fromthe ForestOfficer, shewrote.
Otherobjectionablefeaturesin-
cludeddenyingan “evicted” person
(tribal) the rightto appealin a higher
court;penalisingpeopleandentire
communitieswhofailedto “report”
offences; settingup of infrastructure
like“lockup rooms”to implement
theAct,whichshe saidwaslike
building “jails”insideforests.
BrindaKaratalsosaidthatthe
amendments were “unacceptable”
andneeded to be broughtin con-
formitywiththeFRAandotherre-
latedlawsin orderto redressthe
historicalinjusticesfaced by tribal
communitiesthatwerebeing per-
petuatedin modernformstoo in the
name of development or
conservation.
EVICTIONSCONTINUE
All theseissues,includinga February
13 Supreme Courtorderdirecting
theeviction of unauthorised en-
croachmentsin forest lands,were
discussedat a two-dayconsultation
by landandforestrightgroups or-
ganised underthe broadaegisof the
Bhoomi AdhikaarAndolan.
TheSupreme Courtorderwasa
follow-upon a 2016orderby the
apexcourt basedon a petitionby a
wildlife body alleging encroach-
ments. TheCentre didlittlein the
interveningperiod, whichthecourt
pointed outandwhichlandrights
groupsconcurredwith.Theevictions
werestayedfollowingprotestsfrom
genuine claimantswhoseclaimshad
beenrejected.Thehearingis dueto
takeplaceat the endof July.
At theconsultation,Gajanan,a
farmerfromMadhyaPradesh,said
thateventhough the FRAhadbeen
notified, the local Collector and
ForestDepartmentofficialsrefused
to recognise the rights of tribal
peopleand otherforest dwellers.
“Neither do they knowabout the
rightsof the gramsabha or the FRA
itself.TheSDM[subdivisionalma-
gistrate]sayshe willfind outabout
the rights of the gramsabha,” he said.
UlkaMahajan, who has been
fightingfor the land and forestrights
of tribalpeoplein Maharastra, said
thattheamendmentsweretargeted
at removingthe “communityrights”
conferredunderthe FRA.Theywere
alsorequiredto makelandacquisi-
tioneasierfor theindustrial cor-
ridors andnew special economic
zonesbeing plannedby theCentral
government,sheadded.
BalKrishna Kharwar,a tribal
personfromKaimurdistrictin Bi-
har,toldFrontlinethattheForest
Departmentwasharassingvillagers
in his area, labelling them as
“Maoists”.OnJanuary14, he said,
theDepartmentbulldozedsome 70
houses.
Headdedthat somethreelakh
families in 167villages in the district
weredependenton forestproduce
suchas mahuatenduandotherherbs
andshrubs. “Some80 per centof the
population is tribal. The landed
casteswantus out,”he said.
In Sonabhadrain UttarPradesh,
peopleprotested when theirclaims
andtitleswererejected.Manywere
sentto jail.In Bailadila in Chhattis-garh,an areathatcomesunderthe
Panchayat Extensionto Scheduled
AreasAct,NMDCLtdwasplanning
to giveironore mining(developing)
rightsto a big industrialist afterget-
tingconsentfrom whatthelocal
peoplefoundoutwasa fakegram
sabhain 2014.
“Wegotthedocuments through
the Right to Information and
matchedthe signatories of the gram
sabhathathadgivenassentfor the
miningandfoundthename of only
onepanchayat.Thenamesof former
or existingsarpanchs of the panchay-
ats concerned were not there,”
MangalKunjam,a localjournalist
fromthe region, toldFrontline.
In thefirst weekof June,the af-
fectedvillages heldafive-dayprotest
in Kirandulagainstmining in their
areas.ThenewlyelectedCongress
government hasdecidedto investig-
atetheallegationsof fakeconsent
andputon holdactivitiessuchas
cuttingof treesfor the project.
In a letterto Chief Ministers,
formerCPI(M) LokSabha members
Hannan Mollah and Jitendra
Choudhary, the activist Medha
Patkarandseveralotherswrotethat
the interpretation of the FRAin the
petitionbeforetheSupremeCourt
(thewritarguedthatrejection of
claimshadto leadto evictions) was
erroneous.
They wrotethatthe implementa-
tionof theActwasunevenandin
manypartsof thecountry,eligible
forestdwellershadeithernotfiled
claims or notpursued theforest
rightsto whichtheywereentitled.
Theperformanceof Stategovern-
mentswithregardto recognising
communityforest resourcerights,
including thoseof single women,was
“abysmal andflawed”,theywrote.
TheyurgedtheChiefMinisters to
persuade the UnionMinistryof Tri-
balAffairs to seektherecall of all
Supreme Courtorderspertainingto
the eviction of tribalpeople.
Theamendmentsto theIFA,if
passed,willonlybe a furtherexten-
sionof theharassmentbeingfaced
by themostmarginalisedsections,
whohaduntilnowreceivedsome
protection of theirrightsunderthe
FRAof 2006. $TRIBALPEOPLEcollectingminorforestproduceat Attapadyin Kerala’s
Palakkaddistrict,afile photograph.
K.K.MUSTAFAH