Over 100 forest officials entered a village inside Nagarahole forest on May 6, allegedly to evict 52 tribal families trying to reclaim their homes under the Forest Rights Act.
Earlier, members of the Jenu Kuruba, Betta Kuruba, Yerava and Paniya tribes had held a press conference in Bengaluru on May 4, announcing that they would reclaim their right to live in their traditional villages. This was an act of protest as the forest department is yet to recognise their land under the Forest Rights Act.
They said they had arrived at the decision after waiting for years for the government to approve their claims under the FRA.
On the evening of May 5, 52 Jenu Kuruba families laid claim to their rights to live in their traditional village by building homes for their sacred deities as is the practice in their community when they rebuild a village.
This led to a standoff with around 120 officials from the Karnataka Forest Department and the Karnataka State Tiger Protection Force (STPF) preventing them from organising the protest.
Despite adhering to all legal procedures, they have alleged that the Forest Department has breached FRA’s three-month notice period. Residents from Thundumundage Kolli Gaddehaadi, Kanturuhaadi (Brahmagiri pura), Karadikallu Hatturkollihaadi, and Balekkovuhaadi have also recently submitted claims seeking recognition of their Individual Forest Rights (IFR), Community Forest Rights (CFR) and Community Forest Resource Rights (CFRR).
The tribal families argue that they have followed due process and filed their applications for Individual Forest Rights (IFR), Community Forest Rights (CFR), and Community Forest Resource Rights (CFRR) which have been pending since 2021, they claimed. Despite submitting memorandums and undergoing joint verifications involving the Panchayat, Revenue, Tribal Welfare, and Forest Departments—including GPS surveys—their claims continue to be denied, CNAPA said. As per the rules, the forest department is supposed to respond to the claims within three months, CNAPA argued. It is the forest department which is violating the rules, they said.
However, according to the Forest Department, those who entered the forest are individuals whose claims under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) have already been rejected. Mysuru Conservator of Forests, Malathi Priya, told Deccan Herald, “The people who have entered the forest are those whose FRA claims have been rejected. They are now urging us to relook into the claims. The officer concerned has already gone there to meet them and address their concerns.”
In the press statement, JA Shivu, president of the Karadikallu Forest Rights Committee (FRC) was quoted as saying, “The Forest Rights Act does not give us rights, but affirms that we already have the rights to our forest land. Therefore, we will assert our rights and whichever authority wishes to dialogue with us, they will have to come here to Karadikallu and speak to us in our Gram Sabha. Our Gram Sabha will continue to stand strong and resist any attempts by the Forest Department to call us encroachers and throw us out of our own lands.”
Similarly, JK Putti, a Jenu Kuruba leader said that while the issue is of social justice, the government is treating it as a law and order problem. “The deployment of hundreds of officials and paramilitary troops is being done with the sole intention to intimidate and threaten us. But we are not backing down or leaving our ancestral homelands this time,” she said.
Pranab Doley, a leader of CNAPA and member of the Mising indigenous community of Assam, accused the Karnataka Forest Department of working under directives from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to suppress tribal rights in the name of conservation. He pointed out that the Jenu Kurubas have been facing several restrictions in collecting forest produce like honey, amla, wax, wild grass, tubers, etc.