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Wednesday, Aug 24, 2005

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National

Campaign for forest rights to tribals

Meena Menon

Immediate tabling of the Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill demanded The new bill will regularise encroachments and pave the way for contractors to officially denude forests, say conservationists. Social activists feel that the bill is necessary to conclusively establish the rights of tribal people over forests.

MUMBAI: The Punarvasan Sangharsh Samiti (PSS), Nandurbar, and various other tribal rights organisations in Maharashtra have launched a month-long campaign for the immediate tabling of the Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill, 2005 in Parliament even as conservationists and the Forest Department are opposing its provisions.

Encouraged by the introduction of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill in Parliament, there has been mobilisation in the adivasi areas of Maharashtra for the bill to be passed. Since August 16, from Nandurbar in Maharashtra, the PSS has launched a series of mass meetings in various tribal pockets, which will end in Gandhinagar in Gujarat, on September 19. According to Pratibha Shinde of the Samiti, among the issues the campaign will highlight is the immediate passage of this bill, with all amendments suggested by social activists for strengthening tribal rights.

The Campaign for Survival and Dignity, a federation of adivasi and forest people's organisations from across the country, has been putting pressure for three years for securing forest rights to tribal people. The Bill envisages, for the first time, recognition of the rights of forest-based communities. These communities, mostly the scheduled tribes, are among the most marginalised sections of Indian society, according to Anurag Modi of Shramik Adivasi Sanghatana. They are up against the Indian Forest Act, 1927 and subsequent laws, which have taken away their rights.

However, even as the Forest Department says this bill will sound the death knell of Indian forests, villages in Melghat and other protected areas are quite keen on having their rights restored to them. The affected people do not seem to have much knowledge of the bill and its provisions. The Bill proposes "to recognise and vest the forest rights and occupation in forest land in forest dwelling scheduled tribes who have been residing in such forests for generations but whose rights could not be recorded."

The recognition and vesting of forest rights under this Bill to the scheduled tribes shall be subject to the condition that such tribes or tribal communities had occupied forest land before October 25, 1980 (the date from which the Forest Conservation Act came into force) or such other date as the Central government may notify in the official gazette. This land will not exceed an area of 2.5 hectares per nuclear family. It also gives rights to the gram sabha, which will be the authority to initiate any action for determining the extent of forest rights that may be given to the forest dwelling tribes.

A senior Forest Department official said these powers to the gram sabha were too extensive and the forest department may as well be closed down.

Objection

The Ministry of Environment and Forests has already stated in a note that it does not agree with the introduction of the proposed bill. In a meeting held in January this year, the MoEF said that there is no need to bring in a fresh law as sufficient provisions already exist under the Forest Conservation Act and the guidelines issued in 1990.

It also said that the draft bill puts a question mark on the very existence of National Parks and Sanctuaries where the current policy is to shift the habitations outside the protected area as has been done already in the Melghat Tiger Reserve.

Kishore Rithe of the Amravati-based Nature Conservation Society said the new bill would regularise encroachments and pave the way for contractors to officially denude forests. The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) has also opposed the bill. The BNHS believes that the Bill in its present form will neither promote forest conservation nor social justice.

BNHS sources said that the provisions of the bill would be detrimental to the forest areas of the country.

A resolution passed by the Society said that the draft bill is seriously defective and that there should be some clarity regarding implementation, with clear articulation of the role of the gram sabha and forest department.

Supporters of the bill question how much control the tribals will have over forest land. Mr. Modi says that the gram sabhas will not have much power. He doubts whether most tribal families will be eligible for land.

He says in the last two decades the claims of lakhs of tribals over forest land have been termed as "encroachments."

Recently, a process of `verification' has been announced by the forest department, but very few tribals will be able to come up with the required `proof' that they have been in possession of their lands for over a quarter of a century, he says.

However, activists feel that this bill was necessary and it was important to conclusively establish the rights of tribal people over forests. The issue is then to balance the concerns of conservationists and tribals and reflect their legitimate rights.

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