Out of Place

In November 2022, a confrontation over podu—shifting cultivation practised on forest land—between forest officials and Gutti Koya Adivasis in Telangana’s Bhadradri Kothagudem district ended with the death of Chalamala Srinivas Rao, a forest range officer.

- AKASH POYAM

The Gutti Koyas, also known as Muria Gonds, are an Adivasi community from south Chhattisgarh, particularly Bastar, Dantewada and Sukma districts. Ethnically linked to the Koya and Gond tribes, they are known by different names across state borders.

The Gutti Koyas began migrating to Telanganaand Andhra Pradesh around 2005, fleeing the brutal state-sponsored violence of Salwa Judum. The militia razed entire villages in Bastar under the pretext of anti-Maoist operations, displacing tens of thousands of Adivasis. A 2017 report by Save the Children recorded that Maoist violence and counterinsurgency operations had displaced nearly 1.5 lakh Muria and Dorla Adivasis, with Chhattisgarh alone accounting for over one lakh. Yet, nearly two decades on, there is still no policy framework in India to recognise or rehabilitate internally displaced persons.

Today, most Gutti Koyas reside in Telangana’s Bhadradri Kothagudem, Mulugu, Jayashankar Bhupalpally and Khammam districts, and in Andhra Pradesh’s East and West Godavari districts. Some have also settled in Maharashtra and Odisha. They continue to rely on podu cultivation and the collection of minor forest produce, sustaining ways of life that are routinely criminalised by the state.

Following the forest officer’s death, the backlash against the community was severe. The gram panchayat of Bendalpadu, the site of the incident, passed a resolution demanding the expulsion of Gutti Koyas to their “home state.” The resolution described the community as “addicted to ganja and liquor,” and claimed they “tote around fatal weaponry,” are “losing discretion,” and are “committing murders.” The Telangana High Court struck down the resolution after community members filed a petition challenging it, but the damage had been done. Gutti Koyas were portrayed not as displaced and disenfranchised people frequently harassed by state officials and local populations, but as dangerous interlopers.