On March 2nd of 2019, more than 780 of community members belonging to Kaathkaari tribe including women, men and children gathered at Kudal, Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra, for celebrating their culture and food and also for discussing various issues community being faced at present with a focus on their rights and land tenure.
Top officials from the district like the District Collector, Mr. Dilip Pandharpatte, District Development officer/CEO of Sindhudurg district Mrs. Manjulaxmi, Forest Officer Mr. Samadhan Chavan, District Judge Mr. Atul Ubale, Head of Kolhapur district information office Mr. Sathish Lalit, and important social personalities like Senior journalist Mr. Shekhar Samant, well known Social activist and legal adviser for land related issues of tribal community members Mr. Bansi Ghevde were invited and present in the venue of celebration organized at Kudal.
A delicious midday meal was served for the participants with traditional delicacies of Kaathkaari community food items. There was several food items in the lunch provided to community participants and guests alike. Some of the traditional dishes like wafers of Hanva, Halinda and Lundi were the major attractions in the lunch table. There were also several dishes made from different wild and cultivated tubers in the meal list.
The traditional dance performance made this program more colourful and it was a visual treat for all participants. Community women had performed their traditional dance ’Bandagi’, in tune to their traditional melodies. Three different forms of Bandagi (traditional dance of Kaathkaari community people) were presented before all participants present at the event. The main theme of these dances was the importance of forests and the community’s dependence on forest resources.
In the meeting, a petition was also handed over to District Collector signed by more than five hundred members belonging to the Kaathkari community. The petition was for seeking the implementation of forest resource rights of the Kaathkaari community people. The landless community members (lion share of them are landless) were also seeking for land for residence in any revenue areas under government schemes or individual forest rights within forested areas through the petition submitted.
