Their hope rests on the implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, whose rules were passed in January. The law seeks to settle the rights of forest-dwelling communities to land and other resources denied to them since independence. But little headway has been made in implementing the Act in the months since the rules have been notified.
Fight for life: Dakshinamurthy Kanikaran, a Kani, has taken the initiative to collect documents to prove that he, along with 200 villagers, has been residing and cultivating in the reserve for ages. Padmaparna Ghosh / Mint
The rules say that the state administration has to constitute committees at the state, district and sub-divisional, or taluka, levels and village forest rights committees to decide on the rights to land and other forest resources.
Though the four Kani villages have formed their forest rights committees, the district-level panel for Tirunelveli, of which KMTR is a part, is yet to be formed. District collector G. Prakash, the top civil servant for the area, had no inkling about any such committee. “That is the jurisdiction of the forest department. I don’t think we have anything to do with it,” said Prakash, who as the district collector would be heading the panel.
District-level and sub-divisional level committees for Nilgiri district, including the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, are yet to be formed, but villages are ready with claims and panels to make their case.
An information and communication gap as well as deficiencies in training officials persists here and in other states, which is is stalling implementation of the Forest Rights Act.
“We got to know of the critical tiger habitat declaration through newspapers. No discussion, or consent was taken,” said Ganeshamurthy.
In Rajasthan, it was only after a massive rally and sit-in by protesters in front of the tribal area development office in Udaipur that the administration promised to hold orientation sessions for officials implementing the Forest Rights Act and conduct monthly review meetings.
Financial constraints
“One of main constraints is that though the Act and rules are completely centralized and the ministry of tribal affairs is the nodal agency, implementation of the legislation has been pushed to the states,” said Sanjay Upadhyay, a member of the technical support group for framing the rules for the Act. “The states are now facing financial constraints as well as inadequate capacity and training in fully implementing the Act.”
Evictions from the so-called core areas of the tiger parks, which are supposed to be inviolate, cannot be carried out without public consultation and consent, according to both the Wildlife Protection Act and the Forest Rights Act. That was not followed in Buxa Tiger Reserve in West Bengal, also declared a critical tiger habitat, activists say.
“Evictions were taking place from Buxa before the locals protested and it was withdrawn,” said Soumitra Ghosh, an activist of the National Forum of Forest People and Forest Workers. The reasons for these numerous malfunctions across the country can be blamed on the concerned departments, said Upadhyay.
“One is the forest department and its reluctance to implement the Act, which is totally unethical,” he said. The reluctance is illustrated by the petitions against the Act filed by retired forest officers in Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.