Yojna Sep 08

September 2008
Chief Editor : S.B. Sharan Senior Editor: M. Singhal Editor : Manogyan R. Pal
Vol 52
Joint Director (Prod) : N.C. Mazumder Cover Layout : Anju Sharma E-mail (Editorial): editoryojana@hotmail.com : ce.yojana48@yahoo.co.in (Circulation): pdjucir_ jcm@yahoo.co.in Website : www.publicationsdivision.nic.in
Let noble thoughts come to us from every side
Rig Veda
CONTENTS
Recognising the Rights of Forest Dependants............................................................. 5 Mani Shankar Aiyar Democratic Control Over natural resources............................................... 10 Shankar Gopalakrishnan Co-existence: Myths and Realities.......................... 14 Sanjay Upadhyay Tiger vs Tribals.................................................................. 18 P K Sen salient features of the act. ........................................ 21 too much of a burden!.................................................... 24 Biswajit Mohanty best practices Revolution in Vegetable Cultivation. ...... 30 M R Madhusudana Verma
J&K Window ...................................................................... 32 do you know ? . ............................................................... 33 the Madhya Pradesh initiative ................................. 34 Akhilesh Argal the increasing Tree Cover........................................... 37 Kalpana Palkhiwala A Milestone for Ensuring the Adivasi Rights. ............................................................. 40 George Mathew In the News . ...........................................................................................44
Our Representatives : Ahmedabad: Manisha Verma, Bangalore: B.K. Kiranmai, Chennai: I. Vijayan, Guwahati: P. Chakravorty, Hyderabad: V. Balakrishna, Kolkata: Antara Ghosh, Mumbai: D.L. Narayana Rao, Thiruvananthapuram: Madhusudan Verma.
YOJANA seeks to carry the message of the Plan to all sections of the people and promote a more earnest discussion on problems of social and economic development. Although published by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Yojana is not restricted to expressing the official point of view. Yojana is published in Assamese, Bengali, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. EDITORIAL OFFICE : Yojana Bhavan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi Tel.: 23096738, 23717910, (23096666, 23096690, 23096696- Extn. 2509, 2510, 2565, 2566, 2511). Tlgm.: Yojana. Business Manager (Hqs.) : Ph :24367260, 24365609, 24365610 For new subscriptions, renewals, enquiries please contact : Business Manager (Circulation & Advt.), Publications Division, Min. of I&B, East Block-IV, Level-VII, R.K. Puram, New Delhi-110066, Tel.: 26100207, Telegram : Soochprakasan and Sales Emporia : Publications Division: *Soochna Bhavan, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi -110003 (Ph 24365610) *Hall No.196, Old Secretariat, Delhi 110054(Ph 23890205) * 701, B Wing, 7th Floor, Kendriya Sadan, Belapur, Navi Mumbai 400614 (Ph 27570686)*8, Esplanade East, Kolkata-700069 (Ph 22488030) *A Wing, Rajaji Bhawan, Basant Nagar, Chennai-600090 (Ph 24917673) *Press road, Near Govt. Press, Thiruvananthapuram-695001 (Ph 2330650) *Block No.4, 1st Floor, Gruhakalpa Complex, M G Road, Nampally, Hyderabad-500001 (Ph 24605383) *1st Floor, F Wing, Kendriya Sadan, Koramangala, Bangalore-560034 (Ph 25537244) *Bihar State Co-operative Bank Building, Ashoka Rajpath, Patna-800004 (Ph 2683407) *Hall No 1, 2nd floor, Kendriya Bhawan, Sector-H, Aliganj, Lucknow-226024(Ph 2225455) *Ambica Complex, 1st Floor, above UCO Bank, Paldi, Ahmedabad-380007 (Ph 26588669) *KKB Road, New Colony, House No.7, Chenikuthi, Guwahati 781003 (Ph 2665090) SUBSCRIPTION : 1 year Rs. 100, 2 years Rs. 180, 3 years Rs. 250. For neighbouring countries by Air Mail Rs. 530 yearly; for European and other countries Rs. 730 yearly. No. of Pages : 52 Disclaimer : l The views expressed in various articles are those of the authors and not necessarily of the government. l The readers are requested to verify the claims made in the advertisements regarding career guidance books/institutions. Yojana does not own responsibility regarding the contents of the advertisements.
YOJANA September 2008
economic indicators
ANNUAL INDICATORS
Population (as on 1 Oct) GDP at current market prices (new series) GDP:Per Capita (current prices) Gross domestic savings (current prices) Gross domestic capital formation (cur. pr) Central Govt. Gross Fiscal Deficit Sectoral shares (of GDPfc at current prices) Agriculture & allied Industry Services Prices (Annual Average) WPI of All commodities (wt 100.00) CPI-IW General index: India Agriculture: Production Foodgrains Cereals Rice Wheat Pulses Oilseeds Sugar cane Industry & Energy Index of industrial production (wt 100) (Annual Average) Commercial energy production Electricity generation by public utilities External Transactions Exports Imports Forex reserves ^ Foreign direct investments in India (net) Portfolio investments in India (net) Rupee exchange rate (Annual Average) US $ mln. Rs / USD 44,147 50,056 39554 4031 2760 45.61 43,958 51,567 51049 6125 2021 47.55 52,823 61,533 71890 5036 979 48.30 63,886 78,203 107448 4322 11356 45.92 83,502 111,472 135571 5987 9311 44.95 103,075 149,144 145108 8901.0 12494 44.28 126,276 185,624 191924 21991 7004 45.29 155,435 235,868 299147 32327 29096 40.24 179,000 309,000 Apr 1993=100 % change MTOE # bln. kwh 162.69 5.06 230.9 501.2 166.99 2.64 237.9 517.4 176.64 5.78 246.9 532.7 188.97 6.98 259.2 565.1 204.8 8.37 272.0 594.5 221.52 8.16 283.83 617.5 247.05 11.53 298.55 662.5 267.65 8.34 73.45 704.5 mln. tns. 196.8 185.7 85.0 69.7 11.1 18.4 296.0 212.9 199.5 93.3 72.8 13.4 20.7 297.2 174.8 163.7 71.8 65.8 11.1 14.8 287.4 213.2 198.3 88.5 72.2 14.9 25.2 233.9 198.4 185.2 83.1 68.6 13.1 24.4 237.1 208.6 195.2 91.8 69.4 13.4 28.0 281.2 217.3 203.1 93.4 75.8 14.2 24.3 355.5 227.3 212.1 95.7 76.8 15.2 28.2 344.2 230.7 215.6 96.4 78.4 15.1 28.8 340.6 Apr 1993=100 Jul 2001=100 155.7 95.93 161.3 100.07 166.8 104.05 175.9 108.07 187.2 112.2 195.5 117.2 206.1 125.0 215.9 132.75 % of GDPfc 23.4 26.2 50.5 23.2 25.3 51.5 20.9 26.5 52.7 21.0 26.2 52.8 19.2 28.2 52.6 18.8 28.8 52.4 18.3 29.3 52.4 17.8 29.4 52.8 -
Units
in crores Rs.crore Rupees % of GDPmp
2000-01
101.9 2102314 20,631 23.7 24.2 5.7
2001-02
103.8 2278952 21,955 23.5 24.2 6.2
2002-03
105.5 2454561 23,266 26.4 25.2 5.9
2003-04
107.3 2754621 25,696 29.8 26.8 4.5
2004-05
109 3149412 28,920 31.8 31.6 4.0
2005-06
111 3580344 32,372 34.3 34.5 4.1
2006-07
112.2 4145810 36,950 34.8 36.0 3.4
2007-08
113.8 4713148 41416 37.5 3.0
2008-09 (Proj.)
115.2 2.5
Indicators: Monthly
Prices Wholesale price index (All Commodities) Agriculture Actual rainfall (All-India) Dev. from normal rainfall Stock of Rice (Central pool) Stock of Wheat (-do-)
Units
Apr07
May07
Jun07
Jul07
Aug07
Sep07
Oct07
Nov07
Dec07
Jan08
Feb08
Mar08
Apr08
May08
Jun08
Jul-08
1993-94= 100 % change
211.5 6.3
212.3 5.5
212.3 4.5
213.6 4.7
213.8 4.1
215.1 3.5
215.2 3.1
215.9 3.3
216.4 3.8
218.2 4.5
219.9 5.3
225.5 7.5
228.5 8.0
230.8 8.8
236.6 11.5
Millimetres Per cent mln. tns. mln. tns.
27 -20 13.5 11.6
48 -31 12.6 13.3
153 8 10.6 12.8
259 0
299 -2 6.7 10.9
194 14
75 -22 10.7 9.0
14 -49 10.1 8.4 Mar 04 1,503,040 8,835
16 1 11.2 7.4
19 -19
19 -14
32 21 13.5 5.5
37 -15 12.6 17.5
38 -31
159 22
276 -15
Investments (CMIE CapEx database) Project investments outstanding* (as on) Rs.crore project count
Mar 01 1,403,025 4,328
Mar 02 1,486,938 5,805
Mar 03 1,382,122 6,942
Mar 05 1,931,500 9,434
Mar 06 2,761,339 9,688
Mar 07 4,293,108 12,281
Mar 08 6,118,218 14,501
Note: (a) % change is year on year (y-o-y) basis; (b) # MTOE: Million Tonnes of Oil Equivalent; (c) ^ Total value of foreign currencies held by Govt. of India (excl. gold & SDRs); (d) * It is the sum total of the project costs of all the outstanding (Live) capital expenditure projects happening in the country. These projects may be under announced or under-implementation stage. Source: i3 (i-cube) at Planning Commission, New Delhi, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE)
About the Issue
t is felt that from times immemorial, a combination of historical injustice, cultural exclusion and insensitivity has prevented the tribal people from sharing equally in the journey of progress. A central factor for this has been limited access to and control over natural resources, both land and forest. Alongside concerns about survival and livelihood of tribal people, is the concern about Indias declining and degrading forest cover and consequent threat to wild life and environment. For a long time the Forest Acts, inherited from the British Forest Act 1927, have been seen as contributing to this marginalization of the tribals. In this background the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006 has become embroiled in controversy. The Forest Rights Act is a key piece of forest legislation passed by the Parliament on December 18, 2006. The Act was notified into force on December 31, 2007 with Notification of Rules issued on January 1, 2008. While the Act is a major milestone for tribal and forest dwelling communities, it has stirred the emotions of the proponents and opponents alike. Proponents of the Bill argue that the legislation only seeks to recognise and regularise ground reality by granting legal entitlement to those millions of families who are today seen as encroachers and it basically aims to empower and improve livelihood chances of a historically marginalised people. Those in opposition, particularly the environmentalists and wild life conservationists, question both the presuppositions and details of the provisions in the Act. Activists also point out that the Act fails to meet the specific needs of tribal women. This issue of Yojana seeks to examine the issue of Forest Rights in its various dimensions. You would find articles detailing the basics of the 2006 Act as also bring you diverse perspectives on the Act. We have contribution from the Minister for Panchayati Raj specifying the role of Gram Sabha for Effective Implementation of the Forest Rights Act. Also included are articles from wildlife conservationists from Orissa and Karnataka, and field-expert Shankar Gopalakrishnan of Campaign for Survival and Dignity and Sanjay Upadhayay, a Supreme Court Lawyer. The specific experiences of State level activities in this regard are included with respect to Madhya Pradesh along with the regular columns of Best Practices, J&K q Window and In The News. Yojana as always looks forward to contributions from its Readers.
forest rightS
Recognising the Rights of Forest Dependants
view point
Mani Shankar Aiyar
With help and support of the relevant departments combined with the political will, the Gram Sabhas and PRIs will standup to the challenges thrown up by this historic opportunity
fter extensive public debate for more than a year since tabling in the Parliament on 13 December 2005, the Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill, 2005 which was re-named as The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (The Act) was passed by the Parliament on 18 December 2006. The President of India gave his assent to the Bill on 29 December 2006 and the Act came into force. The Act itself is a significant piece of legislation, both in its implications for the future governance of Indian forests, as well as in its restoration of traditional forest rights to Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers. These rights were ignored at the time of reserving the forests, initially by the colonial state and later by the postcolonial regimes. Over a period of time, this had developed as a matter of real discontentment among the forest dwellers. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs responsible for the well-
being of tribal communities resident in / outside forest areas in various parts of the country piloted the Act. Significantly, this Act also provides the Gram Sabhas which form the grassroot democratic institutions under the Panchayati Raj System, a key role in identifying the forest rights as well as in sustainable management of invaluable natural resources providing the means of livelihood to the Forest Dwellers. Gram Sabhas, for the purposes of this Act will consist of all adult members of village (in case of states having no Panchayats, Padas / Tolas and other Traditional Village Institutions and elected village committees) with full and unrestricted participation of women. The Act has a tumultuous history with forest conservationists and tribal rights activists running highpitched campaigns highlighting their points of view and their apprehensions. The Bill had to get nod from a Group of Ministers and later from a Joint Parliamentary Committee before being passed. Rules under the Act were finally
The author is Union Minister for Panchayati Raj. YOJANA September 2008 5
notified on January 1, 2008, putting an end to the prolonged debates, political interventions, bureaucratic twists and hectic lobbying by activists representing tribal and conservation groups and thus setting the stage for operationalising the Act. The tribals have been residing in the forest areas for generations, cultivating land within the forest and collecting non timber forest produces like firewood, honey and other plant parts like bark / leaf / fruit etc. Also, there are other communities living in the forests who are non tribals but at the same time are entirely dependent on the forest areas for their survival. Forest villages which are inside the notified forests and housing the people once taken as laborers by the forest department for forestry works is a typical case in view. These Forest Dwellers however, did not have any legal document showing their rights to dwell within the forest areas. On the contrary, going strictly by the provisions of various Forest Acts, their occupation in the forest land was akin to that of encroachers or illegal occupants at the sufferance of forest department. This legislation aims to rectify the legal dichotomy between the continued exercise of traditional rights of forest dwellers on the one hand and the lack of legal recognition of these rights on the other. For this purpose, the Act treats both the tribals and non tribals alike as long as they are dependent on forest and forest areas. Through this Act, the Central Government has recognised and vested the entire gamut of forest rights on the Forest Dwellers. This includes the Right to hold and live in the forest land (either individually or as a community), habitation and self cultivation, community rights including the right of ownership/ access to collect, use and dispose off non timber forest produces, right
6
for conversion of pattas / leases / grants on forest land into titles, right of settlement and conversion of forest villages into revenue villages and the right for proper rehabilitation if evicted from forest areas. Significantly, the Act also confers the right and responsibilities on the forest dwellers and Gram Sabhas to protect / regenerate / conserve / manage the Community forest resources, the biodiversity and community right to intellectual property and traditional knowledge related to biodiversity / cultural diversity. Gram Sabhas are also empowered for properly regulating access to community forest resources and to stop any activity, which adversely affects the wild animals/ forests / biodiversity. Forest Dwellers who have been illegally evicted or evicted without proper rehabilitation even before the Act came into effect are eligible for proper rehabilitation. The right to rehabilitation will include the right for alternative land. The Act also requires the Central Government to provide for diversion of forest land required for social and developmental purposes like setting up Schools, dispensaries, Anganwadis, fair price shops, electric and telecommunication lines, drinking water pipelines, water harvesting structures, vocational training centers, community centers, roads etc. These diversions will be considered only on the recommendations of the respective Gram Sabhas. Thus, the Act not only confers the forest rights but also provides a framework for meeting the essential individual and community requirements of forest dwellers necessary for a decent existence. The Act provides for a detailed framework for recording the forest rights and the procedure to be followed for recognition and vesting of such rights. Gram Sabhas, including Traditional
Village Institutions, and consisting of all adult members of village with full and unrestricted participation of women will perform the key role in the process of identification of the forest rights. In addition, the State Governments are to constitute committees at the Sub Divisional Level (SDLC), District Level (DLC) and at the State level. The SDLC chaired by the Sub Divisional Officer will include three members of the Block / Tehsil level Panchayat as nominated by District Level Panchayat (atleast two of them from among those fulfilling the criteria of being Forest Dwellers and one of them a woman) and officers from Forest and Tribal Welfare Departments. Similarly, the DLC chaired by the District Collector will have three members of the district Panchayat nominated by the District Panchayat (atleast two of them forest dwellers and one of them a woman) and also Officers from the Forest and Tribal Welfare Departments. Though the DLC approves the final settlement of claims, the process is actually centered around the Gram Sabhas under the Panchayati Raj System. The Act confers on the Gram Sabhas the authority to initiate the process of determining both individual and community forest rights within their area of jurisdiction. For this purpose, the Gram Panchayats are to convene Gram Sabhas and elect from amongst their members 10-15 persons to function as the Forest Rights Committee. The Gram Sabhas will call for claims and authorize the Forest Rights Committee to receive applications in this regard. Such claims are to be preferred within a period of three months from the date of calling for claims and should contain at least two of the evidences listed in the Rules. Evidences which will be
considered as valid for this purpose are listed in Rule 13 and includes public documents, Government records, satellite imagery, working plans and other forest records, voter identity card, ration card, passport, house tax receipts, physical attributes such as houses/ huts/ permanent improvements to land, traditional structures like sacred places/ burial grounds, judicial and quasi judicial documents etc. The Gram Sabhas can extend the time for preferring the claims if need be. They will be preparing a list of claimants of forest rights and maintain a register containing such details of claimants and their claims as stipulated in the Rules. After the Forest Rights Committee has completed its proceedings, the Gram Sabha has to pass a resolution on each of the claims preferred by the claimants, after giving reasonable opportunity to interested persons and authorities concerned to be heard and then forward the resolution to the Sub Divisional Level Committee. Gram Sabha has to fix a date for initiating the process of determination of Community Forest Resources and intimate the same to adjoining Gram Sabhas and Sub Divisional Level Committee, wherever there are substantial overlaps. Wherever claims are conflicting with adjacent Gram Sabhas it will refer the matter to Sub Divisional Level Committee. It will consider resettlement package where resettlement of right holders in National Parks and Sanctuaries is proposed under Section (4) (2) (e) of the Act. In order to carry out the provisions of section 5 of the Act the Gram Sabhas have to constitute, from amongst their members, committees for the protection of wild life, forest and bio-diversity. It will consider the references from the Sub-Divisional Level Committee on the appeals against its resolutions, hear the
petitioners, pass a resolution and forward the same to the SubDivisional Level Committee. Forest Rights Committee constituted by the Gram Sabha will act as the executive arm of the Gram Sabha in carrying out the process of identification and verification of claims on Forest Rights. Key roles and responsibilities to be performed by this Committee include receipt, acknowledgement and retention of claims in the specified form, recording of evidence in support of such claims, preparation of record of claims and evidences including maps and preparation of recommended list of claimants on forest rights. For this purpose, the Committee is to verify claims after due intimation to the claimant and Forest Department, visit the site and physically verify the nature and extent of the claim and evidence at the site and receive any further evidence / record from the claimant and witnesses. They also have to exercise special care to ensure that the claims from pastoralists and nomadic tribes are verified at the proper time in presence of representatives of stakeholders, ensure proper verification of claim from Primitive Tribal Groups or PreAgricultural Community, prepare a map delineating the area of each claim indicating recognizable land marks, record the findings on the claim and present the same to Gram Sabha. They have to prepare the claims on behalf of Gram Sabha for Community forest rights and in cases of conflicting claims with adjacent villages they have to hold joint meetings. Sub-divisional Level Committee will perform the role of assisting the Gram Sabhas in properly discharging their responsibilities under the Act. For this purpose, it will provide forest and revenue maps and electoral roles to the Gram
Sabha / Forest Rights Committee, will raise awareness among forest dwellers about the objectives and procedures laid down under the Act and in the Rules, ensure easy and free availability of proforma of claims to the claimants (individual as well as community), ensure that the Gram Sabha meetings are conducted in free, open and fair manner and with requisite quorum. After completing the verification process, it will collate all the resolutions of the concerned Gram Sabhas, consolidate maps and details provided by Gram Sabhas, examine the resolutions and the maps of the Gram Sabhas to ascertain the veracity of the claims and hear and adjudicate disputes between Gram Sabhas on the nature and extent of any forest rights. This committee will also hear petitions from persons, including State agencies, aggrieved by the resolutions of the Gram Sabhas. Wherever required, it will co-ordinate with other SubDivisional Level Committees for inter Sub Divisional claims. It will prepare block and Tehsilwise draft record of proposed forest rights, after reconciliation of government records, forward the claims with the draft record of proposed forest rights through the Sub-Divisional Officer to the District Level Committee for final decision. It will accept petitions, if any, against the resolutions of Gram Sabha, fix a date for hearing in writing as well as through a notice at a public place. It will consider the resolution of Gram Sabha on its references and pass appropriate orders. This Committee will also educate Gram Sabhas about their duties as well as the duties of holders of forest rights and others towards protection of wild life, forest and bio diversity with particular reference to critical flora and fauna of the area.
7
The District Level committee is to ensure that Forest and Revenue maps and electoral rolls are provided to Gram Sabha / Forest Rights Committee. It will examine whether all claims, especially those of primitive tribal groups, pastoralists and nomadic tribes, have been addressed keeping in mind the objectives of the Act. It will consider and finally approve the claims and record of forest rights prepared by the Sub Divisional Level Committee. It will hear petitions from persons aggrieved by the orders of the Sub Divisional Level Committee, co-ordinate with other districts regarding interdistrict claims and issue directions for incorporation of the forest rights in the relevant government records including record of rights. It will ensure publication of the record of forest rights as may be finalized and complete the process by ensuring that a certified copy of the record of forest rights and title under the Act, as specified in the Rules, is provided to the concerned claimant and the Gram Sabha respectively. The State level Committee chaired by the Chief Secretary will closely monitor the process of recognition, verification and vesting of forest rights as well as monitor future resettlements in cases compelled by requirements of Wild life Conservation. The responsibility for implementing the provisions of the Act lies with the State Governments. However, in view of the importance and urgency of the matter and its impact on the lives of millions of Forest Dwellers across the country, the Prime Minister addressed the Chief Ministers of all the States in January 2008 itself requesting for expeditious implementation of the provisions of the Act and Rules. The Prime Minister also emphasized that there should be effective communication
8
to ensure that the provisions of this Act and Rules are well known and such public information contributes to transparency and accountability in its implementation. On the advice of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj requested the State Governments to organize Gram Sabhas across the country on an appointed day to ensure that the provisions of this act are made widely known to members of the Gram Sabha and Panchayats who will play a critical role in its implementation. All States, barring those which were going to the polls, have launched the process by completing the preparatory actions. This Act has provided a historic opportunity to recognize the entire range of rights of forest dependent communities, both tribal and non tribal. These rights are conferred in forests of all descriptions. The Act also provides for the diversion of forest land essential for meeting the community requirements. The Act has defined a very stringent process for modifying any of the forest rights once conferred. Such modifications can be considered only for setting up inviolate areas for wildlife conservation through an open process of consultation and only after satisfying stipulated conditions like; the impact of the presence of right holders on the wild animals is sufficient to cause irreversible damage, the State Government is convinced that there are no options of co-existence, the resettlement package is reasonable and has the free and informed consent of the Gram Sabhas. Even in such cases, the resettlement can take place only after allocation of land and setting up of facilities as per the promised package is completed. Government has to ensure that such lands are not further diverted for any other purposes. These provisions are applicable to forest dwellers who have been evicted even prior to the Act but
without alternative land and without receiving all their legal entitlements to rehabilitation. This Act has also cast the responsibility on the Forest Dwellers and Gram Sabhas to protect wildlife / forests /bio-diversity, ensure proper management of adjoining catchment/ water sources and other ecologically sensitive areas, ensure that the habitat of Forest Dwellers are protected from any form of destructive practices and that the Gram Sabhas take decisions on regulating access to community forest resources and stop any activity which adversely affect their well being. These are the sine qua non for sustainable management of the very forest resources on which the lives of Forest Dwellers are inextricably interrelated. Future of Forest Dwellers and a significant portion of our Forest Resources are dependent on how successfully the Gram Sabhas and right holders avoid the temptations of unsustainable use of resources, resist the factors contributing to the depletion of community resources and successfully restore the traditional symbiotic relation between forests and forest dwellers. The process of Recognition of Forest Rights has to strike a delicate balance between the Constitutional mandate of the Gram Sabhas and Panchayats on the one hand and the need for the help and assistance of the executive machinery of the State Government on the other. There is tremendous pressure on land especially where land is scarce. We also have State Legislations requiring restoration of Tribal Rights / Lands to tribals which are not operational due to conflict of interest with members of other communities. Gram Sabhas require extensive capacity building and close hand holding in performing their critical role in recognizing the forest rights. Even more such assistance will be required to ensure that the Gram
Sabhas are able to exercise sufficient checks and balances to ensure that rights once recognised are not exposed to another cycle of alienation leaving the plight of forest dwellers back of square one. For over a century, the State has been shouldering the responsibility of protection and conservation of forest areas with emphasis on enacting and enforcing legal provisions. The Act confers the right and also the responsibility on the right holders and Gram Sabhas to protect and conserve the wild life, forests and bio-diversity. These provisions simultaneously offer a hitherto untapped resource of local and vested interest of right holders to protect the forest areas but also exposes them to the temptations of easy money by succumbing to the illegal interests of other forest users. Storehouses of rich biodiversity and an invaluable source of environmental services, our natural forest are important not only to our country but also for the
entire mankind. While identifying forest rights, the Gram Sabhas and various Committees under the Act have to also balance between the genuine need of forest dwellers and imperatives of our conservation agenda. While assigning the rights to individuals, Gram Sabhas have to ensure that they exercise effective checks on further alienation of these rights so that the story of alieniation already experienced in several states do not repeat. Rapid denudation of common lands, tragedy of the commons, is a known phenomenon. While assigning rights to Communities, Gram Sabhas have to ensure that the tragedy of the commons is effectively checked. Sustainable management of forests call for a symbiotic relation between forests and forest dwellers, the two vulnerable elements of our forest ecosystem. This Act aims and caters towards this. By providing Gram Sabhas a Central Role in
identifying forest rights in ensuring sustainable management of the community resources and assigning to it a key role in identifying the minimum diversion of forest land for essential community requirements, this landmark legislation recognizes the value and potential of the Gram Sabhas and Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), which constitute the grassroot democratic institutions. Gram Sabhas are probably the only institutions, which can standup to this stupendous task. With help and support of the State Governments, District Administration and the relevant departments combined with the political will to respect the Constitutional Mandate, I am confident that the Gram Sabhas and PRIs will standup to the challenges thrown up by this historic opportunity. q
(The article is based on inputs provided by Dr. Nupur Tiwari, Senior Consultant, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, GOI)
Rights of forest dwellers have finally been recognised. Here is a look at various legal provisions covering forests and tribals
Indian Forest Act, 1927: To tap Indias vast forest wealth, the British government enacted the Indian Forest Act giving tribals the right to exploit forest resources. After Independence, the rights enshrined in the 1927 Act were never granted. Forest Conservation Act, 1980: The rights of tribals were taken away in the Forest Conservation Act. Tribals were termed encroachers on the land they had been living for generations. MID-1980s: In 1986, the commissioner of scheduled tribes and scheduled castes in his report to the Parliament dealt extensively with disturbances in tribal areas because of de-legitimisation of tribal rights.
The Act through the Years

