recovery of the commons forests and her peoples abridged

8/11/2019 Recovery of the Commons Forests and Her Peoples Abridged

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The Recovery of The ommons

the forest and her peoples


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Democratizing Forest

Governance

A historical and political perspective

C.R.Bijoy


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The Forest in

2005


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Tribal AreasOverlap


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Forest covered a large portion of thegeographical area of the country inancient times.

.85% by some estimates !


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But..

There are 188 tribal districts out of 626 districts in 26 States/UTs33.57% of the countrys total area.60.11% (63% in 2003) are forest which is 36.81% of total forest.

There are 124 Hill Districts in over 16 States and UTs.with 38.85% forest.2005 data

And..76,600 sq kms (twice the size of the State of Kerala) are disputedbetween the Forest Department and Revenue Department.


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The Hill District of the northeastArunachal Pradesh: Dibang Valley, East Kameng, West Kameng, Lohit,East Siang, Lower Subansiri, Upper Subansiri, Changlong, Papum Pare,Tawang, Upper Siang, West Siang and Tirap.

Tripura: North Tripura, South Tripura and West Tripura.

Assam: North Cachar Hills, Karbionglong and Naogaon.

Manipur: Imphal West, Senapati, Imphal East, Churachandpur, Chandel,Bishnupur, Tamenglong, Ukhrul and Thoubal.

Meghalaya: West Garo Hills, Ri Bhoi, East Garo Hills, East Khasi Hills,South Garo Hills, Jaintia Hills and West Khasi Hills.

Nagaland: Dimapur, Zunebhoto, Mon, Phek, Kohima, Mokochung, Wokhaand Tuensang.

Sikkim: East, West, North and South Sikkim.

Mizoram: Aizwal, Saiha, Serchip, Champai, Kolasib, Lawngtlai, Mamit andLun lei.


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The Hill Districts of Western GhatsKarnataka: Belgaum, Uttara Kannada, Kodagu, Chikmanglur,Dakshina Kannadaand Shimoga.Tamil Nadu: Coimbatore, Madurai, Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli andNilgiri. Tamilnadu forms a corridor between the Western Ghatsand Eastern Ghats. The hill districts mentioned above fall in theranges of the Eastern and Western Ghats.

Kerala: Kannur, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Eranakulam, Idukki,Malapuram, Palakkad, Quilon, KasargodeandThiruvananthapuramMaharshtra: Nashik, Pune, Satara, Ratnagiri, Kolhapur, Raigarhand Sindhudurg.


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The Hill Districts of the Himalayan Region

Uttaranchal: Almora, Uttarkashi, Udhamsing Nagar, TehriGarhwal, Bageshwar, Chamoli, Rudra, Prayag, Champawat,Pittoragarh, Nainital, Dehradun, Garhwal and Haridwar.

Himachal Pradesh: Una, Solan, Kullu, Bilaspur, Chamba,

Hamirpur, Kangra, Sirmaur, Shimla, Kinnaur, Mandi, Lahul andSpiti.

Jammu and Kashmir: Anantnag, Udhampur, Baramula, TribalTerritory, Chilas, Raisi , giligt, Poonch, Gilgit/Wazart,Muzzafarabad, Jammu, Mirpur, Kathua and Ladakh.

West Bengal: Darjeeling


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63% of the dense forest in the country are in the tribal districts.Increase of 321,00 ha forest cover between 2001-2003.

71% of the ancestral lands of tribals taken overby the State Forest Department. 70% of the livelihoodresources are from the forests..3,500 out of 4,175working mines (1991-92)..over 3,000 dams.

Over 2,00,000/ 5,87,274 villages gather from the

forests; 170,379 of them supporting a mixed population of147 million show forest as a land use. The total forestarea of these villages is 32,198,305 hectares.

Maoists have established in 170 districts which overlap withtribal districts and hill districts

62.9% of Adivasis are landless.

There are 2,690 Forest Villages (As on 30.06.2005)


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Forest Diversion.

