval of Adivasi Gram Sabha is a must. Therefore it is an appropriate case to enquire into how without the Gram Sabha approvals and despite their disapprovals the company has proceeded with erecting the wind turbine towers. We know at least four Gram Sabhas of Walve, Pangan, Burukhe, Lagadwal, which have resolved to prohibit the company from erecting the towers within their jurisdictions. There is an Act –The Maharashtra Restoration of Land to Scheduled Tribes Act, 1974, that forbids transfer of Adivasi lands to non-Adivasis. Have they not violated this Act while erecting 15 towers within the jurisdiction of Walve and Pangan on the lands of Adivasis without altering the ownership records, Com Dhamale questioned.


More than 25000 trees were cut. One such site near Walve.

It is said that Suzlon has been given permission to cut 11000 trees for erecting the wind turbine towers on the forest lands. The company has already cut down over 25000 trees in Pachmauli and Raikot area. How come the forest department that harasses an Adivasi woman for lifting a stick from the jungle as firewood, is so considerate with a foreign company? We demand that these issues must be enquired into and the outcome be placed before people of the area. It is reported that the government has entered into an Agreement with the company (Suzlon), which stipulates that the forest department should ensure this area would not become a part of the national reserve or abhayaaranya. He then complained against the Dhule and Nandurbar Police that it is siding with Suzlon in terrorizing the agitating Adivasis. He narrated that on 19 May, Nandurbar Police entered Jamade village early in the morning and arrested activists belonging to Pardhi tribe along with their children and beat them. There are numerous such cases of police harassment and slapping of fake case.

Visit to Site at Pangan and Mograpada

As we were nearing Pangan from Dhule, we could see sores of wind mills already dotting the vast lands before us. At many places we found Suzlon yards and workshops and the big trolly-trucks parked nearby. No person visiting this area can miss the domineering presence of Suzlon.
As we reached Pangan, some activists of the SGKS came over and explained how the police party entered the village on July 14 and narrated the incidence. It was the same as briefed by Deepak Jagtap and Kishor Dhamale. We expressed desire to see the victims and talk to them individually. Soon more than 100 people collected there. People came to us one by one and began narrating what happened that day and how they were beaten. The beating marks could be clearly seen even after a month. There was so much similarity in all the versions that at times we suspected as though they were tutored. In order to test out veracity, we questioned some of them differently and satisfied ourselves that what was being said was rather truth. The following people presented to us at the village ground:


Dr. Anand Teltumbade talking to Adivasis of Mogarpada village.

60 years old woman Jaibai Jagtap showed stitches on her hand. Gajrabai Rama showed her beating marks. Sunita Ghanshiram, a young girl studying for her D Ed was beaten and picked up by the police when she went to plead against the arrests of her father and brother. Dahlu (mama) Thakre testified how Dongar Baguls’ people drank liquor and abused them and also told how he was beaten. Gangaji Poslya Malshe showed a wound at his eye brow and beating marks on his back. Ramsingh Mahadu Sonawane showed a deep swelling mark on his calf. Gayabai Babu showed us beating marks on her legs, while narrating how she was beaten when she had gone to get her brother released. Tukaram Mau Sonawane said he was caught on the street and beaten in the village without any provocation. Kalubai Malshe was working in her field. The Police came there and beat her. Gopichand Bhurya Ahire was badly beaten on his buttock. Shyama Bhurya Pawar narrated what happened at the spot. He was beaten on his lap. They all said that their Gram Sabha had resolved to reject the proposal to have wind turbine towers in their jurisdiction. Many of these people were among the 18 arrestee who may have to fight the cases police has slapped on them. Almost everyone from the crowd wanted to come over and narrate how he was beaten that day but due to paucity of time we could not listen to them. We were reasonably convinced that what they said was largely true.

We just remembered Adv Nirmalkumar Suryavansi’s assertion about the necessity of village notification and asked the Adivasis at Pangan and nearby villages, whether they were notified in this way, whether they knew what was being done to their land, none answered in positive.

