This issue started 58 years ago. The then Government, considering the contribution of the weaving community and seeing their poverty and landlessness, allotted a piece of land for them to settle in. In 1964, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Government and the weaving community about this agreement of settlement with a monthly rental of INR 30/-. The weaving community settled there in Mau District, Uttar Pradesh but economic prosperity was not easy to come by. They struggled with their livelihood issues - their chosen occupation was not a high revenue yielding system. Once, in those early years, they were unable to pay the rent to the Government. After not getting the standard rent for a few years, the Government issued summons to them to vacate their houses and leave the colony, but the community elders pleaded with the government, bought some time, and with difficulties, all of them gathered the required amount to pay the rent.
Now, the Revenue officials are asking for their land rights. As these were allotted land, they wanted the Weaving Community to register their land. The court fees and registration fees are so high that it is impossible for them to register the allotted land. This is pushing them to live in a constant fear of forceful displacement. They are requesting Revenue officials to subsidise the land registration fees, so that the community can gather money and work towards it. They need this assistance from the administration as they live in abject poverty and the new issue of registering their land is adding another burden on their already impoverished life.
Hope the district administration will review the situation of these poor weaving communities and keep their promises of leased land.
A Call for Research on AI’s Role in Amplifying the Insights of the Systemically Unheard
The article argues that systematically ignoring and silencing the voices of the poor and marginalized worldwide does not serve society or democracy well and must be countered. While new technologies such as AI could provide an opportunity for change, we contend that these technologies need to account more effectively for...
How to Juggle a Career as a Community Correspondent as well a Mainstream Media Reporter
When the staff at Gannett newspapers in the US coined the term MOJO (Mobile Journalism) to describe new ways of gathering and distributing news using emerging technologies in 2005, they would not have imagined its virality and use ten years later. Ask new media journalists and our Community Correspondents Shah...