Between 1980-1995 : 4,15,762 ha at 25,985 ha/yr

Between 1980-2001 : 8,27,857 ha at 37,629 ha/yr1996 Godavarman CaseBetween 1996-April 2006 : 7,50,440 ha at 72,646 ha/yr [2.8 time

under Supreme Court]

Between 2002-April 2006 : 3,38,345 ha at 75,139 ha/yr [2.08times under Central EmpoweredCommittee]

Total 1,133,123.93 since 1980

More forest area was diverted (51%) for non-forest uses during thelast 5 years than during the previous 20 years since enactment ofthe Forest Conservation Act, 1980

The annual rate of diversion between 2002 and 2008 was 50% higherthan that between 1980 and 2002.


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94.69% of the 921,759.53 hectares diverted for non-forest purposefrom 1980 to 2003 were for developmental projects such as dams,mining, industries, and roads (Rajya Sabha UnstarredQuestion No. 395, dated December 5, 2003).

In the case of Vedanta mines in Niyamgiri or the POSCO steel plantproject the Ministry has continued to support diversion before theSupreme Court .

Officially, some 1.73% (1,343,346 hectares) of forest is under

encroachment as on31.3.2004. (1,696,083 ha in 2008; 1,794,879 ha as on31st December 2009)


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Why are these lands recorded as forest areas?

If they did exist, what happened to them?In Himachal and Uttaranchal, all waste lands were declared to beforests without any vegetation or land use surveys and included villagepastures, grazing areas, or even snowbound peaks.

82.9% of the forest blocks in undivided Madhya Pradesh were neversurveyed.

THE AREA OF NON-FOREST FOREST IS AT LEAST SEVEN TIMESLARGER THAN THE AREA UNDER SO-CALLED ENCROACHMENT.


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RECORDED Forests That Arent RECORDEDThe government is equally confused about which lands come underwhich departments control.

In 1998, 68.86 million hectares of land was officially classified asforest, but in 1999 the total was 76.52 million hectares.

This difference of 7.66 million hectares is presumably disputedbetween the two Departments.

In MP alone, 1.23 million hectares is disputed between the twodepartments. In Orissa large parts have never been surveyed.

How are peoples rights to be clear when the government itself does

not know what is on this land?

THE AREA DISPUTED BETWEEN THE REVENUE AND FORESTDEPARTMENTS IS 5.7 TIMES THE AREA SUPPOSEDLY UNDERENCROACHMENT.


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Protecting forests by CHOPPING them down

Between 1951 to 1979, 3.33 million hectares of industrial plantationswere planted by clear felling economically less important naturalforests. How much of 27.87 million hectares of the post-1979plantations were done on similarly clear felled natural forests?

THE AREA OF FORESTS FELLED FOR PRE-1979 PLANTATIONS IS2.5 TIMES THE AREA SUPPOSEDLY UNDER ENCROACHMENT.


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RECOGNISING RIGHTS, BUT NOT QUITE3.66 lakh hectares of cultivated forest land were regularised since

1990. More than 75% (namely 2,75,405 hectares) of the supposedlyregularized land is in madhya pradesh. What is not mentioned is thatmost of this regularization never happened.

In Madhya Pradesh, the regularization of 1,68,840 hectares wasstayed by the supreme court, and it is unclear how much of the

remaining 1,06,565 hectares was actually converted into revenue land.In Gujarat only 5% of claimants eventually got title even thoughnearly 90% of their claims were supposedly accepted.Similar occurrences are reported from other states, but no figuresare available.Lets assume the best case scenario: use the real figure for Gujarat,

the maximum possible for Madhya Pradesh (1,06,565 ha), and assumethe figures for the other states to be correct. Then the arearegularized since 1980 is less than one sixth of the land (1,67,594 ha)diverted for mining and other forest destroying projects.


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Wild Life Sanctuaries508existing wildlife sanctuaries cover an area of 3.60%of the total

geographical area(118,236.94 sq km).

Another 217 sanctuaries are proposed covering an area of16,669.44 sq km.

National ParksThere are 97existing national parks covering 1.16%of thegeographical area (38,199.47 sq km).

Another 74 national parks are proposed covering an area of16,630.08 sq km.

More than 60% of national parks and 92% of sanctuaries had notcompleted settlement procedures, and estimated that between 3.7million to 4.3 million people live inside protected areas.


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Of these.28 area declared Tiger Reserves covering roughly 5.6 % of forests in

17 states and over 1% of the countrys geographical area.

The tiger habitats are also located in the 150 poorest districts mostlyin Schedule V areas with the best of forests and dense forests.

