Madurai: Accepting the demands of Dalit organisations from southern districts, PWA leader Thol. Thirumavalavan has assured to include Panchami land rights issue in the election manifesto.
As two major Dravidian parties failed to take steps to retrieve Panchami lands under encroachments, Dalit organisations from southern districts submitted a memorandum to Thirumavalavan to address the issue in the election manifesto.
“Nearly 10.73 lakh acres of Panchami lands allotted for Dalits in Tamil Nadu have been occupied by non-dalits. We have made various representations to government departments, but only in vain,” said S. Karuppaiah, state additional general secretary of Dalit Liberation Movement, Tamil Nadu, who submitted the memorandum to Thirumavalavan when he visited Madurai last week.
In the last three Assembly elections, Dalit outfits have been trying to impress upon Dravidian party leaders when they approached them for votes. “DMK had included Panchami land retrieval issue in its 2006 election manifesto, but they didn’t take any concrete steps on this front after they assumed power,” charged Karuppaiah.
In the case of AIADMK, they haven’t even included this in their 2011 election manifesto, claims Dalit Subramanian, movement’s founder president.
Hence Dalit organisations and human rights activists from southern districts recently organised a meeting in Madurai to decide their support for political parties in the Assembly election. Speaking to Deccan Chronicle over phone Thirumavalavan said PWA which already had included the land right issues of working class in the common minimum programme, would definitely address the retrieval of panchami land in the election manifesto. Members of Dalit outfits have also met CPI (M) state secretary G. Ramakrishnan and submitted their memorandum recently in Chennai.
What are Panchami lands?
Based on the recommendation by Collector T.H.A. Tremenheere, the British government passed the Depressed Class land Act on September 30 under government order no. 1010/ 10-A 1892. Nearly 12 lakh acres of land were assigned for Scheduled Castes in Tamil Nadu to empower them. These lands were termed Panchami lands. Dalits have rights only to enjoy the land holdings, they can’t sell it to third party. But most of the lands in the state are under encroachments now.
