Winning the Cashew Battle in Orissa

Orissadiary.com, Sept 21, 2009
By Pradeep Baisakh

To avoid siltation of the newly constructed dams caused by traditional forms of agriculture, the tribals of the Koraput district of Orissa were persuaded to shift to cultivation of cashew and other trees and promised ownership of the land. But when the government reneged on its promise and started reaping the benefits itself, a people's movement began that has just ended in victory after 10 long years cashew plantations

It took ten years of struggle by the people of Koraput district to get the government of Orissa to pass an order that ensured that usufructuary rights over cashew plantations would be handed over to the tribals who have traditional rights over such natural resources in areas under the Fifth Schedule. The spirit of women like Chandrama Honatal, a tribal woman from Koraput district kept the issue alive through the years. "Maribu sina daribu nain, dangar jami chhadibu nain" (We will die but not fear; but we will not leave our land) Chandrama Honatal had declared at a meeting in June 2007 with Orissa's chief minister, Naveen Patnaik.

The chief minister had assured the delegation of villagers then that the government would soon hand over the usufructuary rights over cashew plantations to the tribals but it took more than a year to officially pass the order to that effect.

"Cashew plantation taken up as soil conservation measure in the catchment area of the reservoirs and those taken up under anti-poverty programmes like ERRP, RLEGP, JRY, EAS, anti-podu schemes etc would be distributed to the poor ST/SC families in the Schedule Area and MADA/cluster areas" read the minutes of a meeting chaired by the chief minister on July 31, 2008. Defayati rights would be conferred on the landless, small and marginal families belonging to scheduled tribes and scheduled castes to the extent of 2 acres per family and the beneficiary selection entitlements shall be decided in the Palli Sabha (the general body of adult members in a revenue village).

By this order, mostly tribal people from 20 out of 30 districts of the state will benefit and about 63,000 acres of land will be distributed among them. In Koraput district alone, cashew plantation on about 16,700 acres will be handed over to the people.

This order came after ten years of struggle waged by the people, particularly those from the Machhkund area (Lamtaput, Nandapur and Machhkund blocks) of Koraput district.

The issue

In the early-1950s it was realised that podu cultivation, which causes soil erosion, must stop if dams like the Machhkund and Kolab in Koraput district, Chitrakonda in undivided Koraput district, Rengali in undivided Dhenkanal district etc, are to be saved from siltation.

The Soil Conservation Department of the state government was created in 1956 with the objective of undertaking massive plantations of cashew, silver oak, and coffee among others, in the catchment areas of the dams. The local people who were doing podu cultivation on these lands were persuaded to plant the trees instead under various wage employment schemes. They were assured that such plantations would eventually be handed over to them and would give them a sustainable income. The Koraput District Gazette reiterates this promise of the government.

However, the government soon forgot its promise to hand over the plantation rights to the people, and itself sold the cashew and made good profits.

The survey settlement process, which was conducted at the same time, was faulty and did not record the rights of tribals over agricultural land that they had been traditionally cultivating. So the land stayed under the control of the government both de facto and de jure.

In 1979, the Orissa State Cashew Development Corporation (OSCDC) was created to carry on the cashew business on commercial lines by issuing annual tenders. Huge chunks of land were transferred to the corporation for the purpose, and the traditional owners were treated as encroachers on their own lands.

Guruchalan (now about 75) of Litiput village in Koraput district recalls an incident in his young days: "Once some cows strayed onto the kaju dangar (cashew land)while grazing nearby, and I went to take them back. On my way back I picked up one kaju seed. The watchman noticed it and slapped and beat me."



