This blog is an attempt to collect News headlines appearing in web about Forestry in India.
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"The mind is everything. What you think you become" ........... Buddha "A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others" ..........................Ayn Rand
"Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances." ......... Mahatma Gandhi
India plans to launch two earth observation satellites to monitor environmental changes in the country. One is to measure carbon emissions and is due for launch in 2012 and the second is to monitor forest cover.
The Indian forestry observations satellite will be launched by ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) in 2013, according to Jairam Ramesh, Environment and Forest Minister: "India will be one of the few countries in the world to launch a forestry satellite to monitor the green cover every day".
This announcement comes as the Green India Mission (GIM) plan is currently being discussed. The GIM is a 10-year long program to help green India, and is part of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), with an objective to increase forest coverage by 10 million hectares (100,000 sq.kms) by 2020 and improve ecosystems.
India currently has nine earth observation satellites in orbit.
The HinduRuth Padel: Reaching out through prose and poetry. Photo: Vivek Bendre
In a free-wheeling chat, award-winning poet and scholar Ruth Padel talks about how her great great grandfather Charles Darwin influenced her outlook, her concern for tigers, her love for India and her first novel.
At 64, fame and age sit lightly on Ruth Padel, elected first woman Professor of Poetry at OxfordUniversity in May 2009, a post from which she resigned later. Charles Darwin's great great granddaughter was in Mumbai recently at the invitation of Phiroza Godrej, the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and the PEN All India Centre to read from her first novel 'Where the Serpent Lives'. In an interview, Padel, a Greek tragedy scholar, award-winning poet, musician and excavator, talks about her love for India, Darwin and the relationship between humans and other animals…………………………………………………………..
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Coimbatore: It was an “Operation Snake” by forest officials that targeted unsuspecting tourists with an intention of extorting money and the police smelled a rat. And now a forest official behind the slithery racket has landed in jail and an assistant conservator of forests is absconding
Over the last few years, two senior forest officials in western Tamil Nadu have been stealthily stashing red sand boa, an endangered species of snake, in the cars of tourists coming to Pollachi and Udumalpet near Coimbatore. They would then “trap” the tourists with the snakes and threaten them into paying up huge sums for letting them go. Smuggling and possession of the snake is an offence under the Wildlife Protection Act.
Several tourists are said to have quietly paid the money fearing harassment. But the lid was blown off the snake scam recently when a group of real estate agents from Wayanad in Kerala arrived in Pollachi to look up some property. Police said Abubakker, Sundaram and Mohandas came to Sirumugai on July 26 and met a real estate broker, KS Jose, at Sirumugai for buying land in Pollachi. Jose is said to have taken them around Pollachi in a car. When the car reached Sultanpet, G Sivakumar, a lecturer in the forest college at Vaigai Dam, who was in uniform and assistant conservator of forests R Nedunchezian arrived on the scene. They stopped the car for a “routine inspection” and found a snake in the trunk of the vehicle. Sivakumar then allegedly asked the real estate agents to part with Rs 5 lakh or face imprisonment. ……………………………
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NEW DELHI: Prime Minister ofIndiaDr. Manmohan Singh might have talked of the importance of implementing the Forest Rights Act in its letter and spirit in the Naxal-effected tribal areas but the Union environment and forests ministry is instead trying to curtail the Act’s provisions. The MoEF has pitched for an amendment of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1976, that will, contrary to the provisions of FRA, ensure that the rights of forest dwellers and tribals are denied in the existing 661 national parks and sanctuaries.
The FRA provides for handing back the rights over forests to people who have traditionally lived or depended on them — mostly tribals. The legislation was passed by the UPA in its last tenure recognizing that successive governments since independence had usurped forest lands and turned them into forest department’s property without recognizing that people had been living in these forests. The Indian Forest Service largely remained opposed to the Act till the last possible moment and retired forest officials even tried to block the legislation in different courts across the country.......................................................
Barker puts low carbon growth at the heart of UK-India relationship
Low carbon growth should be at the centre of the UK’s special partnership with India, Climate Change Minister Greg Barker said today as he addressed Indian and British companies.
Mr Barker was speaking in New Delhi as he accompanied Prime Minister David Cameron on his first official trip to the country.
