Food Insecurity of Odisha’s Uprooted Tribes
After Eviction, Displaced Tribals from Tiger Reserve Struggle to Rebuild Lives
By Surabhi SinghMay 10, 2025
Mohanty Soren and Telenga Hasa, belonging to the Ho and Munda tribes, once lived in a region at the heart of the Simlipal Tiger Reserve in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district. Just three years ago, their lives revolved around cultivation, surrounded by dense forest. Now, after being forced to vacate his land, Hasa lives 180 KM apart. Each time he returns to visit Soren in his former village, he is overcome with reflection and sorrow.
Hasa’s village no longer exists. The Forest Department maintains that the core area of the reserve must be free of human presence — despite the fact that tribal communities have lived there in harmony with wildlife long before the area was declared a tiger reserve in 1973.
With only meagre compensation, villagers allege that eviction is driven less by consent and more by orders, harassment and coercion. This, despite laws like the Forest Rights Act, 2006, which mandate free and informed consent from tribal communities.
According to the Forest Rights Act, no resettlement or eviction can take place without the free, prior and informed consent of the affected gram sabha (village assembly). If relocation is deemed necessary, it must be carried out in consultation with the community, ensuring that they are provided secure land tenure, access to livelihood, and basic facilities such as housing, education and healthcare. The Act also mandates that relocation should only occur as a last resort, after all rights have been settled and recorded.
As time passes, the consequences of Hasa’s displacement are becoming clearer — from the loss of land, livelihood and environment to something as fundamental as food security and the right to self-determination.
In practice, displaced tribal communities often face severe hardship after relocation. Though laws promise secure housing, land, and basic services, these are rarely delivered in full. Many families are resettled in areas with poor or no access to cultivable land, safe drinking water, electricity, healthcare, or schools.
Traditional livelihoods like forest gathering or small-scale farming become impossible. Employment alternatives are limited, forcing many into low-paying, insecure labour. Social structures also get disrupted — families are often split up, and community bonds weaken. Some end up in informal settlements without legal rights, making them even more vulnerable to eviction and poverty.
The food insecurity that follows is not just about hunger but about the loss of control over how and what they eat.
Though now separated by Hasa’s forced relocation, the two men remain united in opposing the eviction of the last remaining village within the core of the Tiger Reserve.