National Environment Policy, 1988: For the first time recognised the relationship between forestdwellers and conservation. 1996: Panchayats were extended to scheduled tribe areas, the first step in the direction of identifying the rights of tribals. 2000: The Inspector General of Forests in the ministry passed an order stating that people encroaching upon forest land can be evicted. This was implemented in 2002. 2003: Following resistance from tribals, the Centre formed a committee to examine the issue of tribals rights. Based on the committees recommendations,
the process to draft the Tribal Bill started. Joint Parliamentary Committee in May 2006 submitted the report expanding the scope of the bill to include all forest dwellers, resulting in strong opposition to the recommendations by the government. Tribals identified as Scheduled Tribe in the Fifth Scheduled of the Constitution are eight per cent of the countrys population. 20.64 per cent of Indias geographical area is under forest cover. Tribals live in 70 per cent of these forests. The Status of Forest Report 2003 had said that forests where the tribals lives are the best in the country. q
9
forest rights
Democratic Control over Natural Resources
Overview
Shankar Gopalakrishnan
For the first time, it opens the possibility of a future of truly democratic forest management
n December 18, 2006, Parliament unanimously passed the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. This is not just another law. In the years that preceded its passage, and in the year since, this law has been attacked as a move to privatise forests, to destroy the countrys remaining tigers and as a welfare measure by politicians seeking vote banks. One author even described it as the most dangerous law passed since 1947. After it was notified into force on December 31, 2007 a full year after it was passed newspapers called it the most controversial law in Indias recent history. But in reality this law does not distribute land or land rights to anyone; it will not privatise the forests, and it certainly will not result in the extinction of Indias tigers. Rather, encapsulated in this legislation, and in the fight
that was fought over its every word and every clause, is the story of the struggle over the livelihoods of Indias poorest people and the fight to establish democratic control, to whatever small extent, over the resources and the forests of this nation. To understand how this occurred, and how and why conservation has become a term behind which a large number of vested interests have come to hide, we need to first understand the history of Indias forest laws. Indias Forest Laws For more than a century now, the forests of India have been governed under the provisions of the Indian Forest Acts, a series of which were passed from 1876 to 1927. The 1927 Act remains Indias central forest legislation. The purpose of these Acts had nothing to do with environmental conservation. Rather, the British wanted to undertake use and management of timber, which required that the
The author is Convenor, Campaign for Survival and Dignity 10 YOJANA September 2008
government assert its ownership over forests and suppress the traditional systems of community forest management that existed in most of the country. The Forest Acts empowered the government to declare its intention to notify any area as a reserved or protected forest, following which a Forest Settlement Officer would enquire into claims of rights (to land, forest produce, pasture, etc.). Since the primary intention of these laws was precisely to take over lands and deny the rights of communities, this settlement process was in a sense destined to fail which is exactly what happened. Surveys were often incomplete or not done (82.9% of Madhya Pradeshs forest blocks have not been surveyed till date , while in Orissa more than 40% of state forests are deemed reserved forests where no settlement of rights took place). Where the claims process did occur, the rights of socially weaker communities particularly tribals were rarely recorded. These communities simply were unable to access the settlement process. The problem became worse after Independence, when the lands declared forests by the Princely States, zamindars and private owners were transferred to the Forest Department through blanket notifications. Most such transfers occurred with no settlement process at all. Where the previous regime had recognised some rights on these lands or to use these forests, these rights were often simply ignored and thereby annulled when the transfer took place (as in the Nistari jungles of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh). In short, what government records call forests often
include large areas of land that are not and never were forest at all. Moreover, those areas that are in fact forest include the traditional homelands of communities. All those who live in these lands, whether they are forest or not, overnight became encroachers in their own homes. It was against this background that, for more than a century, Indias tribals and forest dwellers have fought. Their fundamental demand was for their rights to be recognised and their forests to be protected. Development of the Forest Rights Act This law came out of this history. In particular, on May 3rd, 2002 the Ministry of Environment and Forests issued an order directing eviction of all encroachers from forests by September 30th, 2002, on the basis of ostensible Supreme Court orders (in fact the Supreme Court had never ordered eviction, only barred regularisation of encroachments). The result was a tidal wave of evictions across India over the next two years, resulting in an estimated 3,00,000 families being brutally thrown off their lands and homes across all of India. In several areas elephants were used to demolish villages; in Assam alone an estimated 40,000 families lost their homes and lands in May of 2003. In Madhya Pradesh an estimated 125 villages were fully or partially burned. In Andhra Pradesh, an unknown number of settlements of Chenchus and other hunter gatherer communities were also burned, with reports that people came out on to the roads and died of starvation.
In response to these evictions a political uproar ensued, and the movement for forest rights gained national prominence and coordination. The rapid growth in the struggle, reflected in a series of mass mobilisations over the following five years, forced the government to respond. The UPA committed in the Common Minimum Programme to halt evictions of tribals and forest dwellers. Subsequently, after a meeting between the Prime Minister and the Campaign for Survival and Dignity (a national platform of tribal and forest dweller organisations) in November 2004, the National Advisory Council in January 2005 recommended that a law be framed for forest rights. On January 19th, 2005, the decision to draft a law was taken, and by March 2005 the drafting through a group of experts including environmentalists, forest rights activists and government officers was complete. The subsequent attacks on the Bill became a reason for delay in tabling of the Bill in Parliament until December 2005, when it was referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee. The JPC extensively overhauled the legislation, rewriting parts of it to make them more democratic and including nonST forest dwellers as an eligible category (reflecting the significant non-ST forest dwelling population in large parts of the country, many of whom are as vulnerable as STs). It also altered the cutoff date to make it more reasonable, rather than requiring 27 years of occupation on land, and made a large number of other changes. Following the submission of its report on May 23, 2006, an
11
extensive period of negotiations took place between the government and JPC members. At the end the government accepted several major JPC recommendations, but at the last minute made several changes. The law was passed with these changes, but only after the Minister for Tribal Affairs gave several assurances in the Rajya Sabha about addressing its flaws through the Rules and amendments. At every stage, the attempts to sabotage or defeat the law were met with concerted pressure by political parties and by a series of nationwide demonstrations that involved lakhs of people (organised by various non-party organisations working among forest communities). It was only as a result of this pressure and the mass movements behind it that the law was passed at all. The Contents of the Law The law provides a basic framework for three matters, as follows: Eligibility There are two stages to be eligible under this Act. First, any claimant has to show that they primarily reside in forests and that they depend on forests and forest land for a livelihood (namely for bona fide livelihood needs). The latter term is defined in the Rules to include sale for sustenance needs of self and family. Second, the claimant has to prove either that the above conditions have been true for 75 years, in which case they are an Other Traditional Forest Dweller (section 2(o)); or that they are a member of a Scheduled Tribe living in the area where they are scheduled (sections 2(c) and 4(1)), in which
12
case they are a Forest Dwelling Scheduled Tribe. Rights Three basic types of rights are recognised:
l
to land of various types, with a cutoff date of December 13, 2005 (i.e the land should have been occupied and cultivated prior to that date), and if no other documents are present, a ceiling of 4 hectares per family; to minor forest produce, water bodies, grazing grounds, etc as traditionally used; and finally, to protect and conserve forests and wildlife.
at the taluka and district levels. The district level committee makes the final decision (section 6(6)). The Committees have six members - three government officers and three elected persons. At both the taluka and the district levels, any person who believes a claim is false can appeal to the Committees, and if they prove their case the right is denied (sections 6(2) and 6(4)). Finally, land recognised under this Act cannot be sold or transferred. The Flaws, the Implementation and the Future Even at the time of its passage, the movements that fought for the Act had pointed out several flaws in the law. Among these was the phrase primarily residing in forests, which might be taken to mean that only those who have houses on forest land are eligible. This is a rarity even among forest dwellers, most of whom have their permanent residences on revenue land; those who in fact lived on forest land have mostly been driven out before, or the Forest Department has drawn its boundaries to exclude their houses (to prevent the most direct clashes). Further, some highly vulnerable groups of nonSTs will be excluded by the 75 years requirement, such as those in forest villages. On the rights recognition process, the sweeping powers of the higher committees makes corruption more likely, while there is a failure to clearly specify that the gram sabhas for the purpose of the Act should be those of hamlets or actual settlements (not of the gram panchayat or revenue village, which are much larger entities often including many actual settlements). Finally, the law was left with some legal uncertainty
It is the last right that is in some senses the most revolutionary aspect of this law. It is vital for the thousands of village communities who are protecting their forests and wildlife against threats from forest mafias, industries and land grabbers. For the first time, it opens the possibility though it is no doubt for now only a possibility of a future of truly democratic forest management. The Process Section 6 of the Act provides a three step procedure for deciding on who gets rights. First, the gram sabha (full village assembly, not the gram panchayat) makes a recommendation - i.e who has been cultivating land for how long, which minor forest produce is collected, etc. This is done through an inquiry by a Forest Rights Committee of the gram sabha, whose findings are approved by the gram sabha as a whole. The gram sabhas recommendation goes through two stages of screening committees
by a section stating that it should be read in addition to and not in derogation of any other law in force (section 13). On all of these points the JPC had made strong and clear recommendations, but these were rejected by the government. These flaws are now becoming apparent during the implementation process, which at the time of writing has very recently begun in many of the major States across central India. The vagueness is allowing for excluding many persons and in some areas has made it easier to manipulate the constitution of Forest Rights Committees. Yet, the Acts impact is visible across the length and breadth of Indias forest areas, even as implementation has just been initiated. There is a sea change in
forest areas, with forest officers withdrawing (indeed, in Gujarat, they have been instructed to stay out of the rights recognition process, while in Goa they are reportedly themselves being retrained in the Acts provisions). Efforts to manipulate Forest Rights Committees are being met with resistance at the village level. Rights are being claimed, evictions fought off and community forest resources demarcated. It will take many years before the true import of these developments becomes apparent, but the fundamental transformation is simple: for the first time in a hundred and fifty years, the hegemony of the outsiders over the lives, livelihoods and homelands of forest communities is broken. There may and already are efforts
to stop this change, to reverse it, to restore the dominance of what has been called Indias largest zamindar. Among these are a wave of coordinated court petitions challenging the constitutionality of the Act, with four petitions in three High Courts and two in the Supreme Court. Among these are the ongoing media campaign against the Act, the desperate efforts to equate wildlife conservation with the forest bureaucracy. But all such attempts are doomed at some level to fail. For the struggle of people has won this much as a victory: never again can they be described as criminals, thieves, and encroachers for living in their own homes. They have taken the first steps towards democracy in the forests, and no amount of elite backlash can now q push them back.
Yojana
Next Issue on Womens Empowerment
October 08
omens Education and Empowerment play an important role in the development of a nation. Our full potential as a Nation will only be realized when women, who constitute about half of our population, can fully realize their potential.
Throwing light on the topic are eminent personalities: - Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, H.E. President of India; - Interview with Smt. Renuka Chowdhury, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Women and Child Development; - Smt. Kiran Bedi, Retired IPS officer; and others.
13
forest rights
Co-existence: Myths and Realities
counter view
Sanjay Upadhyay
Its time to resolve petty differences and to act now before we loose both the tiger and the tribal - our national heritage and pride
he New Year dawned with the notification of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (Forest Rights Act) as well as the Rules. Many learned people are either for or against it. There are those who believe that historical injustice has been done to forest dwelling tribals and other communities especially during the reservation process and advocates of tigers are under the impression that the last portions of forest lands will be handed over to these communities who cannot coexist with wildlife and especially tigers. The truth probably lies in between and it is the sincerity and preparedness of the Government as well as the communities which will determine whether a historic injustice has been removed or we have inched towards another historic blunder.
It is important to take a stock of how this law had unraveled. It has taken almost two years for the Government of India to formulate the Act and the Rules. Although, the Technical Support Groups which were constituted for both the Act and the Rules had given their draft well before their stipulated time. The wait is finally over and the dilatory tactics applied shows a plain lack of understanding of the intent and purpose of the Act. Clearly, the two most vulnerable categories, the tiger and tribal have suffered. The tigers have been killed and the tribals have been evicted. So what does this Act say? It assumes that the reservation process in this country creating reserve forests as well as protected areas have been faulty both in the colonial and post colonial period. The recording of rights of the vulnerable forest dwelling
The author is a Supreme Court Lawyer and Member of Technical Support Group for framing the Forest Rights Act. 14 YOJANA September 2008
communities especially the tribal communities have been denied their rightful claims under an erroneous process and its time that such unrecorded rights must be recorded now provided they adduce evidence and prove their historical claim to such lands. A framework of recording rights with a three level authority structure has been envisaged where a time bound process is to be carried out to recognize the unrecorded forest rights and thus undo the historic injustice done to such vulnerable communities. Several forest rights including, individual and family occupation on forest land, community entitlements including pasture and nomadic rights have been recognized including ownership of minor forest produce. Further, the Act also confers right to protect , manage and regenerate community forest resource. The community for the first time has not only responsibility to protect but also has been empowered as an authority to perform such duties. The legislation clearly states that it is in addition to and not in derogation of other legislation. It simply means that if there are specific legislations on similar areas the forest rights Act covers then both such Acts may be used and not one against the other. The Act also has some controversial provisions on the amount of land that can be occupied ( upto a maximum of four hectares); cut off date of December 13, 2005 for forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes ( which
itself is not very clear) and defined other forest dwelling communities where they have to prove a seventy five years of existence through records and evidence as prescribed under the Rules. This has given rise to several myths for and against this Act. It is thus important to assess whether we have lost the real debate amidst the tiger wallahs and the tribal wallahs and sacrificed both the tiger and the tribal? The silent majority will say an emphatic yes. The present impasse on the Forest Rights Act which will have a tremendous bearing on its implementation hinges around misinformation, exaggerations and lack of understanding on amount of land to be transferred, ownership, process of recognition, cut off date, duties and scope of the Act. The preamble which is the basis of any legislation, is categorical in its intent- to recognize and vest forest rights for those who have been residing in forests for generations but whose rights could not be recorded and such recognized rights include the responsibility and authority for sustainable use, conservation of biodiversity and maintenance of ecological balance and thereby strengthening the conservation regime. These are well established p r i n c i p l e s g l o b a l l y, w h e r e security of tenure is the cardinal principle to ensure effective c o n s e r v a t i o n s t r a t e g y. T h e indigenous peoples rights law in Philippines, aboriginal titles of native Australians, participatory
forest management since the mid seventies including the Forest Policy clearly recognizes the central role of communities in forest management. The Environment Ministry recognizes the insecurity of tenure, disputes in land titles and forest lands and has even issued directions to correct these anomalies in the past. So what are these well known perceptions and exaggerations? Does the Act hand over four hectares of forest land to every tribal family? No, the recognition is about existing occupation up to a maximum of four hectares, to be validated at a three level scrutiny process where every concerned department including forest, tribal, revenue and panchayat would be involved in verifying the veracity of the claims based on sound evidence. It is another matter that the recently notified Rules hands over the initiation process to the Gram Panchayats Gram Sabha under the Panchayat laws which clearly contradicts a part of the mandate of the law itself. The rationale of four hectares can certainly be questioned. This magical figure is a bargain between 2.5 hectares as envisaged earlier on the basis of existing Forest Village Rules to as is where basis is advocated by the Joint Parliamentary Committee. Clearly, there is no scientific or legal basis of four hectares. Another contentious issue is the cut off date. In my view, this Act has no relevance to a cut off
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date. Historical injustice has to be proved by historical records. Clearly, December 13, 2005 is not a historical date. Also a cut off date hints at regularization of encroachment and is certainly a reason for acrimony from the tiger lobby. But this Act is not about regularization of encroachment; it is about recording unrecorded rights and following a due process. Every wildlife protection and forest Act in the country lays down a due process, for bonafide claimants which is well known to be faulty and contested in the Supreme Court. The Forest Rights Act only attempts to better the existing process. The advocates of tigers claim that several thousand hectares will be transferred to tribals and ownership will be granted by the Forest Rights Act. The Act no where mentions either ownership (except for minor forest produce) or forest land transfer. It only secures tenure and usufructs on forest land to those who have been residing since generations. Some also argue that the Gram Sabha, the lowest unit of governance, cannot be given the important task of initiating the recognition process for they lack capacity. So what are the other institutional models available at the village level? Why are we so reluctant to rely on the wisdom of the ordinary Gram or Gaon ? A man called Gandhi did believe in them. And who really conserves forests? Arent the daily wagers involved in forestry, watchers, guides,
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informers, knowledge holders on forest, the village boy who shows the tigers to the urban tiger enthusiasts, members of the same forest dwelling communities? This Act is about their security on the land they live on. So who is the real threat to Indias wildlife and tigers? We have not yet been able to crack the wildlife crime syndicate, a crime claimed as only next to narcotics even after thirty five years of the Wildlife Protection Act. Why do we only get interested in the Salman Khans and the Pataudis - are they the only culprits or is it a good way of misleading the people while we have failed to device effective strategies to tackle wildlife crimesthe biggest reason for wildlife depletion in our country. Another contentious in the Forests Rights Act which has been completely missed in the rules is the critical wildlife habitat. This has also been pitted against the Critical Tiger Habitat under the amendments to the Wildlife Protection Act in 2006. A close look would make it clear that there are only minor differences regarding jurisdiction and nothing else. The process of declaring both these habitats is same and making them inviolate follows a similar due process. Further, the on-going discourse about the forest rights seems to suggest that these rights are absolute and override all existing provisions of conservation oriented laws. This is a classic case of missing not only
the letter and spirit but also between the lines of the Act. The Act does not bar the operation of other laws and it gains supremacy only to the extent of the process of recognition of forest rights. It is the Rules which fall short of expectations. It has certainly not made things easier in respect of implementation. The reliance on Gram Sabha of the conventional Gram Panchayat, the introduction of the Panchayat Secretary in the initiation of recognition process, lack of clarity on methods and strategies for protection and regeneration of forest resources, lack of linkage with existing participatory forest management strategies initiated by the government as well as by communities themselves., inadequate process of defining community forest resource, the silence on critical wildlife habitat, lack of representation of civil society in the recognition process are to name a few which makes things difficult and complex. The most dangerous trend that is emerging is that this divide between urban conservationist and the tribal advocates has reached the court rooms. At least six similarly worded petitions have been filed by retired foresters, bureaucrats, erstwhile hunters turned conservationists across the country in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra as well as in Delhi in the apex court. Surprisingly, the amicus curiae in the forest case (a person who
assists the court at its behest) has publicly opposed the legislation and infact had moved an application even before the Parliament had enacted the legislation. It is little wonder that it took a few seconds for the Supreme Court to issue notice at his behest on the constitutional validity of the Act. The original petitioner or their Advocates did not even argue for the notice. Its time that the legal armonry of the Central Government make adequate preparation for putting up a sound legal fight. Else there is a strong possibility that a few handful but vocal opposition may sabotage a historic legislation. What is ironic is that wildlife enthusiasts are moving petitions against the forest rights Act on the grounds of failure of restoration of tribal land alienation, clearly arguing a different cause under a different statute. Perhaps what is more challenging is to improve the current mechanism that is being put in place to implement a very difficult legislation where the entire energy of the state and non government organisations must be garnered for ironing the creases of the new legislation and not get diverted in that singular effort. There is a clear need to strengthen the Gram Sabha specially convened for the purpose of this Act. Correct legal information in simple language is the requirement. The Sub-division Level Committees as well as the Division Level Communities need to be strengthened with adequate knowledge about the legislation as well as capacity to deal with a huge process. A sound preparation will be key to ensuring success in demonstrating a real reversing of a historically wrong process. Instead the current imbroglio tends to take away the focus of the real issue of giving a strong stake to those communities who have always been at the forefront of conserving our natural resources. My one last question - Do conservationists hate tribals or do tribal activists have no concern for our environment? Either is not true. Clearly, its time to resolve petty differences and to act now before we loose both the tiger and the tribalsour national heritage and pride. q
YOJANA September 2008 17
forest rightS
Tiger vs Tribals
opinion
P K Sen
t is over three years now since the Schedule Tribes and other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Rights) Bill came into public domain. Just before that Prime Minister stated in a book release function In our Country both Tribal and Tiger will survive happily. No one knew the agenda behind these utterances. The Prime Minister expressed his intentions by creating Tiger Task Force, but that only brought shock among tiger conservationists. The report which suggested coexistence of Tribal and Tiger did not consider that tigers needed exclusive area for breeding and survival. The report also suggested that where co-existence was not possible, the villagers would be relocated in a time bound manner which meant putting the cart before the bullock. However one member of the committee vehemently opposed the theory of co-existence.
The question is why a tribal should protect forests or wildlife and manage it sustainably when there is so much of pressure on the forests from every side
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Finally the Schedule Tribe and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006 came into existence after the rules were notified on 1st January 2008 for implementation. These three years have seen a turmoil and friends became foes. The conservation community called it controversial as the Act failed to recognize the existing National Parks or Sanctuaries or biodiversity rich areas. Whatever has been said in our Constitution was being ignored by activists, backed by land mafia and the politicians. The concept of conservation was tilted to such an extent that the theory of co-existence was pushed forward. Many of the human right activists called it a battle between those supporting the Bill and these conservationists who opposed it in the name of Tiger Crisis. Both sides attacked and counter attacked but one can imagine the political back up the human activists received.
The author is former Director, Project Tiger. YOJANA September 2008
All efforts were made to make this act more stringent which one could see in the final draft put up by the Ministry of Tribal Development after the Committee of Parliamentarians cleared it. All the deliberations made in the Prime Ministers Office and subsequent commitments by Ministry of Tribal Development to keep National Parks and Sanctuaries away from the perview of the act were not adhered to. I know for good that no conservationist has ever opposed to grant ownership of land to Tribals or Forest Dwellers but they always wanted to do it gradually and not at one go. After all it was an experiment and the countrys entire natural resources could not be allowed to be squandered away by a handful of politicians and so called activists. Conservation community always supported right to forest dwellers as has been recorded in register of rights in many states and the Forest Rights Act also emphasizes and recognizes the same. We know critical wildlife habitats have been identified after lot of efforts in last over 35 years, thus came the Sanctuaries, National Parks and other Protected Areas. Suddenly a new group of people with new ideas were listed by the Ministry of Environment and Forests under the provision of this Act. To identify critical wildlife habitats, the expert committee is represented by people saving cats and dogs in cities and not wildlife in the forests. F o r tu n a te ly b ef o r e 1 s t o f January 2008, the date fixed for
notifying rules of Forest Rights Act, the critical Tiger habitats were notified. No political party could raise much hue and cry as National Tiger Conservation Authority was created by an amendment of Wildlife Protection Act passed by both the houses of Parliament. (It is learnt that some activist groups are contemplating legal action against the notification of critical Tiger Habitats.) I must bring Sariska debacle here, without that the theory of co-existence will not be clear. Between 1997 and 2004 Sariska Tiger Reserve was considered to be a model of peoples participation in Tiger conservation. So much so that concrete dams were constructed inside the core area to benefit villages in 1999-2000. Villagers participated in work-shops organised by Non Government Organisations where Government of India and State Government Officials also participated. Initially it looked like dream come true and hundreds of articles were written and volumes of books were published, showcasing Sariska as a model. First shock came when the same villagers lopped all the trees inside core area to feed their cattle. The concrete dam failed to deliver any water after one year, as the catchments were not treated. This culminated in the disappearance of Tiger from the reserve in mid 2004. The intelligence and investigating agencies confirmed that the villagers who had vowed to save forests and Tigers were hand in gloves with the poachers. There are many such instances in the country where the
poachers are thriving only with the help of village community. The villagers cannot be blamed as poverty looms large and a pittance can change the mindset of Forest Dwellers. In spite of all these, there should not be any objection to giving ownership of land to Tribals or Forests Dwellers, but it will be essential that genuine people get land and there living condition improves. The Present Act The procedure of submission of application is very complicated. No one has given a thought that the Gram Sabha in India are highly cast ridden, political units where the poorer section will only run from pillar to post and never get justice. It creates a doubt whether bonafide persons will get benefit of this Act. It is also doubtful whether the beneficiary will be able to protect his allotted land from the greedy eyes of land mafia nor there is any provision to keep such land away from the perview of land Acquisition Act for development work. Since independence, this country has spent millions of rupees for tribal development. According to one estimate the money spent by Chhotanagpur Santhal Parganas Tribal Development Agency, each tribal family could have a bank balance of two million rupees. Unfortunately entire money has gone down the drain and the forest dwellers are selling firewood from door to door for subsistence. During summer they are surviving on roots, fruits and leaves collected from the
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forests. The land owners cultivate their land but the production level has not gone up in last five decades. 90% of such villages have no drinking water. Even Rajiv Gandhi drinking water mission has not been able to reach roadside villages. Now by passing the Act we have shown them the carrot and hope that the ownership will act as a magic wand to give them dignity without food, water, education, hospital, power or roads. Whatever happens to the Tiger and their habitat, it does not require any discussion further but it is certain that the forest Right Act has been promulgated in such haste and
under such political pressure that this is likely to be the most common Election Manifesto for all Parties. It is over 60 years since Indias independence, we are still promoting a jargon of Tribal Forest Symbiosis where tribals are forced to live like wild animals within forests and depend on forests for basic subsistence. The question is why a tribal should protect forests or wildlife and manage it sustainably when there is so much of pressure on the forests from every side. India a developing Nation, need land for every activity be it industrial
establishment, hydroelectric power, mining, roads, railways and so on and so forth. In spite of the strongest legislation of Forest Conservation Act, people have found means to enter into Forest Land and even Supreme Court of India through its empowered committee could not control it. It is reliably learnt that most of the records of land transfer between 2003 and 2007 are missing from Ministry of Environment and Forests. At the conclusion I only pray that the Tribals and Forest Dwellers are genuinely benefited by this Act and lead a dignified life. q
(Email: 1941sen@gmail.com)
The theme is Unethical Food Marketing to Children. The prizes are sponsored by Department of Consumer Affairs. (i) First Prize (ii) Second Prize (iii) Third Prize (iv) 10 Consolation prizes Rs.5,000/Rs.3,000/Rs.2,000/Rs.l,000/-
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ojana in collaboration with Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India is organizing an essay competition on consumer awareness in Hindi and English.
ate D st ed La tend Ex
(v) Annual subscription of Yojana to 50 contestants including the above prize winners The competition is open to all except officers/staff members and relatives of Yojana, Publications Division, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and Department of Consumer Affairs. Students and civil service aspirants, especially women, are encouraged to participate. Entries can be sent through e-mail, ordinary post/ regd. post/speed post/courier. There is no age bar and the word limit should be between 1500 to 2000 words. The words Essay Contest should be superscribed on the envelope carrying the essay. The last date for receipt of entries in Yojana Office has been extended to 15th September 08. The entries should be sent to: By Post: Editorial Office, Yojana, Room No.538, Yojana Bhavan, Parliament Street, New Delhi-110001 Through Email: e-mail address: yojanaessay@live.com
20 YOJANA September 2008
forest rightS
Salient features of the Act
he Parliament has passed the Scheduled Tribes and Other Tr a d i t i o n a l F o r e s t Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill, 2006 in the Winter Session 2006 of the Parliament. The assent of the President has been received on 29.12.2006. The Ministry of Law & Justice (Legislative Department) has published the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part-II. Section-I on 2.1.2007 [No.2 of 1007].
fact file
l T h e
Act provides for recognition of forest rights of other traditional forest dwellers provided they have for at least three generations prior to 13.12.2005 primarily resided in and have depended on the forest or forest land for bonafide livelihood needs. A generation for this purpose would mean a period comprising of 25 years. and vesting of forest rights under the Act will be 13.12.2005.
l The cut off date for recognition
l The Act provides for the ceiling
A law intended to correct the historical injustice done to forest dwellers by the failure to recognise their rights
Salient features of the Act