These and more tiger reserves were hurriedly declared Critical TigerHabitats ILLEGALLYviolating WLPA 2006 amendment in December2007.

The total tiger population in the 2001-2002 census was 3,642

.but over half of these tigers live outside tiger reserves !


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GIVING FOREST COMMUNITIES NEW LIVELIHOODS SIX

CENTURIES FROM NOWThe Ministry of Environment and Forests perfect solution tothose living inside protected areas resettlement with newlivelihoods. But these new livelihoods almost never seem toappear;

Since 2001, 3898 families were voluntarily resettled fromnational parks and sanctuaries.

But.there are an estimated 4.3 million people 8.15 lakh familiesliving inside national parks.

At the current rate, it will take them 615 yearsto resettle allthose living inside national parks and sanctuaries.


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Delays and corruption of forest authorities destroyed nearly 11 % ofthe country's land that were privately owned forests after their take

over.

Whenever roads reached earlier inaccessible forest areas due todevelopmental projects, there were large scale fellings of stateforests.

Forest based industries exhausted available bamboo, or huge treesfor pulpwood, at throw away prices.

Forest Development Corporations turned themselves into ForestDestruction Corporations and clear felled huge tracts of rich naturalforest without ensuring its replacement by productive forests.

Forest departments played a major role in destroying the sacredgroves.


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1730: Abhay Singh, the King of Jodhpur, opened a lime kiln tobuild his palace with fuel by felling Khejadi (Prosopis cineraria)trees from the nearby Khejadali village. But these trees weresacred to the Bishnois. Women hugged the trees..Many were

killed. The king ordered protection of Khejadi trees.

Trees supplying vital leaf fodder for livestock of GarhwalHimalayas were given for manufacture of badminton rackets atBareilly; the peasants rose in protest.

Nelapattu village, Andhra Pradesh protect pelicans who nestedon trees fringing an irrigation tank. When the breeding is over,the people used the nutrient rich waters to irrigate their fields.When declared a Bird Sanctuary, the Forest Department bannedthe use of tank for irrigation. The farmers turned against the

birds, hurting both the cause of nature conservation andagriculture.


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Kokre-Bellur, a village near Bangalore welcomes pelicans to nest ontrees scattered around the village.

In Uttara Kannada district the Forest Department clear felledsacred groves extending over hundred or more hectares andreplaced them by Eucalyptus plantations that miserably failed.

Karnataka forest Department commercial felled from protected

sacred groves of Coorg when large softwood trees becameexhausted in the Reserve Forest areas. A giant Appimidi mangotree yielding mangoes famous for pickling worth hundreds ofrupees annually was sold as low as Rs. 60.

In Bedthi Hydroelectric Project in Uttara Kannada district, aparticularly dense tract of forest outside the submersion areadeliberately marked as falling within the submersion area, and wasfelled even before the project was officially cleared; the projectwas dropped later.


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The proposal to clear-fell large tracts of natural sal forests ofBastar and plant them with tropical pine was opposed by manytribal groups. The tropical pine was chosen for its supposedly highproduction in a pilot plantation of the species. But this pilot

plantation lay in ruins. The whole affair was a gigantic fraud.

The peoples plantations in Alakananda valley in Garhwal performedbetter (80% survival rate) than the plantation of the forestryestablishment (20%survival rate).

The Assam agitation of 1980s choked off the flow of timber fromthe Northeast. So raw materials and supplies from Malaysia,Indonesia, New Zealand and Canada began to pour in. With thistransition, GOI imposed a ban on further clearing of naturalforests in 1986. Nature-based, especially tiger-centered tourism,

substituted supply of cheap raw material to the industry as anobjective.


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MP State Forest Department earned 500 crores and spent 400crores while people suffered direct costs of 94 crores in damagefrom wild life and spent an estimated Rs. 528 crores in attemptsto prevent wildlife damage.

Local people took a lead in apprehending the rich and famouspoachers such as Salman Khan and Nawab of Pataudi and morerecently an ex-Minister of Maharashtra, Dharmaram Atram.


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Blunder at BharatpurThe Bharatpur wetlands created by bunding of a rivulet in 1763, teemedwith wildfowls becoming a great attraction for shooting parties of the

maharaja of Bharatpur and his guests in the 1900s. The BritishViceroy, Lord Linlithgow boasted of having shot 4273 birds on a singleday, on 12th November 1938, a feat commemorated with a stoneplaque. Many of these rajas, landlords set up shikar companies afterindependence. Foreign tourists flocked to shoot tigers, panthers, gaur.

