The survey will be the first step towards a comprehensive development programme for the Katkaris. Many supplementary proposals for the Katkaris will emerge from the survey. However, important issues like land ownership amongst Katkaris will have to be taken up soon.
Finally, the exercise will help in a better understanding of issues facing the Katkari community and in evolving a comprehensive development programme for the Katkaris.
WHAT EXPERIENCE AND FACILITIES DOES ADS AND ITS PARTNER NGOS HAVE?
ADS and its partner NGOs have been working on tribal development issues in Raigad and Thane District for over 20 years. Some of the programmes of these NGOs have been taken up for replication Government agencies and other NGOs in different regions.
ADS has been given the "Tribal Welfare Organisation" award by the Government of Maharashtra in recognition of the consistent services rendered to the cause of tribal development. SOBTI and Van Niketan have also been working on tribal development issues for over 15 years.
Collectively, the coalition of NGOs has the trained staff, relevant facilities and experience to implement this project.
See About ADS for additional info.
TIME SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES
No. Activities Time schedule
6 months 12 months
1 Capacity building of staff X --
2 Survey of 150 Katkari villages in Raigad and Thane District for an assessment of issues and problems. X X
3 Training programme for elected representatives. X X
4 Compilation and analysis of data. -- X
5 Preparation of report.
6 Photographic report on the Katkari situation. X X
7 Interaction with government officials and policy makers. -- --
BUDGET
Estimated expenses over a period of 12 months. All amounts in Indian Rupees.
No. Particulars Year 1 Total
1 Project co-ordinator's salary @Rs.5000 per month for 12 months 60,000.00 60,000.00
2 Capacity building for staff 10,000.00 10,000.00
3 Survey work in 120 villages @Rs.1,500 per village 180,000.00 180,000.00
4 Travel 20,000.00 20,000.00
5 Consultancy 20,000.00 20,000.00
6 Data compilation, analysis 10,000.00 10,000.00
7 Photographic report 10,000.00 10,000.00
8 Report 5,000.00 5,000.00
9 Office expenses 10,000.00 10,000.00
Sub Total 325,000.00 325,000.00
10 Administrative expenses @ 10% 32,500.00 32,500.00
Total 357,500.00 357,500.00
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PROPOSAL 2, April 2004 CLICK FOR PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION
An appeal to save the Katkaris : a primitive forest tribe from maharashtra
Implementing agency: Academy of Development Science
Kashele Post, Karjat Taluka
Raigad District, Maharashtra 410 201, India
Project summary
The Katkari tribal group is teetering on the brink of extinction. The Katkari community, a primitive forest tribe based mostly in Raigad and Thane Districts of Maharashtra, lives in abject poverty. Even in 2003 they continue to work as bonded labour for their "Sheth" (master). Their exploitation by non-tribals is total and absolute. They have been converted into a cheap and bonded labour force by their fellow human beings. The police department harasses them at will and treats them like a "criminal tribe". While the Indian Government would deny the presence of slavery, the Katkaris are slaves and much more. All development programmes, Government or Non-Government, bypass the Katkaris.
The life expectancy of Katkaris has reduced in recent years and the Katkaris, as a tribe, may be on their way out, unless urgent efforts are made to reverse the trend. While animals, plants, insects and even microbes attract a lot of attention (and resources) for conservation and rehabilitation, nobody seems to be bothered about the unique and unusual Katkaris.
An attempt is made here (it is unfortunate that this had to take on a "project" form) to issue an appeal to the international community to save the Katkari tribe from extinction.
Academy of Development Science (ADS), in collaboration with NGOs and individuals in Raigad and Thane District, is striving to address basic survival issues facing the community. The process will hopefully emancipate Katkaris from slavery and bring about improvements in their socio-economic status.
A matter of survival for the Katkaris ……
Socio-economic status of tribal communities
A number of tribal communities - Thakur, Mahadev Koli, Katkari, Warli, Kokna, etc. - live in Thane and Raigad District. Most tribal groups are socio-economically marginalised. Their livelihoods are totally dependent on agriculture and forests. Most of them are small & marginal farmers or landless labourers. The single rainfed crop of cereals is unable to feed families for more than 6 months.
Forests provide a wide range of uncultivated foods (vegetables, tubers/rhizomes, fish, game, birds) for consumption as well as marketable NTFPs like gum, gunj leaves, gulvel, mahua flowers, tendu patta, tubers, honey, wild fruits, etc. Some of the NTFPs are exchanged in barter while others are sold for cash. For instance, gum is bartered for pulses or potatoes/onions while gunj leaves fetch cash. However, the availability of forest produce has declined considerably due to deforestation. This has had an adverse effect on the food security and livelihood of tribals.
There is no employment in the region apart from felling trees for forest contractors or working as labourers in fields or on government jobs. Deforestation has resulted in decreased employment to those engaged in tree felling.
