“Stroke of the pen” reform is critical as in many cases policy is dastardly and change is laggardly. The essential element is to find that big-ticket item that can have impact on a scale and at a pace that is needed. I believe Union environment and forests minister Jairam Ramesh’s …
Who stands were As the D-day arrives and bamboo is all set to attain liberation and Mendha Lekha to become the first village in India to exercise its community right to harvest and freely sell bamboo under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) we take a look where the key players …
Red Letter Day for bamboo On April 27, Maharashtra will rewrite history. On that day, bamboo, a hugely contested product of India’s forests, will attain its liberation and Mendha Lekha in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli Latest updates from Mendha Lekha April 26: In response to forest department's opposition to giving community rights …
In 2008, the village applied for the right over 18 sq km of village forest area under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 Read full story: Give us 18 sq km In 2009, Mendha Lekha alongwith Marda village became the first villages …
Minor forest produce and forests rights Bamboo » How To Sell A Wonder Herb » Row in Madhya Pradesh » SCANDAL WOOD » Scheme for tribalfolk » Access granted » Nepal's poor carry it off » Phulmai's walk - a day in the life of a headloader » Super Market …
The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has asked states to treat bamboo as a minor forest produce (MFP). Environment minister Jairam Ramesh directed the states to ask their forest departments to follow this categorisation in a letter dated March 21. He also asked the states to respect the rights …
AN EXPERT committee, formed by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, has recommended that trade control of tendu leaves, critical for forest dwellers’ income, should vest in the state. The panel, headed by agriculture economist T Haque, was set up to ensure ownership rights of forest dwellers over minor forest produce …
MENDHA Lekha village in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra staged a novel protest on February 15. It organised a bamboo sale in the village to highlight the forest department’s refusal to grant transit passes to transport bamboo out of the village for sale. Mendha Lekha was one of the first two …
The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has withdrawn its latest guidelines for creating inviolate space for wildlife. The decision to withdraw the critical wildlife habitat (CWH) guidelines followed a March 4 meeting between environment minister Jairam Ramesh, non-profits working on tribal rights, wildlife activists and the chief wildlife wardens …
FRESH guidelines by the Ministry of Environment and Forests to identify inviolate areas for wildlife have bypassed the Forest Rights Act of 2006. They threaten the interests of forest dwellers. Issued on February 7, they empower the Divisional Forest Officer and the Park Manager to arbitrarily identify areas in and …
THE past two rainy seasons 65-year-old Ramdas Rana has spent much of his sleeping hours adjusting his bed to an elusive dry patch. The thatched roof of his hut has been leaking since 2008. He could not repair it because the grass used for thatching is out of bounds for …
PEOPLE on the fringes of Kaziranga National Park are anxious. They fear eviction. On January 9, the Assam gover nment issued eviction notices to 10 families in the Kohora range of the park. Others in 16 villages, marked for park extension, fear it could be their turn next. Residents of …
IN DHINKIA village in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district, residents gathered around fragile bamboo gates, armed with sticks, brooms and lathis. The gates and improvised weapons were meant to keep government officials out. The residents expected a visit from them any day after the Union environment ministry gave environmental clearance to South …
THE Union government is reviewing its landmark initiative, the Forest Rights Act, four years after enacting it. The aim is to find how to strengthen the law which was legislated to ensure the traditional rights of 100 million forest dwelling people in the country. Two high-level groups submitted their assessment …
The National Mission for a Green India has been approved by the PM’s Council on Climate Change. It aims to increase the quantity and quality of 10 million ha. of forest area, achieving an annual CO2 sequestration of 50 to 60M tonnes by 2020. The National Mission for a Green …
2010 was a loud year for the environment. High profile projects—from Vedanta to Posco and Navi Mumbai airport to Lavasa—hit the headlines for non-compliance with environmental regulations. While 2009 was the 25th anniversary of the Bhopal gas tragedy, it was only last year that we were all outraged by the …
THE Maharashtra forest department has proposed including bamboo under minor forest produce (MFP). While the department touts the initiative as a step towards giving ownership of bamboo to gram sabhas under the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act, forest rights activists say it is an attempt to dilute the …
The decision of the Union environment ministry to allow parts of the Ganga’s tributaries to flow freely in Uttarakhand, indicates there is finally some recognition of the environmental impacts of hydel projects, long hyped as clean energy producers. Dams in Uttarakhand and the Northeast have been at the centre of …
The definition is contested as the answer has immense economic implications. If bamboo is a tree or timber, it belongs to the forest department and can be auctioned to the paper and pulp industry, often at throwaway rates. If it is a grass, then it would be classified as a …