Both countries have today agreed to work together to help the Indian economy grow in a more energy efficient way, cutting emissions and helping businesses reduce their reliance on energy. The energy intensity of India’s economy improved by a third between 1990 and 2007, making it more efficient than the US or China.
India has pledged to further reduce the emissions intensity of its economy by 20-25% by 2020 and already boosts some of the world’s most energy efficient factories ………………………………….
Wildlife beyond boundaries: The clue lies in corridors
M D Madhusudan & Pavithra Sankaran, TNN, Jul 30, 2010, 08.51am IST
The elephants stood at the stream's edge. As the adults drank in measured trunkfuls, calves gambolled in the water. Just above them, on the slope, a large sambar stag emerged silently from the undergrowth. From a cluster of trees above came the scolding call of a giant squirrel, as a troop of Nilgiri langur foraged in the canopy.
Just as we were slipping into a reverie, imagining ourselves in pristine wilderness, a woman called loudly to her children playing nearby as she washed clothes outside a neat row of houses, a mere hundred metres upslope of the elephants.
This vignette, from the Anamalai Hills of southern India, is not all that unusual. Across large parts of our country, a wide range of species still occur outside the confines of wildlife reserves…………………………………………………..
Bangladeshand India, home to the famous Royal Bengal tiger, will attend the 13-nation Tiger Conservation Summit in St. Petersburg in September to plan out urgent measures to save the species.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina may attend the meeting of the Tiger Range Countries (TRC) - Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India,Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam, The Daily Star reported Friday.
Currently, half of the entire Royal Bengal tiger population of over 2,000 is in 56 forest areas in India.
The tiger is treated as one of the most critically endangered animals fast disappearing from the world. If all the six sub-species are taken togther, there are estimated to be just about 3,200 tigers left…………………………………………..
Dogs, specially trained to sniff out illegal wildlife products like tiger skins and bones, joined the forest departments of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Jharkhand Friday.
The dogs and their 10 handlers have completed a nine-month training programme which culminated Friday at a passing out ceremony held in the Dog Training Centre at the Special Armed Forces Academy, Bhopal.
The dogs have been trained to detect hidden wildlife articles like bones and skins of tigers and leopards and bear bile. Their procurement and training was funded and facilitated by TRAFFIC India, a joint programme of World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
This is the second phase of TRAFFIC India's sniffer dog training programme. Earlier, two dogs were deployed by the forest departments of Haryana and Uttarakhand.
'In order to curb the growing menace of wildlife crimes, it is necessary to deploy the best enforcement practices available including the use of sniffer dogs, which have a proven track record in detecting crime and serving as a long-term deterrent,' said Samir Sinha, head, TRAFFIC India here.
The cheetah is to return toIndia, more than 60 years after the last three were shot dead by hunters on the subcontinent.
Indian minister for the environment and forests, Jairam Ramesh, has picked three sites for the reintroduction of the animal within a year. Eighteen cheetahs are to be brought from Iran, Namibia and South Africa. A budget of over £500,000 has been made available to prepare the sites for their release.
"It is important to bring the cheetah back as it will help restore the grasslands of India," Ramesh said. "The way the tiger restores forest ecosystems, the snow leopard restores mountain ecosystems, and the Gangetic dolphin restores waters in the rivers, in the same way the cheetah will restore our grasslands."
India'swildlifehas struggled in recent decades. The country's world famous population of tigers hasshrunk from more than 3,600 in 2002 to around 1,400 now. Successive government initiatives have foundered on corruption; conflicts between often extremely poor local communities and theanimals; the power of organised criminal smuggling networks which supply tiger parts to east Asia, and simple administrative inertia. The population of snow leopards now numbers between 100 and 200, possibly less than a third of the total a decade ago. The Gangetic dolphin remains endangered, although the number of Asiatic lions has recently increased.
India's last wild cheetahs are thought to have been shot by the Maharajah of Surguja in 1947………………………………………………………
Tigress relocated to Sariska Tiger reserve to revive breeding
2010-07-29 17:40:00
A genetically compatible tigress from the Ranthambore Tiger reserve has been relocated to the Sariska Tiger reserve in Rajasthan, to revive hopes for tiger breeding.
