Skip to cookie consent
Tearfund Learn home

In India, land is precious because people's lives and identity are closely attached to the land they own. However, it is very difficult for citizens to reclaim land once taken or encroached upon. This is even more so for some of the most vulnerable and marginalised people, such as the tribal community of Sahariya in Lalitpur district of Uttar Pradesh. In the village of Paron, there were some Sahariya families who had been given a few acres of land many years ago by the government. This land was leased to them to grow crops for their families. However, the demarcation boundaries for this land were unclear and it was not fertile. Therefore, these families rarely used this land as it did not provide enough food for their families, so they had to migrate to nearby towns in search of a livelihood. When the Indian government’s Forest Department officials surveyed this land, they thought it was forest land and tried to mark its boundaries as such. The families felt helpless to reclaim it due to prevailing circumstances.

You can download this case study from the panel below. To continue reading it on this page, scroll or swipe down.

View or download this resource

Get this resource

Get this resource

Tearfund partner, Emmanuel Hospital Association (EHA), had been working in this area, establishing Village Development Committees (VDC) to coordinate local charities’ work, finances, and to get access to resources available for their locality’s needs. EHA helped people to understand that they have rights, including a right to information, and taught them the procedures to follow to access it, including through the VDC. Consequently, the Sahariya families from Paron brought their land issue to their local VDC meeting. The families were advised to write an application describing their issues to a senior government official who oversees the grievance redressal system for local communities. They were also advised to meet with the Forest Department officials to share their problem before they submitted their application to the government official.

As a result the VDC members went to a forest ranger in the government’s Forest Department to petition the officials to re-demarcate the boundaries of the families’ land. The families were able to provide documents concerning the land lease and a map of the land in question. The Forest Department officials inspected these papers and found the families’ claims were correct. Accordingly, the government officials surveyed the land and demarcated it correctly to give it back to the families.

Furthermore, the families were supported by the VDC to make the land more fertile using watershed management techniques and digging a well for irrigation. Finally, after many years of not being able to use this land well, these families are growing crops for themselves, ensuring sustainable livelihoods and food security. This experience is expanding the work of EHA supporting marginalised communities to overcome the barriers of caste discrimination and poverty, and access the local government and resources through established means.

This short case study, on the themes of land and property rights, food security, livelihoods, and stigma and discrimination, illustrated the impact of using the following advocacy approaches:

Case studies can be used alongside the Advocacy toolkit, giving practical examples of the approaches it sets out.

Similarly Tagged Content

Share this resource

If you found this resource useful, please share it with others so they can benefit too.

Share via

Get our email updates

Be the first to hear about our latest learning and resources

Sign up now

Related Resources

See all resources

Read more about Tearfund's work

We use cookies to provide you with personalised content and ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. You can choose which cookies you’re happy for us to use.

Cookie preferences

Your privacy and peace of mind are important to us. We are committed to keeping your data safe. We only collect data from people for specific purposes and once that purpose has finished, we won’t hold on to the data.

For further information, including a full list of individual cookies, please see our privacy policy.

  • These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems.

  • These cookies allow us to measure and improve the performance of our site. All information these cookies collect is anonymous.

  • These allow for a more personalised experience. For example, they can remember the region you are in, as well as your accessibility settings.

  • These cookies help us to make our adverts personalised to you and allow us to measure the effectiveness of our campaigns.