Skip to main content

1.29 lakh forest land claims rejected in Odisha, gram sabhas being disempowered: CSD tells Central tribal team

 
Members of the Campaign For Survival and Dignity (CSD), Odisha, a forest rights organization, have told Nanda Kumar Sai, chairperson of National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST), Government of India, that, contrary to huge propaganda by the state government, about 1.29 lakh out of a total of 6.05 lakh individual forest rights (IFR) claims have been rejected in Odisha.
Briefing him at the Odisha State Guest House, and giving him details of violations of the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006, and the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA), 1996 during his four days visit to Odisha, they particularly raising the issue of "disempowerment of FRA gram sabhas", alleging that in the "whole FRA implementation process, there has been consistent and systematic bypassing of the empowered FRA gram sabhas by Odisha government officials."
Those who accompanied Sai included Anusuiya Uikey, vice- chairperson, and members Hari Krishna Damor and Harshadbhai Chunilal Vasava. They were in Odisha since January 16 to hear allegations of violation of tribal rights in the state. NCST was formed under Article 338-A of the Constitution, which gives special protection to tribal rights across the country.
In its petition submitted to the NCST team, CSD said, while the Government of Odisha claims to be No.1 in issuing highest number of IFR titles in comparison to other states, the the ground realities are different.
Apprising NCST of the "realities" as seen by it, it said, “The state government has issued title papers to the tribals. Yet, though ten years of FRA implementation have passed, it has failed to demarcate most of the forest land issued under IFR and community forest rights (CFR)."
It pointed out that rejection of IFR claims of both scheduled tribes (STs) and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFDs). It is to be noted that as per the latest FRA report of November 30, 2017, 1,28,868 IFR claims (1,23,417 of STs and 25,451 of OTFDs) have been rejected out of a total 6,05,588 (5,75,070 of STs and 30,516 of OTFDs)."
Telling the NCST about poor recognition of community rights in the state and how obstructions were being created by the state forest department in the way of FRA implementation, CSD said, this was being done by "pushing illegal Van Surakshya Samitis through Ama Jungle Yojana."
Seeking strong directions to the state forest department, CSD urged NCST to tell the state government to issue CFR titles to all villages, to ensure ownership rights over minor forest produce, to recognise the individual forest rights of OTFDs, to "identify all forest and un-surveyed villages falling in the reserve forest and to convert them into revenue villages, to monitor the cancellation of IFR titles in the coal mining area of Hemgiri Block in Sundargarh district, to respect the PESA Act 1996, and to implement it in its true spirit in the Scheduled 5th areas."
CSD wanted the state government to also recognise the habitat rights of all the 13 particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs) in the state and implement the Central government’s mnimum support price scheme for minor forest produce "in its true spirit", and provide white paper on the coverage of implementation of FRA in villages of the state.
It also asked NCST to ensure enumeration of the exact landlessness among tribals families of the state and to provide one standard acres of revenue land to each and every tribal family, even endowing community ownership rights over all cashew forest/plantation land.
Thanking NCST intervention and recommendation on the "illegal" National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), especially NCTA's order dated March 28 2017, CSD sought direction to NTCA to immediately withdraw it, asking it to enhance compensation amount from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh per family willing to be relocated from the tiger reserves of the country.
CSD at the same time urged NCST to direct the Central government to dismiss the anti-FRA Compensatory Afforestation (CAMPA) Fund Act, 2016 and sought flow of the forest protection and management fund directly to the bank account of the concerned gram sabhas.
Sai assured CSD members of "necessary directions" to both the state and Central governments regarding "violations" of FRA, 2006 and PESA, 1996 in the state. Apart from CSD members, community members from Nayagarh district filed separate petitions before NCST to get rights over cashew lands, which they have been "protecting" and on which they have "depended" for generations.

Comments

TRENDING

Dalit rights and political tensions: Why is Mevani at odds with Congress leadership?

While I have known Jignesh Mevani, one of the dozen-odd Congress MLAs from Gujarat, ever since my Gandhinagar days—when he was a young activist aligned with well-known human rights lawyer Mukul Sinha’s organisation, Jan Sangharsh Manch—he became famous following the July 2016 Una Dalit atrocity, in which seven members of a family were brutally assaulted by self-proclaimed cow vigilantes while skinning a dead cow, a traditional occupation among Dalits.  

Powering pollution, heating homes: Why are Delhi residents opposing incineration-based waste management

While going through the 50-odd-page report Burning Waste, Warming Cities? Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Incineration and Urban Heat in Delhi , authored by Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran of the well-known advocacy group Centre for Financial Accountability, I came across a reference to Sukhdev Vihar — a place where I lived for almost a decade before moving to Moscow in 1986 as the foreign correspondent of the daily Patriot and weekly Link .

Boeing 787 under scrutiny again after Ahmedabad crash: Whistleblower warnings resurface

A heart-wrenching tragedy has taken place in Ahmedabad. As widely reported, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane crashed shortly after taking off from the city’s airport, currently operated by India’s top tycoon, Gautam Adani. The aircraft was carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members.  As expected, the crash has led to an outpouring of grief across the country. At the same time, there have been demands for the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and the Civil Aviation Minister.

Ahmedabad's civic chaos: Drainage woes, waterlogging, and the illusion of Olympic dreams

In response to my blog on overflowing gutter lines at several spots in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur, a heavily populated area, a close acquaintance informed me that it's not just the middle-class housing societies that are affected by the nuisance. Preeti Das, who lives in a posh locality in what is fashionably called the SoBo area, tells me, "Things are worse in our society, Applewood."

Global NGO slams India for media clampdown during conflict, downplays Pakistan

A global civil rights group, Civicus has taken strong exception to how critical commentaries during the “recent conflict” with Pakistan were censored in India, with journalists getting “targeted”. I have no quarrel with the Civicus view, as the facts mentioned in it are all true.

Remembering Vijay Rupani: A quiet BJP leader who listened beyond party lines

Late evening on June 12, a senior sociologist of Indian origin, who lives in Vienna, asked me a pointed question: Of the 241 persons who died as a result of the devastating plane crash in Ahmedabad the other day, did I know anyone? I had no hesitation in telling her: former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, whom I described to her as "one of the more sensible persons in the BJP leadership."

Whither SCOPE? Twelve years on, Gujarat’s official English remains frozen in time

While writing my previous blog on how and why Narendra Modi went out of his way to promote English when he was Gujarat chief minister — despite opposition from people in the Sangh Parivar — I came across an interesting write-up by Aakar Patel, a well-known name among journalists and civil society circles.

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Why India’s renewable energy sector struggles under 2,735 compliance hurdles

Recently, during a conversation with an industry representative, I was told how easy it is to set up a startup in Singapore compared to India. This gentleman, who had recently visited Singapore, explained that one of the key reasons Indians living in the Southeast Asian nation prefer establishing startups there is because the government is “extremely supportive” when it comes to obtaining clearances. “They don’t want to shift operations to India due to the large number of bureaucratic hurdles,” he remarked.