Capacity building of Forest Rights Committees, Kutch, Gujarat

Natural Justice India has been working with pastoralists in Kutch, Gujarat and collaborating with a local organization, Sahjeevan. At present, the pastoral communities are facing a range of issues especially with access to resources. The different objectives and priorities for the stakeholders involved, in particular the Forest Department and increasingly the emerging industries in the Kutch region pose a threat to the communities and their traditional livelihoods. In the face of such issues, Natural Justice has been working to secure land rights and traditional grazing routes through the implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2008.

The Paudhi Bhuinya Community, Odisha, India

On November 20th 2013 a workshop on Biocultural Community Protocols was held in Bhatuda village, Odisha, India. The workshop was organized by Jeevan Vikash in collaboration with HBS-Natural Justice. George Pyara Jojo from Jeevan Vikash and Kishore Kumar Patnaik from HBS-Natural Justice took part in the workshop. Around 85 villagers belonging to: the Paudi Bhuinya Community (PBC), other Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes of Bhatuda Panchayat, participated in the workshop. The villagers shared and discussed their cultural activities and livelihoods. These traditions have been practiced by PBC for generations, many consisting of unwritten ceremonies and other beliefs of their ancestral system. 

Field Visit to Sariska Tiger Reserve - Alwar, Rajasthan, India

Three team members from the NJ India office (Arpitha Kodiveri, Revati Pandya and Vaneesha Jain) visited the offices of the NGO Krapavis, Rajasthan, and also several villages inside Sariska Tiger Reserve. 

On 13th November, 2013, Arpitha, Revati and Vaneesha discussed the following issues with Aman Singh, who is running the NGO Krapavis based out of Alwar, Rajasthan:

• The status of relocation in 5 villages in Sariska Tiger Reserve as per the Relocation plan prepared by the Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden, Jaipur, in November 2009. It appears that relocated communities are not given adequate ownership rights over the new land, which needs further looking into. Further, it has come to light that in the relocation process of the village Kiraska, residents were forced to surrender any land they owned outside Kiraska to the Government as well, which is in complete violation of both enacted law and basic principles of fairness. 

National Consultation on Forest Rights Act and Protected Areas, Indian Social Institute, New Delhi

Source: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/rights-without-benefits 

From 11th to 12th November, 2013, Apritha Kodiveri, Vaneesha Jain and Revati Pandya (of the NJ India office) attended a two day consultation aimed at discussing Community Forest Rights under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Rights) Act (Forest Rights Act), 2006 (FRA). Members from various groups working on FRA issues in Maharashtra, Orissa, Gujarat and Karnataka attended, and updates and status of its implementation from respective states were shared and discussed. One of the overarching issues was the lack of implementation of processing claims largely based on administrative setbacks. Different state’s Forest Department officials’ individual desires for implementation of the FRA or processing of claims appear to be a major hurdle. 

GPS Training in Odisha

On the 19th and 20th of October 2013, a community-level workshop was held on the use of Global Positioning System (GPS) device to map community resources, to be claimed under the Forest Rights Act of 2006. The training was held in the village of Niapania in Keonjhar district in Odisha, India. Organized by Keonjhar Integrated Rural Development and Training Institute (KIRDTI), an NGO based in Keonjhar, in collaboration with Natural Justice, the workshop saw the participation of around 40 persons from different blocks within Keonjhar as well as from other districts of Orissa. Stella James and Kishore Kumar Patnaik (Fellows, Natural Justice) participated in the workshop and assisted in the coordination of the workshop. 

Mr Adikand Ojha from Bhubaneswar, who acted as the resource person, started with a brief description of the GPS device to the participants, as well as of the advantages of using it. One of the advantages pointed out to the villagers was that while earlier people used to draw maps freehand, or use complicated manual methods of measurement, with a GPS, measurement of land becomes simpler and much more accurate. Moreover, once measurements are taken, the GPS also allows one to see the roads and other waypoints from any part of the world. 

Village Meeting on the Forest Rights Act in Odisha

On 15th and 16th October 2013, Stella James (Fellow, Natural Justice) attended a village meeting held at the Bhudabhuin Community Centre in the Sundergarh district of the state of Odisha, India. The meeting revolved around a discussion of the Forest Rights Act 2006 (FRA), a landmark legislation in terms of granting customary rights over resources to adivasis (tribals) and other forest dwellers. The meeting was attended by approximately 60 persons, from different villages, some people travelling many kilometers by foot through thick forests, walking almost an entire day to attend the meeting. 

The meeting was facilitated by Jitendra Sahu, an advocate who has been working in Odisha on successful implementation of FRA in many areas of Odisha. Jitubhai, as he is popularly known, talked about the significant difference between the FRA and previous legislations on forests. In his own words, the crucial distinction is the inclusion of the word ‘right’ between the words ‘forest’ and ‘act’, thus finally marking a departure from the previously parochial understanding of all forest land belonging to the State. He emphasized how adivasis and other forest dwellers are now legally ‘owners’ and ‘right-holders’ of the forests in which they live, and not merely watchmen. Jitubhai also deftly explained some of the main provisions of the Act, without bogging the villagers with too much jargon or technicality, which may have tended to dissuade enthusiastic participation. 

