Of Dangs, forest cover and the land of Shabari

Today’s post comes to you courtesy Milind Thatte. Milind is currently researching for his forthcoming book titled, “Our forests, Our people“. This is an excerpt from his work (emphasis added):

*** Excerpt from “The Land of Shabari” by Milind Thatte ***

Dang[1] is the southern district of Gujarat sharing its borders with two districts of Maharashtra on its east and south. Ambika and Khapri are the small rivers running like romancing snakes through the forests of Dang. The mountains of Dang mark the north-end of Western Ghats.

Dang has ancientness to its forests; it has a mountain of Shabari. Shabari was a wise old Bhil woman – who played a critical role in the legend of Ramayana. The people in Dang believe that Shabari lived here on the mountain of Shubir and waited for Rama. Rama ate the feast of forest fruits offered by her here. All later versions of Ramayana have added lot of emotion to the story of Shabari. The legend also flows through tribal folklore.

…Shabari’s tribe – the Bhil is one of the most ancient forest-dwelling communities in India and many other tribes in western India are said to have descended from the Bhil tribe. 93% of the population of Dang belongs to forest-dwelling tribes.

…The forest cover in our country (was believed to have) remained as it is – till it was found out by satellite images that it had actually shrunk. We were fooled to believe that our forests remained as much as they were. But Dang was a step ahead. Dang has an astounding history of increasing forest land and decreasing agricultural land! While the population in the district kept growing, land under cultivation shrunk ‘officially’. Politicians in Dang collaborated with the forest department in this on-record swelling of forest land. In late 1960s, some shrewd Congressmen learnt the power potential of the Forest Labour Cooperative Societies (FLCS) – originally founded by Gandhian workers in 1950s – and gradually took control of the FLCS. The FLCS were intended to give the labour a better share of forest revenue, but this goal became outdated in the new-age politics. Like the sugar cooperatives in Maharashtra, these cooperatives too became the sources of amassing power and wealth.

It was in their interest to extend the area classified as government forest as much as possible so as to increase their power and income. In this, they worked with the forest department. When previously cultivated land was left fallow in a particular year, the forest officials quickly reclassified it as forest department land and planted it with saplings. They could get away with this as much of the cultivation continued to be shifting, and land title rights were not yet clearly established. The officials claimed that the land had been surrendered voluntarily, which was hardly credible in view of the steep rise in population, which had created a severe land hunger throughout the tract…

The degree of encroachment is brought out by a comparison of the areas considered cultivated as against forest over the course of the past century. In the late 19th century the British had accepted that about two- thirds of the Dangs should be available for cultivation, though by 1911 the forest department had encroached on this to the extent that over half of the tract was classed as reserved for forest. A survey of the 1960s recorded that 45 per cent of the area was cultivated. In 1981, however, this figure had fallen to 36 per cent. In 1987 only 53,994 hectares was recorded as cultivated land, or 31 per cent of the whole.”[ii] [Joshi 1999]

According to official records, only 30 per cent of Adivasi households have been registered as legal cultivators.[iii] [Shah 1999]

Dang thus presented a unique history of its forests and people.

I have been among the tribes of Western Ghats for a decade. Their forests, languages, and patterns of livelihood match – unbroken by the state borders. Dang is the northern end of this tribal belt that I was so familiar with. I felt a natural attraction to the forests and people of Dang. I reached Ahwa to begin my tour of Dang. I had two news items in my hand when I reached Ahwa: One, Central government report on implementation of FRA 2006 pointed out Gujarat and Maharashtra as ‘poor performance’ states. Gujarat had kept pending about 90% of the claims by 1.63 Lakh people. Two, Police had arrested some people on suspicion of being Left-wing Extremists.[4]

The two news items did not seem coincidental.  My mind was looking for the missing steps in the ladder of this DNA.

*** End of Excerpts ***

Read it in full here and don’t forget the book when it is released. Comments and thoughts  welcome, as always.

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