a disastrous bill for India's remaining forests

[Guest guest]

"Michel Danino" <michel_danino> wrote:

 

Friends,

 

The following may be of interest to some list members:

 

I share with you an email received from Dr Nanditha Krishna,

director of CP

Ramaswamy Aiyar Foundation, Chennai. Please go through it. Below her

mail

and the proposed draft of letter to the Prime Minister, I have added

for

your information an important article published last month in the

New Indian

Express on the same topic.

 

It is clear that the bill has been drafted at the behest of timber

and land

mafias. Once again, our politicians have no compunction is selling

off

India's remaining forests, as long as they can line their pockets. I

have

had personal experience (and once wrote) that Forest Departments in

India

have been by far the biggest destroyers of forests; this is a

continuation

of the old suicidal policies.

 

Please do heed Dr Nanditha Krishna's request and act soon. In

addition to

your letter to the PM, you may consider sending a copy of it, or a

similar

letter, to:

 

Shri A. Raja

Union Minister of Environment & Forest

Paryavaran Bhavan, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road

New Delhi - 110 003. (INDIA).

 

Finally, please pass on the letter below (and following article) to

as many

friends as possible. Numbers do count.

 

Regards,

 

Michel

 

*********************************************************************

*******

 

June 13, 2005

 

Dear Friend,

 

You may be aware that the Ministry of Tribal Affairs has drafted the

Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill 2005 which aims

to

confer greater rights on forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes. Our

Centre has

been working with the tribals for over twenty years, and we are

happy that

their existence is being finally recognised.

 

However, the Bill in its present form is disastrous for the

environment and

the forests of India. I am therefore enclosing a draft of a letter

to the

Prime Minister of India about this Bill. The Prime Minister must be

made

aware that civil society is agitated about this Bill. I would be

grateful if

you could go through the enclosed letter and, if you agree, send it

in the

same format, or with any modifications you may like to include, on

your

personal or institutional letterhead, to the following address:

 

Dr. Manmohan Singh

Prime Minister of India

South Block

Raisina Hill

New Delhi 110011

Fax: 91 11 2301 9545, 2301 6857

 

Or enter his website pmindia.nic.in and write to the prime minister.

 

In case you would like to see the Bill in the original, you can

visit the

Ministry of Tribal Affair's website www.tribal.nic.in.

 

I hope to have your cooperation in this bid to save the forests of

India and

the fast-disappearing wildlife.

 

With warm regards,

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Dr. Nanditha Krishna

Hon. Director

 

 

============

 

Dr. Manmohan Singh

Prime Minister of India

New Delhi

 

 

Dear Prime Minister,

 

Sub: Proposed draft Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest

Rights) Bill

2005

 

The proposed Bill contravenes and debars the provisions of the

Indian Forest

Act of 1927, Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 and Forest Conservation

Act of

1980. This means that there is a licence to destroy the forests and

wildlife.

 

The Bill proposes to distribute forest land @ 2.5 hectares per

nuclear

family, to be used for habitation or self cultivation for livelihood

needs.

But, there is no nuclear family concept among tribes.

 

Only 20% or 68 million hectares is total forest land in India, of

which less

than 17% has thick forest cover. India has to save the remaining

forest

cover and try to increase it to 33%. This Bill will do the opposite.

8.16 %

of India's population is tribal. 2.5 hectares to each family means 50

million ha or 73.52 % of India's forest land. This will be the end

of Indian

forests and wildlife, and will give a free licence to the timber and

land

mafia.

 

The Bill also gives tribals access to biodiversity, in contradiction

to the

provisions of the Biodiversity Act of 2002; rights in perpetuity;

promises

the conversion of pattas or leases or grants of forest lands to

titles and

forest villages to revenue villages. This is the death-knell of the

forests

and of Indian wildlife.

 

The rivers of India originate in the forest. Destruction of the

forests will

only deepen India's water crisis.

 

Tribals must be helped to improve their lives. They can be employed

as

watchers, forest guards, etc. and must have equitable access to the

benefits

accruing from the forests. If they want to pursue agriculture, give

them

good, productive revenue land. Tribals need livelihoods and not a

licence to

be exploited by the land and timber mafia and corrupt officials who

alone

will benefit by this Bill.

 

Please do not permit this Bill to be passed by the Indian Parliament.

Instead, please provide livelihoods for tribes based on their skills

and

traditional knowledge.

 

Thanking you,

 

Yours faithfully,

 

 

***************************************************************

***************************************************************

 

http://www.newindpress.com/newspages.asp?

page=m&Title=Main+Article&aDate=5%2

F7%2F2005

 

May I dwell in the forest?

