2,000 acres of panchami land given to SEZ, industries

Express News Service

Chennai:

More than 2,000 acres of panchami land has been handed over to special economic zones (SEZs), industrial parks and other projects, according to Dalit Mannurumai Kootam convenor Nicholos.



Addressing a consultation on retrieval of panchami land by scheduled castes using data collected under the Right to Information Act on Tuesday, Nicholos said that despite dalits politicians having the political will, they have failed to win back the panchami land.



All political manifestos talk about panchami land but hardly has any political parties raised the issue after the elections, Nicholos said.



Currently, about 45,067 people own about 1.26 lakh acres of land, according to information available through RTI.



Jeeva, the director of State Institute of Rural Development said that the information provided under the Right to Information (RTI) Act is far from accurate. “Officials are giving what is in record. Interestingly, the records show it is in the name of dalits but when one goes to the field it is found that the members of other community own it.



He alleged that during the updation of land records in 1954, the pattas of panchami land were changed. He said there is need to go through the A register to verify the details on panchami land.



Interestingly, the panchami land came into being after British government passed a law providing land to depressed classes. “For the first 10 years those who were assigned land should not by any means sell or mortgage the land and after 10 years if they want to sell, mortgage or lease the assigned land, they can do it with only other dalit. And panchami land transfers that do not abide by the above mentioned conditions would not be considered as legal.



The census of 1991 revealed landlessness of dalits in Tamil Nadu. Of the dalits in Tamil Nadu, 71.7 per cent were agricultutal labourers and 17 per cent were cultivators. Dalits who constitute 19.18 per cent of the total population cultivate only 7.1 per cent of total operational holdings where as non-dalits who constitute 76 per cent of the population operate 91.7 per cent of land. Dalit activists claim that 70 per cent of panchami land is owned by other communities.


Nicholos said the panchami land could be retrieved only through mass mobilization. “A single man can’t get back the land despite court injunctions,” he added.