The Hindu : Kalam urged to prevent eviction of tribals

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Sep 22, 2002

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Kalam urged to prevent eviction of tribals

By Our Special Correspondent

JAIPUR SEPT. 21. The noted Sarvodaya leader and former president of the All India Sarva Seva Sangh, Siddhraj Dhadda, has sought the intervention of the President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, in stopping the uprooting of tribals from their habitations in the forests. The President had a special responsibility under the Constitution to protect the tribals, Mr. Dhadda said in a telegram sent to Dr. Kalam.

Drawing the attention of the President to the ongoing move by the Ministry of Environment and Forests to forcibly evict the tribal population from the forests under the guise of the Supreme Court order of November 23, 2001, Mr. Dhadda informed him that the forests were not damaged by tribals but by vested interests and the timber traders. ``Ten million adivasis are being forcibly evicted from the land they have been living for generations. They are being declared trespassers and harassed and beaten. I earnestly appeal to you to kindly intervene,'' Mr. Dhadda's telegram said. Under Schedule 5, the President could call the Governors for consultations on the issue, he observed.

The nonagenarian Gandhian also sent a similar message to the Rajasthan Chief Minister, Ashok Gehlot, on the adivasi population of Udaipur in the State. "Lakhs of adivasis are being harassed and beaten to force them out of their land under the pretext of the Supreme Court order. Kindly intervene to protect the adivasi citizens,'' the telegram said. ``It is unfair to ask adivasis to produce written proof of the land in their possession.

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