Data on different divisions and areas under control of OSCDC

Sl. No. Name of the Division Transferred Area from Soil Conservation dept
(in Acs.) Area of plantation raised by OSCDC
(in Acs.) Total area
(in Acs.)
1 Baripada 3849.150 1000.000 4849.150
2 Chandikhol 5065.850 4725.420 9791.270
3 Dhenkanal 6191.540 2816.140 9007.680
4 Jeypore 17459.310 715.000 18174.310
5 Khurda 14778.072 3159.176 17937.248
6 Sundergarh 16077.940 16077.940
TOTAL 63421.862 12415.736 75837.598
Source: OSCDC website


Origins of the struggle

The peoples' struggle to right this injustice began from Enugu village in the Lamtaput block of Koraput district in 1994-95 when a Vana Surakshya Samiti (VSS) was formed with the help of the forest department, by which the people of the village were given the responsibility to protect the adjacent forest and enjoy its fruits. However, due to the faulty survey and settlement process, it was not clear which parts of the forest land were under the forest department and which was revenue land. The Cashew Development Corporation, which had been issuing tenders on the forest land, refused to give up its claim. This led to a clash between the people on the one hand and the corporation and revenue and police administration on the other.

The people working as wage labourers collecting the cashew thwarted any attempt of the tender holder to employ outside labourers. A compromise was finally arrived at which allowed the people to collect the cashew and share some part of it with the tender holder to cover his investment. The people won because in this case a VSS was formed and they were united. But in other villages no such VSS was formed and the land fell under the revenue category.

However, the success of Enugu inspired people from other villages to also start taking control of their cashew dangars (land). This evoked a backlash from the corporation and tender holders who filed civil and criminal cases against people and had them arrested by the police. In 2000-01 the Dangar Surakshya Samiti was formed which was later named Dangar Adhikar Samiti (DAS) to lead a more organised struggle.

The affected people are mostly from tribal communities such as Gadva and Paraja but whole villages stood united, with dalits, backward class and other castes joining in. The DAS at village level and area level held regular meetings and collected funds to fight the battle. Gupta Panigrahi, a lawyer who was fighting cases of people in the courts, was the moving spirit behind the formation of DAS. Two other organisations, the Machhkund Basachyuta Mahasangha(a people's forum fighting for the families displaced by the Machhkund dam) and Mahila Mahasanghas (a women's federation of SHGs at gram panchayat level) also allied with DAS in the struggle. The Society for Promoting Rural Education and Development (SPREAD), a local NGO, played a vital role in facilitating the people's movement.

The struggle yielded some results and in 2005, about 1500 tree pattas were issued by the Machhkund tehsildar to the people. However, these pattas were declared illegal by the government later.

Multi-pronged advocacy

Rallies and dharnas were held in front of the tehsil office, the collectorate and even the state assembly (in June 2007). Memoranda were submitted to the respective authorities demanding that the cashew plantations be handed over to the people as promised. As Bidyut Mohanty of SPREAD says, "In the tendering process, a handful of traders from Jeypore, Bilaput and Machhkund, in connivance with the officials of the corporation, are taking the whole benefit, but people are not getting anything."

The Right to Information was used by the people, which revealed that proper procedure was not followed by the soil conservation and revenue departments when leasing the land to the cashew corporation. This meant that the corporation did not have any legal right to issue tenders. This revelation strengthened the case of the people against the corporation.

Awareness drives were undertaken by the social activists of SPREAD and the young cadres of DAS to make people aware about their legitimate claim over the plantation. This helped people wage an informed, and not just emotional, struggle. "According to PESA (Panchayat Extension of Schedule Areas) Act, the people have a right over jal, jungle and jamin (water, forest and land) in Schedule Five areas," asserts Rama Badnaik, a young woman from the Mali community who led the movement in her village of Matamput.

Women, in fact, played a leading role in the struggle. Dasu Krisani, Chandrama Hontal and Rama Badnaik, all office-bearers of SHGs at village or panchayat level, were actively involved. The local MLA Taraprasad Bahinipati was persuaded to raise the matter in the assembly and seek response from the minister.


Revenue generated from tendering process of Cashew Corporation

Year Jeypore Division State-level income of OSCDC
2004-05 85 lakh 408 lakh
2005-06 72 lakh 403 lakh
206-07 45 lakh 365 lakh
2007-08 20 lakh Not available
Source: OSCDC, Jeypore division, Jeypore and OSCDC, Bhubaneswar

The state hits back

As the people gradually took physical control of the cashew lands, the corporation and others who benefitted immensely from the tendering process (see box) did all they could to protect their interests.

