-The Hindu
Fears expressed over misuse of Forest Rights Act
Fearing that the Forest Rights Act, 2006, will be used as a populist programme leading to ineligible people benefitting from land grants, the Director-General of Forests has written to all Chief Secretaries of States to exercise restraint in granting land ownership records (pattas).
Kaushik Mukherjee, Additional Chief Secretary to Government, Department of Forest, Ecology and Environment, said this at the national-level workshop on “Strengthening of livelihoods for sustainable managements of forests” here on Thursday.
Speaking about what had led to these fears, he said that there were several instances of land being granted to non-tribal people under the legislation without proper verification. The legislation was passed to protect the rights of indigenous people who have either habitation or cultivable land within a forest area.
MOOT QUESTION
Mr. Mukherjee said that the question as to whether the system should view tribal people as “anthropological specimens” or make them join the mainstream is a “moot question” that demands “soul-searching answers.” It was important not to “condemn a generation to penury” in the name of preserving their culture, he added. It is unfortunate that the Jarawa tribal people were made to dance for their food, he said.
The need of the hour was “respectable rehabilitation” and not necessarily relocation, said Mr. Mukherjee, adding that the Centre’s allocation for these programmes was “skimpy”. He suggested that money allocated under Special Component Plan (SCP) and Tribal Sub-Plan (TS) could also be used for this. Mr. Mukherjee said that projects by non-governmental organisations should not become “bypass” programmes for the existing government programmes. He emphasised the need to achieve convergence between community-based organisations and statutory bodies.
Underlining the difficulties in expanding forest cover, he said that it was important to ensure that the existing pristine bio-diversity areas were not lost.
While some cover could be increased in agro-forestry, which is largely monoculture, lost bio-diversity could never be recovered, he added.
P.J. Dilip Kumar, Director-General of Forests, said that a project to add or regenerate 10 million hectares of forest cover over the next 10 years would start from April this year.
Ananth Hegde Ashisara, Chairman of the Western Ghats Task Force, said that the village forest committees were playing a crucial role in preserving forests,. He said that the State Government should allocate Rs. 10 crore for them in the coming budget.