Adivasi Struggle: Our Narrative

The narrative of the Adivasi struggle is deliberately made complex in order to camouflage the persistent failure of the Administration. It is therefore necessary to present it in its brief and objective chronology.

That Adivasis have lived in jungles and cultivated forest lands from time immemorial is an incontrovertible fact. It is only the British colonial regime that brought in the concept of ownership of land and technically dispossessed them of their traditional rights over forests. Even during this period the government offered land to Adivasis as ‘Eksali Patta’ for cultivation. There is evidence that this scheme was in vogue as far back as 1929. After independence, this scheme was revived in 1954 when a campaign ‘Grow More Food’ was launched, which continued thereafter.

In 1969, Maharashtra Government passed an Act to regularize such eksali pattas, seemingly in response to the glorious countrywide agitation of the landless peasants under the leadership of Dadasaheb Gaikwad. However, its implementation remained truncated at best inasmuch as we were shown a list of 128 such eksali pattadars from 1954, who are still without the ownership rights (i.e., 7/12).

With the increasing harassment from the forest department, the Adivasis began organizing and agitating to get ownership rights over the forest land under their cultivation from 1960s. As the encroachments were excluded from the 1969 Act, the Government issued another GR in 1972 for the remaining eksali pattadars and encroachers. In response to the continuing demands from Adivasis, the then Sharad Pawar government issued a GR in 1978 to grant the ownership rights to the Adivasis for all the encroachments up to 1978, thus effectively accommodating the encroachments from 1972 to 1978. The criterion used for identifying encroacher was the receipt for penalty paid to the forest department for encroachment. As anyone can see, the norm in Adivasipadas being bribing forest officials in cash and kind (chicken), very few cases of encroachers could be located who had official receipt for payment of penalty. The Administration duly declared the list of such encroachers but the fact remains that even they have not got the 7/12. The GR thus remained absolutely unimplemented.

In 1980, the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 was promulgated. Its stringent provisions were used to harass Adivasis. At many places SRPs were brought to evict them from forest lands and cases were slapped upon many Adivasis for trespass and resistance. Because of this harassment and non-implementation of the various GRs, the poor Adivasis had to knock the doors of the Supreme Court in 1982 under the aegis of SGKS. This was the first case of Adivasis in the country for securing ownership rights over forest land. The Supreme Court gave its verdict in favour of the Adivasis in 1995 and asked the government to redo the survey by constituting village committees, taluka committees and district committees, with the representatives of revenue and forest departments. The Administration did not pay any heed even to this verdict. No committees were constituted and it also remained unimplemented.

In meanwhile the Supreme Court gave another verdict for removing encroachment of forestlands in the context of querying and mining operations in 2001. This verdict was grossly misused to dispossess Adivasis of their farmlands. At many places their standing crops were brutally destroyed in process. In protest, the Adivasis organized a massive morcha to Mantralaya under the banner of Dadasaheb Gaikwad Bhumi hakka Kruti Samiti in the birth centenary year of Dadasaheb Gaikwad. In response to this morcha, and ostensibly honouring the memory of Dadasaheb Gaikwad, the Government issued a GR on October 10, 2002, the day of his birth anniversary. This GR also reiterated regularization of encroachments up to 1978 but stipulated that a committee consisting of a representative of Adivasis, NGO and other organizations would conduct enquiries for entitlements afresh. This committee would go to field, conduct survey, take into account circumstantial and physical evidence, witness of villagers, including affidavit of the cultivator to determine the entitlement and present before the Panchas. Through this participative and transparent process, the enquiries could be completed properly in respect of Adivasis in Akkalkuwa and Nawapur (Nandurbar); Shirpur (Dhule), Dahanu and Talasari (Thane), where Adivasis were organized. The government duly published the entitlement list but the fact remains that even those Adivasis also have not been given the ownership rights (7/12) till today. Only in Amravati, they received certificates, some documents in recognition of their rights.

