Fresh eviction notices to Himachal's forest-dwelling Dalits "despite" Rahul Gandhi assurance to implement FRA

By Our Representative
Despite assurance (click HERE) by Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi that the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006 would be implemented in Himachal Pradesh, a state governed by his party, latest incidents suggest that the state government is going ahead withwith fresh eviction notices to forest dwellers, allegedly in violation of FRA.
A top civil rights organization, Himalaya Niti Andolan's (HNA's) Guman Singh, in a strongly-worded letter to the sub-divisional magistrate, Banjar, District Kullu, responsible for implementing FRA, has asked him to urgently stop eviction six scheduled caste (SC) families, who have been served notice of eviction by the district forest officer (DFO), Banjar.
Pointing out that these persons have less than 5 bigha of occupation, the letter says, they have even their houses on forest land, for which applied for regularization in year 2002.
Those who have have given notices are Krishan Kumar of village Buhara; Balk Ram of village Shahil; Bhakat Ram S/O Shri Kadshu Ram of village Dehuri; Dola Ram of village Dehuri; Inder Kumar of village Seri Alehda; and Rup Chand of village Bhadech.
Singh says, the notices have been given “under the garb of a Himachal Pradesh High Court order”, adding, these are fresh notices following huge number of them belongs SC having been already “evicted or \ordered to evict them from forest land without following the procedure of verification and recognition of rights under FRA.”
“All these all SC families are having very small land holding with them and have constructed their residential houses, cow shed and toilet for the last 30 years on forest land and have been cultivating small patches of forest land for their livelihood needs”, the letter says.
“More than 1.65 lakh applications for regularization were submitted to different tehsil offices of Himachal Pradesh, but not even single patta has been granted”, Singh alleges, adding, “The forest and revenue departments registered cases of encroachment against them under the HP Public Premises & Land (Eviction & Rent Recovery) Act, 1971 and section 163 of HP Land Revenue Act 1954.”
Calling these evictions “illegal” the letter says, they cannot take place “till verification and recognition of forest rights under FRA, 2006, which “provides right to occupy forest land for residential house and self-cultivation to schedule tribe and other traditional forest dwellers if occupation is prior to 13 December 13, 2005.”
According to Singh, “Eviction of forest dwellers are in direct contravention to protection provisions under FRA, 2006 Section 4(5), which says, “No member of a forest dwelling scheduled tribe or other traditional forest dweller shall be evicted or removed from forest land under his occupation till the recognition and verification procedure is completed.”
The evictions are taking despite Union ministry of tribal affairs issuing the clarification to Himachal Pradesh on dated December 14, 2015, “categorically explaining that recorded rights in settlement record needs to be recorded and recognized under FRA”, Singh says.
Singh observes, “Farmers of Himachal Pradesh are living here for the last three generations and are traditionally dependent on forests land and forest products, hence rightfully come under the definition of forest dwellers. The eviction proceedings intentionally initiated by the forest department/authorities is illegal and has hampered the implementation of FRA.”

Comments

Modi, Shah 'forget': Gandhi’s first Satyagraha was against citizenship law of South Africa

By Nachiketa Desai*
Hindu fanatic Nathuram Godse assassinated Mahatma Gandhi once on January 30, 1948 but his followers raising the war cry of ‘Jai Sriram’ are killing the Mahatma every day. In his home state of Gujarat, Gandhiji was killed a thousand times in 2002 when over 2,000 Muslims were butchered, their women raped, homes and shops plundered and set on fire and even unborn babies ripped out of the wombs of their mothers.

Union Budget 'moves away' from Right to Education, 1.3 lakh schools closed down

By Dr Aparajita Sharma*
It was a shocking reply by the Union human resource development minister to a question raised in Parliament on closure of schools in a country where lakhs of children are still out of school. On December 2, the minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, told Lok Sabha that the NITI Aayog’s education project, Sath-E, has led to 35,996 schools of different levels being merged in Madhya Pradesh, 4,312 in Jharkhand and 1,803 in Odisha. NITI Aayog is the Central Government’s policy think-tank.

CAA-NPR-NRC will 'target' 99% homeless, who are without birth certificates: NCU

Counterview Desk
Claiming to base on a survey in five states (Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu), which finds that over 99% of the homeless people do not have birth certificates, a civil rights organization which networks activists, researchers, urban practioners, lawyers, informal sector workers, has claimed that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), as also the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR), are likely to adversely impact this section the most.

Modi 'warned': Will not remain silent when women are labelled terrorists and traitors

Counterview Desk
As many as 13 women's rights organizations and 162 individuals have issued an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating that in the light of hate speeches during Delhi elections, especially directed against women, it is his "Constitutional duty to protect all citizens" and tell his partymen "to fight the elections in a manner that upholds the Constitution, not one that increases the fear and insecurity among women."

Law 'governing' world's tallest Statue of Unity refers to local tribals as occupiers

By Rohit Prajapati, Krishnakant*
The recently enacted Statue of Unity (SoU) Area Development and Tourism Governance Act, 2019 in Gujarat comes amidst a terrifying atmosphere of intimidation, house arrests, detentions and FIRs, not to mention the overarching implementation of Section 144 across the state.

Anti-CAA: Mallika Sarabhai joins students, faculty to protest dy CM's 'divisive' talk

By Our Representative
Taking strong exception to deputy chief minister Nitin Patel’s statement against those protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC), well-known danseuse Mallika Sarabhai has joined tens of activists and students and faculty of Gujarat University, CEPT University, Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad, Gujarat Vidyapeeth and Nirma University to say that they are seeking “azadi” from the fascist and communal forces of the country.

Mystery around Gujarat PSU 'transfer' of Rs 250 crore to Canadian firm Karnalyte

By AK Luke, IAS (Retd)*
While returning from a Board meeting of the Oil India Limited (OIL) in Ahmedabad some time in 2012, two officers of the Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd (GSFC), Nanavaty and Patel, saw me off at the airport. They said they were proceeding to Canada in connection with a project GSFC had entered into with a company there. As we were running late, I hastily wished them the best.

Ramchandra Guha on how Gandhi outgrew his Gujarati bania 'parochialism'

By Rajiv Shah
More than a fortnight ago, prominent historian Ramchandra Guha, who calls himself Gandhi scholar and not a Gandhian, came to Ahmedabad. While I was part of a small group of persons who met him at lunch, his lecture on Gandhi in the evening, where he sought to interpret what swaraj meant to Gandhi, surely, interested the selected audience that had been called to listen to him.

Savarkar 'criminally betrayed' Netaji and his INA by siding with the British rulers

By Shamsul Islam*
RSS-BJP rulers of India have been trying to show off as great fans of Netaji. But Indians must know what role ideological parents of today's RSS/BJP played against Netaji and Indian National Army (INA). The Hindu Mahasabha and RSS which always had prominent lawyers on their rolls made no attempt to defend the INA accused at Red Fort trials.

Counterview

Search This Blog