‘Navakiranam’, a voluntary relocation scheme implemented by the Forest department for non-tribal farmers in forest settlements in the State, has cast a cloud over the lives of tribal families in the settlements.
Though the scheme offers benefits to many settler farmers, it has put tribal families in a fix as they have not been included in the scheme.
The scheme, being implemented under the Rebuild Kerala Initiative, is meant to support voluntary relocation of non-tribal farmers in settlements marooned within forest enclosures.
Under the scheme, a couple possessing up to two hectares with title deeds will get ₹15 lakh as compensation.
Each unmarried adult above the age of 18 will be provided ₹15 lakh, while each differently abled member of a family will get an additional ₹15 lakh, irrespective of the age.
Since a majority of the tribal families are dependent on settler families for their livelihood, the relocation project has made them jobless, said N. Badusha, president, Wayanad Prakruthi Samrakshana Samithi.
As many as 44 eligible families of non-tribal farmers are leaving Kundoor-Kappad, a settlement nearly two km away from the Sulthan Bathery-Ooty State highway on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border.
Close to 40 Paniya tribal families living in 17 houses, who were dependent on the settlers, have no idea as to what to do next since they were excluded from the relocation programme.
“Earlier, we had enough job opportunities in paddy fields and coffee plantations in the settlement, but after the scheme was launched, we have to travel long distances outside the hamlet in search of work through the dense forest path,” Kalan, a tribal youth in the settlement, said.
The project has been implemented in 26 out of the 34 forest divisions in the State, including three forest divisions in the district.
“We have an Anganwadi near the Kundur Paniya tribal colony, and more than 30 children attended the nursery school, but now the number is below half of it. We fear that at any moment the authorities would close it,” Bindu, a tribal girl, said.
The condition of tribal people in other settlements in the district is not different. The scheme is being implemented in 12 settlements of the three forest divisions in the district. However, Forest department sources said tribal residents would be relocated under the Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitat Scheme (IDWHS) of the Ministry of Environment and Forests. The project was launched in 2011 to relocate 110 settlements in the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary. It was planned to relocate 14 of the 110 settlements in the first phase, but it is yet to be completed even after 12 years. How long do we have to wait for the mercy of the government?” Kalan asks.
Tribal people are the most vulnerable section in the settlements and they should also be relocated at any cost, says Mr. Badusha.