Even this enquiry process was not carried out properly in respect of the Adivasis of Sakri, who were not then organized. In the absence of organization, the village talathis and tehsildars manipulated it completely. The glaring errors included exclusion of the 1954- eksalis, the receipt holders for encroachment-penalty, and even the people who went to the Supreme Court. This problem could only be resolved by agitation and hence the Adivasi agitation in Sakri began in 2003 over the issue of proper conduct of enquires to determine encroachers. The Administration acknowledged the anomalies when pointed out. In order however to cover up its lapses (and save the talathis and tehsildars responsible for them), it was decided to redo the enquiries with a new cut-off of 1980, taking advantage of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 and central government guidelines of November 03, 2004. Nothing however happened on the ground.

While these enquiries had not yet begun, despite the persistent agitation of the Adivasis until 2006, the Adivasis learnt to their dismay that vast tracts of forest lands were sold out to Suzlon for putting up the wind turbine towers in two parcels. The first parcel comprised forest land of 212 ha, which did not conflict with the Adivasi land. The second parcel of 127 ha however clearly conflicted with Adivasi lands, encroached and others. As seen above, the enquiries into encroachments being incomplete, the forest department could not have identification of cultivated forestlands and as a result could not be certain about the encumbrance over the forestland. How it proposed the land for sale to Suzlon and how the Administration, despite knowing the facts, approved it, with exemplary speed, is prima facie intriguing. Notwithstanding a plethora of Acts and GRs to grant Adivasis ownership rights over farmlands under their cultivation, once the land is occupied by Suzlon, Adivasis would be automatically dispossessed of it. If dispossession of land means loss of livelihood, which it does for the Sakri-Adivasis, the only option for them is to intensify their struggle to resist the gross injustice. Inevitably, it had to be against Suzlon occupying the Adivasi lands.

Soon after the second parcel of 127 ha land was contracted out to Suzlon on January 09, 2007, the Adivasis under SGKS declared that they would not permit anyone to step into their lands. On January 25, when the Minister for Tribal Development announced at Pachmauli village that land was given to Suzlon, the Adivasis reiterated their resolve to resist. On February 14, a huge rally took place led by prof. N. D. Patil at Sakri. On February 20, SGKS delegation met Dr. Sanjay Chahande, Divisional Commissioner, Nashik. A satyagraha and gherao was carried out on February 22 at the tehsil office, Sakri. On February 23 and 24 Sub DFO surveyed how many wind turbine towers would come on encroached lands. This Number had kept changing in the past with various authorities; Tehsildar had informed it as 8, the Divisional Commissioner had 10, this survey reported it as 15 and now they say it is 18. On February 24, the vehicle of Com Kishor Dhamale and other SGKS-activists was attacked at Dawnyapada at 7 pm but was successfully repelled by the Adivasis.

By then the 2006 Forest Act passed by the Parliament became known. It extended the cut-off date to December, 2005. Although the Act is not yet implemented, pending formulation of the by laws, etc., nonetheless it stipulates that Adivasi encroachers up to December 2005 would not be dispossessed of their lands. Accordingly, the agitating Adivasis demanded the survey be done on the basis of cut-off of December 2005. The Administration has agreed for this cut-off.
On February 26, a meeting took place with Collector, chief conservator and DFO, which decided to constitute a committee of a village talathi, a forest guard, 2 senior citizens, and 1 representative of SGKS for surveying the encroachments with the cut off of December 2005. Accordingly, the survey had started on May 12. It was decided that wherever the wind turbine tower came within the encroached land, the forest department would stop the work. There were certain other commitments made in the meeting but none of them have been observed till date. The land maps for the 127 ha sold out to Suzlon were to be provided to SGKS but have not been provided till date. The resolutions of the Gram Sabhas of Pangan, Burukhe (Pachmouli), Laghalwad and Walve not allowing the wind turbine towers were to be sent upwards for direction but nothing is done yet. Many farmers were reportedly cheated into transferring their lands to Suzlon with just sathe khat and mukhtyarpatra. A report on this was to be given by the SDO, Dhule within 15 days, which remains still undone. When the SGKS leaders met the Forest Minister on April 12, he directed in writing that the decisions taken in the February 26 meeting should be complied with but still nothing happened. The survey that had started on May 12 also was stopped on May 22. About 1600 enquiries were concluded and approximately 350 remained to be done. Although, the Administration has not disclosed anything officially, but as per the SGKS representative on the committee, over 1500 cases came out eligible. In meanwhile, the collector was transferred. On protesting about the stoppage of the survey, the SGKS leaders were reportedly threatened on May 22 in the Collector office by the SP, Additional Collector and DFO. Com. Dhamale was arrested on May 25 and was slapped with 13-14 cases. On August 8, he was again arrested and was also served a show cause notice why he should not be externed from the district.