l
The Act recognises and vests the forest rights and occupation in forest land in forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers who have been residing in such forests for generations but whose rights could not be recorded. This would undo the historical injustice done to the forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes.
of occupation of forest land for purposes of recognition of forest rights to the area under actual, occupation and in no case exceeding an area of four hectares.
l The Act provides for conferring
rights in the National Parks and Sanctuaries also, renamed as critical wildlife habitat on regular basis.
l The Act provides for the right to
hold and live in the forest land
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under the individual or common occupation for habitation or for self cultivation for livelihood by a member or members of a forest dwelling Scheduled Tribe or other traditional forest dwellers.
l The
l The
Act recognises the right of ownership access to collect, use, and dispose of minor forest produce which has been traditionally collected within or outside village boundaries. The Act has defined the term minor forest produce to include all non-timber forest produce of plant origin, including bamboo, brush wood, stumps, cane, tussar, cocoons, honey, wax, lac, tendu or kendu leaves, medicinal plants and herbs, roots, tubers and the like. recognises the right to in situ rehabilitation including alternative land in cases where the Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers have been illegally evicted or displaced from forest land of any description without receiving their legal entitlement to rehabilitation prior to 13.12.2005. provides for the forest right relating to Government providing for diversion of forest land for the purpose of schools, hospitals, anganwadis, drinking water supply and water pipelines, roads, electric and telecommunication lines, etc.
rights conferred under the Act shall be heritable but not alienable or transferable and shall be registered jointly in the name of both the spouses in the case of married persons and in the name of the single head, in the case of a household headed by a single person and in the absence of a direct heir, the heritable right shall pass on to the next of kin. Act provides that no member of a forest dwelling Scheduled Tribe or other traditional forest dwellers shall be evicted or remove from forest land under his occupation till the recognition and verification procedure is completed. per the Act, the Gram Sabha has been designated as the competent authority for initiating the process of determining the nature and extent of individual or community forest rights or both that may be given to the forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers.
l They
will have access to, use or dispose of, minor forest produce They will not face the threat of eviction or removal from forest land under their occupation. will be entitled to the benefits of various schemes of the Government after vesting of the clear cut title of land in their favour. the Gram Sabhas have been designated as the competent authority for initiating the process of determining the nature and extent of individual or community forest rights that may be given to the scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers, this would empower the local communities in management of their natural resources in tune with the provisions of the PESA Act, 1996. recognition and vesting of forest rights in the forest dwelling scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers also includes the responsibility of protection, conservation and regeneration of wild life, forests and biodiversity. Act envisages registration of the title of the forest land jointly in the name of both the spouses, where married, and in the case of single person headed households, in the name of the single head. This would also benefit the women dwelling in q the forests.
l They
l The
l Since
l As
l The Act
l The
l The Act
The benefits that will accrue from the Act

