Southern States - Kerala   

Central team arriving at Aralam today

By Our Staff Reporter

KANNUR MARCH 5. A Central Government team will hold discussions with officials and workers of the Central State Farm at Aralam here on March 6 on the proposal for transferring the farm run by the Central Government-controlled State Farm Corporation of India (SFCI) to the State Government for rehabilitation of Adivasis.

The proposal has already gathered momentum after the State Cabinet on December 2 last decided in principle to take over the Aralam farm in the district through negotiations with the Central Government. The proposal was for taking over the 7,000-acre farm and retaining part of it as farm and allocating the remaining area to tribals.

The Union Agriculture Additional Secretary, M.K. Sahni, and the SFCI Director, Ashish Bahuguna, will visit the farm tomorrow to hold discussions with workers' unions and farm employees on the proposal.

The farm has been the focal point of the Adivasi agitation for land after the C.K. Janu-led Adivasi Gothra Maha Sabha demanding the assignment of the farm for Adivasi rehabilitation. It organised a `Gothra Pooja' at an Adivasi settlement inside the farm a few months ago as part of the agitation to highlight its demand. The proposal sparked a row with the trade unions and all the major political parties opposing it.

One of the 12 expansive SFCI farms in the country, the farm was started over three decades ago with the objective of producing good quality seeds and planting materials for coconut, arecanut, cashew, rubber, cocoa farmers. The farm has been incurring losses for the past several years. The tribal organisation has claimed that the farmland originally belonged to the Adivasis who were evicted when the land was taken over by the Government. Over 250 Paniya families are still living inside the farm in three settlements.

It remains to be seen if the Government will be committed to the proposal for taking over the farmland and assigning it for Adivasi rehabilitation as all the major political parties, including the Congress, are strongly opposed to it and the sabha leaders, C.K. Janu and M. Geethanandan, who raised it, have been remanded in prison in connection with the Muthanga incidents.

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