Status Of Adivasis/Indigenous People's Land Series-3: Maharashtra

Every single market town in the Scheduled Area of Maharashtra is teeming with nontribals, including many government servants who live in houses that have illegally come up on Adivasi lands. While the law specifically prohibits the leasing out of Adivasi lands, except with the permission of the Collector, and that too for a maximum of five years, the phenomenon of 99-year leases is ubiquitous. No changes are effected in the land documents, but the possession of the land is transferred to the non-Adivasi.