This continuing massacre, now supported by jeeps and superiorfirearms, largely polished off the wild life by 1970s. The Wild LifeProtection Act 1972, replaced this shikar business with eco-tourism in1980s.

The large heronries in the rainy season and the enormous flocks ofmigratory birds visiting in winter made it one of the first wildlifesanctuaries. Buffalo grazing and collection of khus grass by local peoplewere traditionally practiced in this biodiversity rich habitat. Bharatpurdeclared as Keoladeo Ghana National Park in 1982.
http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=Keoladeo+Ghana+National+Park&spell=1http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=Keoladeo+Ghana+National+Park&spell=1http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=Keoladeo+Ghana+National+Park&spell=1http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=Keoladeo+Ghana+National+Park&spell=1


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Buffalo grazing was banned. There were protests.seven peoplewere killed in the firing butthe ban was enforced.

Waterfowls and the visiting Siberian cranes declined. There wereno buffalos to keep under check a water loving grass Paspalumrendering it unfit for waterfowl.

Visiting Siberian cranes declined. Prevention of digging for khusrootsprevented loosening of the soil that give access to corms and tubers

to the Siberian cranes.


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Sariska disaster

Tiger citing became rare in the Tiger Reserve of Sariska near Delhisince 2003. Yet the Forest Department claimed that tigers still roamedSariska.

CBI reported that all tigers had been poached out of Sariska by 2004.Carcasses were skinned and left to rot. This creates a grand stink and itwas inconceivable that the official machinery would not be in the know.CBI concluded that this must have been done with official connivance.

But.in the end, while many villagers were beaten up, no governmentservant was called to book.


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Of the 5,653 distinct communities, 635 are "tribes" or "Adivasis.

577 ST communities number 84.32 million (2001) comprising 8.32%of total population. Indian subcontinent the abode of more thana quarter of the world's 350 million or so indigenous peoples.

Great Andamanese numbering only 43 to the Gonds numberingmore than 5,000,000.

The alien concept of private property with PermanentSettlement of the British in 1793.

The colonization of the forests commenced with the Forest Act of

1864 and consolidated with the Indian Forest Act of 1927 reducedthe rights of Adivasis to mere privileges conferred by the state.


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RevoltsBeginning with the Pahariya in Bihar in 1778,the Kolis of Maharashtra (1784-85),the Tamar of Chota Nagpur in present-day Jharkhand (1789, 1794-1795, 18

the Chuari Movement in Bihar (1795-1800),the Koyas in Andhra Pradesh (1803, 1862, 1879, 1880, 1822),the tribal revolts in Chotanagpur (1807- 1808, 1811, 1817, 1820),the Bhils in Western India (1809-1828, 1846, 1857-1858),the Kols in Chotangpur (1818, 1831-1832),

the Singphos in Assam (1825, 1828, 1843, 1849, 1869),the Mishmis in Arunachal Pradesh (1827, 1855),the tribals of Assam (1828),the Khasis of Assam (1829),the Mundas of Jharkhand (1820, 1832, 1867, 1889),the Kherwar uprising in Jharkhand (1832-1823),the Lushais of Assam (1834-1841, 1842, 1850, 1860, 1871-1872, 1892),the Daflas of Assam (1835, 1872- 1873),the Naiks of Gujarat (1838, 1868),the Khampti in Assam (1839-1843),the Gonds of Bastar in Chattisgarh (1842),

the Kondhs in Orissa (1850),


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the North Kachari hills of Assam (1854),the Santals in Jharkhand (1855, 1869-1870),the Naikdas in Gujarat (1858),the Syntengs of the Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya (1860-

1862),the Phulaguri uprising in Assam (1861),the Juangs in Orissa (1861),the Sentinel Islanders in the Andaman Islands (1867, 1883),the Raig-mels of Assam (1868-1869),the Nagas of Nagaland (1879, 1932, 1963-1971),the Bastar tribal uprising (1811),the Tana Bhagat rebellion in Bihar (1913, 1914, 1920, 1921),the Gond and Kolam revolt in Andhra Pradesh (1941),the Koraput revolt in Orissa (1942),revolts against the Japanese occupation army by the tribes of

the AndamanIslands (1942-1945), the Mizo revolt in Mizoram (1966-1971),the Warli revolt of Maharashtra (1956-1958),the Naxalbari in West Bengal (1967-71)..


