In the first-ever such consultation with the forest department of Maharashtra on Thursday, tribal and forest rights activists, including those belonging to RSS constituent Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, have demanded that the amendment be shelved. At a time when the Centre is planning to bring a new national forest policy soon, …
Tribal development must for curbing Naxal growth, says Jairam Ramesh For the residents of this tiny non-descript village in Odisha’s Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput region, it was a rare celebratory occasion on Sunday when they got back the rights that had been snatched away by the British rulers nearly a century ago. The …
Jamguda (Kalahandi): Transit permit to villagers to procure and sell forest resources will create a revolution in the country as it is an important tool to empower tribal communities, stressed Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh on Sunday while attending the gram sabha at Jamguda, where forest officials in his …
Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Sunday said solution to internal security threat does not lie merely in weeding out Naxals in security operations. Ramesh had called a group of Gandhians and activists working in Naxal-affected areas here to take home an 11-point charter of measures for implementation. The …
Farm tank (bodi) constitutes a small water reservoir constructed by using available natural materials to store rainwater for irrigation purposes during post monsoon season. It receives water from rainfall and runoff from the surrounding catchment area during monsoon period and this serves for irrigation purposes of paddy fields.
Putting the heat on Government to withdraw operation Green Hunt, the Naxals have now opposed the Mendha-Lekha model which allowed Tribals to exercise rights to harvest bamboo under the Forest Rights Act, terming at as a “ploy to loot forests”. The Gadchiroli Divisional Committee of the CPI (Maoists) have launched …
A move that proposes to allow forest dwellers to commercially exploit minor forest produce, which includes bamboo, has worried activists and the forest administration, especially after what happened at Mendha-Lekha, the Gadchiroli village that had pioneered the nationwide forest rights movement. Last year, the village won a battle to have …
Gram sabha’s total control over forest produce makes ultras unhappy, reveal reports The government’s plan for economic empowerment of tribals to combat Left-wing extremism is yet to take off, despite the positive experience in Mendha Lekha in the Naxal affected Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra. Notwithstanding legal guarantees, many village assemblies …
Amid reports that Maoists are against according bamboo rights to Adivasis in Gadchiroli, Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has asked the Chief Ministers of six Naxal-hit States to emulate the success of Mendha Lekha village in that Maharashtra district. Mendha Lekha became the first village with Community Forest Rights …
A movement promoting self-rule in villages and community rights to forests has come under attack from Naxals in the region where it was pioneered. Maoists in Gadchiroli have hit out strongly at leaders who have been using the “Gandhian” ideal of non-violence in spearheading the community forest rights (CFR) movement …
State government transfers all rights of minor forest produce and major timber to forest management committees The Centre’s efforts to ensure economic empowerment of tribals in forest areas received a fillip with the Maharashtra government’s order to bring all joint forest management committees under the control of gram sabhas. The …
Mendha Lekha village in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra has proved wrong the forest department’s stand that gram sabhas cannot manage forest produce. The village has earned record rates on the sale of bamboo. It earned Rs 8,151 per notional tonne (weight of a 2,000-m end-to-end chain of green bamboo) for …
A tribal village in Gadchiroli that has pioneered the community management of forest land and produce, this week added a new feather in its cap — it became the first village in the country to earn a massive Rs 1-crore revenue from bamboo sales, carried out through a transparent and …
Recently, on discovering that I work in the forest department, a lady co-passenger in a flight asked, “Are you people really doing anything for the forests?” The unconcealed taunt set me and my friends discussing with the sceptic the scenario of green governance in India. How are we managing our …
The fresh cool forest breeze and the greenery appears to act as a magic wand on the residents of village Ghati. Middle-aged men and women who just a few minutes ago had been involved in hard-core legal talk suddenly speak like children. Forty-something Gyaneshwar Sahare, who had been pouring forth …
Gadchiroli in Maharashtra may have acquired the model district status for clearing a record number of community forest rights (CFR) claims, but its 298 villages are angry with the forest department for stripping them of the basic right to manage forest produce. http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/forest-department-s-cheat-act
GADCHIROLI in Maharashtra may have acquired the model district status for clearing a record number of community forest rights (CFR) claims, but its 298 villages are angry with the forest department for stripping them of the basic right to manage forest produce. The department has also burdened them with conditions, …
Following the historic forest rights victory on April 27, mood in Mendha Lekha is upbeat. Gram sabha of this village in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district started felling about 90,000 bamboos a day after winning the right to harvest and sell the minor forest produce (MFP). With transit passes in hand, the …
