Skip to main content

Demand for rights of non-tribal forest dwellers in Indian forests picks up: Memorandum submitted in Odisha

By Our Representative
The demand for recognition of forest rights, as per the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006, is starting to take a new turn in India’s tribal important tribal regions: Apart from the need to ensure tribals their rights over the forest land, human rights organizations have begun to increasingly insist on the need to recognize the rights of Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFDs) by “converting” forest and unsurveyed villages into revenue villages. This came to light in a list of demands put forward by Odisha rights bodies on the world human rights day, December 10. In a memorandum it prepared for submission to government officials also put forward several other demands which pertained both for tribal and non-tribal dwellers.
Asking the Odisha government for “immediate withdrawal of forest offence cases filed against tribals and forest dwellers”, a statement issued by them following a rally in Kantabaji, Bolangir district, said, they want the state government to come up with a “special financial package for Bolangir to meet distress migration”; bring in changes in the Inter State Migration Workman Act 1979 and ensure security of the migrant workers in other states; issue identity card to the construction worker and implement bonded labour prevention Act; and rehabilitate all released bonded labourers of the district.
They also demanded the need to provide work in all season under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA), insisting, the scheduled tribe status should be provided to the “Paharia tribe”, who have been scheduled in the neighbouring state Chhatishgarh. Other demands include providing cultivable and homestead land to all landless and homestead less families; regularizing land rights of all families occupying over government land for generations; giving Permanent Record of Rights(RoR) over Bhugara land and Jagiri land; exempt all agricultural loan of the farmers and lunch pension scheme for them; and open agricultural based industries in the tribal regions.
The memorandum was sent to the Odisha chief minister, a copy of which was sent to the Chief Secretary, secretaries of SC&ST development department, revenue department, forest and environment department, panchayati raj. It was handed over to government functionaries of the Bolangir district.
The demands were put forward on the occasion of World Human Rights Day by noted rights body Zindabad Sangathan and Sramik Adhikar Manch of Bolangir, affiliated to the Campaign for Survival and Dignity (CSD). They jointly organized a protest rally December 10 at Kantnaji, in which hundreds of tribals and forest dwellers from nearby blocks, i.e Kantabanji, Muribahal, Turekela, Khaprakhol, Belpada, Bongomunda, Titilagarh and Patnagarh joined in.
The protest rally began at the Government Bus Stand, Kantabaji, and moved around the town and marched towards the tehsil office. In the procession, the participants of rally held placards in their hands with their demands. A public meeting was organized before the tehsil office. Trilochan Punji, the leader of the joint endeavour, presided over the meeting. He shared objective of the programme sharing the various issues of Bolangir district on the human rights day.
Joining the Protest Rally as chief guest speaker, Prafulla Samantara, the noted activist and president of Loksakti Abhijan addressed the participants of the protest Rally. In his key note address he said, “The Constitution of India has provided rights to the people to live a life with dignity but the government of Odisha has failed to ensure it even in the 67 years of independence in the Bolangir district resulting distress migration of the people to other regions in search of basic livelihood needs.” He demanded a special financial package from the Government of Odisha to meet this.
Addressing the gathering, Lingaraj Azad, advisor of the Niyamgiri Surakhya Samittee(NSS) said, “We have to critically analyze the system of governance that we have. This system of governance has made our representatives and our employees as the owner. They have turned as govt. which is not a good sign for our democracy and we have to think for it.” Others who addressed the rally were Arun Mishra, representative of the Samajwadi Party, Bishnu Prashad Sharma, advocate, and Manohar Chauhan, member of the CSD.

Comments

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Central pollution watchdog sees red in Union ministry labelling waste to energy green

By Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran*  “Destructors”, “incinerators” and “waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration” all mean the same thing – indiscriminate burning of garbage! Having a history of about one and a half centuries, WTE incinerators have seen several reboots over the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. 

First-of-its-kind? 'Eco-friendly, low cost' sewage treatment system installed in Gujarat

Counterview Desk Following the installation of the Unconventional Decentralized Multi-Stage Reactor (UDMSR) for sewage treatment, a note on what is claimed to be the  first-of-its-kind technology said, the treated sewage from this system “can be directly utilized for agricultural purposes”, even as proving to be a “saviour in the times of water crisis.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Indo-Bangla border: Farmers facing 'illegal obstacles' in harvesting, transporting yields

  Counterview Desk  In a representation to the chairperson, National Human Rights Commission, human rights defender Kirity Roy, who is secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), has said that Border Security Force (BSF) personnel are creating "illegal obstacles" for farmers seeking to harvest their ripened yields and transport them to the market in village Jhaukuthi of Cooch Behar district.

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

Wasteland, a colonial legacy, being used to 'give away' vast tracts to Ratnagiri refinery

By Fouziya Tehzeeb* William D’Souza, a 55-year old farmer from Kuthethur, Mangalore, was busy mixing cattle feed when we arrived at his doorsteps. Around 25 km from the bustling city of Mangalore, Kuthethur is a lush green village with thick vegetation. On the way to William’s house the idyllic view gets blocked by the flares and smoke arising from the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL).

CAA disregards India's inclusive plural ethos, 'betrays' ideals of freedom struggle: PUCL

Counterview Desk    "Outraged" at the move of the Central government to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA 2019) weeks before the election, the top rights group, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), has demanded that the law be repealed. 

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Invincible, Modi 'taller' than BJP, RSS: An opportunity for Congress beyond 2024?

By NS Venkataraman*  With the announcement of poll schedule for the 2024 parliamentary election, there is palpable excitement and expectation amongst the countrymen  about the shape of things to happen in India after the  results of the election would be announced. There is also speculation abroad about the future course of developments in India.