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.and so on .. the resistance continued ..

into the contemporary times in various forms.


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Scheduled District Act of 1874, Government of India Act of1919 and later the Government of India Act of 1935.

The British Crown's dominions in India consisted of four politico-administrative arrangements:

(a)the presidency areas, where the Crown was supreme;(b)the residency areas, where the British Crown was present

through the resident, and the ruler of the realm was

subservient to the Crown;(c)the agency (tribal) areas, where the agent governed in the

name of the Crown but left the local self-governing institutionsuntouched; and

(d)the excluded areas (northeast), where the representatives

of the Crown was but figureheads.


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Articles 371A and 371G for Nagaland and Mizoramrespectively, confer special powers of greater autonomy, aresult of the early militant struggles.

Article 244 (Schedule V for the mid-Indian region andSchedule VI for the northeast region) of the Constitutionof India.

The state-sponsored development and conservation havedisplaced, mainly in the mid-Indian region 10 million Adivasis.Of the 21.3 million displaced for various "development"projects between 1951 and 1990 alone, 8.54 million were STsconstituting 40% of the displaced persons, predominantly from

forest areas. Only 2.1 million of them reportedlyrehabilitated; the remaining 6.4 million were left to fend forthemselves


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1793 : Permanent Settlement of Lord Cornwallis1874 : Excluded Areas Act1919 : Government of India Act1927 : Indian Forest Act

1935 : Government of India Act1952 : Forest Policy1977 : 42nd Amendment - State to concurrent List1980 : Forest Conservation Act1990 : No.13-1/90 - FP(1,2,3,5) guidelines of MoEF

1995 : Godavarman Thirumulpad SC admitted24.12.1996 : PESA comes into force

SC - Dictionary meaning of 'forest'14.02.2000 : IA No.548 of 202/95 SC order prohibiting of

dead, dying and diseased trees from NPS &

WLS13.11.2000 : SC 'pending further orders, no de-reservationof forests/NPs/Sanctuaries shall be effected'

23.11.2001 : IA no.703 in WP(C) No.202 of 1995 restrainingfrom regularisation. No further regularisation


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3. May.2002 : MoEF issues order outlining a "time-bound action plan" for the eviction ofencroachers by September 30, 2002.

May 2002 to March 2004 alone, evictions were carried outfrom 152,400.110 hectares. About 300,000 forest dwellersevicted during this period.

From 2002 to April 19, 2006, when the eviction was rampant,

305,266.39 hectares of forest area were in fact divertedfor non-forestry purposes

09.May.2002 : SC constitutes Central EmpoweredCommittee

10 October 2002 : Maharashtra order for regularisation30 October 2002 : IG of Forests reiterated 1990 orders


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30 October 2002 : SC - "Net Present Value' from user agencyat Rs.5.80 lakhs to Rs.9.20 lakhs per ha from30.122.2002 and remitted to Compensatory

Afrorestation Fund Management & PlanningAuthority (CAMPA) set up on 23.04.2004

2002 : Campaign for Survival and Dignity (CSD)launched

19-20 July 2003 : Jan Sunwai(900 from 13 states)

MoEF Issued Clarificatory order03 Feb. 2004 : MoEF stepping up a process for conversion

of forest villages stayed by SC05 Feb. 2004 : Regularisation of rights of tribals on forest

lands cut off date 31.12.1993 stayed by SC

21 July 2004 : MoEF Affidavit in SC on 'historical injustice'October 2004 : CSD discussion with National AdvisoryCommittee/P.M

25 April 2005 : Draft Bill


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21 Dec. 2004 : MoEF orders no eviction of STs pendingsettlement of rights

08 January 2005 : NAC discussed CSD document19 January 2005 : PM Meeting7-21 March 2005 : Dharna 5000 participates, 1 lakh protest;

filing of claims intensified03 May 2005 : Draft law comes to cabinet - blocked12 May 2005 : MoEF says no eviction of forest dwellers

who have submitted claims

10 July 2005 : Last date for submitting comments ondraft Bill

20-21 July 2005 : TSG redrafts Bill5 August 2005 : The Tiger Task Force submits report

stated that"the protection of the tiger is

inseparable from the protection of the forests itroams in. But the protection of these forests isitself inseparable from the fortunes of peoplewho, in India, inhabit forest areas"