Cash is a scarce commodity and quite often tribals do not have cash even for requirements like purchase of food grains or other essential commodities. Unforeseen requirements or bigger events like marriages, house construction or repairs, illness or death in the family, etc. are even more difficult to manage. The only alternative they have is to borrow in cash or kind from moneylenders at exorbitant interest rates. Tribals often find it difficult to repay the moneylender’s loan.
The problem
Katkari, Kathkari or Kathodi is one of the three 'Primitive Tribal Groups' in Maharashtra along with Madhia Gond and Kolam.
Katkaris are socially and economically on the lowest rungs of the development ladder. Most of the families are caught up in a vicious cycle of poverty, indebtedness and bonded labour. All able-bodied men, women and children work as bonded labour on brick kilns in far away places.
Katkaris are cheated, exploited and made to work under sub-human conditions on the brick kilns. To make matters worse, the entire community is treated as a criminal tribe and often harassed by the police for no rhyme or reason.
Over 90% of the Katkari families are landless and are totally dependent on wage labour for their livelihood. Government welfare programmes fail to reach the Katkaris.
The exploitation by brick contractors, harassment by police and absolute negligence by government have left hardly any space or scope for the Katkaris to survive and prosper in an unequal world. The community today lives in abject poverty and desolation. Details about the situation of Katkaris are given in Annexure I.
Bonded labour on brick kilns... What needs to be done?
It is unfortunate that the Government seems to be least bothered about the plight of the Katkari community. Apart from documenting the population of Katkaris till the 1981 census, there is little that the Government seems to know about the development status of the Katkaris.
The lack of information about development status, socio-economic indicators, health & nutrition status, etc. amongst individual tribal groups is a serious lacunae in Government policy and could only indicate the Government's resolve to integrate them into the "mainstream" - socially and culturally. The economic situation of tribals may not be as important in the "integration" and "mainstreaming" efforts. The entire tribal community can be converted into a cheap labour force, as has been done in the case of Katkaris.
There is an urgent need to initiate comprehensive development work for the Katkari community. Development interventions for Katkaris would have to consider the
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PROPOSAL 3, March 2004 CLICK FOR PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION
Barefoot specialists on land issues: A long-term strategy to address land issues of Katkaris
Implementing agency: Academy of Development Science (ADS)
Kashele Post, Karjat Taluka
Raigad District, Maharashtra 410 201, India
Project summary
The proposal is aimed at addressing the land issues of Katkaris, a primitive forest tribe based mainly in Raigad and Thane Districts of Maharashtra. Members of the tribe live in abject poverty. A major issue facing the Katkaris is widespread landlessness and the resultant inability to grow food for their own families. There are a number of land issues affecting Katkaris.
The proposal aims to facilitate a team of local barefoot “land specialists” to motivate Katkaris in asserting their land rights and enabling them to get legal ownership of land by sorting out the legal hurdles.
Background
Katkari, Kathkari or Kathodi is one of the three 'Primitive Tribal Groups' in Maharashtra along with Madhia Gond and Kolam. Katkaris are socially and economically on the lowest rungs of the development ladder. Most of the families are caught up in a vicious cycle of poverty, indebtedness and bonded labour. All able-bodied men, women and children work as bonded labour on brick kilns in far away places.
Katkaris are cheated, exploited and made to work under sub-human conditions on brick kilns. To make matters worse, the entire community is treated as a criminal tribe and often harassed by the police for no rhyme or reason.
Over 90% of the Katkari families are landless and are totally dependent on wage labour for their livelihood. Government welfare programmes fail to reach the Katkaris.
The exploitation by brick contractors, harassment by police and absolute negligence by government have left hardly any space or scope for the Katkaris to survive and prosper in an unequal world. The community today lives in abject poverty and desolation.
The problem
A major issue facing Katkaris is widespread landlessness and the resultant inability to grow food for their own families. There are a number of land issues affecting Katkaris. Details of the land issues are given below.
The Government of Maharashtra has progressive land reform legislation in place (see Box) but it remains largely on paper, atleast in tribal areas, due to lack of awareness and organisation amongst tribal people.
There is a severe shortage of trained manpower to work on land issues affecting tribal communities. Government land and revenue officials work only for the rich people. Work on land issues is initiated by NGOs in different places but it generally tends to be campaign oriented. As a result, there is a failure to provide concrete inputs to address land issues of tribal communities over a longer term period.
Land issues in detail
Regularisation of encroachments: Many tribal families have been cultivating crops on lands owned by the forest department since a long time. In some cases, the forest department itself had given plots of land to landless families for growing crops in order to reduce pressure on forests. The Government has subsequently decided that all such encroachments should be ‘regularised’ and concerned tribal farmers should be given legal ownership of the plots they have been cultivating over a long period of time. However, the Government GR ordering regularisation of encroachments has not been implemented. On the contrary, efforts are being made by the Forest Department to evict the tenants from lands that they have been tilling for decades.