Workshop on the Forests Rights Act in Odisha

 A workshop was held on the “Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 and Amendment Rules 2012” for Panchayatraj Representatives at Laxmanpur Block Office, Laxmanpur, District Sambalpur, Odisha, India on October 3rd 2013. The workshop was organized by Loksaktimukti Sanghathan, a non-registered organisaton, in collaboration with Vasundhara, Bhubaneswar and Natural Justice. The Laxmanpur Block Development Officer was present at the workshop on behalf of the government. Mr Ananto Panda from Loksaktimukti Sangathan briefly explained the background and purpose of Forest rights act and rules in the workshop. Ms Pspanjali Satapathy from Vasundhara organization elaborated on the entire act, its rules and usage. She opined in the workshop that for the first time in India, the forest rights act recognizes people who live in and depend on the forest. The maximum number of Adivasis live in the forest area and they depend on it for their regular livelihood. Adivasis naturally live with the forest and save the forest. They also use forest products for their common diseases. The Adivasis and Non Adivasis who depend on and live in the forest can apply under this act for recognition of their rights over their homestead, cultivable land, non cultivable land and use of forest products. 

Community forest rights in villages of Maharastra paved the way for economic empowerment

The Vidarva region of Maharastra is infamous for the highest number of farmers’ suicide cases in India. Few people know the brighter side of the region and more particularly the stewardship rights of natural resources asserted and exercised by the community that have led to gross economic empowerment. There are villages that earn revenues in crores of rupees per annum and able to meet the all of their developmental needs without depending on any government grants. 

The villages of the region have set a trend for the rest of the country in exercising the ownership rights over minor forest produces like bamboo, kendu leaf (used for Bidi), and Mahua. The kendu leaf is a nationalized forest produce, so the state has monopoly over it in the market and it is not a freely traded forest produce. The only option for the villagers is to pluck the kendu leaf for the state forest corporation, which has the authority of storage and marketing the forest produces. The forest dwellers or kendu leaf pickers used to get some wage for plucking and drying the leaves. Similarly, mahua (mostly used in preparing liquor) is an excisable product and there has been a cap on hoarding the mahua and it is allowed only for domestic consumption. In the case of bamboo, the Forest Corporation has the authority to trade it and the villagers were mostly engaged in cutting the bamboo for which they were paid some nominal wage. The villagers never enjoyed ownership rights or were able to trade as they wished.

Deulahudi Villagers Map Their Claim Under Forest Rights Act

Deulahudi, a small tribal village in Hrichandanpur Block of Keounjhar District n Odisha, India assembled for a participatory mapping exercise of their Community Forest Resources on 28th April 2013. The gathering was a field exercise carried out in their traditionally protected forest. The village is inhabited by the Kolha (also known as Munda or Ho) Tribe, recognized as one of the 62 Schedule Tribes in Odisha. According to village elders, the village consists of 40 households which are the descendants from 12 original families that settled in the village four generation back. The livelihood of the community is mostly based on gathering forest products.

Damburu Munda, Secretary of Forest Rights Committee of the Village, shared that while 59 individual forest rights claims were filed, only 44 titles were issued to the claimants for cultivation on forest land by district administration. They do not know the reason why the rest of the claims were not recognized.The villagers identified their Traditional Boundary with the prominent land marks and put it in the Sketch Map. They are collecting around 32 different minor forest products such as the mahua flower, mushrooms, char seed, siali and sal leaf (used as leaf plate), bamboo, tendu (fruit and leaf) within their customary boundary. The Forest Protection Committee is named after the village deity, Maa Disauli.

Paudibhuyan Community of Odisha to Draft BCP

The traditional leaders of the Paudibhuyan community of the Khandadhar region of Sundergarh District in Odisha gathered on 24 December 2012 to prepare a strategy to protect their territory and culture. The meeting was facilitated by Jivan Vikas, a local NGO, and Sankar Pani of Natural Justice. Paudibhuyan is one of the thirteen Primarily Vulnerable Tribal Groups of Odisha, and its population is sharply declining due to various reasons. The community is concentrated in small pockets in the Sundergarh, Keounjhar, Deogaarh and Dhenkanal Districts. At the meeting, the elders of the community shared their rich cultural heritage and traditional knowledge which they have fostered for generations and encouraged their successors to preserve and protect their traditional knowledge. They also raised concerns about various threats to common resources, especially emphasising the impact of mining on local bodies of water. 

The community leaders resolved to draft a biocultural community protocol to record their traditional rights and resources. They demanded recognition of their habitat rights and community rights under Forest Rights Act. They recalled their traditional herbal medicines and recited their traditional folk songs and emphasised the need to preserve them for future generations.