As the Jenu Kuruba take back the ancestral lands stolen from them, we ask that you support their return.

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In May, 52 Jenu Kuruba families made a long-awaited return to their ancestral village. They carried photos of deceased relatives who had died without getting the chance to see their forests again. © Sartaz Ali Barkat/ Survival

Dear Jack,

Two months ago, 52 brave Jenu Kuruba families defied police, forest guards and years of intimidation, and joyously returned to their ancestral village inside what is now Nagarhole Tiger Reserve in Karnataka, SW India.

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The Jenu Kuruba, famed for their skill at honey-gathering, are the Indigenous people of Nagarhole and the surrounding forest. But they, like so many other Indigenous peoples, were evicted long ago so their home could be turned into a conservation area.

Once the reserve was created, tourists were encouraged in, but the Jenu Kuruba were consigned to desolate sites far away and left to fend for themselves. Many ended up working in slave-like conditions in coffee plantations.

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Now that they’ve returned, these courageous families are determined to stay. A large force of police and forest officials have already raided their village, and destroyed some of the houses the Jenu Kuruba were starting to re-build.

The Jenu Kuruba know this peaceful re-occupation is vital not just for them, but as a beacon of hope and inspiration to tens of thousands of other Indigenous people across India who endured the same experience, and whose forests, emptied of their rightful owners, are filled instead with tiger-spotting tourists in jeeps.

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As Choudamma, a Jenu Kuruba woman who still languishes far from her people’s forests, told us: “Our people have been destroyed. They have left us to die… We want to go back to our land and live there. It’s our grandfathers’ forest.”

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Please, Jack, take action now: urge the authorities in India to respect the Jenu Kuruba’s rights to their forests, and allow them to live in peace back in their ancestral village of Karadikallu.

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Thank you, as ever, for your support.

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