Latest news with #ForestRightsAct
The Hindu
3 hours ago
- General
- The Hindu
Group of over 200 demands Tribal Welfare Department to urgently address violations faced by tribals in Nagarahole
Representatives of a solidarity group of 206 social and environmental organisations, lawyers, academics, and other professionals, submitted a joint memorandum to Randeep D., Principal Secretary, Tribal Welfare Department, and Yogesh, Director, Tribal Welfare Department, to urgently address the alleged ongoing violation of forest and tribal rights at Karadikallu, Nagarahole, where 150 Jenu Kuruba adivasis are facing 'forced eviction' in violations of the Forest Rights Act. The members of the solidarity group include groups such as India Labour Solidarity (U.K.-based), Food Sovereignty Alliance, People's Union for Civil Liberties, Community Network Against Protected Areas, Jagrit Adivasi Dalit Sangathan, Fridays For Future India, National Alliance of People's Movements, and Students for Peoples Democracy, as well as activists including Meera Sanghamitra, Clifton D'Rozario, Yuvan Aves, and Disha A. Ravi. Signatories also include academics from IIT Madras, Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, National Law School of India University, and Azim Premji University. The collective submitted this letter in light of the tense situation that has been unfolding at Karadikallu Hattur Kollehaadi, Nagarahole Tiger Reserve, since May 5 after the tribals re-entered the forests 'to reclaim their ancestral land'. 'Over 120 paramilitary troops of the Forest Department, State police, and Special Tiger Protection Force were deployed to intimidate members of the Jenu Kuruba tribe, with threats to evict them forcibly. In addition to this, the Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF), Nagarahole Wildlife division, issued a letter on May 8, citing a supposed May 6 High Court order, later found to have been fabricated, suspending the FRA-related activities, thus asking the Jenu Kuruba families to vacate their ancestral homeland in Nagarahole Tiger Reserve,' said a statement from the collective. The letter by the collective termed it 'a blatant attempt to withhold implementation of the FRA, 2006, amounting to perjury (lying under oath) under criminal law for the tiger reserve authorities, as well as section 3 (g) of SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.' According to members of the collective, Mr. Randeep promised to look into the grievances and address them, and was open to sending a delegation to Nagarahole.
India Today
10 hours ago
- Politics
- India Today
Himachal floats tender for waste management plant as Kasol faces garbage crisis
The Himachal Pradesh government has floated a tender for construction of the long-delayed solid waste management plant at Kasol after an India Today investigation revealed how waste was being hastily buried in pits inside the forest. The tender, of Rs 30 lakh, has been floated by the rural development department, which has set a two-month deadline for the completion of the move came as videos went viral on social media showing a mountain of garbage and plastic bags dumped in a forest in Kasol, a popular tourist hub nestled in the picturesque Parvati Valley. It triggered widespread outrage on social media. The Kullu deputy commissioner said the site where the video was shot was not an official dumping site. The state pollution control board has issued a notice to the vendor and will also impose a fine for dumping garbage at an unauthorised location. Waste was also found to be dumped at another location without informing the rural development department. The deputy commissioner said the Special Area Development Authority (SADA) could also be fined for the official stressed that cleanup operations were now underway on a war footing. However, the official said it would take a few months to streamline solid waste management incidents, within a demarcated wildlife sanctuary zone, have exposed serious violations by local authorities of the terms of land government had granted approval (stage 1) for diverting 0.1982 hectares of forest land for setting up a solid waste management plant at Kasol under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. It came with stringent the key pre-conditions were the payment of Compensatory Afforestation (CA) and Net Present Value (NPV) charges, submission of a Forest Rights Act (FRA) certificate from the district collector, and an undertaking that no other approved proposal in the division was pending for conditions include no change to the legal status of forest land, restrictions on tree felling, protection of wildlife, establishment of a green belt, onsite waste treatment, prohibition of labour camps, Reel
Deccan Herald
a day ago
- Politics
- Deccan Herald
Adivasis, activists slam forced evictions in tiger reserves
A Mumbai-based lawyer Lara Jesani sought to stress that both the individual and community rights or rights over community forest resources that were provided under the Forest Rights Act were recognition of historic rights.
