Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Tribal affairs ministry aims to break state control over tendu trade-Nitin Sethi

Tribal affairs ministry aims to break state control over tendu trade-Nitin Sethi

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Jul 13, 2012   modified Modified on Jul 13, 2012
-The Times of India

The trade in tendu patta, used for bidi making, is estimated to be worth an annual Rs 20,000 crore and is monopolized by state corporations, contractors, traders and even left-wing extremists. This could change now with the tribal affairs ministry asking states to break the monopoly of state corporations and let tribals sell it freely. 

Coming on the back of his remarks on the Bijapur killings, tribal affairs minister Kishore Chandra Deo has asserted himself yet again on the Forest Rights Act (FRA), despite pressures from various corners to not upset the applecart. 

His ministry has asked states to remove all restrictions on trade of minor forest produce by tribals as they fall foul of the FRA. The overall trade of minor forest produce - everything but timber - is estimated at Rs 50,000 crore annually but the tribals get less than Rs 1,000 crore of this as collectors from the forest. 

The FRA had changed the controlling regime but state administrations, especially the forest bureaucracy, has hidden behind existing provisions of other laws to not permit open trade in the produce by tribals. 

The tribal ministry, following up on the recommendations of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council, has finally altered its guidelines for FRA to ensure strict implementation of the legislation by state governments. 

The move comes with the approval of the UPA leadership. The implementation of FRA -- a product of UPA-1 had fallen between the cracks, with the forest bureaucracy disliking the legislation and the Centre too going soft on actual enforcement. Deo's move is seen as recovering some of the lost goodwill that the law had initially created in tribal belts. 

In the amended guidelines, the ministry has also made it explicit that diversion of forest land for projects cannot be done without securing mandatory clearance from the affected gram sabhas after the rights have been settled under FRA. 

Deo has also acted to curtail the dubious role being played by the forest department in deciding the rights of people under the Act. In several states, the state bureaucracy has been using specious excuses to deny the rights of forest-dwellers. 

The tribal affairs ministry has noted that despite the Act being in place since 2006, "in many areas, the tribal people and other forest-dwellers are reportedly facing harassment and threats of eviction from forest lands and forced relocation or displacement from the areas proposed for development projects without settlement of their rights or due compliance with safeguards in violation of the provisions of the Act." 

Actual implementation of the fresh guidelines issued by ministry could still be an uphill task though. A prominent example of this is Congress-run Maharashtra where even though the chief minister and Union environment ministers intervened to get the bamboo trade out of the clutches of contractors and forest department in one particular case, the bureaucracy has denied rights to people to cut and sell bamboo under FRA. 

In just one case where influence from the top ensured sale by villagers, one gram sabha of Gadhchiroli district, Mendha Lekha, earned Rs 1 crore in one year's sale of bamboo.

The Times of India, 13 July, 2012, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Tribal-affairs-ministry-aims-to-break-state-control-over-tendu-trade/articleshow/14858911.cms


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close