Adivasis gathered at Pangan village in to talk to fact-finding committee.

Analysis and Comments

Police Action on July 14, 2007

From the foregoing we are inclined to believe that the police action on July 14 was without any provocation and with ulterior motive. From the Administration side we were told that there was heavy stone pelting and hence the police had to resort to lathi charge. Notwithstanding the contrary version from several people including the victims, our own study of the spot contradicts the Administration version. The fundamental issue is why the police in such an abnormal strength descended down on the Adivasis at an odd hour during the rainy season. During this period there cannot be any construction work. As a matter of fact, there was no work going on there for nearly three months. Even if Suzlon intended to restart the work, the work begins in morning hours and not after noon. One does not find a convincing rationale for the police to go there.

The SP, Dhule told us that the police protection was given to Suzlon on paid basis. Was the police therefore acting at the behest of Suzlon? One would not like to consider such possibility. However, from the description of the incident and our study, it appears that they worked the company agenda. Why did they carry Adivasis there? We were told by everyone that nearly 30 vehicles carried Suzlon people and Adivasis belonging to Dongar Bagul who was opposed to the SGKS. Why did they come at the first place in such numbers? Why the Adivasis? The Administration version did not have these details. The entire exercise therefore appears suspect.

The SP told us that there was a very heavy stone pelting from elevation which would not be reached by police. At the site we did not find any elevation. It was a flat land at the edge of a valley. It is not understood how they encountered the Adivasi mob without any reason. On that day and at that time how could there be a mob? They had satyagraha a week before. There was no action thereafter. Why did the police burst tear gas shells? It is plausible that following the beating and apprehending people from Pangan, the nearby Adivasis thronged at that place. But at that odd time the crowd could not be more than a hundred people, which does not make a big mob particularly considering the strength of Suzlon party consisting of more than 150 people (40 vehicles of Sumo type, as described by people). Who pelted stones and for what? Why would these Adivasis resort to pelting stone on such a big force without any rhyme or reason?

We therefore tend to conclude that the Administration version is not true. Discounting possible exaggeration in the Adivasis’ and their leaders’ versions, which incidentally come without contradiction, we tend to believe that the sole purpose of the police force descending upon the Adivasis was to terrorize them. The Adivasis of Bagul party were particularly brought to create an impression that it was inter-community clash, under cover of which the police could thrash the agitating Adivasis. Tear gas shell was mere guise to legitimate the lathi charge. It only indicates that it was planned attack. Suzlon had good enough motive for such an attack. They had to literally retreat from the work front because of the united resistance of the SGKS Adivasis. This success could infect others, creating huge problems for them in land acquisition. It could possibly jeopardize the project entailing huge losses. If this resistance is nipped in the bud, the proble could be overcome. This appears to be the possible thinking leading to the planned attack on July 14.

The New Phase of Struggle of Adivasis

The injustice done and being done to the Adivasis comes out glaringly in the narrative of the Adivasis’ struggle given above in the report.

