Kolam tribes to rally for better life

Mumbai: Starvation is forcing Kolam tribes of Vidarbha region to stage a massive rally in Yavatmal on Wednesday to demand food security and shelter from the Maharashtra government.

Despite providing assurances in the High Court and to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the state government has failed to provide food security, health care, clean drinking water and education to Kolam tribes, who are recognised by the federal government under Primitive Tribal Groups, says Kishor Tiwari, representing farmers and tribal people in Vidarbha.

"Though the Centre allocates funds for their development, the state government has failed to alleviate the distressful condition of these tribes who are now reduced to being landless labourers after being evicted from forests, their original home," Tiwari told Gulf News by phone from Nagpur.

Nearly 800,000 Kolam tribals, spread over Yavatmal, Chandrapur and Nanded districts, will hold a rally organised by Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS) in Yavatmal to demand their Right to Live.

"We intend to pass a resolution that the government abides by the promises it made to the court." In June 2009, whilst hearing a public interest litigation filed by Tiwari, who is the VJAS president, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court had directed the state government to provide food, shelter and implement tribal welfare schemes.

The state government had even filed affidavits before the NHRC twice in 2007 and 2010 that they are providing food, shelter and potable water to the tribals.

According to Tiwari, the lives of Kolam tribes who come under the list of people in the Below Poverty Line, have remained unchanged through the years.