Uphold the rights of the tribals, Committee of Secretaries urged

New Delhi: The Organizing Committee of the National Consultation on Forest Rights Bill urged the Committee of Secretaries of the Government of India which is meeting tomorrow in New Delhi to discuss the Minor Forest Produce (Ownership Rights of Forest Dependent Community) Bill and the Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill, 2005 to ensure the rights of the tribals. It also urged to expedite the introduction of the Bill in the current session of parliament.

“It is unfortunate that the rights of the tribals are being trampled under the turf wars between the Ministry of Environment and Forest and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. The Minor Forest Produce (Ownership Rights of Forest Dependent Community) Bill is nothing but an attempt to subvert the Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill, 2005” – stated Suhas Chakma, Convenor of the National Consultation and Director of Asian Centre for Human Rights.

“Access to minor forest produce as proposed in the Minor Forest Produce Bill does not address the historical injustices caused by the failure of the government to record and recognise of tribal lands in successive legislations. The key issue is not granting right to collect and sell forest produce but vesting of two and half hectares of land as provided under the Draft Forest Rights Bill 2005” - further stated Mr Chakma.

The Minor Forest Produce (Ownership Rights of Forest Dependent Community) Bill also excludes the national parks, sanctuaries and other notified areas. This is contrary to the decisions of the Conference of Parties of the Convention on the Biological Diversity and recommendations of the Tiger Task Force which strongly recommended the involvement of tribal people and local communities for conservation of the protected areas.

The government must bring an end to harassment of the tribals by forest officials under the Forest Conservation Act of 1980. On 11 October 2004, the State government of Orissa directed the Forest Department to withdraw all 11,424 minor cases involving forest produce of less than Rs 100.

“In a country infamous of judicial delay and Forester Raj, the implications of filing thousands of cases against the tribals are unimaginable” – stated Mr Chakma.

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