15 August 2005 : National Protest Day - 180,000 participates08.November 2005 : Jail Bharo Andolanover 90,000 arrested13 Dec 2005 : Bill placed in Parliament


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03. Dec 2005 : Joint Parliamentary Committee constituted28 April 2006 : JPC depositions over23 May 2006 : JPC submits report to Parliament

21-25 August 2006 : Protests in Delhi03 September 2006 : WLPA Amendment (No.39 of 2006) - Tiger

Amendment passed22 November 2006 : Indefinite protest29 November 2006 : Nationwide protest Between 15-25 Lakh

protests15.december 2006 : Bill passed in Lok Sabha18 December 2006 : Bill passed in Rajya Sabha29 December 2006 : President signs2 January 2007 : Issued in Gazette for public informationFebruary 2007 : TSG for Rules constitutedMay 2007 : TSG submits draft Rules28-31 December 2007 : Critical Tiger Habitats notified 28 TRs+831. December 2007 : Act notified01. January 2008 : Rules notified


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As per the information collected till 28th

February 2010,

more than 27.16 lakh claims filed

more than 9.92 lakh claims pending

more than 9.29 lakh titles rejected

more than 7.59 lakh titles distributed

more than 36 thousand titles readyfor distribution.


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THE FOREST RIGHTS ACT

Who is eligible under this Act?

Those who primarily reside in forests [section 2(c) / 2(o)]

And are dependent on forest land or forests for bona fidelivelihood needs [section 2(c) / 2(o)]


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If the claimant is an ST, they should be in the area where theyare scheduled [sections 2(c) and 4(1)]

- ST certificate to claim rights as an ST[section 2(c) and Form in Rules]

If the claimant is not an ST in the area where they are scheduled,they can make claims as other traditional forest dwellers

Non-ST's are also eligible, as long as they satisfy the 3generations requirement. [section 2(o)]

- They must have resided in forests or forest land for threegenerations before 2005, where generation is defined as twentyfive years; a total period of seventy five years i.e., since 1930.

Proof of three generations of residence.


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What are the Rights that can be claimed?

To community forest resource

Customary common forest land within the traditional or customaryboundaries of the village or seasonal use of landscape in the case ofpastoral communitiesto which the community had traditional access;1. Right to protect, regenerate or conserve or manage anycommunity forest resource which they have been traditionally

protecting and conserving for sustainable use [Section 3(i)];2. To ensure that the decisions taken in the Gram Sabha to regulateaccess to community forest resources and stop any activity whichadversely affects the wild animals, forest and the biodiversity arecomplied with [Section 5 (d)].

To Land Being Occupied or Cultivated or Under Customary Use1. Directly as Land Under Occupation [section 3(a)]2. Conversion of Titles / Leases / Grants [section 3(g)]3. As Disputed Lands [section 3(f)]


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Minor Forest Produce[sections 3(b)/ 3(c)]

Includes bamboo, brush wood, stumps, cane, tussar, cocoons, honey,wax, lac, tendu or kendu leaves, medicinal plants and herbs, roots,tubers and so on [section 2(i)]; traditionally collected from withinor outside village boundaries [section 3(1)(c)];Fish and other produce of water bodies are covered under aseparate right [3(1)(d)].

Ownership, collection, use and dispose from any forest areatraditionally collected falling both within and outside villageboundaries [section 3(1)(c)].

Also traditional nistari rights/rights once recorded under PrincelyStates or zamindars, but may be extinguished or vested in thestate since Government take-over (section 3(1)(b)).Can be transported by headloads, handcarts or bicycles. Motorisedtransport is not allowed in forest areas.


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Grazing, Water and Other Community Rights(section 3(1)(d))

The right to graze livestock [section 3(1)(d)].

Pastoralist communities (both settled and nomadic) have a right toaccess forest land on a seasonal basis [section 3(1)(d)] for similaruses.

The right to access forest land on a seasonal basis to thecommunity and its members.

