In the run up to the State Budget to be presented by the Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy next month, tribals of Nagarahole have demanded the constitution of a separate tribal rehabilitation zone on the forest periphery. They also want a separate Adivasi Development Board or Corporation on the lines of Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation Ltd. for focussed development.
This is part of the package they have demanded from the government on the grounds that they have been left in the lurch decades after being systematically deprived of their forest rights subsequent to the declaration of Nagarahole as a national park. The constitution of a zone will benefit 1,343 families in forest areas, according to M.B. Prabhu, working for the rehabilitation of Nagarhole tribals. The package could be on the lines of the resettlement of a few families at Nagapura near Veeranahosahalli in Hunsur taluk which entails allotment of three acres of land per family besides earmarking adequate land for civic amenities, he added.
The tribes have also called for dovetailing the rehabilitation plan with a livelihood plan based on agriculture and horticulture so as to reduce the tribal communities dependence on forests.
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Their second major demand pertains to focussed development of forest dwellers. Hence, they have sought the constitution of a separate Adivasi Development Corporation or board. S. Sreekanth of Development through Education (DEED) said that at present the welfare programmes of the adivasis are taken up through the Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation but all notified groups under ST category fall under it and were cornering the benefits. “The problems of the adivasis who are forest-dwellers are unique and do not get focussed attention under the present set up,” he added.
Budgetary allocation proportionate to their population and implementation of provisions of Forest Rights Act, 2006, to give forest dwellers access to protected area to procure minor forest produce was part of the budget wish list of the tribal people. There are other issues pertaining to shoring up standards of ashram schools where tribal students study, declaration of the tribal haadis or hamlets outside the forests as revenue villages so that additional civic amenities could be extended, establishing an institution to foster tribal culture and tradition, etc.