l The Act results in recognition of
l The
forest rights of forest dwelling scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers over the forest land under their occupation and their habitat for self-cultivation of the land for their livelihood.
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forest rights
Too Much of a Burden!
state-specific
Biswajit Mohanty
Managing a forest requires training, education and knowledge about the intricate ecosystems. How can tribals protect the forest when hunger gnaws at their stomach and life is a daily struggle
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RISSA is a state with a large number of tribes as many as 62 major and minor ones. Some like the Khadias, Dongria Kondhs, Lanjia Sauras, Mankadias and Bondas are very primitive and continue to live their traditional lifestyles. Many are hunter-gatherers and roam the forests in search of food, their worldly possessions limited to some baskets, cooking utensils and hunting weapons. Almost all districts of the state have tribal people though they are in a clear majority only in the western and central hill districts of Malkangiri, Koraput, Nowrangpur, Rayagada, Kalahandi, Sundargarh, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Deogarh, Kondhmal, Boudh, Sonepur, Bolangir and Nuapara. As much as 23% of the states population comprises of tribals with their total population exceeding seven million as per the 1991 census.
Orissa ranks fourth amongst states and union territories in terms of area under forest cover. The state has a total area of 1,55,707. Out of this 26,329 sq kms is reserved forests, 15,524 sq kms is protected forests and 16,282 sq kms is unclassed forests. The total recorded forest area (all of which may not have forest cover) is 58,135 sq kms which is 37.34% of the total geographical area of the state. However, only 31.36% of the area of the state actually has forests on the ground. Ideally, 33.33% of the geographical area should be covered with dense forests. Dense forests form 27,972 sq kms and 20,866 sq kms is open forest. According to forest department officials a proposal to declare nearly 12,000 sq kms of forests out of the 31,785 sq km under the revenue department as reserved forests has been pending for the last 30 years. This includes the sensitive Bhittarkanika mangrove forest
The Author is Member, National Board of Wildlife; and Secretary, Wildlife Society of Orissa. YOJANA September 2008
and 14 forest blocks of 15,339.46 acres in the Mahanadi delta. The proposals were submitted in 196870. Encroachments are encouraged in these areas under revenue control which the tribals are led to believe would be regularized later on. It is a huge scam which no one wants unearthed. Orissa is still home to nearly 50 tigers and 1861 elephants according to the latest census figures. Unless drastic steps are taken the remaining forest area will vanish, leading to the disappearance of wild animals. Tribals inhabit a widespread area of Orissa including erstwhile forest areas which are now reduced to scrub forests due to massive deforestation. Mining and industrialization has destroyed large tracts of forests, forcing tribes to live a life of penury. The Orissa government also runs an Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) with many subschemes aimed at specific tribes like the Dongria Kondhs, Bondas, Bhuyans and Juangs. The state government has filed an application before the MoEF for diversion of around 4,500 hectares of forest land which was encroached before 25 October 1980 as per the results of a survey carried out by the forest and revenue departments. During the survey itself, many tribals attempted to occupy fresh forest areas and urged the verification teams to enlist them within the pre-1980 list. If only the diversion were limited to this minuscule proposed forest area out of the total of 58,000
odd sq kms of forest area in the state, the heavens would not fall. Sadly, the situation is different. There are thousands of hectares of forest land which are encroached according to forest department reports. Though officials claim that these lands were encroached post-1980, the encroachers dispute this and claim age-old ancestral possession from pre-independence times. Whose version will be finally accepted? It is a fact that large tracts of forest lands have been used for human settlements and agriculture during the last 50 years. Some of it was officially done to settle the oustees of the Hirkaud and Rengali dam projects with due permission taken from the Centre. The average tribal in Orissa is poor and uneducated. He is quite different from the tribal of Rajasthan or Andhra Pradesh or the North East states. His immediate thought is from where the next meal will come. I seriously doubt his ability to protect the forests if he is given the proposed land rights. How can he protect the forest when hunger gnaws at his stomach and life is a daily struggle for existence? A proper meal of rice is a luxury for the average tribal living in the impoverished districts of Kalahandi, Kandhmal, Rayagada and Malkangiri. In Orissa, large scale felling of patta land timber lead to rapid deforestation of tribal lands after there was a ban on working of timber from government forests. While the ban was lifted since two years, it is pertinent to assess what happened in the past.
The timber mafia can easily swindle the tribals by obtaining the felling rights of valuable timber species like sal, bija and teak by paying a paltry sum for trees worth lakhs of rupees. Due to abject poverty, they are unable to resist the temptation of selling these trees for a song. Obviously, we cannot ignore the critical role of poverty. The timber mafia would find it ridiculously easy to loot the trees standing on forests over which rights have been granted to the new tribal owners. I will cite a specific case where 60,500 acres of forest land was used for settling villages by the revenue authorities in the Dharamgarh forest block of Boipariguda range of Jeypore forest division in 1983. This was done to settle the land rights of 79 villages which had come up there without obtaining the required permission under section two of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. Though the illegality was promptly detected by forest officers, no action resulted. Their reports to the higher authorities were ignored. Even the MoEF did nothing to direct the state government to cancel the pattas. In the late nineties, when the demand for prime timber jumped, the proud owners of these forest lands went on a tree felling spree. The situation was aggravated by an official ban on the working of forests. Timber merchants became the owners of land through a power of attorney and a full-scale tree felling racket was entrenched. We challenged this illegal diversion of forest land after 1980 without concurrence of the Centre and the High Court of Orissa stayed the
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issue of permits by the local forest division for three years. This is exactly what I anticipate will happen. Thousands of acres of forests which would be settled would become legal properties of the local tribals. Due to their abject ignorance and illiteracy, the timber merchants will have a field day. They would acquire a power of attorney for the sale of these trees and immediately start a felling binge. I have little confidence in the ability of the gram sabhas who have been empowered to administer a substantial portion of the proposed bill. Without adequate levels of literacy, it would be next to impossible to expect a vibrant and active gram sabha which would understand the rules/provisions and, at the same time, feel bold enough to take action. In Orissa, large destructive projects with a great potential to destroy the livelihoods of the local tribals have been passed by compliant gram sabhas which were quickly subverted by rich corporate interests. Ultimately, the gram sabhas become pliant platforms for local toughs and petty contractors who easily manage to gain control over their working. Given the mixed forests of Orissa, various forest produce other than timber, known as nontimber forest produce (NTFP), are now collected. However, in the past, such items were collected for meeting the particular food or personal needs of housing, shelter or medicine of the local tribals. Now NTFP has come under the
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grip of the market economy and has become a lucrative business worth thousands of crores of rupees. The NTFP trade in Orissa was deregulated in 2000 by the BJD government when it came to power. The state government wanted to demonstrate its tremendous commitment to tribal welfare and genuinely believed that permits and restrictions on trade should be removed to improve the lot of tribals who were the primary collectors of NTFP. Accordingly, 67 items were deregulated and all powers were conferred on the gram panchayats to issue collection and trade permits for NTFP products. No permit from the forest department is now required for trading in these specified items. Only a few items like sal seeds, tendu leaves and bamboo were reserved by the state as a trade monopoly. Everybody had high expectations and thought it would lead to a jump in price realizations for NTFP and that the tribals would benefit. Nothing of the kind happened; prices stagnated and those of certain commodities even fell. A survey conducted by us in 2002 in the district of Mayurbhanj revealed some disturbing facts. Valuable NTFP products like wood resin (jhuna), sal leaf, lac, honey, medicinal plants like chain climber (pippali), harida, amla, bahada and so on were being collected daily and procured through a chain of small traders located in key tribal villages. The trade also enabled the survival of thousands of tribal families who have marginal land holdings. The procurement prices
being paid to the primary collectors were miserably low, indicating a well-entrenched trader cartel. It was sheer and ruthless exploitation of the poor tribal population of Orissa to encourage them to collect more and more NTFP which raises a serious question regarding forest and wildlife habitat conservation in the future. There are many items which are now collected in extremely large quantities that were not collected earlier. The Act grants rights over forest produce which are not historical as these items were not collected until a few decades ago. Let me cite the example of the sal leaf trade. The sal leaf plate trade in Orissa is worth Rs 1,000 crore annually. It may be relevant to note that sal leaf plates came into vogue only during the early eighties when an enterprising trader noticed their use for feasts by the local Kolha and Santhal tribals of Mayurbhanj. Sal leaf plate making has now become a giant revenue earner. The bright side is that no tribal family in Mayurbhanj district ever goes hungry to bed. It has increased peoples incomes and removed the abysmally low levels of poverty prevalent earlier in this district. The sal leaf plate trade has boomed in recent years and exports have jumped. Foreign buyers prefer them for their hygienic bio-degradable and single use quality. However, though there is an official restriction on the quantum of collection, it could not be practically enforced in the field. Similarly, I remember that leaf collection in the nineties was done only in the non-regeneration period of winter and spring, soon
after the paddy season was over. Now it is done year around. As per the official policy, sal leaf can only be collected from non-reserve and non-protected areas. But in practice it is collected everywhere, including the core area of the Simlipal Tiger Reserve. This over-exploitation of sal forests throughout the year will surely lead to the collapse of the sal forests of Mayurbhanj, unless the trade is controlled to ensure sustainability. In 2002, we had estimated the collection levels of sal leaves in the district and found that exploitation was seven times greater than the permissible limits. I am sure this must have now become ten times. The state government wanted to realize some royalty and sales tax on the sal leaf plates. They imposed a free permit system. The traders opposed this measure as it would have led to determining their real income and they would have to file income tax returns. We supported these measures because we thought that this could be an easy way to ascertain the quantum of collection. There was stiff resistance by the traders who organized the tribals to stage rasta rokos on the plea of affecting tribal livelihoods. Major political parties also jumped into the fray opposing the levy. It puzzled everyone as to how the measures were affecting the income of the tribals since the royalty was to be paid by the traders and the free permit was for movement of sal leaf plates, not for collection from the forests. This is yet another example of how traders and commercial lobbies easily
subvert the interests of innocent tribals and use them as convenient pawns to safeguard their own monetary considerations. The government was ultimately forced to withdraw the royalty provision. Thankfully the permit system stood up to judicial scrutiny by the Orissa High Court after the state government and we jointly contested the plea of traders to withdraw the provision. Now the permit system has been upheld by the Supreme Court too. Sal leaf collection and leaf plate making constitutes more than 80% of the income of tribals of Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Nayagarh districts. It is pertinent to note that the export prices quoted in Calcutta for pressed sal leaf plates is a mind-boggling $0.40 per piece or Rs 932 for 50 pieces (procured locally at Rs 12 for 50 pieces) signifying a profit margin of nearly 7700%. Similarly, in the district of Koraput, it was found that amla was being procured at the rate of Re 1 per kg by local traders. A leading medicine company from outside the state was ready to lift unlimited stocks of amla at Rs 8 per kg. It is clear that the traders were making a profit of 800%. The 2002 study revealed that the average income of an individual tribal from each such activity ranged between a measly Rs 4 to 6 per day. Employment was also limited to less than six months in a year. It is clear that the best intentions of the government in freeing the controls over NTFP products had backfired on tribal interests in the absence of a regulatory body to ensure remunerative prices for the collectors. Clearly, a laissez faire market economy can only function
when there is complete information and literacy amongst the sellers. If the tribal collectors obtain good prices from forest produce, it would ensure a sustainable income level and result in lower exploitation of forests. The forest department went into a sulk, unhappy about having to give up control over the trade. Now it looks the other way as NTFP items are rampantly collected from the reserve forests and sanctuaries, though the collection has been officially banned in these rich bio diverse areas. Without permits by the forest department, nobody really knows the extent of collection. Some tree species are now highly endangered and on the path to extinction. Amla and bel fruits are being collected by hacking down mature trees. Similarly, liptia trees have become extremely rare since they are cut down to strip them off the bark that is used for making agarbattis. Wildlife species are now deprived of their rightful food needs due to sheer over exploitation of NTFP items. It is illuminating to see how the altruistic efforts of the state government to free the NTFP trade from the shackles of government control ended up proving to be disastrous for the incomes of tribals as well as the ecological health of Orissas forests. Though total power was given to the local tribals and panchayats for collection and trade, it is clear that they could not use it to their benefit and continue to be exploited . Grazing rights shall also be recognized under the new Act
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for all forest dwellers. In recent years, goat rearing has become an important occupation for many tribals living in and around forest areas since they get free grazing areas for their goats. This plays havoc with forest regeneration. Our study found that each goat on an average nibbled at least 250 seedlings. The goat population in 60 villages bordering the Simlipal Tiger Reserve on the Thakurmunda and Kendumundi ranges was in excess of 14,000. I may point out that goat rearing was not common in Orissa before the 1960s. This is a new practice which is now being sought to be recognized as a historical forest grazing right of the tribals. Armies of goats enter the dense forests even in monsoon months to graze and destroy the regenerating plants. The Act grants right to collect forest produce even in sanctuaries and reserve forests which would be disastrous for the future biodiversity of Indias rich forests. Collection of NTFP in a commercial manner in Indias wildlife sanctuaries is spelling disaster for the resident wildlife population. We have to protect our surviving species of flora and fauna which have now become islanded in the patches of protected areas of the country for the sheer sake of the biodiversity security of the country. What alarms me most about the Act are the powers entrusted to the gram sabhas to manage these forests. For all its faults, the forest department is still one of the few agencies, at least in Orissa, which works well in the field.
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Though corruption is prevalent, the forest administration has not yet totally broken down. Checks and balances remain and there are many conscientious officers who are dedicated and genuinely work for forest protection. Managing a forest requires training, education and knowledge about the intricate ecosystems and the numerous linkages and interdependency prevalent among the organisms. It requires rigorous scientific training and knowledge which no gram sabha possesses. Though a local community is the ideal forum for managing natural resources, this can only be done after there is a level of education and training and instituting sufficient safeguards to prevent forest degradation and exploitation. The Act fails to provide such safeguards. With approval of the Supreme Court, the area which has already been encroached before 1980 could have been regularized and pattas issued. What then is the necessity of a special Act? I foresee tremendous conflict since peoples expectations have been enhanced. They would start encroaching upon the forests expecting that the government would subsequently regularize the encroachment. Can you dole out largesse to one section of the population and expect the others, who are also poor and landless, to watch silently? There exist sound legislations like the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 and the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 which may be overridden by the rights bill. Though the enforcement track record of the
government in enforcing these two acts is mixed, it is widely agreed that had they not existed, most of our remaining forest tracts may have been lost forever. The courts have gone into the provisions of these acts a number of times and passed many judicial pronouncements as a result of which the law is well settled. Though the bill casts a responsibility on the tribal settlers to protect the forests, in the event of failure, nothing can be done about it . What action can any elected government or gram sabha take against an impoverished tribal who will simply say that he was forced to cut and sell the tree for buying rice? As per the Act, forest land means land of any description falling within any forest area and includes unclassified forests, existing or deemed forests, protected forests, reserved forests, sanctuaries and national parks. Thus, forest rights would also accrue in the reserve forests and national parks. Such rules contravene the provisions of the Orissa Forest Act, 1972 as well as the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. The Act is in direct conflict with the forest and wildlife laws. I wonder how these conflicts will be resolved? I am sure there will be a long period of judicial deliberation before we can sort out these apparent contradictions and conflicts. Indias biodiversity is priceless and we should not hastily sacrifice it at the altar of political expediency to pander to protected vote q banks.
(Email: kachhapa@gmail.com) YOJANA September 2008
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best practices
Revolution in Vegetable Cultivation
Late M R Madhusudana Verma
Women at work in the vegetable farm
A vast change in the production and sale of agricultural products was visible after the implementation of peoples planning programme
his is the story of success of people who united for a cause, development of their own panchyat resources. The beginning was ten years ago in the tiny panchayatKanjikuzhi in Alleppey District of Kerala. The people united under the leadership of the panchayat and started vegetable cultivation in every home and in vacant lands available in the panchayat area. Another noteworthy feature was that the cultivation of vegetables are being done with bio fertilizers and not by chemical fertilizers. This aspect has created more enthusiasm among the people and they purchased the agricultural products with full satisfaction. There were a lot of problems in the initial stages for the procurement and sale of products. There was a time when the products became abundant, there was nobody to
purchase the products even for one rupee per kilogram. Then the panchayat decided to form a panchyat Development Society (PDS) for procurement and sale of vegetables. Along with the vegetable cultivation the panchayat has encouraged the people to take up the cultivation of pepper and jasmine in small scale in the available land of each household. A society was formed for pepper cultivation in the name of pepper protection society. More than three hundred people joined in the society and stared the pepper cultivation. There were only three or four farmers in the panchayat engaged in the jasmine cultivation. The panchyat formulated plans to enhance the scope of jasmine cultivation in the panchyat and under a special scheme of Agriculture Department, the Govt. gave jasmine seedlings absolutely
The Author was Editor Yojana, Malayalam till recently. 30 YOJANA September 2008
encouraging. The revenue from the sale of vegetable began to increase year by year. During the current year, the revenue out of the sale of vegetables reached 6.5 lakh rupees. The farmer will get a good price and the customer will have to pay only reasonable price. The elimination of middlemen in the procurement and sale process helped the farmer and customer to a great extent. This agricultural revolution eliminating the middle men has invited wide enthusiasm in all panchayats in the State. Kanjikuzhi panchyat is now planning to procure all agricultural products like coconut, arecnut etc. for marketing. The panchayat has also plan to export the vegetables and to establish food processing centres with the help of Kudumbashree-a womens movement set up for their welfare, which has a remarkable reputation among the womens community. q
A Plantain Farm in the Panchayat free of cost to the SC&ST families. The other communities also started the cultivation by purchasing the seedlings. After that three jasmine flower societies were formed and the Kanjikuzhi village came to be known as jasmine village. The efforts of the people have fulfilled and started receiving good revenue out of the cultivation. The panchyat Development society consisted of 101 members gave overall supervision for the entire cultivation. Moreover, 51 member ward level committees were also set up. These committees helped in distributing the vegetable seed kits and bio-fertilizer obtained from Agricultural University. A vast change in the production and sale of agricultural products was visible after the implementation of peoples planning programme (Janakeeya Asoothranam) in the entire local bodies. Under this programme, the panchayat is
empowered to plan, formulate and implement the projects considering the local needs. The result was the formation of ten green societies. The societies under the panchayat Development Society are doing the procurement and sale of vegetables easily. The outlets for the sale of vegetables were established along the National Highway and the response was
A vegetable sale counter in Alleppey

