Member of the National Land Reforms Council P.V. Rajagopal has appealed to Tamil Nadu Government to implement the Forest Rights Act in a bid to help adivasis (tribals) who are totally dependent on forests for their livelihood. Mr. Rajagopal, who is on a one-year Jansatyagraha yatra in a bid to mobilise Dalits, adivasis and landless people, has already covered Kerala and is completing the Tamil Nadu leg of his tour on Tuesday. Addressing a press conference here, he said that according to the Forest Rights Act, tribal families who have been living in forest areas before 2005 should be given five to 10 acres of land by the Government. While some of the States had implemented the Act, Tamil Nadu had failed to do so citing the stay obtained by a retired forest officer. He lamented that the adivasis, who formed one per cent of the total population of Tamil Nadu, were in a “pathetic” state. While their lands had been occupied by plantations, Forest Department had also taken away substantial portion through its National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries. “Now these tribals live on just one or two cents of land.”