The tigress, T-44, was freed in the reserve at around 11.30 a.m. after being brought by helicopter.
"The operation that we carried out today was planned in advance. We put her in the cage properly and a collar was fitted on her. We took samples and measurements in advance. The whole operation was conducted smoothly. The biggest advantage was that we saved a lot of time as earlier we planned to come by road but then we came by helicopter," said K. Shankar, a scientist of Wildlife Institute of India (WTI) in Dehradun.
The forest already has two males and two females that had been shifted there in the past two years. The two-and-a-half-year old tigress is the fifth in the forest………………………………….
A man has been arrested on suspicion of breaking wildlife laws after he was found with 43 snakes in his car, police in the Indian city of Jaipur have said.
Rajesh Kapoor was arrested with the snakes, including eight protected cobras, in a cotton bag, police said. Mr Kapoor has previously been linked with idol smuggling and antiques theft, superintendent of police Hawa Singh Ghumariya said.
A snake rescue team was looking after the snakes.The arrested man runs a fitness centre in Jaipur and told journalists that he hoped to sells the snakes on the international market………………………………………………
BHUBANESWAR: The mass deaths of elephants reported inside Simlipal forest last month was the handiwork of poachers who used poison and guns to silence the animals, according to a Central government inquiry report. It added that forest staff tried to destroy the evidences in a bid to conceal the incidents and recommended stringent action against the erring staff.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) had sent noted environmentalists, Belinda Wright and Biswajit Mohanty, to Simlipal in June in the wake of media reports about mass slaughter of elephants. The team made extensive tour of the 5,000 sq km biosphere area for about a week, discussed the situation with officials, villagers, local environment activists before submitting its report. …………….
Kathmandu:Nepal and India today inked a key pact to conserve biodiversity and combat illegal trade in wild animals coinciding with the first International Tiger Conservation Day.
"As Nepal and India are facing similar challenges in conserving the biodiversity, including the tiger, the signing of the joint resolutions gives us the responsibility to take the lead role in protecting tigers and showcasing to the world that together we can make a huge difference," said inister for forest Dipak Bohara, who was present at the function in the capital.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which aims to conserve biodiversity and strengthening ecological security in the trans-boundary region, was signed by Gopal Prasad Upadhyaya, director general, department of national parks and wildlife conservation, Nepal and SPYadav, DIG and joint director, national tiger conservation authority, ministry of environment and Forest, India.............................................
BHUBANESWAR: Minister for Higher Education Debiprasad Mishra today criticised the Centre for not releasing adequate funds for compensatory afforestation programme despite huge deposit with the Compensatory Afforestation Management Fund and Planning Authority (CAMPA).
Replying to the demand discussion on Forest and Environment Department on behalf of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the Higher Education Minister said that the State has a deposit of Rs 1,608 crore in CAMPA fund which has transferred only Rs 131 crore to the State CAMPA account.
Every year funds to the tune of Rs 400 crore is deposited with CAMPA from the State, but the Centre is not releasing adequate amount to the State for compensatory afforestation…………
Vedanta Resources: the world's most hated company?
Protesters descend on FTSE 100 mining group's AGM – but chief executive describes criticism as 'lies'
By Alistair Dawber
Thursday, 29 July 2010
Vedanta Resources' highly successful financial year, and its annual meeting, were overshadowed yesterday when more than 100 protesters, some dressed as characters from James Cameron's Avatar film, came to object to what they say is the company's shocking human rights and environmental record.
Police stopped protesters storming the meeting, as pressure groups and celebrities lined up to attack the mining group's record over its treatment of the Dongria Kondh tribe, which, they claim, will be devastated if Vedanta's planned bauxite mine in India's Orissa state goes ahead…………………………………….
Posco must wait till tribal rehab is over: Jairam Ramesh
28 Jul 2010, 0439 hrs IST,ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: Final clearance for South Korean steelmaker Posco’s project at Jagatsinghpur, in Orissa, will have to wait till settlements rights under Forest Rights Act, 2006, is complete, environment minister Jairam Ramesh has said.
Consent under the Forest Dwellers Act is crucial as the project has been delayed on account of protests by the local people. Posco had indicated that it needs about 1,600 hectares for its project in the state, of which 1,173 hectares is forest.
