Morung Express News
August 13
Delhi: Participants of the National Consultation on the Draft Forest Rights Bill have unanimously called for the introduction of the bill in the current session of Parliament. The Consultation has welcomed the Draft Bill as a step in the right direction to address historical injustices against tribals.
It has expressed serious concern about the delay for adoption of the Draft Forest Rights Bill and ‘demonisation’ of it. The National Consultation has condemned the misinformation campaign against the Bill especially with regard to the vesting of 2.5 hectares of land to each nuclear tribal family when the Bill unequivocally states that it will benefit only “those forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes who are living in the areas in which they are scheduled and in occupation of land since before October 25, 1980”.
The National Consultation has further reminded the government that had it been responsive to its citizens, and was serious about implementation of the Forest Conservation Act of 1980; the tribal people would have already been allotted lands by now.
It has informed the nation that over 60% of the country’s forest cover is found in 187 tribal districts where less than 8% of the national population lives, reflecting the continuing culture of conservation of the tribal people.
The National Consultation notes that forests are being destroyed by logging contractors, local businessmen etc with the connivance of some of the forest officials and attributed the major cause of destruction of forests to the officially sanctioned conversion of forest for non-forest activities by the Ministry of Environment and Forest
The National Consultation has also noted that poaching and smuggling of highly endangered species is the main reason for reduction of endangered species.
“The nexus between the law enforcement personnel and poachers, inability of the law enforcement personnel and judiciary to enforce the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 and the lack of bilateral agreements for increasing cross border cooperation to undertake the intensive investigatory and prosecutorial work necessary to have a significant impact on traffickers both in countries of origin as well as destination, have failed the efforts to combat trafficking of wildlife products.” A release issued by the National Consultation stated.
The release affirmed that the Forest Rights Bill is not a charity but recognition of the rights of the tribals. The National Consultation has urged the government not to criminalise and penalise all the tribals for the failure of the State to address historical injustices to record and recognize the ancestral rights of tribal communities and effectively enforce the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972.
The National Consultation has thus called upon the government to introduce and adopt the Draft Forest Rights Bill in this current session of Parliament for two reasons.
First, the rights of the forest dwellers, which had been extinguished after the Supreme Court stayed the regularisation of villages without hearing the voices of the tribal peoples, must be restored. Second, the government must bring an end to harassment of the tribals by forest officials under the Forest Conservation Act.
On 11 October 2004, the State government of Orissa had directed the Forest Department to withdraw all 11,424 minor cases involving forest produce of less than Rs100.
