2

QUESTIONS TO RESEARCH AND

PONDER

English
assignment

LOSS OF LAND AND LIVELIHOOD

Submitted by Aavani Sutheesh

Roll no.: 14
Class : D3 English

1. Where does the word ‘wean’ comes from? Does it have any special
significance to the context of this essay?
2

QUESTIONS TO RESEARCH AND

PONDER

‘Wean’ here means ‘removal’. It refers to the removal of adivasis from

practicing traditional shifting cultivation, which was considered ‘wasteful’ and
‘destructive’ by British government in order to obtain a regular source of
income from them.
2. What is alienation of land? Have you heard about alienation of
labour? Does it have any relation to this usage?
The vague term ‘alienation’ is used to describe the stark reality of
the eviction of helpless people from their land and from forests which were
their traditional habitation. The concept of alienated labour is the process
whereby the worker is made to feel foreign to the products of their own
labour.
These to are related in a sense, both category of people experience alienation
from their surroundings. They feel foreign to their land and betrayed by the
upper class of the society. Their familiar surroundings betrayed them.
3. What is the cycle of exploitation that left tribals in penury?
Many adivasis lost their land to Parsi liquid sellers, who would
encourage them to buy drinks on credit and when the debt increased, the
liquid sellers demanded money or preferable land from them. This made
adivasis totally depended on the landlords-moneylenders, traders,
shopkeepers, for survival. This exploited and oppressed them not only by
penury but also bruised their self-respect.
4. How did Adivasis started carrying the burden of the country’s
economic growth? What is the irony there?

The decades following independence were the decades of

marginalisation of Adivasi community from the mainstream development. For
the process of building dams, large industrial complexes, opening of mines and
forest for market people over exploited the natural resources, this affected the
Adivasi inhabitants who occupied in these areas.
2

QUESTIONS TO RESEARCH AND

PONDER

5. Another interesting word, Juggernaut. What is the Indian connection

to the origin of this word?
Juggernaut means literal or metaphorical force or object
regarded as unstoppable, that will crush all in its path.
The word juggernaut comes from the Hindi ‘Jagannath’ meaning
‘lord of the world’. The word is further derived from the Sanskrit ‘jagati’
meaning ‘he goes’ and ‘natha’ meaning ‘master’. The word juggernaut first
appeared in Western writing around 1321 but didn’t become a common
English word until the early 19th century.
6. The two commissions quoted above are spaced decades in between. 
What has changed to tribals during this period?
From 1986-1987, the commissioner of SCST states that there is
simmering discontent in almost the entire middle Indian tribal belt particularly
on the issues of land and forest. The tribes loosed their control over their land.

7. The tribal is seemed to be a trespasser. Find out instances from Kerala

where this happened.
The indefinite nilppusamaram (standing protest) by Adivasi Gothra Maha
Sabha, an umbrella organisation of adivasi (tribal) groups in Kerala, in front of
the state secretariat for land has entered into third month. The adivasis, who
started the latest agitation on July 9, are demanding the state government to
honour the package it had promised to the adivasis in 2001. After 48 days of
continuous protests by several tribal organisations, under the leadership of
Wayanad tribal leader C K Janu, the Kerala government had promised in
October 2001 to distribute cultivable land to adivasis, and protect their land
from encroachment.

“The then United Democratic Front government, led by A K Anthony, had

promised to formulate a master plan for distributing land. It was to be
implemented in a mission mode,” says M Geethanandan, coordinator of the
agitation. As per the agreement, all landless adivasis were to get one to two
hectares (ha) of cultivable land and receive financial help to develop the land.
The distributed land was to be categorised as Scheduled Five areas to prevent
2

QUESTIONS TO RESEARCH AND

PONDER

alienation and transfer to non-tribals. The government had also promised to

bring in the tribal land under the Panchayati Raj (Extension to Scheduled
Areas) Act (PESA), 1996.