Sources said that the ministry plans to send team too undertake due diligence on the issue of settlement of forest rights. Sources said there is cause to suspect the Jagatsinghpur collector’s report which said, “no claim for settlement of rights from tribals and traditional forest dwellers has been received.”
Villages such as Dinkhia have not allowed officials to step into their villages for the last five years, so it unlikely that the district collector would have been allowed to hold a public hearing. Further, two villages including Dinkhia held a gram sabha in the first week of February, where the Posco project was rejected.
In response to a written question in the RS, Mr Ramesh said on Tuesday: “Environmental clearance for setting up an integrated iron and steel plant along with a captive power plant near Paradip, Jagatsinghpur Orissa by Posco India-Orissa was accorded on July 19, 2007, subject to stipulation of environmental safeguards. One of the clearance conditions stipulated was obtaining of the forest clearance for diversion of forest land under the Forest Conservation Act prior to the commencement of construction at the work site.” ............................
Central team says land acquisition by Odisha govt for Posco 'illegal'
PTI, Jul 27, 2010, 04.53pm IST
PARADIP/BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha government on Tuesday began land acquisition for the proposed Rs 51,000 crore Posco steel project in Jagathsinghpur district, even as a central team termed the process as "illegal" saying that the Forest Rights Act had been violated.
"We have begun acquiring government land in Gada Kujang Panchayat area after proper verification," Additional District Magistrate (Paradip), Saroj K Choudhury said.
Stating that the work was progressing smoothly, he said two persons, Rohit Behera and Basant Behera of Bhuyanpal village, were among first to receive cheques for Rs 1.15 lakh each for their land of over ten decimal area used for cultivation of betel vine.
The process started despite reservations expressed by the central committee of union ministries of Forest and Environment and Tribal Affairs which dubbed land acquisition without implementing the Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 as illegal.
"It will be illegal to acquire land until the Forest Rights Act is implemented properly," Asish Kothari, one of the four members of the joint committee said. ……………………………………………….
Army veterans launch ecological operation in Kullu
2010-07-27 15:50:00
A group of ex-Army men have launched an operation to re-green the hills and are converting a large area of barren land along the SutlejRiver in Kullu district into a dense forest.
The project will be executed in close coordination with and under the technical guidance of the state Forest Department and Ecological Task force.
"ETF's (Ecological Task Force) work is to plant saplings for environment conservation along with the forest department," said Pawnesh Kumar, Conservator in the state Forest Department.
The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) would provide the funds to the team for the task.
The task force not only does afforestation, but also educates villagers about the importance of rainwater harvesting…………………………………………………….....By Prem Thakur (ANI)
Van Mahotsav CM: 123 cr to be spent on forestry-related activities Lalit Mohan
Tribune News Service Bankhandi (Dharamsala), July 26
The state government has planned a major investment in forestry-related activities. Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, while presiding over the 61st state-level Van Mahotsav function organised at Bankhandi, 40 km from here, said Rs 123 crore would be invested by the state government in forestry-related activities in the current financial year. Data collected by The Tribune regarding the status of forests in the state has some concerns for the policy makers and environmentalists. In the recent past, the Government of India announced green bonus for the Himalayan states. The state got about Rs 100 crore as green bonus under the scheme, which was the lowest amount among all Himalayan states of the country. Even states like Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand received more green bonus than the state. Jammu and Kashmir got Rs 160 crore under the scheme while Uttarakhand got about Rs 205 crore. The eastern Himalayan states got much more funds due to larger percentage of forest cover. According to sources, the state received least green bonus due to lesser percentage of dense forest cover. The power projects have adversely affected the dense forest cover in the state. In the past two decades 9,000 hectares forest area has been diverted to power projects………………………………………………………………………….. For remaining report, log to: http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100727/himachal.htm#1
'Chinese beliefs pose gravest threat to Indian tigers'
Salil Jose | 2010-07-26 17:38:40
Chennai: China might have banned the use of tiger body parts in traditional medicines. But the demand for the big cat’s bones and other parts has not come down because of the Chinese people’s belief in the healing and aphrodisiac qualities of tiger parts.
