Land alienation

KORAPUT district in Orissa is a classic paradox. Although one of the most natural resource-rich districts of the country, it is also one of the poorest. The phrase `poverty amidst plenty' sounds apt here. Ever since Independence, special attention has been paid to the district through the initiation of various developmental programmes. But the gains in terms of improving the living standards of the tribal people have been minimal.

A recent study, carried out in 12 villages (Aminguda, Lendrimaliguda, Machhra, Kellar, Podapadar, Badanereka, Dumarpadar, Kudipadar, Gaudaguda, Khajuriput, Suku, and Podagada) under Koraput, Laxmipur and Dasamanthapur blocks by a Bhubaneswar-based forestry research organisation, RCDC, in collaboration with the Hyderabad-based National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD), indicates that tribal land alienation has been a continuous process in the district.

The total number of households taken up for study was 1,850, of which only 6.7 per cent belonged to the Scheduled Castes. The Scheduled Tribes constituted nearly 65 per cent of the total households. Nearly 28.4 per cent of the households belonged to other castes. The total population in the villages was 8,062, of whom 4,097 were male. The sex ratio stood at 967 females for every thousand males.

The study threw up some alarming findings, such as the ones given below:
About 90 per cent of the families covered in the study were below the poverty line.

In three of the villages under the study, not even a single household was found to be above the poverty line.

Despite abject poverty, only 18 per cent of the households got houses under the Indira Awaas Yojana.

Among the households chosen for study in the selected villages, 10 per cent were of big farmers. The percentage of small farmers' households was 38 and marginal farmers and landless households constituted 32 and 20 per cent respectively.

The study found that of the total households having homestead land, only 15 per cent had pattas. The rest did not possess title deeds although they were in physical possession of the land.
Several residents of seven villages (Kellar, Badanereka, Kudipadar, Gaudaguda, Suku, Podagada, Machhra), who were allotted land in 1976-77, were yet to get pattas.

In many villages, the land allotted to the legitimate beneficiaries was found to be either unproductive or uncultivable.

The study concluded that serious attention needed to be paid towards the mortgage and sale of land without any valid documents, which had caused large-scale land alienation.

Prafulla Das