Communal Violence
Religious violence in Orissa refers to civil unrest and riots in remote forest region surrounding Kandhamal in Orissa in India. Parts of Kandhamal are tribal reservations where only tribal people can own land. Tribals and tribal land are protected by “The Scheduled Caste and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act”. The largest community in Kandhamal is the Kandha tribe. Most Kandha tribal people follow tribal religions or Hinduism. They respect all religions[citation needed]. However, the socio-economic and political landscape is dominated by the second largest community non-tribal Panna who are mostly Christian. The region is also home to a Maoist terror group which is the largest terror group operating against India and responsible for 3338 deaths in India in five years from 2004 to 2008. Maoist has proclaimed Hindu nationalist organizations to be their natural enemy and many local Kandhamal terrorists are Panna-caste-Christians. Major Issues in Kandhamal are Violation of "The Scheduled Caste and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act” like forcible occupation of tribal land, fake issuance of tribal certificates, illegal building of places of worship mostly churches on tribal land etc., religious conversions, re-conversions and terrorism. This has also resulted in Civil unrest and tensions in 1986, 1994 and 2000