Reports say the sale of alcohol-based health tonics with tiger bones in them is thriving in that country. The Chinese believe that these tonics can treat rheumatism, reduce joint stiffness, and increase sexual vigour.
Have the tiger parts really got healing and aphrodisiac powers? Or is it just a myth?
“Tiger parts don’t have any such powers. It is only a superstition,” says well-known wildlife and conservation filmmaker Shekar Dattatri.
Shekar, who has spent over thirty years observing and filming tigers, says this Chinese ‘superstition’ poses the gravest threat to the tiger in India.
While interacting with the audience after the screening of his documentary ‘The Truth about Tigers’ at the Dakshinachitra in Chennai on Saturday, he said the Chinese demand for tiger parts is fueling poaching by organised criminal gangs.
These gangs, mainly members of highly-skilled hunting tribes like the Baheliya and Bawaria from central India, travel to wildlife reserves across the country on poaching expeditions. These gangs are paid Rs 2 to 3 lakh for every tiger they hunt down.
The lack of enforcement of wildlife laws helps the poachers. State forest departments have neither the resources nor the expertise to prevent poaching, he says. There are over 20,000 field staff vacancies in forest departments across the country because of ‘lack of funds’. But at the same time, there was no dearth of budgetary allocation for unnecessary and undesirable ‘civil works’ in the forests in the name of saving the tiger, he points out. ………………………..
Forest Department will plant saplings on farmers land
Mon, Jul 26 05:23 PM
Chandigarh, Jul 26 (PTI) Haryana Forest Department will plant saplings on farmers land along national highways as tree strips along the highways have been cut to widen the roads and there is no space for fresh plantation. Forest Minister Ajay Singh Yadav said a sum of Rs eight crore had been earmarked for the scheme during the current financial year.
The Minister said the saplings would be planted in two rows with the concurrence of the farmers. The Forest Department would supervise the plantation for three years and thereafter it would be handed over to farmers, he said, adding that to increase forest cover in the state, agricultural forestry was being promoted.
Farmers were being provided saplings of various trees at subsidised rates so that they could increase their income by adopting agricultural forestry. The scheduled forest area in Haryana was 3.5 per cent of the total geographical area of the state, he said adding that income accrued from this plantation would be given to farmers.
The Forest Department had set a target to plant five crore tree saplings during this year so as to increase forest cover in the state.
Higher demand for forest products in China, South Korea and India is benefiting log and lumber exporters in New Zealand. The value of exported forest products have increased over 54% in 2010, according to a report from Pressreleaspoint.com, citing Wood Resource Quarterly.
New Zealand’s exports of pine logs and lumber increased substantially during the first months of 2010. Unfortunately for the manufacturing sector, log exports have increased much faster than the exports of manufactured products.
For the period January through May, the value of wood, pulp and paper products reached almost USD$1.2 billion (NZ$1.7 billion), up 54% from last year. The increase in shipments the past few years is due to continued strong demand for most forest products and wood raw-material in China.
The big story from New Zealand continues to be the expanding exports of Radiata pine logs to Asia. In 2009, China was, for the first time, the number one destination for Radiata logs. The volume reached 4.8 million m3 last year, up from 2.1 million in 2008 and from only 680,000 m3 five years ago. So far this year, exports to China are up an additional 38% from the earlier record set last year.
The total log shipments in 2009 reached 8.7 million m3 and could very well be over ten million m3 this year. India imported a record 810,000 m3 of Radiata pine in 2009, making it the third most important world market behind China and South Korea. During the first five months of 2010, shipments to India were up 54% as compared to the same period in 2009.
There is also some good news coming from the sawmilling industry in New Zealand, where both domestic and overseas markets are starting to show improvements. Lumber exports have increased for three consecutive years and were almost 1.9 million m3 in 2009. So far this year, shipments have gone up another 12% as compared to last year.
Slightly higher lumber prices have allowed sawmills to increase operating rates and pay marginally more for sawlogs in 2010. However, despite the improved market for lumber, some sawmills are concerned that they may not be able to compete for sawlogs if the log export market continues to strengthen. Domestic sawlog prices were at the highest level in eight years in the 2Q/10, as reported by the Wood Resource Quarterly. Under the current market conditions, it is not likely that log prices will decline in the near-term.