Civil and criminal cases were filed indiscriminately against the people and many of them were arrested. In 2002, about 12 people, including Samara Sisa, Basudev Sisa, and Ravi Bisoi from Logum village, were arrested and put behind bars for a couple of days. Court orders were obtained to impose Section 144 of the CrPC to bar the entry of people into the plantations. On different occasions people were threatened by the superintendent of police, sub-collector and tehsildar to refrain or face dire consequences.

In order to create divisions within the struggle, dalits and other castes were given tenders of the plantations forcibly taken over by the tribals. SHGs were also offered tenders at very low cost (Rs 5,000-10,000 instead of Rs 100,000-125,000). Leaders of the agitation were offered bribes to back down. Even the local MLA Taraprasad Bahinipati, who helped facilitate meetings with the chief minister and other important ministers/leaders alleged that the corporation had tried to "influence" him.

Goons were hired by the tender holders to attack the villagers who had taken physical possession of the plantations. This led to bloody confrontations at times. In Litiput village, in 2007, Pratima Khara, aged about 65, was hit on her head with a tangi (a local weapon).

The winning strategy

Ultimately, what compelled the government to change its policy was the people taking physical control of the plantations and stopping the tender holders from reaping the cashew crop. This led to a huge loss of income for the corporation. In the last four years (2005-2008) in the Jeypore division (Koraput, Kalahandi, Rayagada and Nawrangpur districts) the income from the tendering process has gone down from Rs 85 lakh to Rs 20 lakh. Jeypore division constitutes about one-third of the total land under plantation and about one-fifth of the total income of the corporation (2004-05 data).

The loss in revenue brought the Agriculture Production Commissioner S P Nanda to Koraput in August 2007, which eventually led to the current decision of the government. With elections in the state scheduled for April-May 2009, the government found it expedient to come up with the formal order in November 2008.

On January 20, 2009 about 2,000 people gathered at Kujamba village in the Lamptaput block to celebrate the victory after the chief minister finally issued the order granting tree pattas to people.

But Ramchandra Badnaik, the current president of DAS, says "it's a battle half won". Now, the real challenge is how to reconcile the interests of the OBCs or general caste people in the villages who have been a part of the struggle, but who, under the current order, are not identified as beneficiaries. An even greater challenge is to renovate the plantations which have become old with new plantations and constantly maintain them and prevent deforestation.

Cashew economics

Cashew production is a lucrative business. According to Sadanand Behera, assistant manager, accounts, of OSCDC, Bhubaneswar, "In each hectare, there are at least 200 trees as per the government standard of maintaining seven metres distance between two trees. Each tree would yield at least 8 kg of cashew in the worst case."

The market price of raw cashew varies from Rs 30-45 per kg. So, cashew from one hectare of land would fetch Rs 48,000 a year. Jeypore division has 6,796 hectares of transferred area (transferred from Soil Conservation department) alone. By this calculation, it should give an income of Rs 32 crore.

Says Dusmant Padhi of the NGO, SPREAD: "Since the trees in Jeypore division have become old, by most conservative estimates if the minimum income from a hectare of cashew land is Rs 10,000, the total income from the land under the cashew corporation in Jeypore division would amount to Rs 6.7 crore annually."

The income of the corporation from the tendering process was Rs 85 lakh in 2004-05 - the highest in the last four years. So the beneficiaries of the rest of the money of about Rs 5.5 crore are, it would seem, all those who are involved in the tendering process of cashew plantation. The officials who sit in on the tendering process are the sub-collector, respective tehsildars, and the Cashew Corporation's divisional manager.

The state level figure may suggest that while the official income of the corporation from tendering is Rs 4 crore, the potential income would vary somewhere between Rs 30-40 crore by most conservative estimates, and a more realistic estimate may put it somewhere around Rs 100 crore! MLA Bahinipati rightly says "A great lobby exists on the cashew issue."

Those people who have control of their plantations are getting a good return. This serves as a great motivation for villagers in the Machhkund area, many of whom have been displaced by the Machhkund dam and have very limited sources of livelihood. For example, in Hanumal village under Lamtaput block, people have earned Rs 12 lakh in last four years (2005-08).

(Writer Pradeep Baisakh is a development journalist based in Bhubaneswar, Orissa)