The Brave Lady Who Fought Against All Odds To Get Forest Rights For Her Tribal Community
From getting an officer suspended for taking bribe to making her people aware of the forest and land rights, Anna is bringing a positive change in her little community in Odisha. She is an inspiration for thousands of tribal women, who are now rightful owners of their land thanks to Anna’s efforts. Read about her inspiring journey here.
Anna Kujur, 47, is a popular figure among the tribals of Sundergarh district in Odisha. She not only encourages them to stand up for their rights and entitlements but also gives them reasons to hope for a better tomorrow. Clad in a plain sari and ordinary rubber slippers with a cloth bag slung over her shoulder, this simple tribal woman from Sunajor village has spent nearly a decade spreading awareness among the forest-dwelling communities in the region about their legitimate claims on forest resources.
It’s routine for Anna-di, as she is known in these parts, to traverse around 25 kilometres on her cycle everyday talking to people about land rights and facilitating them in securing their own ‘patta’ for cultivation.
In Sundergarh, the scheduled tribes make up 50 per cent of the total population of the district. For sustenance and survival, these poor, largely illiterate folks either turn to the forest or resort to some minor agricultural activity. Since the verdant greens have always provided them with forest produce, water, grazing grounds and habitat for shifting cultivation for generations, they have not only been staying in and around forest lands but have also guarded and conserved them with a lot of love and care.
However, this integral and close-knit relationship between the tribals and the forests has rarely been recognised by the authorities. In fact, under the laws that govern forests in India – the Indian Forest Act, 1927 and the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 – the rights of people living in or depending on the area declared as a forest are to be “settled” by a forest settlement officer, which makes them vulnerable to exploitation as well as eviction. Although the Forest Rights Act (FRA) of 2006 does restore the rights of the forest dwelling communities – and provisions for making conservation more effective and transparent – the reality on the ground has not changed much.
Anna is no stranger to tough times. As a child, she witnessed her landless parents work day-and-night to make ends meet. When she got married, her problems only seemed to multiply. Nursing a burning desire to change her own fate and that of others like her, she had always wanted to make a difference. She elaborates,
Even as a child I had wanted to serve my people and fight the injustice I saw around me. In 2000, I set up the Athkosia Adivasi Sangathan and have been agitating for their rights under this banner. In 2003, I connected with the Campaign for Survival and Dignity (CSD), a national platform of tribal and forest dwellers’ organisations, and participated in a three-day training workshop on the rights of the forest dwellers. This gave my own activism a sharper focus. Then when the Forest Rights Act 2006 came in place, it became slightly easy to achieve my goal. Being at the helm of organising awareness programmes among the forest dwellers of around 148 villages, I mobilised them to join forces and demand their land rights.
It was indeed a challenging task to pursue files in various offices for the land ‘patta’ but with the help of CSD activists, she was able to move forward. “Today, it gives me immense pleasure when I see the people who got their land ‘patta’ and are cultivating their land,” she adds.
So far, Anna has helped about 2,000 tribal people obtain their rightful ‘patta’. Sugal Ekka, 44, from Gothbandha village, is one of them. Says this mother of three, “We are small farmers who are dependent on the forest. Unless we cultivate land, we have nothing to eat. Earlier, it was routine for our landlords, who are generally non-tribal, to threaten us and even destroy our crops. However, with the support and guidance of Anna-di, we applied for the ‘patta’ and got it in 2008. After obtaining the right over our land our life took a turn for the better. Nowadays, we grow vegetables and seasonal crop.”https://www.thebetterindia.com/17258/brave-lady-who-fought-against-all-odds-to-get-forest-rights-for-her-tribal-community-odisha/
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