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 …
Some 40 years ago an experiment began in Arabari forest range of West Bengal that caught the fancy of the nation. The forest authorities roped in the people living in the area in regenerating degraded forests. In return they offered them a share in forest resources and revenue. It worked. …
Madhya Pradesh set out on a generous note. The state’s 1990 JFM resolution promised 20 per cent of the net profit from the felling of timber to forest protection committees in case of dense forest and 30 per cent of the net profit in the case of degraded forests. In …
Harvest time has come and gone but the residents of Sitarampeth village in Chandrapur district did not get a penny in return for protecting nearly 300 ha of reserve forest for over a decade. “No valuation has ever been done of the work done by us,” says Rambhau Dhande, a …
Beyond Jethiabhai Basawa’s mud house in the foothills of Aravali extends a 75-hectare patch of barren land. It was once lush bamboo forest worth Rs 9 lakh. After joining the JFM programme in 1996, his village Munkapada in Rajpipla district had nurtured it in the hope of making some money. …
The concept of JFM is alluring enough to keep people engaged in conservation for years. But when it comes to sharing the fruits it is a practical joke. For every hundred rupees earned from timber sale a JFM committee usually gets only Rs 17.5 in cash, thanks to the forest …
The JFM programme faces existential crisis. On the one hand, pieces of legislation like the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006, and the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act, 1996, have come into existence, giving rights to tribals and forest dwellers over forest resources and their management. On the other …
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 …
McDonald saheb, Qureshi saheb, Jivan Singh, Aadal Singh, Udham Singh …. Eighty-yearold Lakshmi Nishad rattles off all the names she remembers of the forest officers who have served in the Gorakhpur range. The display of memory is a desperate attempt to prove that she has lived all her life in …
The joint committee set up by the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to enquire into the implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of the Forest Rights) Act, 2006, came out with its final report in December 2010. The report …
HOW much does a bundle of tendu leaf cost? The question has left the government scratching its head as it prepares to introduce minimum support price (MSP) for minor forest produce (MFP). Once fixed, MSP promises to increase the incomes of forest dwellers as it would take into account the …
This draft implementation protocol by the environment ministry details procedures for determining critical wildlife babitats within National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries as required by the Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. The purpose of this Implementation Protocol is to detail the procedure for determining …
The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has written to states to include bamboo in the list of minor forest produce (MFP) and to take steps to facilitate its use, sale and management by communities. The letter, dated March 21, is addressed to all chief ministers. It acknowledges the …
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 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 …