Conversion of Unrecorded Settlements and Forest Villagesto

Revenue Villages [section 3(1)(h)]


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Habitat (section 3(1)(e))(applies only to pre-agricultural and primitive tribal groups)

Primitive tribal groups (such as the Juangs, the Chenchus, theBaigas etc.) and preagricultural communities (such as shiftingcultivators and hunter/gatherers).

Habitat is the traditional area in which these communities have

lived, even if that should be inside reserved / protected forests[section 2(h)].

Right to reside inside these forest areas in accordance with theirtraditions and customs;

Right to prevent these forests from being destroyed (since thatwould deprive these communities of their habitat);Right to continue socio-cultural, religious and livelihood socialactivities in these forest areas that made them into a habitat.


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Right to Rehabilitationin case of Illegal Eviction or ForcibleDisplacement (sections 3(1)(m) and 4(8))

The eviction is illegal if notice prior to eviction was not served orif the forest settlement in the area is not complete, or if thesettlement is faulty.

And no compensation or rehabilitation was provided. It is theresponsibility of the Forest Department to prove that

compensation was provided.

A right to land for rehabilitation only if the land that was takenfrom was not used for its purpose within five years of beingacquired, and if no land was provided at the time of being

displaced.

Once evicted/displaced and occupied forest land for livelihoodafter that, you cannot be evicted from the land you haveoccupied, as you have a right to on site rehabilitation under

section 3(1)(m) and to land compensation under section 4(8).


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Any Other Traditional Right (section 3(1)(l))

This excludes hunting.

- shifting cultivation, both individual and collective;- customary individual or community claims over territory;- right to use religious sites / burial sites;- right to collect timber for housing or types of produce notcovered under minor forest produce, etc.


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Who are the Authorities under the Act?

Gram Sabhadetermines the Rights

-A village assembly consisting of all adult members of a village and incase of States having no Panchayats, Padas, Tolas and othertraditional village institutions and elected village committees, with fulland unrestricted participation of women;-(i) A village is referred to as in clause (b) of section 4 of theProvisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas)

Act, 1996 (40 of 1996) in V Scheduled Areas; or(ii) any area referred to as a village in any State law relating toPanchayats other than the Scheduled Areas; or(iii) forest villages, old habitation or settlements and unsurveyedvillages, whether notified as village or not; or

(iv) in the case of States where there are no Panchayats, thetraditional village, by whatever name called.


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Each gram sabha is to elect a ten to fifteen member Forest RightsCommitteeof which one-third are to be women and one-third STs inareas where STs reside.

-Receiving claims from people.-Prepare claims for the community as a whole over its communityresources such as minor forest produce, access to grazing land,community forest resources etc.-Visit the site of the claim

-Receive additional evidence from the claimant or other witnesses.-Decides whether the claim is correct or not-Reaches an agreed upon proposal in case claims of one village overlapswith another or with multiple villages with the Forest RightsCommittees of the village/s concerned

-And finally presents its findings and recommendations to the GramSabha.

Gram Sabha then considers and decides on the claims.If any claimant is not satisfied with the gram sabhas decision, he/she canappeal to the Sub-Divisional Level Committee. [Section 6(2)]

Sub-Divisional Level Committee


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Sub-Divisional Level Committee

1.Sub-Divisional Officer, who is the Chairperson2.Forest Officer in charge of a sub-division

3.Tribal Welfare Official at the sub-divisional level, or the officialwho looks after that subject4.Representative of Block/Taluka Panchayat nominated by the ZillaParishad5.Representative of Block/Taluka Panchayat nominated by the Zilla

Parishad6.Representative of Block/Taluka Panchayat nominated by the ZillaParishadOf the last three, two should be Scheduled Tribes (or, where thereare no ST's, other traditional forest dwellers) and at least oneshould be a woman.

Sub-divisional Committee shall


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Provide publicity and logistics, copies of forms and information togram sabhas.

Put together the resolutions

Hear appeals made to it against gram sabha decisions

Examine the resolutions of the gram sabha

Settle disputes between two gram sabhas.

Where a claim concerns an area outside of the Sub-Division, theCommittee should approach the Sub-Divisional Level Committee ofthe concerned Sub-Division for settling the matter.

prepares the record of forest rights for each block / talukand passes that on to the District Level Committee

If dissatisfied with the Sub-Divisional Level Committees decision

on their appeal, the claimant can appeal to the District LevelCommittee.