Global timber market reporting is included in the 50-page publication Wood Resource Quarterly. The report, established in 1988 and with readers in over 25 countries, tracks sawlog, pulpwood, lumber and pellet prices in key regions around the world and also includes regular updates of the latest developments in international timber, pulp, lumber markets.
Dr Kalam kicks off environment campaign in Ahmedabad
Sunday, July 25, 2010 11:41 IST
Ahmedabad: India's missile man and former president DR APJ Abdul Kalam had the children and visitors mesemerised at the Centre for Environment Education (CEE) on Saturday.
The scientist's sense of humour, one liners and inspirational speech had the audience asking for more. Dr Kalam was in the city for the launch of the campaign 'Paryavaran Mitra', an initiative by ministry of environment and forest, Arcellor Mittal and CEE.
The campaign aims to spread awareness about environment protection and the effects of climate change. As many as 250 people, including students and teachers of 12 schools were present for the launch of the campaign."I am very much delighted to address the school children of this city," said Kalam as he began his speech.
Sudhir Sinha, country head CSR, Arcellor Mittal, Dr MS Swaminathan, agriculture scientist, classical dancer Dr Mrinalini Sarabhai, Dr SK Pandey, principal secretary of department of forest and Kartikeya Sarabhai, director of CEE were also present on the occasion.
Emphasising on the need to protect the environment, Kalam said, "Humanity plays a great role in preservation of environment. I want you all to take an oath to plant trees, become a responsible protector of environment, take part in water conservation and use biodegradable products to the extent possible."
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_dr-kalam-kicks-off-environment-campaign-in-ahmedabad_1414275
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Relief for Posco opponents
KalingaTimes Correspondent
Jagatsinghpur, July 24: In a relief to displacement-weary villagers in the proposed posco areas in Orissa’s Jagatsinghpur district, a committee jointly constituted by union ministry of environment and forest and ministry of tribal welfare today gave three-month time-frame for settlers to press forth their claim over the occupied forestland.
The three-member committee comprising Ashis Kothari, R. Ravi and A.J.Saikia today extensively visited across Dhinkia, Patana, Gobindapur, Nuagaon and Gadakujang villages and heard grievances aired by the would-be-oustees.
It’s pertinent to note here that the union ministry of environment and forest on the basis of submitted reports by the state government had accorded conditional clearance to posco-India for use of forestland for non-forest purpose.
Inviting fresh applications for forest rights claims, the committee said any attempt to acquire forestland for Rs 51,000 crore steel project contravenes Forest rights act provisions. This is because acquisition is bereft of people’s consent, said the panel members.
The committee members had a patient hearing of the emotion-jerked settlers who ventilated their grievances and asserted their right over the forest land.
“We are of the view that process of diversion of forest land for non-forest purpose by posco-India is not complete in accordance with forest rights act, 2006.”, said panel member Ashis Kothari.
Taking into accounts the documents given to us by villagers, mandatory provision of villagers’ consent before diversion of forestland was not followed here in true letter and spirit. Thus villagers do have the legitimate right under FRA to reject the diversion proposal though palli sabha (village body) resolutions, said panel members much to the cheers of assembly of villagers.
Though there are no tribal settlers living in these villagers, we have found enough proof of traditional forest dwellers residing here for years together. Thus going by the act provisions, traditional forest dwellers are empowered with the right to reject forestland diversion proposal, said S Ravi another panel member.
Now the villagers have three months time left with them to raise objection to it by palli sabha. The palli sabha resolution should either be directly dispatched to the ministry or though the district collector, they said.
