Tawa Matsya Sangh


Struggles For Equality - Concepts
Class - 7th Foundation NTSE Subjects
 
 
Concept Explanation
 

Tawa Matsya Sangh

Tawa Matsya Sangh: When dams are built or forest areas declared sanctuaries for animals, thousands of people are displaced. Whole villages are uprooted and people are forced to go and build new homes, start new lives elsewhere. Most of these people are poor. In urban areas too, bastis in which poor people live are often uprooted. Some of them are relocated to areas outside the city. Their work as well as their children’s schooling is severely disrupted because of the distance from the outskirts of the city to these locations. This displacement of people and communities is a problem that has become quite widespread in the country. People usually come together to flight against this. There are several organizations across the country fighting for the rights of the displaced.

Tawa Matsya Sangh: a federation of fisher worker’s cooperatives –an Organization fighting for the Satpura forest in Madhya Pradesh.

Originating in the Mahadeo hills of Chindwara district, the Tawa flows through Betul, before joining the Narmada in Hoshangabad.

The Tawa dam began to be built in 1958 and was completed in 1978. It submerged large areas of forest and agricultural land. The forest dwellers were left with nothing. Some of the displaced people settled around the reservoir and apart from their meager farms found a livelihood in fishing. They earned very little. In 1994, the government gave the rights for fishing in the Tawa reservoir to private contractors. These contractors drove the local people away and got cheap labour from outside. The contractors began to threaten the villagers. Who did not want to leave, by bringing in hoodlums? The villagers stood united and decided that it was time to set up an organization and do something to protect their rights.

The newly formed Tawa Matsya Sangh( TMS) organized rallies and a chakka jam ( road blockade), demanding their right to continue fishing for their livelihood. In response to their protests, the government created a committee to assess the issue. The committee recommended that fishing rights be granted to the villagers for their livelihood. In 1996, the Madhya Pradesh government decided to give to the people displaced by the Tawa dam the fishing rights for the reservoir. A five- year’s lease agreement was signed two months later. On January 2, 1997, people from 33 villages of Tawa started the New Year with the first catch.

 
 


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