People's Democracy

  Resolution On Tribal Problems

The 18th congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) reaffirms its firm pledge to organise ceaseless struggles of people of the scheduled tribes against all forms of exploitation, social oppression and discrimination, which have intensified in the neo-liberal regime.

The NDA government, far from addressing the real problems of the tribals, had implemented the provision contained in the Forest Act of 1980 to evict them from their own traditional habitat. The Forest Act provisions, which are anti-tribal, have to be withdrawn.

In response to the militant revolts of the tribal people, colonial rule was forced to enact legislation to prevent the alienation of tribal people from their land. However, this legislation proved altogether ineffective and that legacy continues today. The fraudulent transfer of the land of tribal people to non-tribals has intensified after the mining sector has been opened up to corporate plunder. There has been massive eviction of tribal people from their land in order to handover the land to private corporations, Indian and foreign.

There are more than 84 million people of the scheduled tribes in India today; more than 15 per cent of them have been displaced without any comprehensive programme of rehabilitation in order to make way for development projects such as dams, manufacturing industries, and mines. The traditional access of the tribal people to forest and minor forest resources has made them victims of the contractor-forest official nexus. These circumstances have forced many Adivasi people into contract labour gangs and even to bonded labour and many atrocities are being committed on them.

Illiteracy, poverty, ill-health, malnutrition, hunger and starvation continue to be higher among the scheduled tribes than among any other section of the population. The designation of criminal tribes by the British of certain communities, though formally annulled in 1952, continues to be used by the police administration, who treat these communities as ‘habitual criminals’. The identities of the scheduled tribes of India – their culture and languages – and the status of tribal women today are under serious threat. Only the Left-ruled states stand as an exception — be it with regard to the question of land, or, those of culture, language, regional autonomy and extension of the Scheduled Areas Act. If not for the intervention of CPI(M) members of parliament, Santhali would never have been included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

The tribal problem of the North-East is of a somewhat different nature. Successive central governments have ignored the development needs of the region, particularly with respect to the building of infrastructure. Due to the spread of education in North East states, a good number of educated unemployed tribal youth are not getting any avenue for future employment and are thereby frustrated. These frustrated youth are becoming victims of certain divisive forces who are channelising them towards insurgency in the region. In many cases, they are aided and abetted by the agencies connected with imperialist forces, which are very active in destabilising our country.

The capacity of our Party to emerge as the party of the toiling scheduled tribes is illustrated nowhere so well as in Tripura and West Bengal. Against heavy odds in Tripura this year, the CPI(M) and its allies won all the 28 seats in the Tribal Area Autonomous District Council, winning 72 per cent of the popular vote. In West Bengal, in all Adivasi-dominated areas, the CPI(M) has won the overwhelming majority of seats at every level of representation – parliament, assembly, zilla parishad, block and gram panchayat.

The 18th congress of CPI(M) resolves to forge the unity of all toiling sections in the tribal areas in the struggle to realise the 13-point tribal people’s charter of demands formulated in the last Party congress and at the All-India Tribal Convention held at Ranchi in November 2001. The congress calls upon all sections of tribal and non-tribal people to launch countrywide struggles to force the government of India to implement the following urgent demands of the tribal masses of our country without further delay.

• Scrap the infamous Tribal Policy Document prepared by the NDA government and stop the eviction of tribal people from the land they have been living from time immemorial.

• Restore land by fresh enactment which got alienated from the tribals by fraudulent means and ensure all loopholes that permit fraudulent transfers are plugged;

• Enforce the Samata judgement of the Supreme Court and the provision of the Panchayat Extension Act in the 6th Schedule Areas. Amend the Fifth and Sixth Schedules of the Constitution to provide more autonomy to these areas;

• Amend the Forest Conservation (Amendment) Act of 1988. The degraded land should be distributed among the tribals with financial assistance from government for horticulture.

• Implement a comprehensive rehabilitation package for displaced persons before undertaking any essential development project in tribal areas in consultation of local people.

• Provide wage employment, institutional credit, universal school education, health facilities, safe drinking water and food security through universal public distribution and social welfare schemes in tribal areas.

• Implement reservation policies for all categories of education and employment.

• The government should come forward to maintain distinct identity of indigenous tribal art and culture and allocate funds for its proper promotion.

• Proper identification of de-notified and nomadic tribes of our country are made and constitutional safeguards to be ensured. Appropriate govern ment aided programmes are to be taken up earnestly for their socio-economic upliftment.