The Hindu
a day ago
- General
- The Hindu
As monsoon sets in, adivasis of Nagarhole plan to start constructing houses
With the monsoons setting in, Jenukuruba tribal, who re-entered the forests of Nagarhole Tiger Reserve almost a month ago 'to reclaim their ancestral land', said they will begin construction of houses. Addressing a press conference here on Monday, J.A. Shivu, leader of the Nagarhole Adivasi Jammapale Hakku Sthapana Samiti, said, 'We held a gram sabha on May 20, where it was decided that we would start constructing houses. Individual forest rights surveys have already been done for the 52 families who re-entered the forest, and therefore, we know the plots that have been surveyed. So, we will start constructing the houses there, since the rains have arrived.' Case to be filed The tribal leaders also said that they are planning to file a case against the Forest Department and panchayat officials under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act for withholding the rights of the people and dragging their feet on the forest rights claims raised by adivasis under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006. It was a month ago that 150 tribal people entered the Nagarhole forests as a mark of protest against the delay in granting rights. Officials of the Karnataka Forest Department and the Karnataka State Tiger Protection Force (STPF) attempted to prevent this move, and tensions have been brewing in the regions since. 'The Forest Department and tiger protection force have been continuously trying to evict us out of our ancestral lands. They attempted to bring down the sacred structures we built. There were many instances where in the middle of the night they tried to bring down the three structures in which we are collectively living now,' Mr. Shivu alleged. A long wait According to Community Networks Against Protected Areas, the forest dwelling communities of Nagarhole were evicted in 1985 after it was declared a wildlife sanctuary. The indigenous population were subsequently forced to work as bonded labourers in coffee plantations. After the FRA came into effect in 2006, the tribals applied for their forest rights in 2009, and have been waiting for 16 years for the officials to act upon it. 'What has happened since 2006 has been a complete denial of those rights and a return from the promise that was made under the Forest Rights Act,' said Lara Jeswani, lawyer at Bombay High Court. She said that out of the more than three lakh claims, only 15,000 claims of individual rights had been decided. Political ecologist Nitin D. Rai alleged that adivasis were bearing the brunt of what the State needs to do to meet its financial and developmental obligations. 'Denial of forest rights comes directly from the (government's) need to increase the tiger numbers so that they can show they are doing very well on the conservation front and therefore cannot be questioned of diversion of forests and infrastructural development,' he said.
The Hindu
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Bamboo and kendu power to the people
Tucked away in the hills of Kalahandi in western Odisha, the tiny village of Palki is so remote that it is barely a dot on the map. With just 57 tribal households and no proper road or public transport, reaching Palki is a challenge. Here, no one has studied beyond class 8, and generations here have grown up in hardship. Making ends meet was a daily struggle. Over the past couple of years though, something has changed. Palki is now flushed with a community fund of ₹8 lakh. Alok Majhi, 27, the barely-schooled secretary of the Palki Gram Sabha, is looking for a teacher to tutor school-going children during the summer vacation, offering a monthly remuneration of ₹6,000, unthinkable just a few years ago. Two years ago, the villagers had struck a direct deal with a trader from Maharashtra, earning ₹26 lakh for two years of bamboo supply. Palki's transformation began when its people decided to take charge of forest resources — especially bamboo and kendu (used in bidis) — under the rights granted to them by the Forest Rights Act, 2006. The earlier system entailed government intermediaries that would regulate prices. Now, the village is writing its own story of change. Forty kilometres from Palki, and not as remote, Pipadi is another village nestled in Kalahandi's forested belt, that stretches across over 2,500 km. A paramilitary camp has just sprung up on its outskirts, reportedly to curb the movement of Maoist extremists. Between government and Naxal forces, Pipadi, with just 45 households, manages 4,300 acres of forestland on its own terms. For the past five years, Pipadi has been selling bamboo worth ₹5-7 lakh annually. It even issues its own transit passes for truckloads of bamboo headed to Telangana, an act of local