Dalits left landless after tilling it for 50 years

A Dalit family that has been tilling a piece of land for the past 50 years has now found that the land is no more theirs. They have been told that it has been returned to the government, of which they have no knowledge. The bone of contention has been a purported “consent letter” signed by the farmer’s grandmother Ratan Rathod to transfer 6 acres of land back to the government.The government record states that Nathu Jetha Rathod’s wife Ratan had given an application to return the land they owned and signed the consent letter on May 15, 1979.
However, what is startling is that she had died on April 12, 1979, 33 days before she had given her consent to hand over land to the government. A copy of the letter was handed over to Mukesh Rathod (30), grandson of Nathu Rathod, by the mamlatdar’s office in Sayla taluka on October 4, 2014. Though the family is still in possession of the six acres of land in Sayla village of Surendranagar district, the ownership rests with the state government. Despite being a farmer family, the Dalit family is not able to claim any government benefits, including crop insurance.
The family of 13 is struggling to get ownership of land, which they have tilled since 1965. Under the provisions of Bombay Land Revenue Act 1879, Natu Jetha Rathod (Harijan), who was a farm labourer, was allotted 6 acres of land by the state government in 1965. He cultivated the land until he died in 1978. However, after his death, his son Govindbhai Natubhai Harijan and later his grandson Mukesh Rathod cultivated the land. “It was only in 2014, when we went to the talati’s office to procure ownership documents of our land, that we realised it was in the state government’s possession since 1979,” Mukesh told Mirror.
Furnishing the death certificate of his grandmother as well as the land documents from the government, he questioned the veracity of the consent letter. “How is it possible that a person who died in April, 1979, her consent letter has been signed in May, 1979,” he said. Mukesh and his family members have been visiting government offices since 2014 to get back ownership of their land. “We have written to the talati, collector and panchayat office, but no one is ready to hand over ownership rights of our land back to us.”
Martin Mcwan, a land rights activist fighting for the rights of Dalits told Mirror, “This is a clear case of forgery by government officials. There have been many instances of forgery of lands owned by Dalits.” Once the land is returned to the government, it is later transferred in the name of upper caste people, he alleged. Regarding Rathod’s land, Surendranagar Collector Udit Aggarwal said, “So far no such case has come to me and I am not aware about it. Once I receive it, I will resolve it at the earliest.”
NO OWNERSHIP MEANS NO GOVT BENEFITS
Mukesh and his family members are not able to avail of any government benefits as they are no more owners of the land. “As we are not the legal owners of our land, we do not get crop loans and are also not entitled for crop insurance,” Mukesh said. The family is dependent on monsoon for their crop, as they don’t have any facility of canal water or well water. They grow crops like bajra and jowar. With no ownership papers of the land, they are not entitled to government subsidy, so have no money to spend on a well. They were in dire straits in 2013 when the crops failed. Since they did not have crop insurance, they lost Rs 50,000. When they don’t have any crop in their own land, they work as farm labourers in nearby farms of upper caste people.