In an interim order, a bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih did not stay the law in its entirety and upheld several provisions of the Act, including the key provision on tribal lands. New Delhi, Sep 15 (PTI) In one of its significant directions, the Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay a provision that barred declaration of tribal lands as waqf properties. (j)   According to the Fifth Schedule of our constitution, the governor has a major role to play in land alienation. According to this provision the Governor’s secretariat has a special cell which can prepare its own report on the land alienation. But unfortunately use of such provisions has not been done by many of the governors. Thus if these constitutional provisions would be practiced then, the additional pressure on government can help in curbing out the problem of land alienation.

Worse, state policies have worked actively to disposses tribals of their land and homes, and to deny them their traditional rights in the forest. (g)  One of the major reasons for illegally alienating land has been the missing or mutilated land records because of which it becomes difficult for the tribes to claim their right on the land. Thus it becomes very essential that the land records at both district as well as circle level should be updated and upgraded using the help of computer technology. This would help in maintaining a proper record of the land and also help tribes to claim on their land.

Current Erosion of Tribal Land Rights in Assam

If they have to construct a building on our land, they will have to kill us first,” Perumal says, standing outside his hut. Patnaik felt there was no threadbare discussion on this crucial amendment by the TAC prior to the Cabinet approval. “Now that it has been put on hold, the TAC members have to re-examine it thoroughly,” said the bureaucrat-turned politician who had initiated a tribal land restoration drive during his tenure as the CS. The conflict between Regulation 2, 1956 (which is older than PESA) and PESA Act, 1996 also needs to be studied, he added. CAG also conducted physical verification of the lands and revealed shortcomings in their ownership and maintenance.

Why Bankim Chandra is seen as the original ‘Hindu nationalist’, long preceding Savarkar

He has dismissed reservations as an impediment to agribusiness, one of his top supporters. In this sense, the Supreme Court’s Saranda judgment is not just a legal milestone—it is a reaffirmation of India’s soul. The EPW produces independent and public-spirited scholarship and analyses of contemporary affairs every week. EPW is one of the few publications that keep alive the spirit of intellectual inquiry in the Indian media. On July 30, 2025, unknown assailants opened fire on his residence and vandalised his car—an attack he linked to his petition before the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST).

We will set the minimum lease amount so that the tribals can earn an adequate income from the deal. The minimum lease rent will be ₹50,000 per acre per year or ₹1,25,000 per hectare (2.5 acres) per year. But farmers and private parties can mutually decide on a higher amount,” said Bawankule. To ensure transparency, the agreement will be carried out in front of the District Collector, he added. This shift, embodied in the Court’s interpretation of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 (WPA), and the Forest Rights Act, 2006 (FRA), is of profound national significance.

The land distribution pattern is also responsible for tribal misery as it follows existing social hierarchy. No legislation yet has been able to halt to land alienation among these marginalised populations. Big landholders, outsider, institutions and various other actors have been grabbling large acres of land from the tribals either by using force or by manipulating them.

Assam tribal lands under siege: IPP chief accuses Tuliram, Debolal of corporate sellout

• In broader sense, land alienation indicates huge lose of common property and rural commons; whereas in narrow sense, land alienation simply means alienating the individuals alienate from their land holdings and livelihood.
• “Even the ITDP survey, which dealt with alienated land until 1977, had said that more than 4,210 hectares of tribal land had been encroached upon.
• It has come in the wake of petitions filed by Wildlife First, a non-governmental organisation and a few retired forest officials challenging the legality of the Forest Rights Act.
• Recently, the Gauhati High Court expressed shock over the allotment of nearly 3,000 bighas (around 1,000 acres) of tribal land in Dima Hasao district, Assam to Mahabal Cement Pvt Ltd, which was acquired earlier this year by JK Lakshmi Cement.
• Their knowledge systems, ecological practices, and spiritual traditions constitute a living archive of pre-industrial, sustainable living that has survived millennia.

One of https://gugobett.com/ Bolsonaro’s first acts as president was to strip FUNAI of its role in setting reservation boundaries, passing that authority to the Agriculture Ministry, which is dominated by rural interests. On the night of Bolsonaro’s victory, a health post and a school were firebombed on Pankararu lands in northeastern Pernambuco state, CIMI reported. In midwestern Mato Grosso do Sul, the group said, convoys of farmers fired shots at the Guaraní Kaiowá community to intimidate the tribe. Tribal traditions, languages, rituals, and relationships with land form the backbone of India’s ancient cultural identity. Saranda, an ancient Sal forest with rare and endangered species—including the critically endangered Sal Forest Tortoise—is one of India’s ecological treasures. But, it is also home to indigenous communities, whose cultural, spiritual, and economic existence is intertwined with the forest.

This mafia has the ability to pay thousands of rupees as bribes to officials. Our family has filed several complaints on the matter since the time of my father, including one to the Revenue Divisional Officer of Kollam. The latest is my complaint seeking to put a stop to the encroachment of this land. My father had even brought a village officer to the site by hiring a vehicle.

During a hearing, Justice Sanjay Kumar Medhi questioned the legality of such an allotment. (k)  Formation of self – help groups, seed- banks, and various other institutions should be encouraged in the tribal areas to fulfil short term credit needs which in turn can be helpful for tribes to prevent mortgages and alienation of land. The Fifth Schedule of the constitution deals with the management and administration of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled tribes where tribal groups predominate.

But community leaders point out that this was a very small portion of the alienated land, and even this was not implemented fully. “Even the ITDP survey, which dealt with alienated land until 1977, had said that more than 4,210 hectares of tribal land had been encroached upon. Of that, the government took initiative only to restore 530 ha, and even that was also not properly completed,” says Prasad, a tribal activist.