Soon after the October 2001 agitation, the state government prepared a
master plan and estimated that there were around 52,000 landless adivasi
families in the state. Since the state lacked adequate cultivable revenue land, it
asked the permission of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at
the Centre to distribute 12,000 ha of forestland with the state government. For
the next one year nothing happened.

“It was then that the adivasis decided to enter into the Muthanga Wildlife
Sanctuary and build huts there as protest,” says Janu, leader of Adivasi Gothra
Maha Sabha, a social movement that has been agitating since 2001 for
redistribution of land to the landless adivasis in Kerala. Without holding talks
with the adivasis for 45 days, the government ordered the police to open fire
on February 19, 2003 that killed one adivasi.

After the Muthanga firing, the state government formulated the Tribal
Rehabilitation and Development Mission. The Union Ministry of Environment
and Forests in 2004 gave permission to distribute 7,840 ha of the wasted
forests to adivasis. As per the mission’s data, the government has till date
distributed 3,588.4 ha to 6,841 tribal families.

There are about 15 rehabilitation areas, including a few cooperative farms for
tribals such as Pookode, Sugandhagiri, Priyadarshini in Wayanad, a Western
Ghats district, and Aralam in Kannur district. “The rehabilitation areas lack
basic amenities like houses and drinking water. The government has not given
promised fund to develop the land do agriculture,” points out Geethanandan.
As a result, many adivasis who secured land deed are unable to live in their
land. In many areas, land distributed to the tribes either lie abandoned or have
been encroached by outsiders. “The saddest thing is that the state government
is itself taking away land distributed to the tribes,” points out Geethanandan.
2

QUESTIONS TO RESEARCH AND

PONDER

For instance, at the Pookode Diary farm, a rehabilitation area for the tribes, 40
ha has been taken away for constructing buildings for Kerala Veterinary and
Animal Sciences University. The university is trying to get more land there,
allege the protestors. Similarly, land has been awarded to non-adivasis in the
5,000-ha Aralam farm area. It was decided that 2,000 ha of the farm will be
used for rehabilitation and the remaining area will be used for farming by the
adivasis. The protestors, however, allege that the area for farming has been
leased out to two large-scale pineapple cultivators.

“It’s not fair for a democratic society to ignore the struggles of adivasis.
Providing land to adivasis is not a charity,” says well-known writer Sarah
Joseph. So it is high time that the Kerala government stopped betraying the
tribal communities in the state, she adds. The adivasis now plan to intensify
the protests.

8. Footloose is one of the many words in English that started off associated
with poverty and marginalized groups, but gained a hip connotation
(“cool word”) later. Can you find out other words which gained such
meaning? What do you think about this transition?    
Some similar words to ‘footloose’ are cheater, naughty, pretty etc…
Centuries ago, the term cheater was used to describe the royal officers who
looked after the king's escheats, or the land he acquired when someone died
without a legal heir. However, because of the shady ways these officers went
about their jobs, the word "cheater" eventually became synonymous with
someone who lies, tricks, and defrauds—and this is how we define the word
today. And for more terms that have changed, check out the 60 Words People
Pronounce Differently Across America. In the 1300s, people who were naughty
had naught, or "nothing." In other words, they were poor. But nowadays, the
word is used to describe someone not as poor, but as evil or improper. The
term pretty is derived from various words in other languages that meant
"cunning," "tricky," and "skillful"—and therefore, it makes sense that the
adjective was originally used to describe a sly person. But nowadays, it's used
to positively describe someone's appearance rather than their deceitfulness.
2

QUESTIONS TO RESEARCH AND

PONDER

The alteration of meaning occurs because words are constantly used

and what is intended by speakers is not exactly the same each time. If a
different intention for a word is shared by the speech community and becomes
established in usage then a semantic change has occurred.

9. What are benami transactions?

In a Benami transaction, a property is transferred or held
by one person and the consideration for such property is paid by another
person for whose benefit such property is held. Many people procured tribal
land through this benami transactions.
10.‘up for grabs’. What does it mean? What does it mean here?

