Civil society yatra in Himachal campaigns for forest rights, seeks support for environment-friendly issues

By Sandeep Minhas
To coincide with the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections, Himalaya Niti Abhiyan (HNA), a well-known environmental group, has undertaken a week long state wide campaign (yatra) with the slogan Conserve Environment, Support Livelihood in order to make community issues part of the election manifestos.
The yatra, to start from Kullu and is to pass through the districts of Mandi, Kangra, Chamba, Una, Hamirpur, Bilaspur, will culminate in Shimla.
It will interact and generate awareness among voters on the issues of sustainable development in Himalayan in the context of environment conservation, employment and livelihood, Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006, right to education, health, and other localised alternate development issues in order to trigger a healthy debate on primary issues in this election.
National coordinator of HNA Guman Singh and advisor-cum-member of zilla parishad Sant Ram, told media that HNA will hand over a memorandum to the contesting candidates to take up community issues as a part of their respective election campaign.
Singh said, FRA intends to provide right to livelihood, forest produce, individual and community forest rights, protection and management right of forests, development rights to the people of Himachal Pradesh. This Act provides legal right only to those occupants who are utilising forest land for individuals use like agriculture, horticulture, residence, cow shed etc. for those cultivating forest land before December 13, 2005.
The only solution to end illegal occupation of land is to implement FRA 2006 in its letter and spirit, he said, insisting, no other law provides for inviting claims to forest land, and if found valid, providing a legal right to it. But, he added, unfortunately, the state machinery has not taken steps aimed towards its effective implementation.
Referring to the situation in Himachal Pradesh, he said, even after the state obtained relaxation under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 for two years, thousands of Nautod lands are lying without any consolidation for years together in the tribal areas of the state. Such lands can only be settled by implementing FRA.
“Due to lack of political will coupled with bureaucratic lethargy, FRA has not been implemented in the state, nor the issue of Nautod lands resolved in tribal regions of the state. A comprehensive debate is required on this issue during these elections”, he insisted.
The yatra would also highlight now the potential of tourism in absorbing local youth remains unutilized. However, its main message would be to make tourism environment friendly and responsible.
“A strong policy initiative in this direction is required. Promotion of eco-tourism on forest land shall be encouraged through the forest right holder. For sustainable environmental integrity, a break on mega tourism schemes and programmes is mandatory”, Singh said.
The yatra would also stress that vast stretches of agricultural land lie barren due to variety of reasons, and at many places agriculture is not economically viable. Abandoned livestock and wild animal attacks are twin problems, forcing farmers switching to alternate occupations resulting in large swath of lands becoming unproductive. A policy to address enhance agricultural productivity is required.
Further, the yatra would highlight that Himachal Pradesh is ecologically and tectonically fragile, calling for complete moratorium on mining, large industries, cement factories, mega tourism projects, large hydroelectric projects and large construction projects.
“The state should strive for a displacement-free development, and in case displacement is inevitable than displaced should be economically and socially rehabilitated”, Singh said, adding, “In planned and under-construction four-lane highway projects, compensation value should be granted in discussion with farmers and at least four times compensation must be given as a bare minimum.”
Pointing out that Bhakra and Pong projects left behind bad memories the those displaced by these projects, Singh said, the pending cases should be reopened with priority to end the historic injustice meted out to the farmers of this state.

Comments

The soundtrack of resistance: How 'Sada Sada Ya Nabi' is fueling the Iran war

By Syed Ali Mujtaba* The Persian track “ Sada Sada Ya Nabi ye ” by Hossein Sotoodeh has taken the world by storm. This viral media has cut across linguistic barriers to achieve cult status, reaching over 10 million views. The electrifying music and passionate rendition by the Iranian singer have resonated across the globe, particularly as the high-intensity military conflict involving Iran entered its second month in March 2026.