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J&K Window
Kashmiri Handicrafts
two years, before the turmoil started in 1989, had respectively recorded an overwhelming number of 7,21,650 and 7,22,30 tourists. This number came down to 5,57,980 in 1989 and in year 1990, it came down to a dismal figure of 10,720 and later continued to remain below 10,000 till the year 1996. By far the most popular and costly embroidered shawls are made from Pashmina, spun from the bearded Ibex goat, which lives at 4,300 metres (14,000 feet) above sea-level in the Ladakh region of Kashmir. Pashmina is sold world over as Kashmir or Cashmere Pashmina. The quality of a handicrafted Pashmina shawl produced in Kashmir is far superior to any machinemade or partially handicrafted product made anywhere else in the world, strangely enough sold as Kashmir Pashmina. Kashmiri shawl business has suffered a serious setback due to duplicate machine-made shawls prepared in Amritsar. Some low-scale Pashmina manufacturers complain that for the past few years, the sales of these shawls have slashed down miserably. They attribute the dipping sales partly to duplicate machine-made Amritsar shawls flooding the market and partly to the monopoly of big entrepreneurs dealing with Pashmina shawls. q
(Courtesy - The Kashmir Times)
he handicrafts sector contributes hugely to the foreign exchange earnings and has sustained thousands of families during the turmoil. According to official figures more than half a million people in Kashmir valley are directly employed in making and selling handicrafts such as carpets, shawls, carved furniture and colourfully varnished Paper-Mache. After the outbreak of turmoil in 1989, this artisan-driven multi-crore business started witnessing a downward trend with the number of potential buyers trickled down to abysmal numbers. According to the statistics available in the tourism department, the previous
decision to constitute a separate directorate for Jammu and Kashmir tribals has been hailed as a step in the right direction which will go a long way in addressing social and economic problems of the marginalised communities. Tribal people including Gujjars form over 11 per cent of the States population as per the 2001 census. This is more than the national average of 8.08 per cent. Gujjars were already accorded ST status in 1991. The directorate will be headed by a Director, who will
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Directorate for J&K tribals

