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 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 …
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 …
This report by National Committee on Forest Rights Act (FRA) submitted by N C Saxena to Shri Kantilal Bhuria, Union Minister of tribal affairs says that with notable exceptions, the implementation of FRA has been poor & includes recommendations for implementing it effectively. The Ministry of Environment and Forests and …
THE forest departments of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat are forcibly evicting tribals from forestland. Around 50 huts of the Korku community in Madhya Pradesh were demolished on August 29. On July 30, forest guards assaulted tribals of the Kunbi community for cultivating in forestland in Dang district in Gujarat. The …
This study of the implementation of the Forest Rights Act 2006 in the Western Ghats of Kerala identifies the main constraints to the working of the legislation. Community rights and conservation provisions seem to be ignored. The paper also highlights the importance of integrating the implementation of the fra with …
This article is an analysis of the India Eco-Development Project (IEP) implemented in Sasan Gir National Park and Sanctuary. Statistical data describing the consumption patterns and financial status of the Maldharis was collected from 13 nesses. This information demonstrates the impact of the Maldharis on Gir, a lack of willingness …
The tiger versus tribal fight being played out in the country to the disadvantage of both is witnessing a new dimension in Karnataka's tiger reserves, where tribals are being relocated under the Forest Rights Act. The tribals complain that in several districts, the forest rights committees, to be elected in …
The Comptroller and Auditor General's Audit Report 2006-2007 for Madhya Pradesh exposes serious violation of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 by pointing out that mandatory compensatory afforestation (CA) was not carried out in 70 per cent of the projects where forest land was diverted for non-forest purposes during last ten …
The Forest Rights Act is under attack, facing at least five petitions against it in various courts. In a hearing on March 28, the Supreme Court directed that notice be issued on two petitions filed by wildlife organisations
The implementation of the Forest Rights Act has begun in most central Indian states. This is to lead to forest dwelling communities getting titles to the land they have been living on and thus end the threat of eviction by forest officials. Villages have started taking their first steps to …
The implementation of the Forest Rights Act has begun in most central Indian states. This is to lead to forest dwelling communities getting titles to the land they have been living on and thus end the threat of eviction by forest officials. Villages have started taking their first steps to …
The implementation of the Forest Rights Act has begun in most central Indian states. This is to lead to forest dwelling communities getting titles to the land they have been living on and thus end the threat of eviction by forest officials. Villages have started taking their first steps to …
The government is conducting a socio-economic survey in the Bhadrachalam forests to find out the status of primitive tribal groups who will be displaced by the Polavaram project. The minister for major irrigation, Mr Ponnala Lakshmaiah, told the Council that that the survey had been concluded in 276 villages. Ten …
One reason why state forest department is badly upset with the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006
An act to recognise and vest the forest rights and occupation in forest land in forest dwelling scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers who have been residing in such forests for generations but whose rights could not be recorded; to provide for a framework for recording the forest rights …