Lata Mangeshkar, a Dalit from Devdasi family, 'refused to sing a song' about Ambedkar

By Pramod Ranjan* An artist is known and respected for her art. But she is equally, or even more so known and respected for her social concerns. An artist's social concerns or in other words, her worldview, give a direction and purpose to her art. History remembers only such artists whose social concerns are deep, reasoned and of durable importance. Lata Mangeshkar (28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022) was a celebrated playback singer of the Hindi film industry. She was the uncrowned queen of Indian music for over seven decades. Her popularity was unmatched. Her songs were heard and admired not only in India but also in Pakistan, Bangladesh and many other South Asian countries. In this article, we will focus on her social concerns. Lata lived for 92 long years. Music ran in her blood. Her father also belonged to the world of music. Her two sisters, Asha Bhonsle and Usha Mangeshkar, are well-known singers. Lata might have been born in Indore but the blood of a famous Devdasi family...

'Batteries now cheap enough for solar to meet India's 90% demand': Expert quotes Ember study

By A Representative Shankar Sharma, Power & Climate Policy Analyst, has urged India’s top policymakers to reconsider the financial and ecological implications of the country’s energy transition strategy in light of recent global developments. In a letter dated April 10, 2026, addressed to the Union Ministers of Finance, Power, New & Renewable Energy, Environment, Forest & Climate Change, and the Vice Chair of NITI Aayog, with a copy to the Prime Minister, Sharma highlighted concerns over India’s ambitious plans for coal gasification and the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR).

Manufacturing, services: India's low-skill, middle-skill labour remains underemployed

By Francis Kuriakose* The Indian economy was in a state of deceleration well before Covid-19 made its impact in early 2020. This can be inferred from the declining trends of four important macroeconomic variables that indicate the health of the economy in the last quarter of 2019.

Incarceration of Prof Saibaba 'revives' the question: What is crime, who is criminal?

By Kunal Pant* In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”

Food security? Gujarat govt puts more than 5 lakh ration cards in the 'silent' category

By Pankti Jog* A new statistical report uploaded by the Gujarat government on the national food security portal shows that ensuring food security for the marginalized community is still not a priority of the state. The statistical report, uploaded on December 24, highlights many weaknesses in implementing the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in state.

Why Indo-Pak relations have been on 'knife’s edge' , hostilities may remain for long

By Utkarsh Bajpai* The past few decades have seen strides being made in all aspects of life – from sticks and stones to weaponry. The extreme case of this phenomenon has been nuclear weapons. The menace caused by nuclear weapons in the past is unforgettable. Images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from 1945 come to mind, after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities.

Subaltern voices go digital: Three Indian projects rewriting history from the ground up

By A Representative A new wave of digital humanities (DH) work in India is shifting the focus away from university classrooms and English-language scholarship, instead prioritizing multilingual, community-driven archives that amplify subaltern voices . According to a review published in the Journal of Asian Studies , projects such as the People’s Archive of Rural India (PARI), the Oral History Narmada archive , and the Bhasha Research and Publication Centre are redefining how the country remembers its past — often without government funding or institutional support.

Beyond Lata: How Asha Bhosle redefined the female voice with her underrated versatility

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* The news of iconic Asha Bhosle’s ‘untimely’ demise has shocked music lovers across the country. Asha Tai was 92 years young. Normally, people celebrate a passing at this age, but Asha Bhosle—much like another legend, Dev Anand—never made us feel she was growing old. She was perhaps the most versatile artist in Bombay cinema. Hailing from a family devoted to music, Asha’s journey to success and fame was not easy. Her elder sister, Lata Mangeshkar, had already become the voice of women in cinema, and most contemporaries like Shamshad Begum, Suraiya, and Noor Jehan had slowly faded into oblivion. Frankly, there was no second or third to Lata Mangeshkar; she became the first—and perhaps the only—choice for music directors and all those who mattered in filmmaking. Asha started her musical journey at age 10 with a Marathi film, but her first break in Hindustani cinema came with the film "Chunariya" (1948). Though she was not the first choice of ...

Search This Blog