Unregistered tenants: Many tribal families were forced to mortgage their lands to moneylenders for borrowing some food grains or cash during periods of scarcity. The moneylenders illegally usurped these lands. Tribal families continued to cultivate some parts of these lands, although the land records show the moneylender as the owner of the land. The tribals became unregistered tenants, since they continued to cultivate the land.
The amount borrowed from moneylenders is at times quite small. For instance, seventeen tribal families in Chaudharwadi village of Karjat Taluka in Raigad District had borrowed Rs.10-20 each from the local moneylender by mortgaging 60 acres of their land. The tribal families were shown as defaulters and the moneylender took away 60 acres of the land. All the seventeen families are today struggling as unregistered tenants to prevent the sale of their land to outsiders by the moneylender.
Legal aspects pertaining to land matters
According to the Indian Constitution, agriculture is a state subject. The Union Government only gives directives and the required support; it is the responsibility of the state governments to pass legislation related to land rights, revenue and other aspects of agriculture.
Land reforms in Maharashtra
Maharashtra State came into being in 1960. The major land reform legislation in Maharashtra pertains to tenancy; acquisition of surplus lands (Ceiling on Holdings Act 1961); redistribution of lands held by the government to landless families; regularisation of encroachment on public lands; and alienation of tribal lands.
Legislation pertaining to land
The Maharashtra Restoration of lands to Scheduled Tribes Act 1974.
Ceiling lands: Government has allotted surplus land to some landless families under the Land Ceiling Act. However, in many cases, the allotment of Ceiling Land to landless families has taken place only on paper. The concerned families have either not been shown the land or a large plot of land has been allotted to a group of families without subdivision into plots for individual families. In many cases, the original land owner, from whom the land was taken under the ceiling legislation, continues to cultivate the land. In some cases, the ceiling lands allotted to Katkari families have been encroached on by outsiders. Hence, in reality most tribal families who have been allotted ceiling lands do not actually have possession of the land.
Gaothan: The land on which a village is located is called Gaothan. Generally, legal ownership of the village land or Gaothan is with the concerned village if the village has existed on the plot of land for atleast 12 years. However, in the case of many Katkari villages, the ownership of Gaothan is either with the Forest Department, Revenue Department or non-tribal individuals (generally moneylenders) even if the village has been located on that plot of land for more than 12 years. Hence Katkari families living in such villages always live under the yoke of the landowner. They can neither build better houses nor avail of any Government programmes for basic amenities like drinking water, etc. in villages. The landowner does not permit them to do anything on the land, and on the contrary, forces Katkari families to move by harassing them.
Dalli and Eksali Lands: Dalli and Eksali lands are plots of land legally given to landless people by the forest department for cultivation of crops. The ownership of Dalli and Eksali plots is with the forest department, although tribals have been cultivating these plots for over 60 years. There is a distinction between Dalli and Eksali systems. The ownership of land in the Dalli system is collective while Eksali plots have individual ownership. Dalli is found mainly in Raigad while Eksali is common in Thane District. More than 6,000 tribal farmers are cultivating over 33,000 acres of Dalli land in Raigad District alone. Thane District too has a fair share of Eksali land holders. Most of these tribal families are landless. The State Government has issued a GR stating that the ownership of Dalli / Eksali plots cultivated by tribals should be legally handed over to them. However, tribals have not become owners of Dalli / Eksali plots due to the indifferent attitude of government agencies. NGOs in Raigad and Thane have been campaigning on this issue for many years but a final decision on the fate of Dalli / Eksali lands still seems elusive. Thousands of Dalli and Eksali plot owners might lose ownership of the lands they have been cultivating for decades if the State and Central Governments decide to evict the tribal families.
What can be done?
It is unfortunate that the Government seems to be least bothered about the plight of the Katkari community. There is no effort by the Government to address land issues of Katkaris.
Access to cultivable land would enable Katkaris to grow their own food and reduce dependence on the exploitative and uncertain wage labour. It will also bring in a sense of empowerment, well being and confidence amongst the entire community.
It is important to provide concrete and sustained inputs for gradually sorting out land issues of Katkari families and villages. One way to do so is to facilitate a team to trained “barefoot” land specialists who will motivate Katkari families to assert their land rights and enable them to get legal ownership of land by sorting out the legal hurdles through negotiation and follow up with government agencies and the judiciary.
Proposed activities
A team of five local youth (men / women) will be provided hands-on training on land and forest issues over a period of one year by ADS. Efforts will be made to include atleast one Katkari youth amongst the trainees. Each trainee will be assigned five Katkari hamlets as part of his/her extension work.
Katkari activists from different hamlets, who have been interacting with the ADS team, will join forces with the trainees, providing them assistance and facilitating their work in villages.