governance rarely seen in such remote pockets. This stand is echoing across 100 villages in Kalahandi. Elsewhere too — though not yet as organised as in Kalahandi — forest dwellers in Nayagarh, Kandhamal, Koraput, Malkangiri, Rayagada, and Mayurbhanj districts of Odisha are beginning to assert their rights over forest resources, challenging barriers long imposed by the Forest Department. In early May 2025, forest dwellers blocked National Highway 26 at Ampani in Kalahandi district after the Forest Department stopped movement of two kendu-leaf-laden trucks permitted by Borapadar and Pipalchhapar Gram Sabhas. Angered that the government had allegedly dishonoured the transit pass issued by the Gram Sabhas, Koksara Block Level Gram Sabha Federation registered a complaint with the local police. The first information report stated that the Forest Department had violated Section 3(1)(c) of the Forest Right Act (FRA), which confers ownership rights over forest produce like kendu leaf and bamboo to forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFDs). The agitation led by tribal women and men forced the Forest Department into issuing an assurance that they would not obstruct movement of non-timber forest products (NTFPs). Timber is still controlled by the government. The Forest Rights Amendment Rules, 2012, state that transit permits for transportation of minor forest produce (MFP) such as bamboo and kendu leaves, are to be issued by a committee constituted by the Gram Sabha or a person authorised by the Gram Sabha. Palki has been selling bamboo between ₹30 and ₹40 per piece, taking into account the present and future. 'We have divided the forest managed by the Gram Sabha into four sections,' explains Alok, the Palki Gram Sabha secretary. 'We harvest bamboo from only one section each year, returning to the same section after four years. This allows for soil regeneration and prevents overexploitation.' One-third of the revenue goes directly to the bamboo cutters, who are villagers themselves. The remaining two-thirds is considered Gram Sabha profit, of which 50% is reinvested in forest development, 30% goes into a village fund, 10% covers village management costs, and 5% each is allocated to the block and district-level federations, he says. This year alone, Palki spent ₹2.5 lakh on bamboo regeneration and densification, using soil enrichment techniques at the root level. The effort created 635 labour days, 400 of which involved women workers, each paid ₹300 per day. This has stopped people in Palki from emigrating outside the State to work in the construction sector, say villagers, despite the fact that the minimum wage in Odisha for even unskilled work is ₹462 per day. Women working on bamboo bushes in the forests of Kalahandi district. Around 2,000 villagers work as bamboo cutters across 100 villages in the district. | Photo Credit: BISWARANJAN ROUT Today, around 9,000 women are engaged in kendu leaf plucking and 2,000 people work as bamboo cutters across 100 villages in Kalahandi. Their income helps them educate children, construct houses, and pay for weddings. Block- and district-level federations serve as mediators in resolving conflicts, especially those arising from disputes over forest boundaries. These federations help unify Gram Sabhas and step in when there is a need to confront the Forest Department or trader associations that create obstacles. Besides, continuous capacity building of villagers takes place out of the fund deposited with Gram Sabha, says Dasarathi Behera, advisor to the Kalahandi District Gram Sabha Federation. 'What better revenue model could a village with rich minor forest produce adopt?' says Dasarathi. 'Since the conferment of Community Forest Rights, tribal villagers have come to see the forest as their most dependable source of livelihood. This realisation has fostered sustainable forest management and improved conservation efforts.' Villagers must apply for these Community Forest Rights, which the government then grants. According to Geetanjoy Sahu, a professor at the Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Studies, School of Habitat Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, rights for forest dwellers on forest resources should be seen in three phases. Before colonial rule in India, forest-dwelling communities across the country, including in Odisha, exercised traditional rights over forest resources. They followed customary norms of harvesting forest produce, practised shifting cultivation, and even hunted for food. This changed with the advent of colonialism. The British sought to appropriate forest resources for their own interests, introducing laws like the Indian Forest Act, 1927, and the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. Post-independence, the Indian state retained colonial-era laws, with the justification that it would look after tribal welfare. The Forest Department was given authority to regulate and monitor forest use. Even access to minor forest produce was government-controlled, and communities were burdened with layers of regulation. 