Aggrieved Jenu Kuruba community members write to PM Modi seeking justice

Mysuru: Determined to retain their rights to forage food using traditional means in the forests, members of the Jenu Kuruba tribe, a community listed under the specially privileged tribal groups (SPTG) category, from the Old Mysore region have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention on the subject.
Along with Koragas, Jenu Kuruba community is the only other tribal community of Karnataka to find a place on the SPTG list of 32. The two communities in the state have been designated as such owing to their impoverished condition and declining numbers. While the Koragas, native to Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts, are around 20,000 in number, the population of Jenu Kuruba community is estimated to be around one lakh. The members of the latter community are spread across Mysuru, Chamarajanagar and Kodgu districts.
Director of the Hunsur-based NGO Development Through Education (DEED) S Srikanth, who has been spearheading efforts to secure the rights of tribal communities, pointed out that the Jenu Kurubas lived either in or close to the Nagarahole and Bandipur tiger reserves, adding that their subsistence depended on the produce collected from forests.
“Since most of them were told to vacate their homes in the forest, they have not been allowed to collect minor forest produce (MFP), which is vital to their livelihood. Members of the Jenu Kuruba tribe have been displaced from Jammas, their traditional hamlets, and they have not been rehabilitated following their eviction,” Srikanth told TOI.
He said that the members of the Jenu Kuruba community had recourse to the law, and were seeking their rights under the protection of the Constitution. “We have written to both PM Modi and chief minister BS Yediyurappa, requesting them to permit the Jenu Kurubas to live in the forest. The jungle is the common property of both the government and the tribes. They should be allowed to collect uncultivated produce in the woods,” Srikanth added.
Vijaykumar, a tribal leader in HD Kote, said that the government must honour the provisions of the Recognition of Forest Rights Act, 2006 and safeguard the rights of the Jenu Kuruba community.
The legislation in question states that the individual or a community that has claim on land or can claim tenure of forest land, shall be granted forest rights on all lands.