Ramachandran K G
Along with the advocacy meetings being held across the region, a legal aid camp was also arranged at Narur village of Sidhudurg district in the month of January 2021 for equipping the Katkari community leaders to claim their land rights. 25 community leaders attended this legal aid camp. A well known lawyer, Advocate Sudheer Ramachandra Rawool, led this camp along with Community fellow Shri Uday Lawoo Aair. At this camp, they discussed about different issues in relation to land rights. The community members were instructed about requirements of producing different documents like 13 different types of social entitlements including ration cards, tenancy certificate from land owners and letters and affidavit from Sarpanch and ward members. The collection of many of these documents was also facilitated for registration purposes at this camp.
In this camp the issues related to the community claims under Forest Rights Act 2006 were also discussed. They participants were informed about different rights as provided for in the Act. They sought the suggestions from the community leaders with regard to the submission of the claims for the titles. The interventions with regards to forest rights are still in the infant stage among the Katkari community. More trainings and capacity building programs are required. However, organising village meetings and trainings is very risky and challenging during the unusual spread of covid-19 in the state as well as across the nation.