To begin with, the trainees will conduct land surveys in 25 Katkari hamlets to identify specific land problems faced by families in each village. The survey will attempt to document important aspects like land holding pattern; village land (Gaothan); ceiling land issues; forest encroachments; unregistered tenants; Dalli plots; etc. in each hamlet.
The trainees will build a rapport with Katkari families by addressing some of their immediate concerns like obtaining ration cards, accessing government food security programmes, etc.
Trainees will be exposed to aspects like dealing with government officials; submitting applications; Panchayati Raj; assisting Katkaris in police cases; etc. as part of their training.
Experts on tribal land issues will conduct special 3-day training camps every month for the trainees. The training will deal with various aspects related to land issues such as land registration procedure; 7/12 extract; land surveys; preparation of maps; registration of legal heirs; tenancy legislation; unregistered tenants; ceiling land issues; land alienation; forest encroachment; private forest acquisition act; dalli / eksali lands; gaothan, gharthan; etc.
Trainees will be encouraged to take up practical work on different land issues in the Katkari hamlets. This will involve land surveys; land measurement; preparation of hand maps; writing and submitting applications; periodic follow up; etc.
Location of project
The project will be located in Katkari hamlets of Raigad District.
Duration of project
Duration of the project will be one year. The trainees will continue working on land issues beyond the project period.
Follow up
Other development activities will be taken up with the Katkari community once ways and means are found to address the basic concern of land for houses, villages and agriculture. Priority will then be given to better houses, drinking water, health care, gainful employment, education, etc.
Expected outputs and outcomes
A “local” team of land specialists will be an asset to the tribal community in the long run. ADS will build on this initiative and will strengthen the team in years to come by inducting more local youth. The second batch of trainees will be given more training on forest issues.
The trainees will continue to assist tribal communities in addressing their land issues. Hence the project will have a long-term impact on an issue directly affecting the livelihoods of landless tribal families.
What experience does have?
Academy of Development Science (ADS) has been working on tribal development initiatives in Raigad and Thane District for over 20 years. ADS has taken up work with the Katkari community and land issues over the past three years. ADS feels a need to strengthen this work in years to come.
ADS has initiated work on land issues in over 20 Katkari hamlets but the shortage of trained manpower is a major constraint. Last year ADS succeeded in sorting out a ceiling land case of Katkari families that was encroached on by rich people from Mumbai.
The ceiling land was given to a group of nine Katkari families in 1976 but the government did not bother to conduct a formal survey or to sub-divide the land amongst the nine families. As a result, the Katkaris became owners of the land on paper but in reality they did not have possession of the land. Located close to a perennial river, the land was prime property and was encroached on by city people who built big bunglows on the land. It took a long struggle to dislodge the encroachers and to legally hand over the land to the Katkari families.
The ability of ADS to successfully sort out this case through legal means has brought a glimmer of hope to numerous Katkari families who are victims of government apathy. Katkaris are now developing some hope that their woes will end and they too will have a secure source of livelihood for their families.
ADS team has been able to establish rapport with Katkaris in the district. The Katkaris are wholeheartedly supporting the efforts of ADS. However, the shortage of trained manpower is a serious constraint and could prove to be a stumbling block in the ADS strategy to address problems of Katkaris.
ADS has also published in Marathi a book (perhaps the first one) on Katkaris. The book gives details of the development status of Katkaris, lists government interventions, weaknesses and gives recommendations for a holistic policy. The book has been distributed in many Katkari villages and tribal schools.
ADS has been given the "Tribal Welfare Organisation" award by the Government of Maharashtra in recognition of the consistent services rendered to the cause of tribal development.
Budget
Estimated expenses over a period of 12 months.
All amounts in Indian Rupees.
No. Particulars Year 1 ADS contribution Total Amount Required
1 Salaries/ Honorarium / Stipend
a Project co-ordinator's salary @Rs.7,000 per month for 12 months 84,000.00 84,000.00 0.00
b Stipend to five trainees/ animators @Rs.2,500 per person per month 150,000.00 0.00 150,000.00
c Honorarium to resource persons @Rs.2,000 per month 24,000.00 0.00 24,000.00
2 Survey work in 25 villages @Rs.1,500 per village 37,500.00 17,500.00 20,000.00
4 12 Training camps; 3 days/camp @Rs.3,000 per camp 36,000.00 0.00 36,000.00
5 Training material on land issues @Rs.10,000 10,000.00 0.00 10,000.00
6 Printing of application forms @Rs.10,000 10,000.00 0.00 10,000.00
7 Travel for follow up with the government agencies @Rs15,000 15,000.00 0.00 15,000.00
Sub Total 366,500.00 101,500 265,000.00
19 Administrative expenses @ 10% 26,500.00
Total 291,500.00
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