'Between 1947 and till the enactment of the FRA in 2006, tribal rights were repeatedly promised but rarely fulfilled. In many regions, communities were displaced without proper compensation or recognition of their rights,' says Sahu. He says that the turning point came with the Forest Rights Act, 2006, which recognised the rights of forest communities over minor forest produce, granting them ownership, access, and the freedom to sell it. 'They can choose where, to who, and at what price to sell. Maharashtra was the first to implement this in Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) regions, later expanding to non-PESA areas. Other States, including Odisha, were slower to act. Odisha's implementation began primarily in parts of Kalahandi district and remains limited,' he says. Tushar Dash, Director of Vasundhara, a non-government organisation dealing with implementation of FRA, says, 'The sale and trade of minor forest produce must be fully left to the discretion of forest villagers. They should have the autonomy to negotiate with traders or opt to sell through the Forest Department, depending on who offers a better price.' Y. Giri Rao, a consultant on FRA implementation to governments, agrees. 'There is ample evidence that when Gram Sabhas manage forests, they do so more effectively,' he says. 'Where communities have control, forest growth has flourished, fires are better managed, illegal logging has reduced, and the timber mafia has been kept out,' says Rao. Across Odisha, the struggle for ownership over forest resources is marked by confrontations between forest-dwelling communities and the Forest Department. Nearly every Gram Sabha has its own story of resistance and assertion. Although the FRA came into effect in 2006, it wasn't until seven years later — after the intervention by then Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh — that forest dwellers began to assert their rights. On March 3, 2013, the residents of Jamguda village in Kalahandi district were officially granted the right to sell minor forest produce. Ramesh had handed over the transit passbook to Union Tribal Affairs Minister V. Kishore Chandra Deo and Odisha Revenue Minister (late) Surya Narayan Patro. Bhakta Charan Das, then MP and now Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee President, became the first official buyer, purchasing a truckload of bamboo for ₹3,000. The momentum grew. By 2017, six Gram Panchayats in Kalahandi had entered into direct agreements with bidi manufacturers to supply kendu leaves. This move inspired a wave of Gram Sabhas across the region to exercise their rights under the FRA, reclaiming control over traditional forest resources. Now, eight Gram Sabhas in Koraput district have demanded the removal of restrictions on the collection and sale of kendu leaves. 'Kendu leaf is a vital source of income for Adivasi communities in Baipariguda block. Known as 'Green Gold', it generates much-needed cash for forest dwellers. But despite repeated appeals, the Forest Department has shown little interest in deregulating its trade,' says Bidyut Mohanty, a Koraput-based activist. Byasadev Majhi (right), secretary of the Kalahandi Gram Sabha Mahasangha, issuing a transit pass for kendu and bamboo trucks at Pipadi village. | Photo Credit: BISWARANJAN ROUT The government-owned Kendu Leaf Organisation of Odisha has been gradually easing restrictions on the trade. In 2013, the State allowed pluckers, self-help groups, and other community collectives to sell kendu leaves to buyers of their choice in Nabarangpur district. This was followed by deregulation notices in 2014, 2017, 2018, and 2021, each applying to specific villages, blocks, or districts. 'We are surprised that the Forest Department hasn't extended this freedom across Odisha. Why restrict the trade of minor forest produce when villagers are capable of making their own decisions?' Mohanty says. The Tribal Development Cooperative Corporation of Odisha Limited (TDCCOL), a State-run agency, oversees procurement and implements minimum support prices (MSP) for minor forest produce. Currently, 23 items — including seeds from the sal and mahua trees, lac, and honey — are covered under MSP. Byasadev Majhi, Secretary of the Kalahandi Gram Sabha Mahasangha, says, 'We don't dismiss the role of government agencies, but communities should have the autonomy to decide how and where to sell their produce. The State should step in only if traders collude to manipulate the market.' satyasundar.b@ Edited by Sunalini Mathew Published - May 31, 2025 10:39 pm IST
