Scientific assessment of ecosystem services should be carried out for quantifying the compensation
Thousands of adivasi families who inhabit forested landscapes are now deprived of their sources of livelihood. Photo: Vikas Choudhury / CSE. The Polavaram irrigation project will submerge 371 habitations in 222 revenue villages spread over seven Scheduled Area mandals in the erstwhile East Godavari and West Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh, affecting 0.18 million people of 55,799 households.
Thousands of adivasi families who inhabit forested landscapes are now deprived of their sources of livelihood due to displacement. But the Andhra Pradesh government seems insensitive towards the plight of tribals here.
In utter disregard for laws, the state government is dragging its feet on compensating adivasi forest land title holders who were robbed of forest rights due to the project.
In 2006, our Parliament enacted the Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act (FRA) to undo the historical injustice done to STs and other traditional forest dwellers in the country. However, such injustices still prevail.
Moreover, Schedule II of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013 (LARR Act) mandates that adivasis shall be provided land equivalent to land acquired, or two and a half acres, whichever is lower.
Therefore the adivasis who have no other lands except podu patta (community rights) land are entitled to seek land-to-land compensation.
LARR Act specifies that the “owner” can be any person who is granted forest rights, and “affected family” means those who have lost any other forest rights under the FRA due to the acquisition of land.
Around 2,372 individual adivasi farmers living in 123 habitations that fall under the project’s submergence zone were already granted podu pattas over an extent of 6,407.38 acres, according to data.
Section 42(3) of LARR 2013 requires that community forest rights recognised under FRA be quantified in monetary terms by the concerned district collector. And the amount should be paid to the individual concerned in proportion to his share in such community rights.
In 2019, the Andhra Pradesh government reported to Parliament that around 167 community claims were selected to confer community rights over an extent of 70,724 acres in the project’s submergence zone.
However, the government has failed to compensate podu patta holders who are equally eligible at par with other revenue patta holders.
The state Lokayukta passed an order in 2022 directing the chief secretary to issue instructions to all the concerned officers to pay the compensation.
Moreover, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) observed during a field visit in the Polavaram Project-affected villages in 2019 that in order to pay compensation to the tribals, the state government should devise criteria to value the forest land which would be submerged under the project.
Also read: Polavaram — displaced and nowhere to go: Rehabilitation colonies are unliveable
Despite the laws in force, no specific mechanism exists in the state for quantifying the loss of community rights in monetary terms.
NCST further observed in 2021 that the tribals are deprived of their forest land rights under FRA. It also directed the government to recognise individual and community forest rights in the Polavaram Project submergence areas and not to evict them till the process of recognition and verification is complete as per section 4 (5) of FRA.
In April 2023, the Odisha Government issued guidelines to determine the market value for acquiring forest lands from title holders. These norms stipulated that the land acquisition officer shall calculate the market value of a similar type of land in the immediate adjoining areas. The floor price or minimum price per unit area in the site should be considered while calculating this, according to the guidelines.
The Telangana government had diverted 157 acres of the recognised forest lands under Sita Rama Lift Irrigation Project under LARR Act. But the compensation was paid after arriving at a consensus with the claimants; no specific rules governing the payment of compensation in the case of loss of forest rights were followed.
The Union government hasn’t issued any model guidelines or rules under LARR Act to determine the market value for acquiring recognised individual and community forest rights under the FRA.
In 2018, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MTA) informed the Maharashtra government that appropriate guidelines specifying the formula for determining the compensation for the individual as well as community rights holders under the FRA shall come under the purview of the LARR Act.
Therefore, instead of waiting for the guidelines from the Centre, the Andhra Pradesh government should pay the land acquisition compensation in lieu of the loss of both individual as well as community forest rights to the title holders.
After a scientific assessment of ecosystem services, the government can consider the net present value of forests to pay compensation for the loss of community rights.
However, most ecosystem services, such as sacred groves, playgrounds and burial grounds, are not quantifiable in terms of money but can only be replaced.
These should be dealt with the consent of the Gram Sabhas. The government should pay land-to-land compensation or monetary compensation to the podu patta landholders, specifying the floor price or minimum price per unit area as per the provisions of section 26(3) of LARR Act.
Since the Polavaram Project is a National Project, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs shall ensure that all eligible adivasis secure forest rights and compensation for the loss of their rights and livelihood due to the acquisition of forest lands.
Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth
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