http://www.kalingatimes.com/odisha_news/news2010/20100724_Central_panel_relieves.htm
Raika call for recognition of pastoralists' rights in India
On July 22nd in central Rajasthan, India, 1800 Raika herders delivered an appeal to the Forest Department to restore their traditional grazing rights in the surrounding forests. The Raika have been grazing their local breeds of sheep and camel in the forests for hundreds of years and have contributed to the conservation and sustainable use of the forest biodiversity. However, the Forest Department has imposed daily fines on the Raika's sheep and has restricted their access to the forest in contravention of the their rights under the national Forest Rights Act and under international law (particularly Articles 8(j) and 10(c) of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity). Last year, with the support of Natural Justice and local NGO Lokhit Pashu-Palak Sansthan, the Raika developed a bio-cultural community protocol and have since shared their concerns and priorities at UN working group meetings and with other pastoralist communities in India and around the world. They will also present at the upcoming CBD Conference of Parties in Nagoya and will host a preparatory meeting in India from August 13-15, which Kabir Bavikatte (Natural Justice) plans to attend. More information about the Raika can be found in an article about the July 22nd appeal and on Natural Justice's website.
http://natural-justice.blogspot.com/2010/07/raika-call-for-recognition-of.html
The Saxena Committee on 'The Forest Rights Act' Implementation Public Consultation in OrissaFriday, July 23, 2010
By Kishore Kumar Patnaik, Bhubaneswar: The Ministry of Forest and Environment (MoEF) and Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) has constituted a committee under the Chairman of Dr NC Saxena, Retd. Secretary, Planning Commission called Saxena Committee to examine the implementation on the “The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 and Rules 2007” holding an open public consultation in Orissa on 22.07.2010.
The committee members Dr. Ravi Chellam, Wilidlife Conservation Society of India Programme, Bangalore; Dr. Arup Jyoti Saikia, IIT Guwahati; Mr Ashis Kothari, Kalpavriksh, Pune and Mr Achyuta Samanta, KIIT Group, Bhubaneswar were heard and received the written submissions from Adivasis, Adivasis belong to Primitive Tribal Group, Dalits and Other communities, civil society organizations, government departments, interested individuals and others from different places of Orissa.
The SCSTRTI, Government of Orissa, Bhubaneswar has circulated (Letter No. 1567, 17.07.2010) among the communities, Civil Society Organisations and also too other Government Departments etc on 17.07.2010. Dr A B Ota, IAS, Director of SCSTRTI, Bhubaneswar, Mr Vinod Kumar Special Secretary, Bhubaneswar, Civil Society Organisations and MSW students were cooperated in the public hearing process of committee.
Some of the important presented views are:-
1. The other than Adivasi claims forms are not accepted by the Sub-Divisional Level Committees and Government Officials in the Koraput district and other places of Orissa. The Government Officials straightaway refusing the claims of Non Adivasis.
2. The record of rights on forest land issued to the claimants basing on the Government Officials willingness not on the area of acres land claimed by the claimants.
3. The process of issuing recognition of pattas still continues not yet given in all the areas
4. The issue of community rights over forest land is progressing in slow process.
5. The family level or community level forms are not available to the persons living in the forest area few persons stated.
6. The forest rights committees do not know why for they have formed and they need rigorous training and awareness to involve in the implementation process of Forest Rights Act and Rules
7. The recognition of pattas not issued to all the claimants by the issuing authorities
8. Mr Shakti Deuri an Adivasi from Banobasa Sahi, KopanVillage, Matiyaguda GP, Jasipur Panchayat Samiti of Mayurbhanj District presented the community rights received over forest land in the consultation.
9. The Dongaria Kandhs from Niyamgiri hills of Rayagda District stated, “Some of us received the individual land rights over forest land and the remaining recognition of families pattas has to be issued immediately”. The community rights over forest land has not yet filed till today because of unavailability of community forms which we demand here to get the community rights following the procedural ways of Forest land laws as soon as possible.
10. Mr Rabi Behera, President of Samaj Badi Party has presented a memorandum to the committee demanding the purpose of Forest Righst Act introduction and its implementation is to be taken care for effective results as it depends on the livelihood of forest dwellers.
In the end of public consultation Mr Ashish Kothari, the committee member said we have received many more opinions, grievances, suggestions in written and vocal on the Forest Rights Act implementation form here. We take all these observations made by all of you and would prepare a report and will submit it to the Central Government of India very soon. On behalf of committee he has also requested all of you can send if any opinions or claims left out to the committee through SCSTRTI or Vasundhara organization or else directly also through emails or postal services.
The committee has formed with the following members:- ………………………….