Saturday May 7 2005 09:03 IST

 

Malvika Singh

 

A scary draft bill that will decimate the paltry forest cover in

India is

doing the rounds in the capital, accompanied by furious lobbying,

endorsed

by the prime minister's office, all in the name of "returning

forests to the

tribals", lands that today, till the bill is passed, belong to the

people of

India regardless of class, caste or creed. This new "private

ownership of

national forests" bill is probably one of the most controversial

since we

gained independence. It endeavours to create yet another frightening

divide

in an already fragmented society. It is a desperate attempt to win

over a

hitherto neglected political constituency by "buying" their vote

with a

"valuable" bait — 2.5 hectares of forest will be parcelled out to 20

million

nuclear families of four persons, who belong to the scheduled caste

of

tribals. Fifty million hectares of the 68 million will be handed

over as the

bill passes muster. The balance 26 per cent will be handed over by

2013,

over the next eight years.

 

This is so typical of a flabby, failed and flaccid political

leadership,

devoid of intellectual creativity and energy to address the many

issues of

underprivileged communities, which plague this nation. Such

politicians sit

in both the opposition and treasury benches of our Parliament.

 

The UPA government seems to believe that private ownership of

national

forests must rest with 8 per cent of Indian citizens. Is this part

of the

economic restructuring that was begun a decade ago? Anyone who has

raised

questions on the validity of this draft bill is being branded

babalog,

elitist or royalist. That, alas, is the pathetic response — rather,

retort —

from the proponents of this draft, who appear intellectually

inadequate to

debate the issue. They do not want to hear, let alone listen to, any

opposing view. These are shades of a "fascist" mindset. Why

otherwise would

they reduce the dialogue to class abuse? "Tribals or tigers" is their

hysterical cry. But, they have conveniently forgotten that there are

those

who believe both are essential.

 

Tigers are already a species of the past. Another decade and we

shall only

see them in zoos around the world. We have deftly decimated the

cheetahs, we

skillfully killed off the Indian lion, and we have successfully

brought

tigers to near extinction. We should be proud of ourselves for having

achieved a world record in the destruction of all that should have

been

nurtured and preserved, loved and cared for. We have destroyed our

cities

and towns, all of which are mired in filth, governed by corrupt and

extortionist municipalities; we have degraded all habitats; we have

contaminated our "holy" rivers starting with the Ganga; we have

poisoned our

drinking water; we have torn apart our culture, languages, values,

ethics;

we condone corruption; we have desecrated our historical monuments,

our

manmade legacies; we allow the authority that rules us, at our

behest, to

divide us, to label us, to exploit us, to damn us. We have abused our

national pledge, satya mev jayati.

 

The proposed Scheduled Tribes, Recognition of Forest Rights Bill

will hand

over an exchequer of approximately thirty four lakh crores (if you

can put

the zeroes to it) of national wealth to the private ownership of 8

per cent

of the population of the Union of India. This will lead to

unimaginable and

unparalleled civil strife, to put it mildly, between the

beneficiaries and

the non-beneficiaries along the fringes of forest areas. It does not

require

much acumen to comprehend the brutal and destructive repercussions.

To add

to the impending horror, there will be no ban on tree felling — the

gram

sabha will have the authority to impose a fine of Rs 1,000 per tree

felled

if they choose to! Which caste leads the gram sabha? Are they all

squeaky

clean or buyable? Happy days for the timber mafia — coming soon,

cheap

product, virtually free! The other great attraction for the land

developers

is the ability they will have to buy hitherto protected forests —

it's all

going to free up! The gram sabhas will be empowered to determine and

decide

rights including the ownership of land. This is a perfect structure

for the

exploitation of the national resource of India by land and timber

"merchants".

 

If only this government was as committed to providing potable water,

health

and education within the framework of a civil society operated by

honest

administrators. Rampant corruption and extortion, mal-functioning of

administrations, is what dominates our lives today across the many

divides,

social and economic. The correctives to be made at those fundamental

levels

are neither being debated nor "pushed through" as is this tribal

bill. Why?

Are those issues tough to address and even tougher to deliver? Is it

that

the fruits of serious correctives will not be seen in the next few

years,

before the next election, and therefore are not a "priority"? Are

quick

political returns the only motivation?

 

As the attack builds and gains momentum, two things can happen.

National

parks and sanctuaries will be removed from the purview of land to the

tribals. This will be another fraud, an eye wash, a dangerous game.

All

forests have to remain protected under the existing acts. It is

interesting

that the UPA, with the Congress as the single largest component of

this

coalition led by Dr Manmohan Singh, is on the verge of dismantling

all the

forest and wildlife protection acts that were heralded by Indira

Gandhi and

fiercely protected by her and Rajiv Gandhi. They understood the

utmost

importance of forest cover for scientific environmental reasons, for

preserving and enhancing water catchment areas. If the draft bill

goes

through and becomes an act, this Congress-led government will be

singularly

responsible for the desertification, disease and brutal civil strife

that

will invade our patient, exploited polity.

 

To damn and ignore the opposing voices, to label them in class

terms, to

dismiss them, smacks of intellectual insecurity and a fear of debate.

Dangerous.

--- End forwarded message ---