held durbar every six months. He will have two deputies, one each for the Kashmir and Jammu provinces. Right now, tribal affairs were being handled by an overburdened Social Welfare Department.
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Article 332 of the Indian Constitution, which provides for reservation of seats for the STs in Legislative Assemblies as per their population, is not aplicable in Jammu and Kashmir, which enjoys a special status under Article 370. The separate Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir gives the Assembly exclusive powers to make a law in this regard. If political reservation as it exists in the rest of the country is applied to the State, a minimum of 11 seats will have to be reserved for STs in the 87-member q House.
(Courtesy : The Hindu)
Tribals form over 11 per cent of State population Reservation in legislature not applicable to J&K
There was an urgent need for an interface between experts on tribal affairs and the bureaucracy for a better understanding of the problems of the community.
do you know ?
What is credit rating ? A credit rating assesses the credit worthiness of an individual, corporation, or even a country. Credit ratings are calculated from financial history and current assets and liabilities. Typically, a credit rating tells a investor the probability of the subject being able to pay back a loan. However, in recent years, credit ratings have also been used to adjust insurance premiums, determine employment eligibility, and establish the amount of a utility or leasing deposit. A rating is an opinion of the credit rating agency (CRA), on the future ability and legal obligation of the company whose instrument is being rated, to make timely payments of principal and interest on the obligation. The rating measures the probability that the issuer will default on the security over the life of the instrument being rated, this is expressed by means of a symbol. What are the different kinds of ratings in India ? Different kinds of credit ratings are Personal, Corporate and Sovereign
l
What is credit rating ?

or her credit report, affects his or her ability to borrow money through financial institutions such as banks.
l
Corporate credit ratings The credit rating of a corporation is a financial indicator to potential investors of debt securities such as bonds. Sovereign credit ratings A sovereign credit ratings is the credit of a sovereign entity, i.e. a country. The sovereign credit rating indicates the risk level of the investing environment of a country and is used by investors looking to invest abroad. It takes political risk into account.
service the obligations due on the instrument as per the terms of the contract. Industry risk often determine the cap for most ratings. What does the suffix + or - with the rating mean ? The financial flexibility of the company (i.e. its ability to raise funds from alternative sources) determines the relative strength of the instrument within a rating category indicated by the suffixes + and -. T h e + s u ff i x d e n o t e s a relatively higher standing within the category while the - rating indicates a relatively lower standing within the category. Thus any instrument from the highest to the lowest grade can have a+ or a - suffix. What is short term rating ? A short term rating is a probability factor of an individual going into default within a year. This is in contrast to long-term rating which is evaluated over a long time frame. Which are the common credit rating agencies ? In India, the main credit bureaus are CRISIL, ICRA and Credit Registration Office (CRO). The largest credit rating agencies (which tend to operate worldwide) are Moodys, Standard and Poors q and Fitch Ratings.
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What are the factors that influences a persons credit rating.