BS Reporter / Kolkata/ Bhubaneswar July 24, 2010, 0:25 IST
The three-member National Forest Rights Act Committee of the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) led by its member Ashish Kothari is slated to visit the Posco site and interact with affected people on Saturday to do a reality check on the violation of Forest Rights Act.
The team would visit Dhinkia, Gobindpur,Nuagaon Gadkujang, Nolishai, Polang, Bayanalkanda, Bhiuyanpal, the villages in Jagatsinghpur district affected by the Posco project.
The team members today interacted with the officials of the Jagatsinghpur district administration to ascertain the Orissa government's claims of non-violation of Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006.
The district officials clarified that four tribal families of Polang village under Gadkujang panchayat are staying out of the boundaries of the Posco project site and hence there is no violation of the Act. Besides, no single tribal family is staying within the Posco project site, the officials reiterated.
Moreover, there is no single traditional forest dweller at the Posco site because no land document has been issued yet to anyone with a claim to be living in the forest land for the past three decades. The clarification was given by Jagatsinghpur district collector Narayan Jena; additional district magistrate of Paradip, Sarojkant Chaudhury; divisional forest officer of Rajnagar, Prasanna Behera,; district rehabilitation officer Surjeet Das and special land acquisition officer Nrusingh Swain………………………..
For full story please visit: http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/moef-panel-to-visit-posco-site-today/402310/
GURGAON: A female leopard was illegally captured by forest officials near Gurgaon on Saturday night after it reportedly killed the pet dog of the owner of a farmhouse on the Gurgaon-Sohna Road.
Sources said the incident took place at farmhouse number F-14 near Tikli village. The Haryana government later ordered that action be taken against the forest officials and the farmhouse owner on charges of violating the Wildlife Act. "There are five-six more leopards in the area," said officials.
The leopard's partner and her cubs waited the entire night outside the cage in which the leopard was kept before she was taken to an undisclosed location by forest officials. Meanwhile, nearby villagers rose up in arms against the move, claiming the leopard was not a man-eater.
"It's the farmhouse owners and not the wild animals who are intruders in the protected forest area. Who gave them the right to capture the leopard in this manner?" asked Surajbhan, a resident of Tikli village. The area, adjacent to the Aravali hills, has over 200 farmhouses. Forest officials said that the abundance of prey makes the region attractive to big cats. ……………………………..
For full story please go to: http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/times-of-india-the/mi_8012/is_20100713/forest-dept-flouts-rules-catching/ai_n54434304/
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Posted On: 24-Jul-2010 04:10:54 AM By: Dr Gursharan singh kainth Font Size:
Bamboo is an enduring natural resource and provides income, food, and housing to over 2.2 billion people worldwide. There is need for improving the livelihood of forest dwellers and generating employment through the bamboo development programme. India has huge natural bamboo stocks that have been an integral part of Indian culture for many millennia.
Bamboo in many ways is the mainstay of the rural Indian economy, sparking considerable social and ecological spin-offs. In the early part of the century, large tracts of bamboo occurred in many parts of the country but were treated by forestry sector (which was then cast in a production forestry mode) as a weed of little economic value and were used mostly by the rural communities for crafts, making implements and as housing material. It was the discovery of bamboo as a source of long-fibre by the Forest Research Institute in Dehradun that started the process of using bamboo in a variety of industrial applications, so far unexplored, with several paper mills and rayon mills being set up. But in the absence of a clear policy of husbanding of the resource there was rapid degradation and decimation of the resource in much of the country.
Bamboo resources plummeted so alarmingly that at present the resource is limited to few pockets in the country. Two-thirds of the bamboo in the country is restricted to the seven states of North-Eastern Region (NER) while the remaining one-third is spread across the country. But there is hope for the resurgence of bamboo based on evidence of significant new and contemporary economic opportunities that have emerged over the past decade. A bamboo revolution that holds the potential of reversing economic downturns and ensuring profitability is very much possible.
Bamboo is an untapped avenue of economic growth and a burgeoning bamboo sector can rope in prosperity, profits, and sustainable livelihoods. The rapid increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, land degradation, increasing floods and droughts, deforestation, loss of biodiversity and productivity are leading to an ecological crisis affecting livelihood options for development, increasing poverty, pollution and unsustainable development………………………………………….