‘up for grab’ means ‘available to anyone who is interested’. Here it

refers to the land available to the tribals but even after that they faces
malnutrition and these districts have low development indices.

11.But isn’t progress and development good for the nation?

Progress and development are good for nation for its
development but nation also has the responsibility to protect its people. If
development has to replace the people living in that area government should
be responsible for comforting the people and for the protection and safe guard
of tradition, customs, culture, community resources and to prevent alienation.
12.Is EAS Sharma opposing Naxalism or only its violence? What is his remedy
for it?
He says that the only government the tribes re aware is the police,
contractors and real estate goons. Tribes don’t even know the government or
their government providing rights. He thinks that if successive government
lived the spirit of constitution and this judgement, tribal discontent would
automatically recede.

13.Is Maoist activities a protest against exploitation or inviting attention to

the problem of tribals?
It is a mode of expression, the much-maligned Naxalite
movement is essentially an act of dissent, a public protest, a fact occasionally
2

QUESTIONS TO RESEARCH AND

PONDER

acknowledged by the government itself, although the actions of the latter

never reflect this admission. The state has always preferred to criminalise
Naxalites, to the extent of waging a full-fledged war upon tribal populations in
the guise of fighting Naxalism. It extends this attitude to all those who question
the government’s violations of civil rights. The government labels them as
Naxalites/Maoists and unleashes its repressive might on them. Many legal
luminaries and activists, who have taken it upon themselves to defend the civil
rights of citizens as per the Constitution, aver that the ordinary laws available
to the government are capable, if operated equitably, of tackling any criminal
activity of which the state accuses Naxalites. Instead, the government has
preferred to create a range of draconian laws expressly to deal with the
Naxalite “menace”. There is no empirical evidence that such laws have
achieved anything apart from misrepresenting the notion of security:
alienating the interests of state security from the security of the population

14.Does Maoist activities in India happen only in tribal areas?

Yes, there are many maoist activities taking place other than in tribal
areas. Maoist communities in remote regions attack wealthy families of the
same region. They are even afraid to conduct marriages due to maoist attack
and many goes for police protection, this happens even in Kerala.
15.Would the environmentalists oppose the Bill? What would be their
arguments against it?
The bill of 2005, Recognition of Forest Rights, was to correct a historic
wrong and restore the rights of Adivasi. But the environmentalist and wildlife
conservationists, expressed anxiety and concern over opening up the forests to
forest communities, and therefore to possible abuse, others argued in favour
of involving communities in forest conservation by granting them rights within
the built-in safeguards which would prevent wanton abuse not only by Adivasi
but by anyone.
2

QUESTIONS TO RESEARCH AND

PONDER

16.Have you seen the Economic and Political Weekly? Go to the website and
find out if it is useful for general population or is it only for Economics and
Political Science students?
EPW, as the journal is popularly known, occupies a special place in
the intellectual history of independent India. For more than five decades EPW
has remained a unique forum that week after week has brought together
academics, researchers, policy makers, independent thinkers, members of
non-governmental organisations and political activists for debates straddling
economics, politics, sociology, culture, the environment and numerous other
disciplines.
EPW is also unique because it is the one forum where there is an exchange of
ideas across the social science disciplines - political scientists debate with
economists, sociologists read what political scientists have to say, historians
study what economists have to say and so on. Due to these reasons this is
useful to general population.

17.What was the sad aspect in getting support of the community for
the  Adivasi widow who was evicted by her in-laws?
The denial of right of land to Adivasi women has been a matter of
concern to academics and activists. If a Ho woman becomes widow in her
young age, all her property and her husband’s property goes to her in -laws.
The struggle is more to preserve the children’s right over the marital property,
which gains her some support from the community.

18.Why would men support woman’s protest for land rights?

The Adivasi women had no right over the land. If a woman
really asserts her property rights incase she is a window in her youth, and
faced with dispossession and eviction by her-in-laws. The struggle is more to
preserve the children’s right over the marital property, which gains her some
support from the community. This is the reason why men also supported
woman’s protest.