A unique protest is being carried out the Barela tribals of Upala village in Barwani district of Madhya Pradesh, despite all their hardships arising out of virtual landlessness. The repeated destruction of their crops by the forest department has failed to rob them of their faith in their ultimate victory. The villagers are so terrified that, they suffer silently. They now live as landless labourers. The land in question - a little more than 25 hectares - have been the only means of livelihood for these tribal families for many generations. While the forest department calls them encroachers, the tribals claim that they have lease deeds issued by the department to their fathers and grandfathers from time to time since the pre-Independence days.