The Adivasipadas of Dhule-Nandurbar districts are entirely dependent on cultivation of their farmlands which happen to be forest land in records. These Adivasis have struggled to get ownership rights over these plots of farmlands for many decades and won them insofar as the government had announced its decision to grant them those rights. As it happens with the struggling people of this country, they had to renew their struggle to get the decision implemented through the district administration. While this struggle was on, to their dismay, they learnt that vast tracts of forest lands were already sold out to a wind power MNC- Suzlon. There is a reason to believe that the encroached lands in question, for which they had struggled for years, were included in these tracts. At least in one instance, Suzlon tried to put up its structure in such an encroached farmland under Adivasi cultivation and caused a conflict to erupt. In course, the Adivasis have discovered that the company has put up structures on the Adivasi owned farmlands (beyond the forest lands) in violation of many laws that prohibit such transfers. It is thus this new struggle of Adivasis appears to be against Suzlon. But that is not true. The struggle is rather in its new phase, which is still against the state administration that has nakedly sided by this MNC and ignored Adivasi rights variously.

The wind energy park in this area is slated to be the biggest project in the world with gross capacity of 1200 MW. This clean energy project could have been a matter of pride for the residents of this area but the manner in which it is pushed through by the administration in utter ignorance of the claims and demands of the Adivasis has made it an eyesore for them. Suzlon, may be a big brand in the world symbolizing a clean energy and a veritable darling of the Stock Exchanges but it is the most hated name for the Adivasis of this belt. It has become a symbolic target for the Adivasis in order to expose the inherent anti-people character of the Administration.

It would be a mistake however to construe that Adivasis are against Suzlon or the wind energy project. Although it may come handy for the Administration to project that they are anti-Suzlon and hence anti-development, in order to denigrate their leadership as wanting to perpetuate the backwardness of Adivasis for their vested interests and also to effectively divert the issue from its focus, which is ownership rights for the Adivasi- land, it is far from the truth. Adivasis do not have anything to do with Suzlon; they are basically against the Administration that has persistently ignored the Adivasis’ legal rights, failed to implement the government decisions, repeatedly violated their own commitments on the one hand and enthusiastically facilitated an MNC in every respect to further its business interests on the other. Nothing forbade Administration to give the Adivasis their ownership rights over the land they cultivated, and thereafter consider land for the wind energy project. That it failed to do its duty over the last 30 years is a glaring fact. Contrasted to this, their efficiency and exemplary enthusiasm in allotting land to Suzlon becomes quite suspect and annoying to any reasonable person.

The collector told the committee that we should consider this issue within the legal framework, implying thereby that there was no violation of law. According to the Land Revenue Act, the land with new conditionality cannot be transferred without prior permission. Therefore, the company has resorted to getting the Agreement to sale on a Rs. 100- stamp paper from the farmers. This methodology, according to legal experts, does not stand in law and is grossly illegal. If the village Talathi notices agricultural lands with new conditionality being used for non-agricultural purpose without the collector’s permission, he is supposed to report it to the Tahsildar. The Tahsildar should conduct an enquiry into the case and send his report to the collector through the SDO. The district collector has to take cognizance of this report and stop such usage of land, remove any structure and restore the land to the agricultural usage. The activists of the SGKS told us that they have many such sathe khat and Power of Attorney, but there is no action from the district collector. On arguing that the collector may have given the requisite permission to such transfers, the activists told that despite their enquiries, they do not know whether such permission was given.
There are many misgivings about the impact of the wind energy project on the environment and agriculture of the Dhule-Nadurbar districts. They have heard controversy about the giant blades of the wind mill adversely impacting the rainfall. They also see them causing noise pollution and having impact on flora and fauna of the area. Certainly, the existence of a MNC in their midst is going to disturb their normal life. Already within a short time, the people faced restriction on their movements by the company security, people being caught with theft charges and facing all kinds of humiliation. It is the responsibility of the Administration to educate people in the area about the project; its good and bad effects and dispel any doubts and misgivings in their mind. We have asked number of people right from Dhule city to the people in villages on the way to Pangan about the advantages and disadvantages of the project but none could answer satisfactorily. Either they kept quiet or they have expressed their misgivings of the above type.