l l l l l l
Ability to pay a loan Interest Amount of credit used Saving patterns Spending patterns Debt
What are the ratings based on? A rating is based on a quantitative study of the financiers of the company and qualitative factors such as management quality and integrity, the strength of its brands, parent support etc. The CRA attempts to measure the relative ability and willingness of the issuer of the instrument to
Personal credit ratings - An individuals credit history is compiled and maintained by companies called credit bureaus. An individuals credit score, along with his
forest rightS
The Madhya Pradesh Initiative
state-specific
Akhilesh Argal
A provision for cash incentive has been made for people extending help in putting up claims, so that illiterate forest dwellers do not face any procedural problem in tabling their claims
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cheduled Tribes and other Taditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition to Forest Rights) Act 2006, is the second most significant Act, adopted after Right to Information Act, 2005. Even before the operationalisation of the Act in 2007, preparations began in Madhya Pradesh for its implemention in phases. This is the reason, the state is among the leading states as far as the implementation of this Act is concerned. The State government has initiated several innovative measures for effective implementation of the Act. Government prepared a comprehensive plan for publicity of the Act, under which electronic, print and folk media (traditional media) have been extensively used. Under print media, apart from Hindi and English versions of the Act, its translated versions in the tribal dialects of Gond, Bhil and Korkn communities were freely distributed in the tribal areas. Advertisements
in the newspapers have been given to publicise it all over the state. As regards to electronic media, radio spots (advertisements) were broadcast on 13 primary channels and three Vividh Bharati (Commercial) channels of All India Radio. Similarly, a specially prepared programme titled Naye Dwar, was telecast every Monday on Doordarshans local channel. Besides, media workshops were organized at divisional level to disseminate information among various media about the provisions of the Act. The media was urged to play the role of a vigilant watchdog of the rights of forest dwellers. This resulted in the transparency in the implementation of the Act. Whatever errors occured willingly or unwillingly, come to light soon, and they were corrected accordingly well in time. Under folk media, 13 dance drama troupes were constituted to publicise the provisions of the Act and its advantages to the tribal communities, through folk songs,
The Author is Additional Secretary in the SC and ST Welfare Deptt., Govt. of Madhya Pradesh. YOJANA September 2008
folk dances and street corner acts (drama). More than one thousand programmes were arranged in 89 tribal blocks of the state to publicise the Acts plus points. For effective implementation of the Act, the state government had organized a number of workshops for non-governmental organizations in different areas. The purpose was to make these organizations play a crucial role in the implementation of the Act. The state government has made an extensive use of information technology for implementation and monitoring of the Act. Special softwares have been prepared for monitoring of progress in
the formation of forest rights committees, proposals of members of block level and state level committees and number of claims. Moreover, the state government has initiated to make use of GPS linked PDA to verify the claims of land by the forest-rights committees, so that the verification of claims may be done expeditiously. To use PDA, a software has been specifically designed so that entire information regarding claims can be preserved district, block and village-wise. All the concerned departments have been directed to search all old forest-right records and keep them in ready possession for making them available for settlement of claims without delay. The copies
of these records are to be provided free of cost to the claimants. Besides, a special campaign had been launched during May-June 2008 to issue caste certificates on permanent basis. The purpose was to avoid any delay and problem in obtaining caste certificates by the people of scheduled tribes. The State Government has made a provision of Rs 23.00 crore in its budget for implementation of the Act. A provision for cash incentive has been made for people extending help in putting up claims, so that illiterate forest-dwellers do not face any procedural problem in tabling their claims.
(E-mail : akhilesh-argal@yahoo.com)
Readers Editor
Freedom of the press is important. So is its social responsibility, which must begin with interaction with and accountability to readers. Yojana announces the appointment of Readers Editor in its 51 years of glorious past. The key objectives are to institutionalize the practice of accountability and transparency~ to create a new visible framework to improve accuracy, verification, and standards to strengthen bonds between the Yojana and its readers. We intend to create new channels of communication with and greater responsiveness to readers and to look for ways of improving the Yojana s work and performance through readers concerns, ideas, and suggestions and ways to develop Yojana for the benefit of its readers and for itself. It will also be our endeavour to correct significant errors pointed out by readers. We wish to acknowledge that Yojana has been inspired by The Hindu which in 2006 followed the exemplary practice and experience of The Guardian, U.K. The office of Readers Editor can be contacted by Telephone: e-mail : Postal Address English: 011-23042511, Hindi: 011-23042508 (office working hours from Monday to Friday) readerseditor@yahoo.com Readers Editor, Room No.542, Yojana Bhavan, New Delhi-ll000l
Our esteemed readers are requested to use this facility and give suggestions to enrich Yojana. All communications shall carry the full postal address, telephone no. and e-mail address.
YOJANA September 2008 35
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forest rights
The Increasing Tree Cover
view point
Kalpana Palkhiwala
ndia is endowed with a rich and diverse forest vegetation. The forests of the country vary. India is the second most populous and seventh largest country in the world having a population of over one billion with 1.8% of worlds forest cover. It is, however, important to differentiate between the forest cover and the tree cover, i.e., Trees Outside Forests (TOF). There exists a significant tree cover wealth outside the conventional forest area, most of which is less than one hectare in extent. They include small patches of trees in plantations, and woodlands, or scattered trees on farms, homestead and urban areas or trees along linear features such as roads, canals, bunds etc. They constitute significant areas. Trees Outside Forests (TOF) are considered an alternative but significant source of fuel, fodder and timber. They give economic stability, support development and also provide environmental relief to the local people.
With the improvement in satellite data resolution and with adoption of digital image processing, it is possible to assess forest cover patches as small as one hectare that are termed as tree cover. The tree cover estimate comprises tree patches outside the recorded forest area which are not captured by remote sensing satellites during forest cover assessment. This area is less than the minimum mappable area (1 ha) and comprises blocks and linear patches having areas up to 0.1 ha and scattered trees. All areas more than 1 ha in extent and having a tree canopy density of 10% and above are included under forest cover. However, there are many small patches of trees less than 1.0 ha in extent, such as trees in small scale plantations, woodlots, or scattered trees on farms, homesteads and urban areas, or trees along linear features, such as roads, canals, bunds, etc. not being captured by satellite sensors under forest cover due to technological limitations.
A significant source of fuel, fodder and timber, trees give economic stability, support development and also provide environmental relief
The author is Assistant Director (M&C), PIB, New Delhi. 37
The Forest Survey of India (FSI) started estimating the tree cover in the country in the year 2001 to have a complete picture of the forest and tree cover to compare, it with the national goal of 33% forest and tree cover. Methodology of Tree Cover Assessment Trees outside forest areas are fragmented, scattered and there is no accurate knowledge of their geo-locations. They have a low density and their assessment by conventional methods becomes costly and time-consuming. In 2001, the FSI developed a methodology using high resolution satellite imageries (5.8m) for identification and classification of TOF resources. Appropriate sampling is then done and field inventory conducted for assessment of TOF which is used for estimation of tree cover. Based on this method, the first estimate of TOF and tree cover was published in SFR 2003, which was based on the inventory of 60 districts. There has been improvement in the present estimate because against the inventory data of 60 districts, the data of additional 60 districts inventory during 2003-2005, i.e. data of a total of 120 districts comprising 10,145 sample plots has been used to estimate the tree cover of the country. The assessment of tree cover of a district has two components. One component consists of areas
identified from satellite data under block and linear forms. The high resolution satellite imageries map tree blocks (patches between 1 and 0.1 ha) and linear plantations in the rural areas. The actual area covered by such patches is computed from the classified digital map using GIS methods. The second component is the computed area from scattered trees growing in rural and urban strata, which are not mapped/ identified even with high-resolution satellite data (5.8m) currently used. For computing area of tree cover from scattered trees, an exercise was conducted in 2001 to establish relationship between diameter (DBH) and tree crown of different species growing in different physiographic zones. This relation was used to derive the number of trees of a species in making 1 ha area with 70% density. To estimate the area of tree cover under scattered trees in rural and urban strata, adequate numbers of sample plots are laid and numbers of trees occurring in the sample plots are enumerated by diameter, class and species. This helps in estimating the number of trees per ha in scattered and urban strata. Using the number of trees by diameter and species constituting 1 ha area as published, the tree cover under scattered stratum is estimated. The 11 entire Culturable Non-Forest (CNF) area of the district excluding block and
linear patches already assessed is taken for estimating the tree cover under scattered stratum. The area under urban stratum is taken from Census data. The total tree cover for the selected district is obtained by aggregating the area of tree cover under block and linear strata, and computed area from scattered trees in rural and urban strata. On the basis of the tree cover of sampled districts, the tree cover the physiographic zone is estimated Adding tree cover estimate for all the physiographic zones provides the estimated tree cover of the country. Tree Cover in the Country The total tree cover of the country has been estimated to be 91,663 km2, which constitutes 2.79 per cent of the countrys geographic area. The tree cover constitutes the largest area in Maharashtra (8.978 km2) followed by Rajasthan (8,379 km2), Uttar Pradesh (8,203 km2) and Andhra Pradesh (7,640 km2). Considering the percentage of geographic area under tree cover, the highest rank goes to Lakshadweep (13.33%) followed by Pondicherry (8.66%), Daman & Diu (7.76%) , Goa (7.24%), Delhi (7.20%), Kerala (6.77%) and Dadra & Nagar Haveli (5.66%). q (PIB Feature)
est Bengal has registered maximum increase in forest cover (1650 sq.km) followed by Meghalaya (1255 sq.km) and Tamil Nadu (116.1 sq.km) whereas maximum loss has been observed
38
west bengal tops in increasing forest cover

in Punjab (852 sq.km) followed by Madhya Pradesh (836 sq.km) and Maharashtra (617 sq.km). As far as increases in forest cover in view of Statess geographical area is concerned, Tripura registered 9.8% increase followed by Meghalaya (5.6%) and Chandigarh (5.26%) whereas Lakshdweep has shown decrease of 12.5% followed by Punjab (1.70%) and Haryana 0.54% q
39
forest rightS
A Milestone for Ensuring the Adivasi Rights
view point
George Mathew
It is incumbent on the state governments to implement the Act expeditiously, save the livelihood and ensure development of millions of deprived Adivasis
40
romulgation of the Forest Rights Act 2006, is a major step towards protecting the rights of the Adivasis, who form 8.2 per cent of our population in 17 States. When the UPA Government came to power in May 2004, its Common Minimum Programme (CMP) had made a commitment that ownership rights will be conferred on all those people from the weaker sections who work in the forests, in respect of minor forest produce including tendu patta and will take all measures to reconcile the objectives of economic growth and environmental conservation, particularly as far as tribal communities dependent on forest are concerned. Moreover, the CMP stated that the effective systems of relief and rehabilitation would be put in place for tribal and other groups displaced by development projects; the tribal people alienated from land would be rehabilitated and the
rights of tribal communities over mineral resources, water sources, etc as laid down by law would be safeguarded. In a sense the Forest Rights Act 2006 fulfills the UPA commitment. After the Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill, 2005 was tabled in Parliament on 13 December 2005, there was for more than a year public debate on its merits. Following the recommendations of the Joint Parliamentary Committee and a Group of Ministers, the bill was titled : The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 and it was passed by the Lok Sabha on 13 December 2006. The President of India gave his assent on 29 December 2006 and it came into force on 2 January 2007. The Forest Rights Act 2006 has several positive features. However a major concern of this Act is that other traditional forest dwellers, as
The Author is Director, Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi. YOJANA September 2008
a category in the absence of a clear definition of other traditional forest dwellers could lead to serious encroachments of forests by powerful sections or their proxies. Moreover this could create a clash between the tribals and non tribals. Take the case of forest rich district of Kandhamal in Orissa which has 17 per cent Scheduled Caste population and 51.96 per cent tribals. According to social activists Sudarshan Kanhar, Not all tribals are averse to sharing forest resources with their neighbouring pana community but 10 per cent of the population are wicked. If a feeling of hatred was spread among the communities over right to livelihood, then things might turn worse. This is true of many districts which come under this Act. On the other hand, Ranjit Sau points out that the group of nonScheduled Tribes is as large as that of the Scheduled Tribes. Because they are not recognized by the government, the facilities offered by tribal development measures are not applicable to them leading to tensions among the tribal groups and between the tribes and the government. This Act takes care of this unjust discrimination of the non- Scheduled Tribes. Gram Sabhas to the fore It is significant that the Act has brought to the centerstage the Gram Sabha. The Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 was the first step giving primacy to Gram Sabha and Village Panchayats. It had the provision that every village shall have a Gram Sabha consisting of persons whose names are included in the electoral
rolls for the Panchayats at the village level. Every Gram Sabha shall be competent to safeguard and preserve the traditions and customs of the people, their cultural identity, community resources and the customary mode of dispute resolution. Its powers and responsibilities included: approving plans, programmes and projects for social and economic development before they are taken up for implementation by the Panchayat at the village level; identification or selection of persons as beneficiaries under the poverty alleviation and other programmes. Every village panchayat should obtain from the Gram Sabha a certification of utilization of funds by Panchayat for the plans, programmes and projects. Not only that, Gram Sabha or the Panchayats should be consulted before making the acquisition of land in the Scheduled Areas for development projects and before resettling or rehabilitating the persons affected by such projects. Moreover, planning and management of minor water bodies in the Scheduled Areas is the responsibility of the Gram Sabha or the Panchayat. It is mandatory for Gram Sabhas and Panchayats to recommend lease or auction exploitation for minor minerals in Scheduled Areas. The main thrust of PESA Act was to enable the panchayats to function as institutions of self governments and the powers given to them under section 4 (m) (i to vii) are extraordinarily comprehensive. But the sad story is that in the last twelve years since PESA came into force, no State had implemented it
because of the Indian Forest Act 1927, The Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 and the Forest Conservation Act 1980. The Forest Rights Act of 2006 has now prepared the ground and a favorable climate has been created for the implementation of PESA, as it now recognises gram sabha as the basic unit of local government in the tribal areas. In this context it is significant that the Forest Rights Act 2006 has given equally important powers to gram sabha. But the most important pre-requisite to implement the provisions of the Act under review is to see that panchayats are not only created through legislations but they are also strengthened and made functional to become institutions of self government. It needs political will at the concerned state levels. A promise fulfilled It may be recalled here that the CMP of UPA Government had talked eloquently about restoring the rights of the tribals along with the Panchayati raj. Therefore, Panchayati raj and its effective functioning are germane to the implementation of the Forest Rights Act 2006. It is evident from the two letters written by the Prime Minister, one on 8 January 2008 and second on 29 July 2008 that the Government is serious about implementing the provisions of this Act as also about critical role of the Panchayats. In the first letter Prime Minister had stated: the state governments must organize Gram Sabhas across the country on an appointed day to ensure that the provisions of this Act are made widely known to Members of the Gram Sabha and Panchayats which will play a critical
41
role in its implementation. The Ministry of Panchayati Raj followed it up with letter to the States. But State Governments action in taking steps to implement the Act in the last six months have been found wanting. Therefore realizing the indifference and the lethargy of state governments in this regard Prime Minister had to write a second letter which said: As you might recollect, vide my earlier letter of 8 January, 2008, I drew your attention to the need for speedy implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 as it is primarily the responsibility of the State Governments to ensure that a very vulnerable section of the population of our country finally gets its basic rights over the land which has historically been in its possession. A review by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India done recently shows that while some States have moved ahead, some others are yet to complete activities related to filing of claims etc. Needless to stress, it is important for those States which have large tribal populations to ensure that the opportunity through this landmark legislation is not missed and every genuine claimant is provided with title deeds. As your State has a large population of Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers, I request you to give your personal attention to this matter and ensure that the activities relating to implementation of this Act are expedited. That several petitions were be filed in the High Courts of several States including Orissa against the implementation of the Act should be viewed with serious concern. These petitions state that: Forest Department is the custodian of forest lands and of the records of each forest. The impugned (Forest) Act provides the mechanism in the form of Gram Sabha to receive and process the claims and make recommendations. Gram Sabha is not represented by any forest officer and in turn, Gram Sabha does not process any records or (has) any knowledge of forest rules. This means a long drawn judicial battle lies ahead. Therefore, it is incumbent on the state governments to implement the Act expeditiously, save the livelihood and ensure development of millions of q deprived Adivasis.
Email: gemathew@yahoo.co.in
42
43
News
fter spending most of her 45 years fighting for tribal peoples forest rights in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand, Pushpa Toppo should be happy. On Jan. 1, the government began to implement a landmark law designed to protect over 10 million tribal and forest-dwelling people from evictions, developmental neglect and violence at the hands of the Forest Department. But Toppo is far from pleased about the Forest Rights Act. On one hand she is quick to defend it from attacks by conservationists and resort owners who say protecting forest and wildlifeparticularly the endangered Bengal tiger - is incompatible with the type of human habitation, including farming, that the law protects. At the same time, however, she is furious that the law crafted by legislators, officials, analysts and representatives from local groups - only provides for the issuance
In the News Indias Forest Law and Women

of deeds to single men or married couples. It is silent about the rights of single women, whether widowed, deserted or not yet married. Toppo says this is actually a step backward for women in tribes where custom requires their husbands to give them a share of land for independent control. When a man has more than one wife, some tribes require him to provide a plot of land to each for her sustenance. Nita Hardikar, a member of a rural development group in western India, takes special issue with the laws failure to protect the most marginalized of all tribal people: widows who survive by collecting firewood, cigarette leaves, flowers, fruit, bamboo and herbs from the forest. In some tribes, she says, its customary for families to sell their produce collectively and give a widows share of income to her husbands relatives. We demand that womens groups and collectives-especially
News nEWS
nEWS
groups of single women, and women from landless families should be given priority in minor forest produce collection, management and livelihood options, says Hardikar. Activists also criticize the laws failure to reserve an equal place for women on local councils, which have been set up to decide which plants get planted in the forests, an issue that has been raised by the Forest Departments clearance of tribal lands to plant commercially valuable crops such as teak. Kanta Marathe, a tribal activist from Chhattisgarh, in central India, agrees. Traditionally women are the ones who have worked in forests, protected and managed them and have the requisite knowledge about harvesting and regenerating, says Marathe. The act should provide for maximum possible representation for women in all decision-making bodies depending on the local situation.
(Courtesy : Womens News)
orest cover in hills is essential to maintain ecological balance and environmental stability as it prevents soil erosion and land degradation. The National Forest Policy (1988) aims at maintaining two thirds of the geographical area in hills of the country under forest and tree cover. Forests Survey of India (FSI) has been assessing forest cover in the hill districts of the country since 1997. The hill districts identified for the forest cover analysis are the same as other identified by the
44
Forest Cover in Hill Districts

