MGNREGA Workers Union and Eklavya Sangathan, Tuesday pressed for the effective implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006 and the MGNREG Act, 2005 in Gujarat, citing a high rejection rate for tribals’ forest land ownership certificates.
The workers’ union also claimed that Gujarat refuses to issue land entitlement certificates to tribals and their communities who have lived on the land for decades.
Addressing a press conference , MGNREGA Workers Union president Professor Hemantkumar Shah highlighted that Gujarat, where tribals account for around 16 per cent of the population, where tribals account for approximately 16% of the population, has seen over 1.90 lakh claims for land entitlement, by forest dwellers from 3,199 villages across 12 districts to obtain land ownership certificates.
Individual claims (1.82 lakh) and collective claims (1.82 lakh) are included (7,182).
“However, the state government has only approved 80,540 individual claims and 4,599 community claims, indicating that the state has rejected approximately 56% of the claims received, refusing to grant land entitlement certificates to tribals and their communities who have lived there for decades”, Shah stated
Even among the accepted claims, tribal farmers were given far less land than their claims. For example, the state has approved only 5-7 gunthas (around 0.1 acre) for a claim of 5-10 acres of land, denying tribal farmers ownership of the land they cultivate.
Shah also claimed that in such cases, the only evidence accepted by the state for land ownership is receipts of fines imposed on tribal farmers by government officials, rather than other identity proofs such as Aadhaar cards, voters ID cards, or electricity bills.
Further, Shah and the workers’ union general secretary Paulomee Mistry also alleged that the purpose of “gainful employment”, as envisaged under MGNREGA, was not being fulfilled due to “widespread corruption” and a delay in payment of wages by several months when the act stipulates payments within 15 days. Hence, it “discourages people to seek employment under MGNREGA”, the union stated.
“We are not demanding anything extraordinary. We are only demanding that the law be effectively implemented,” said Shah and Mistry.
It was also pointed out that, despite the fact that the act requires that wages under MGNREGA be equal to the minimum wage for farm labour, this is not being followed. MGNREGA wages are set at Rs 229 per month, compared to a minimum wage of Rs 324 for farm labour.