People of Pangan mogaroada along with the members of the fact finding committee showing the pit dug by Suzlon on the encroached land.

These are just pointers to how expansive the role of a pro-people administration could be. This case is illustrative of how simple matters can be complicated by the Administration which forgets what it owes to the people. Thirty years is long enough time for even countries to change; it is certainly too long a time for implementing some administrative decisions. The entire SGKS agitation is for getting what is lawfully theirs variously since three decades; it is there because of someone did not do its duty. It is the unpardonable indolence of the Administration that should be seen as entirely responsible for this inhuman lapse. Instead of realizing it and trying to make it up, at least after a wake up call, it appears to have taken Adivasi agitation as a challenge, an affront to their authority. Instead of appreciating the tenacity and perseverance of the poor resourceless Adivasis to carry on their struggle, they are beaten at the instance of the intruders as a paid service.

The Administration, as we learnt within a day has an opportunity to solve this problem. It has reportedly completed enquiries of 1600 out of total 2000 cases of encroachments. The speed with which this work has gone indicates that it might take years to complete the entire lot. Instead of aiming at the entire lot, they should take cognizance of these enquiries and grant the entitled Adivasis certificates of ownership as reportedly done in Amravati division. These Adivasis should then be negotiated with for putting up wind turbine towers with alternate grant of equivalent land and compensatory payments for disturbing their habitat. Tapping the wind energy is indeed an admirable proposition in this energy deficient country but it should not be forgotten that it is a business like any other for the corporates propelled by the promise of profits. If they are let loose, there are numerous examples to show what damage they can do. The Administration should therefore exercise diligence in dealing with them. The forest department that has leased vast tracts of land to them with exemplary haste needs to be probed. Indeed, the entire land deal to wind energy companies should be reviewed within the framework of law in order to dispel any misgiving from the public mind. India has huge potential in wind energy. In order that we progress the projects for tapping this clean energy, it is imperative that we have clean and transparent ways in dealing with affected people. If that is not ensured at these initial stages, the problems would easily spread over the country and may jeopardize the laudable plans for exploiting the non-conventional energy resources.

Demands

1. The police action on July 14, 2007 against the SGKS Adivasis was a paid service by the Police to Suzlon to terrorize the Adivasis into withdrawing their agitation against erection of wind turbine towers in their land. It may be a small act but taking into account its nefarious consequence, it must be investigated by a citizen’s committee with a representative of SGKS and its findings be honoured to initiate action against the guilty. The cases on the Adivasis involved in the case should be withdrawn forthwith.

2. The Administration should strive to remove the basic cause of the Adivasis by immediately issuing certificates to approximately 1500 Adivasis, for whom the enquires are concluded, and complete the process for the remaining 350 in a time bound manner. These certificates may be soon regularized into 7/12.

3. Wherever the wind turbine towers are coming in encroached forestlands, equivalent land should be allotted adjacent to the existing one with compensation for the loss of cultivated land (as it represents a labour to culture it over the years), which may be determined through negotiation with the SGKS.

4. The wind energy projects are generally categorized as B category projects that warrant certain mitigating measures to be taken by the company. The Administration should institute peoples’ committees to monitor the compliance. The Administration should simultaneously devise ways to educate people about the project and alley their misgivings. These execution, operation and maintenance jobs relating to such measures should be contracted to the collective (cooperative) of the local people.

5. Any project is a nucleus of disturbance to the habitat of local people for which it needs to provide compensation to community. The Administration must devise community projects in consultation with people and get them implemented under supervision of the local Gram Sabhas.

Mumbai, August 11, 2007

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Struggle for Land Rights