Planning Commission for Hill Areas and Western Ghats Development Programme. As per the Planning Commission's criterion, a hill taluka is the one with altitude more than 500m from the mean sea level. A hill district is the one whose total area of hill talukas is more than half of the geographic area of the district. Based on this criterion, there are 124 hill districts spread over 16 States and UTs. The forest cover in the hill districts is 274,932 sq.km., which is 38.85% of the total geographic area of these districts. Out of 124 hill districts, 55 have over two thirds of geographic area under forest cover 36 have been between one third and two third; and 33 have less than one third. Moreover, forest cover is less than ten percent of geographic area in ten hill districts. Compared to the 2003 assessment of forest cover, there has been a loss of forest cover of 255 sq. km in the above hill districts mainly due to the practice of shifting cultivation.
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News nEWS
Empowering Tribals in Orissa
nEWS
The implementation of the Forest Rights Act has begun in most central Indian states. This is to lead to forest dwelling communities getting titles to the land they have been living on and thus end the threat of eviction by forest officials. Villages have started taking their first steps to claiming their entitlements: forming forest rights committees where people can make their claims. Following is the report from Orissa. uni Digmunda, a tribal woman in the Phirikinali ward of Chandaka revenue village, about 17 km from Bhubaneswar, is disappointed with the Palli Sabha meting held on March 23 for formation of a forest rights committee in her village. Though she along with 35 to 40 others from her village went to the panchayat office for the meeting, the committee could not be formed due to lack of quorum. This revenue village, being a ward of the Chandaka gram panchayat, is entirely inhabited by tribals, mostly belonging to Digmunda, Swain and Hembrum clans. Kuni is typical of many tribal villagers in Orissa where the Panchayati Raj secretary issued an order this month saying that the forest rights committees in all tribal villages in the state are to be formed for the implementation of the Forest Rights Act. But the catch was that the work has to be done in two days, March 17 and 23. About 55,000 revenue villages will execute the task of electing their forest committees. The two-day deadline has made an already difficult task tougher. For, a committee can be elected only by a gram sabha which should also have an attendance of at least two-third of the population. Both are
rare happenings in Orissa. In Kunis village, the committee could not be formed for lack of a quorum. Kuni has other grievances too. While the villagers were informed that the meeting would be held at 4 pm on March 23, it was actually held about two hours earlier at 2 pm. The panchayat executive officer told the villagers that the meeting could not be held due to the lack of quorum and late arrival of Phirikinali villagers. The villagers, however, were told to sign on some papers. But they do not know what was written on these papers. We had gone to the meeting of Palli Sabha but people of the other ward did not come in adequate numbers, We were told that the meeting will be rescheduled soon, she said. Her point of view is shared by other villagers who are expecting the formation of forest rights committee in their area soon. Gardik Digemunda, a 50-yearold man from the same village, said they were expecting the formation of the forest rights committee in the Palli Sabha meeting. But that did not happen as the meeting could not be held. About 40 families of this village are living on patches of land over what they do not have record of rights. While 35 families are living on what they call minor
forest land, four to five families are living on forest land. However, they are not sure about the status of the land they occupy but only say that they have been occupying the land for two to three generations. Some of the ancestors of these families were givenpatta about 4045 years back, which was reviewed later. Being faced with the problems of sustainable livelihood, some old persons have left the villages. We have not yet been given land right over the patch that we live on. We also do not know whether we will get it or not, he said. However, most of the families belonging to this village were aware about the Palli Sabha meeting. The low turnout for the meeting was also admitted to by Pramod Kumar Badjena, the local Sarpanch belonging to Chandaka village. More than 90 per cent of our villagers are non-tribals and do not stay on the forest land. That might be a reason for the absence of enthusiasm, he observed. He, however, said, all posible steps were taken for the Palli Sabha meeting on March 23. Notice about the meeting was displayed on the walls of various public places of the panchayat. Though the Orissa government is yet to get information about the
45
News
News nEWS
state government had instructed the district administration that if a revenue village is too small to elect 10 members, then the villagers of the adjoining villages may be allowed to form the committee jointly in the booth where they cast their votes. However, this could not solve the problem. Pradip Das, one of the ward members of the Chandaka gram panchayat said, People are not aware of the purpose of the committee. That is esentially the reason as to why FRCs could not be formed in all the villages under the Chandaka gram panchayat. However, the extent of the success of this drive taken up by the Orissa government will be known after a few weeks. We
nEWS
number of FRCs formed in the state in the two designated days, official sources admitted that the requirement of quorum of twothird members at the Palli Sabha meetings had been an obstacle in the process of constitution of the committee. The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognisition of Forest Rights) Act 2006, stipulates that two-third of the members of Palli Sabha will constitute the quorum. So the villages mainly inhabited by the general caste population were not enthused by the meeting and hence, requisite attendance could not be ensured. In order to facilitate the formation of the committee, the
had taken all the preparatory steps like conducting workshops, broadcasts from All India Radio, Doordarshan and ETV regarding the formation of such committees. It will take few more days to get the real picture, R K Choudhury, director, Panchayati Raj Department, Government of Orissa (GOO), said. However, most tribal villages in Orissa have no electricity and cannot benefit from such awareness campaigns. Tribal rights activist Prafulla Mahantara said: The two-day deadline is meant to make the whole exercise ineffective. It is an impossible task to achieve. q
(Courtesy : Business Standard)
orests have traditionally Played a central role in the economy of tribal people who are also known to protect forest and to live in harmony with nature. Since, 1997, FSI has been assessing forest cover in the district identified as tribal district by the Government in the Integrated Tribal Deployment Programme. This includes all the districts of the State of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizorarn, Nagaland, Sikkim. Tripura. The UTs of Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Lakshadweep have also been considered as tribal districts. In all, there are 188 tribal districts spread over 26 States/ UTs in the country. The total
46
Forest Cover in Tribal Districts

forest cover in the tribal district is 407,032 sq. km which is 36.81 per cent of the geographical area of these districts. Although all tribal districts constitute only 33.57% geographic area of the country, the forest cover in these districts is 60.11 % of the total. All the North-Eastern States have over 75% geographic area under forest cover, except Assam (23.89% in 16 tribal districts) and Sikkim (45.97%). Overall, these figures indicate the Richness of forest resources in the tribal districts in general, and in North-East region in particular. The country is endowed with rich and diverse forest vegetation. The forests vary from alpine to coastal forests and from rain forests to arid forests. The recorded forest area of the country is 769,626 sq.km. (23.41 % of the countrys geographic area) and the forest cover of the country as per the 2005 assessment is 677,088 sq.km. (20.60% of countrys geographic area). The volume of growing stock in the forest is estimated to be about 4,602 million cu.m. Being the second most populous and seventh largest country in the world having a population of over 1 billion with 1.8 per cent of worlds Forest Cover. It is sustaining the needs of 17% of human and 18% of the livestock population q of the world.
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News nEWS
The Battle for Habitat
nEWS
Ashok Mitra
century ago, the feudal species made a fetish of tiger shooting. Those aspiring for special accolades from the raj would organize tiger hunts and invite its local representatives - the Divisional Commissioner, the District Magistrate or the resident agent - to join in the fun and games. The culture persisted for at least a full quarter of a century following independence; living room walls of the nouveau riche would display an array of tiger skins bought at fancy prices. Perhaps that epoch still evokes nostalgia for leftover colonial types. But they are a minority, pushed to the corner by the new generations of campaigners for wildlife preservation. Somebody has pushed the panic button: the tiger population in the country has reportedly dwindled over the past century from an estimated 40,000 to barely 1,400. It is not necessary to take seriously either figure: the counting of big cats was comprehensively impressionist a hundred years ago; it is only a shade less so now. There is no question, though, that the number of tigers in the country, as in the rest of the world, has shrunk significantly. Awareness about biodiversity has increased by leaps and bounds in this globalized age; international campaigns to save the tiger have
now made common cause with local enthusiasts: William Blakes ode to the bearer of the fearful symmetry must not be in vain. The media have woken to the theme. Political leaders and film stars have signed up too, as have school children. Official vigilance to stop poaching - one major cause of the erosion of the wildlife population - everybody is agreed, has to intensify, and be supplemented by activities on the part of the citizens vigilance groups. The issue is, however, much more complicated than what is made to appear to school-children treated to 15-minute homilies. The forest cover in the country that scientists suggest should be at least one-third of the total land mass, is down to less than one-half of that norm. Population pressure has led to gradual encroachment on forest land for purposes of both dwelling and cultivation. There is also the other fact of loss of forest land through natural erosion. The progressive disappearance of natural habitat for wildlife is equally attributable to the role of marauding woodcutters, either working for big operators or self-employed. In paraticular areas, even as forest area has steadily diminished, poor men and women, desperate to protect the few square metres of land they could claim as
their own, have determinedly gone to battle against tigers. To convince simple folk in the hundreds of thousands of villages in the country that they must stop regarding the tiger as a constant threat to their life, hearth and home has been no easy matter. The point that safe habitats need to be created for tigers is well taken; they must feel secure, have enough prey at their disposal and the natural surroundings must be conducive to their procreation. Once the authorities make up their mind, all difficulties in the way of initiating measures to expand the number of tiger reserves and to provide them with the required infrastructure would be smoothly resolved - or so it may be thought. In no time we knock against the rock of hard reality. Ecological balance, yes: but is saving the tiger the only item on the social agenda? Are tigers the only species desperately needing habitat? In state after state - and not just in the northern and central regions, as far down as Kerala too - the tribal population, the original inhabitants of this noble ancient land, have been progressively dispossessed of their traditional residential space. They have been victims not so much of predatory animals as of human species on the prowl: landlords who encroach in
47
News
News nEWS
SEZ tycoons or similar types. After all, those in authority have been most thoughtful; despite 60odd years of independence, the tribal people have been spared the contamination of educational opportunities, thereby weakening their efforts to mobilize in defence of their natural - and legal - rights. They have till now proved no match
nEWS
order to increase the size of their fief, corporate bodies seeking land for plants and factories, adventurers eager to dig up tribal land in the hope of unearthing rich minerals, commercial barons determined to evict the tribes and use their land for coffee, tea or rubber plantations, sponsors of special economic zones, and other corporate entities, land sharks keen to preempt corporate operators so as to bargain subsequently with the latter over land price. The original human occupants of the countrys hills, fields and valleys are as much an endangered species as the big cat is stated to be. It has taken many struggles,but finally a legislation with a mouthful of a title, the Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, has been recently put on the statute book. It expresses the appropriate sentiments. Its primary objective is to damarcate areas that were traditionally inhabited by tribal groups: the stated intention is to mark these areas as inviolable. In the sense that such habitats cannot be claimed by any others for any alternative purposes. However, as happens with most statutes, even the contents of the forest rights act are cluttered with several conditional clauses, opening up the possibility of clever lawyers, engaged by interested parties with unlimited funds, play ring-a-ring-a roses with the prerogatives of traditional tribal dwellers of forest lands. Some of these characters might in fact act as fronts for
48
involve competition for space with tribal rehabilitation. Fly-bynight operators might appear on the scene to argue that priority belongs to the tigers and not to the tribals. They could even apply some seemingly cold logic, such as, tribal people are fast going through the learning curve and could be expected to acquire, soon enough, clout to protect their prerogatives on their own; on the other hand, tigers are lonely, tragic figures, needing some extra consideration, otherwise they could well vanish altogether from the face of earth. So please do not be surprised if, all of a sudden, there is an explosion in the number of tiger-lovers in the country, and applicants for land for setting up SEZs begin to append a pledge that a part of the area they would like to be allotted to them would be set aside as a tiger reserve. The forest rights act would then rest in peace. It is an uplifting experience, watching on television fresh-faced schoolchildren affirming their determination to save the nations big cat population. A wild idea takes shape. What about organizing similar groups of school children from affluent families to parade before the TV screen and solemnly express their resolve to extricate kids of their age-group belonging to tribal households from the quagmire of hunger, malnutrition, illiteracy and insecurity of living conditions? q
(Courtesy : The Telegarph) YOJANA September 2008
for scheming urban encroachers. A few political parties and a number of non-governmental organizations have helped the tribes to carry out sporadic movements in isolated pockets against the systematic process of denying them what belongs to them. The forest rights act is the outcome of these endeavours, but there are ways to frustrate the intent of a legislation if it hurts the interests of those who are elliptically referred to as the powers-that-be. Whether unwittingly or otherwise, zealots of the save-the-tiger campaign could actually further muddy the picture. In several states, the quest for habitat for tigers is likely to

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September 2008

Let noble thoughts come to us from every side

YOJANA September 2008

1993-94= 100 % change

Millimetres Per cent mln. tns. mln. tns.

27 -20 13.5 11.6

48 -31 12.6 13.3

153 8 10.6 12.8

299 -2 6.7 10.9

75 -22 10.7 9.0

14 -49 10.1 8.4 Mar 04 1,503,040 8,835

37 -15 12.6 17.5

Mar 01 1,403,025 4,328

Mar 02 1,486,938 5,805

Mar 03 1,382,122 6,942

Mar 05 1,931,500 9,434

Mar 06 2,761,339 9,688

Mar 07 4,293,108 12,281

Mar 08 6,118,218 14,501

YOJANA September 2008

About the Issue

YOJANA September 2008

YOJANA September 2008

Mani Shankar Aiyar

The Act through the Years

YOJANA September 2008

The author is former Director, Project Tiger. YOJANA September 2008

l The cut off date for recognition

l The Act provides for the ceiling

Salient features of the Act

hold and live in the forest land

The benefits that will accrue from the Act

YOJANA September 2008

YOJANA September 2008

Women at work in the vegetable farm

A vegetable sale counter in Alleppey

Directorate for J&K tribals

YOJANA September 2008

What is credit rating ?

What are the factors that influences a persons credit rating.

YOJANA September 2008

YOJANA September 2008

The author is Assistant Director (M&C), PIB, New Delhi. 37

west bengal tops in increasing forest cover

YOJANA September 2008

YOJANA September 2008

YOJANA September 2008

YOJANA September 2008

In the News Indias Forest Law and Women

Forest Cover in Hill Districts

Forest Cover in Tribal Districts

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