Adivasi-Dalit outfits seek land reforms to address landlessness in Keralam, warn ‘Land Reforms 2.0’ may benefit corporates

Adivasi-Dalit organisations have urged the Keralam government to enact legislation to distribute land among landless Adivasis, Dalits, plantation workers and other landless people, warning that the proposed ‘Land Reforms 2.0’ initiative could legitimise existing illegal landholdings and facilitate the transfer of plantation land to corporate ownership through the real estate market, rather than address landlessness.

The Ambedkarite Democratic Front (ADF), an umbrella organisation of over 50 outfits, has adopted a resolution calling for comprehensive land reforms. ADF general convener and social activist M. Geethanandan said the government should prioritise taking over plantations allegedly held illegally using forged documents and distributing the land among the landless.

“The proposed ‘Land Reforms 2.0’ will not pave the way for the State’s progress. It would result in land-use changes and facilitate the transfer of plantation land to real estate interests,” Mr. Geethanandan said. “Instead, the reforms should address landlessness. The mushrooming Dalit ‘colonies’ and Adivasi settlements reflect the reality of landlessness in Keralam. The State had around 26,000 Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe settlements 15 years ago. Including ‘laksham veedu’ colonies, plantation workers’ ‘layams’ and newer settlements, their number could now exceed 50,000.”

The outfits urged the government to replace the existing committee studying ‘Land Reforms 2.0’ with a broader commission comprising economists, academics, environmental researchers, disaster management experts, representatives of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, sociologists, legal experts and Forest department representatives to formulate a comprehensive land reform policy.

According to the ADF, nearly 66% of Keralam’s cultivable land has been converted into plantation land, much of which is allegedly held illegally. The ADF cited the report of the Rajamanickam Commission, which examined plantation ownership in Central Travancore, to argue that several plantations that should have vested in the government had allegedly been acquired using forged documents. It said Central Travancore alone had more than five lakh acres of plantation land and called for similar scrutiny of plantations in Wayanad, Palakkad and Malappuram.

The organisation opposed raising the land ceiling prescribed under the Kerala Land Reforms Act, arguing that allowing multi-crop cultivation or other uses of plantation land without addressing illegal ownership could facilitate its subdivision and sale. It also called for the distribution of government-owned plantations among the landless and the takeover of land exceeding the statutory ceiling when plantation land was converted to multi-crop cultivation or diverted for other purposes.

Mr. Geethanandan said the land rights of Adivasis had been neglected during the land reforms of the 1970s, while ownership rights were secured for settlers and tenants. Encroachments continued even on land allotted under the Forest Rights Act, 2006, and on land for which Adivasis held title deeds, the ADF said, identifying Attappady as a major area of concern.

The organisation called for legislation to protect Adivasi self-governance, forest rights and the traditional land and resource rights of fishing communities and farmers in the Pokkali and Kaipad regions. It also urged stronger wetland protection and safeguards for the Western Ghats, warning that tourism and commercial projects could displace traditional communities.