FRO killed allegedly by GuttiKoya tribals in BhadradriKothagudem district
- November 23, 2022
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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FRO killed allegedly by GuttiKoya tribals in BhadradriKothagudem district
Subject :Environment
Context:
- A Forest Range Officer (FRO) named Challamalla Srinivas Rao, 42, was brutally killed allegedly by a group of GuttiKoya Adivasis with axes and sickles over a “podu land” issue in Errabodu forest area in Chandrugonda mandal of Telangana’s BhadradriKothagudem district on Tuesday.
Why tribals attacked the FRO-
- Srinivas Rao along with his staff went to Bendalapadu tribal habitation to prevent an alleged attempt by a group of local tribal people to remove saplings in a plantation raised by the Forest department in Errabodu forest area.
- The migrant tribals, who claimed themselves as ‘podu cultivators’, allegedly chased and killed the FRO.
What is Podu?
- Podu is a traditional system of cultivation used by tribes in India, whereby different areas of jungle forest are cleared by burning each year to provide land for crops.
- The word comes from the Telugu language.
- Podu is a form of shifting agriculture using slash-and-burn methods.
Other forms of Shifting cultivation practiced in India-
Type | Place of practice |
Jhum | North-eastern India |
Vevar and Dahiyaar | Bundelkhand Region (Madhya Pradesh) |
Deepa | Bastar District (Madhya Pradesh) |
Zara and Erka | Southern States |
Batra | South-eastern Rajasthan |
Podu | Andhra Pradesh, Telangana |
Kumari | Hilly Region of the Western Ghats of Kerala |
Kaman, Vinga and Dhavi | Odisha |
About the ‘Podu’ Land Issue
- The Errabodu incident comes at a time when a survey of “podu lands” is underway to find a permanent solution to the ‘podu lands’ issue as per the provisions of the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006.
- Podu lands are the lands tilled by tribal people in forests.
- Telangana government has red-flagged encroachment of forests by non-tribals, who are indulging in the practice of shifting agriculture (podu).
- Several political leaders have raised the issues of shifting agriculture and deforestation wherein encroachers clear a portion of land to raise crops one season and move to a different location next season, thereby clearing large areas of forests.
About GuttiKoya tribe tribe-
- Koya are an Indian tribal community found in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha.
- Koyas call themselves Koitur in their dialect.
- The Koyas speak the Koya language, also known as Koya basha, which is a Dravidian language related to Gondi.
- Koyas are commonly referred to as Koi, Koyalu, Koyollu, KoyaDoralu, DoralaSattam, etc.
- Koya tribes can be further divided into Koya, DoliKoya, Gutta Koya or GottiKoya,KammaraKoya, MusaraKoya, Oddi Koya, PattidiKoya, RashaKoya, LingadhariKoya (ordinary), KottuKoya, BhineKoya, Raja Koya, etc
Displacement threat-
- They are faceing the new threats of development and conflicts.
- In the absence of land and access to a forest, the Koyas depend on wage labour in farm lands.
- The scarcity of these jobs lead to malnutrition of children and instances of anemia in women.
- The Andhra Pradesh state government proposed Polavaram Project is posing a serious threat of displacement of 170,275 Koyas of the tribal population and more than 276 villages in the Khammam district of Bhadrachalam, Palwancha divisions.