Fundació privada ADA Món Adivasi

Responsible NGO: Ankur Trust
Responsible: Vaishali Patil
Location: Pen and Khalapur in Raigad’s district –Maharashtra-
Duration: 3 years (2012-2015)
Beneficiaries: 409 households, 331 of the Kathkari community and 78 Thakurs community (another adivasi tribe).
ADA’s assistance: 3.700€/year

Introduction: Kathkaris, one of the aboriginal tribes of India, is also one of the poorest. It constitutes 12% of the population of the Raigad’s district, where literacy is 7%. In this district important economic and social changes (creation of special economic zones, thermal power projects, expansion of the highway Mumbai to Goa, international airport, residential townships, etc. . .) have taken place in the last decades. Many of these tribes are not able to endure these changes. Only 4% of the Kathkari’s population owns land. The rest does not have the land or forest registered under their name where they live and work. The land that are not registered, can be expropriated easily.
Objective of the project: Stop the rural alienation by creating legal awareness and assistance to tribes in order to submit their complaints and petitions to reclaim the rights of the land. If they achieve the deeds of ownership, in case of future land’s expropriation, they could get government assistance for their new settlements and new housing.

Description:
- Survey of 20 villages: register the exact location of each house, classification the soil type, what kind of property (community, state, private) ...
- Awareness Campaign. The illiteracy in kathkaris’s villages is high, and sometimes there are difficulties to explain the laws and their rights. During the project meetings and discussions will be made and also a documentary to explain the laws and the Adivasis’s rights. Afterwards, it will be identified the specific problems of each village and define a plan of action.
- Workshops with local experts and people affected. During these workshops different legal advice for different situations will be explained and afterwards specific claims of each person will be addressed.
- Broadcasting. Banners will be hanged in the populated areas. These banners will graphically explain the documents needed to reclaim their lands.
- Delegations will be set up to act as an advocate with local government and other public bodies.
- Assistance on gathering all the legal documents and needed information to make claims, certificates, maps ...
- Legal aid lawyers will submit and track claims.

This will be a pilot project. All the activities will be documented and keep on record so they can be a guide for other NGOs and activists involved in the Adivasi experience.