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District Level Committee

The final step is a committee that consists of the following people

(section 6(8)):1.District Collector or Deputy Commissioner, who is the Chairperson2.Divisional Forest Officer or Deputy Conservator of Forests3.Official in charge of tribal welfare at the district level4.Representative chosen by Zilla Parishad5.Representative chosen by Zilla Parishad6.Representative chosen by Zilla Parishad

1.Considers and finally approves them (Section 6(6)).2.Hear appeals against orders of the Sub-Divisional Level Committee.3.Settle disputes between Sub-Divisional Level Committees

4.Contacts other districts in case claims are across district boundaries5. Issues directions to the government officials to make the necessarychanges in the revenue and forest records.6. Publicise the record of rights and provide certified copies ofaccepted rights to the gram sabha and to the person concerned.


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Right to Development[Section 3(2)]

Provides for diversion of forest land up to 1 acre in each case and

recommended by the Gram Sabha for the following facilities managedby the Government which involve felling of trees not exceedingseventy-five trees per hectare, namely:(a) schools;(b) dispensary or hospital;(c) anganwadis;(d) fair price shops;(e) electric and telecommunication lines;(f) tanks and other minor water bodies;(g) drinking water supply and water pipelines;(h) water or rain water harvesting structures;

(i) minor irrigation canals;(j) non-conventional source of energy;(k) skill upgradation or vocational training centres;(l) roads; and(m) community centres:


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Critical wildlife habitat

Critical wildlife habitat are such areas of National Parks andSanctuaries specifically and clearly established, case by case, basedon scientific and objective criteria, that such areas are required to bekept as inviolate for the purposes of wildlife conservation after openprocess of consultation by an Expert committee.

All the following conditions are satisfied, namely:(a) the process of recognition and vesting of rights is complete;(b) it has been established that the activities or impact of thepresence of holders of rights upon wild animals is sufficient to causeirreversible damage and threaten the existence of said species andtheir habitat;(c) the State Government has concluded that other reasonableoptions, such as, co-existence are not available;


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(d) a resettlement or alternatives package has been prepared and

communicated;(e) the free informed consent of the Gram Sabhas to the proposedresettlement and to the package has been obtained in writing;(f) no settlement shall take place until facilities and land allocation atthe resettlement location are complete as per the promised package:

Provided that the critical wildlife habitats from which rights holdersare thus relocated for purposes of wildlife conservation shall not besubsequently diverted by the State Government or the CentralGovernment or any other entity for other uses.

No one can be shifted until the process of recognizing forest rights in

that area is complete [section 4(2)(a)].


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Conditions

Should have occupied forest land before the 13th day of December,2005.

Right to land under occupation shall be restricted to the area underactual occupation and shall in no case exceed an area of four hectares.

The right shall be heritable but not alienable or transferable and shallbe registered jointly in the name of both the spouses in case of marriedpersons and in the name of the single head in the case of a householdheaded by a single person and in the absence of a direct heir, theheritable right shall pass on to the next-of-kin.

No member of a forest dwelling Scheduled Tribe or other traditionalforest dweller shall be evicted or removed from forest land under hisoccupation till the recognition and verification procedure is complete.


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Power to Conserve, Protect and Regulate

The holders of any forest right, Gram Sabha and village level

institutions in areas where there are holders of any forest rightunder [Section 5] this Act are empowered to

(a)protect the wild life, forest and biodiversity;

(b) ensure that adjoining catchments area, water sources and otherecological sensitive areas are adequately protected;

(c) ensure that the habitat is preserved from any form of destructivepractices affecting their cultural and natural heritage;

(d) ensure that the decisions taken in the Gram Sabha to regulateaccess to community forest resources and stop any activity whichadversely affects the wild animals, forest and the biodiversity arecomplied with.


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The commons

institutional commons

biodiversity or genetic commons,

physical or environmental commons

knowledge commons


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It is not the tragedy of the commons that


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It is not the tragedy of the commons thatwe are told of, but the tragedy of enclosurethat are at the roots of scarcity, deprivationand unrest.

..the battle over the forests has reached a watershed

the battlebetween

predatory capitalist takeover and democratic governance.

For more details:www.forestrightsact.com

recovery of the commons forests and her peoples abridged

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