19th March 2014
Him Dhara, Environment Research and Action Collective in collaboration with Jan Jangran evam Vikas Sangathan
The Schedule Tribe and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 is an act meant to recognise and vest rights of forest dwelling communities over forest land. These rights include the right to continue the use of the forest land that they have been cultivating and residing on prior to 2005, and community rights over use of forest land and forest resources. The Act also empowers the village level Gram Sabhas to manage and protect forest resource for sustainable use and prevent activities detrimental to forest rights of the communities, in times when most other forest laws have been used to restrict day to day use of local forest dependent people by giving away large chunks of rich forests for unsustainable development by the industries.
In context of Himachal, where more than 67 percent of the total land area is under the jurisdiction of forest department, Forest Rights Act 2006 becomes vitally important. Roughly 70 percent of all forest diversion in the state has been done for hydro projects and transmission lines, and continues to be exposed to other commercial pressures. The increasing control of forest department to gain control over common resources in name of conservation and effective forest management has only denoted further alienation from land and forests for communities dependent on it. The Forest Department’s own estimates between 1982 to 2012 indicates that more than 7224 hectares of forest land over which people had user rights has been diverted for hydropower and transmission lines.
An eight month investigation across 17 states by a committee set up jointly by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs has highlighted numerous loopholes in the implementation of FRA. In case of Himachal too, minimal efforts are being made by the state government to implement FRA in true spirit, with individual and community rights still largely unrecognized, even in tribal areas of Lahaul& Spiti, Chamba and Kinnaur, where the process of FRA implementation had been initiated way back in 2008. In Himachal Pradesh, where certificates stating “no pending claims under FRA 2006” issued by the Deputy Commissioner are now recognized by MoEF instead of NOC’s from the affected Gram Sabhas, raises serious doubts about the intention of the State Government to seriously implement FRA, irrespective of its political affiliation.
Given the weak implementation of Forest Rights Act in Himachal, and practically no awareness building and knowledge dissemination on ground, Him Dhara in collaboration with Jan Jangran evam Vikas Sangthan organised a one day dialogue on the Act, its importance for communities dependent on forests in Himachal and its key provisions.
Key Issues discussed
- There has been little effort at all levels to raise awareness about the Act by the government prior to identification of villages and the election of Forest Rights Act committees. Lal Chand Katoch from Batahar village shared that the process of forming committees was done so hastily on Deputy Commissioner’s order that no heed was paid at actually informing the Gram Sabhas or the FRCs about its own responsibilities and purpose. This has only resulted in total ignorance of the act or severely distorted understanding of it. The District and Sub Divisional level Committees are running under the influence of government officials – even the independent members of the DLC and SDLC do not have details about the provisions of the Act and the responsibilities of their respective committees.
- Those present at the discussion expressed their apprehensions about the effectiveness of Forest Rights Committees, in a scenario where the Panchayat gram sabhas struggle to meet their required quorums. The villages were being identified at an inappropriate level for selecting Forest Rights Act Committee, and procedure of setting up Forest Right Committees (FRC) being done to complete formality on paper. Gram Sabhas under FRA have been formed at the level of Mohaal (revenue villages), in many cases comprising of multiple villages, and could pose problems of access to those wanting to make claims. Also, in some cases, the mohal boundaries have been drawn in such a manner that they cut through villages with same resource use. Ideally, such villages should have been in the same Gram Sabha. Also, in many areas of Kullu district, revenue settlements have not been conducted, which means that the old system of revenue department’s Kothis and Phatis is still in use. Phatis, the smallest revenue estate in that system also consists of many villages, and are not appropriate for constitution of Gram Sabhas under FRA. This is due to three reasons – one, the quorum requirement of 50% voters is never going to be achieved. Even in the case of most of the FRCs that have been elected, the attendance register had to be circulated from door to door. Secondly, the committees that comprise of members from far off villages, would not be able to discharge their responsibilities related to the scrutiny of claims and filing of community claims properly. Thirdly, the ultimate aim of the Act, that of management of forests through village level committees is never going to become a practical reality in case of villages that have no commonality of resource use and history of mingling with each other.
- Dr. Pushpal Thakur, member of Jan Jangram evam Vikas Sangthan from Village Gojra briefly shared his thoughts on importance of the act, the context under which it emerged, and how empowering a tool it could prove for the communities, if implemented well. He spoke on the undying relevance of forests for farmers of the area and communities entirely dependent on forests for livelihoods. Several critical issues were raised on those displaced by Wildlife Sanctuaries and national parks in name of institutional conservation. In Himachal Pradesh, 13.65 percent of the total geographical area is under Wildlife Sanctuaries and National Parks where community rights have been restricted. Why is the State government so reluctant in making its position on FRA official, what are its priorities, and what would the transfer of power from Forest Department in management of forests and Community Conserved Areas (CCA) to communities entail for the government were some important questions posed.
- Rajgeer from Katrian village, also a member of the Forest Rights Committee, expressed his concerns about the effectiveness of the act and challenges involved at the level of awareness building. His description about the manner in which committees were set up in Katrain gave an appalling account of stark happenings on ground. The committee formation was ensured mainly through telephonic conversation by the Panchayat secretary; making the entire process highly undemocratic. To ensure effective implementation, he feels that community needs to be united and cautious of the strategies of the forest department. It is quite evident that the forest officials would illegitimately have a dominant say in decision making. To illustrate his point about how facts and figures are manipulated by forest department, he put forth Aleo hydro project as a case in point. As per the estimates of locals, more than 1500 trees were cut but the forest department’s figures stops at 400.
The post lunch session of the discussion was a mock demonstration of filling up of claim forms- how individual and community rights are to be claimed under FRA, detailed discussion of several heads in the form, and authorities responsible at different stages. The participants also discussed the future strategies for effective implementation of the Act. The follow up action discussed is as follows:
- There is a need to develop resource material with step by step instructions for filling up of the FRA forms.
- There is a need to take up advocacy at all levels to put pressure on the government to weed out the shortcomings that have been identified in the Kullu district. There is also a need to explore, if similar conditions exist in other areas of the state and take up advocacy with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
