Latest news with #TamilNaduTribalPeople'sAssociation
The Hindu
31-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Plea to enact law preventing purchase of tribal land by others
The Tamil Nadu Tribal People's Association has urged the State government to enact a law preventing outsiders from purchasing land owned by tribal people. In a letter to the District Collector, association president V.P. Gunasekaran highlighted that indigenous tribal communities in the hilly regions of Erode district have been engaged in agriculture and have resided there for generations. However, there is a concerning trend of these communities becoming landless, which poses a significant threat to the stability and well-being of the hill regions. Citing the Constitution, which places the responsibility on State governments to protect the livelihood and land rights of tribal communities, the association requested that the Collector recommend to the State Government the introduction of a law—similar to those in other states—that bans the sale of tribal lands to outsiders, retrieves lands that have already been transferred, and reallocates them to tribal communities.
The Hindu
28-04-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Tribal people cheated out of land and compensation during relocation process from MTR stage protest in Ooty
Tribal residents, who were relocated from the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR), staged a protest in front of the District Collector's office on Monday, demanding that a list of 17 demands be fulfilled. The residents, who were part of a government effort to relocate them away from the tiger reserve, alleged that they were cheated by Forest Department staff, lawyers and land brokers during the relocation process. K. Mahendran from the Tamil Nadu Tribal People's Association said a total of 574 families had been relocated so far from the tiger reserve in multiple phases, with 108 families still residing inside the reserve and refusing to move out. He said despite the Madras High Court directing the government in 2007 to ensure that the people were moved out within a year, that the Forest Department only began the process in earnest in 2016. The activists claimed that the government did not follow rules laid down by the Wildlife Protection Act, the Forest Rights Act and the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act while undertaking the relocation of the tribal families. They called on the government to expedite the proceedings against the Forest Department staff, lawyers and land brokers who have been booked under the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) Prevention of Atrocities Act, and against whom a case has been ongoing since 2019. The men were booked for cheating the Kattunayakan and Paniya residents from villages within the reserve. They also wanted the government to help get them documents to the land that had been sold to them by the accused in the case. Another one of their demands was to stop demanding the relocation of the remaining tribal villages within the reserve, provide compensation to the children of residents who are now 18 years of age, increase compensation to ₹25 lakh to the people relocated from ₹10 lakh that was promised in 2008, among others.
