Union minister Jairam Ramesh's order notwithstanding, the state forest department is unwilling to transfer the rights over harvesting bamboos to forest dwellers. The department currently holds the right to harvest bamboo in the state. Its contention is that allowing villagers to cut bamboo will affect the sustainability of the produce as forest dwellers do not know the proper rules of harvest. Instead, the officials are ready to send the cut...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Village wins three-decade battle to sell bamboo by Jaideep Hardikar
Power comes through the barrel of a gun, Mao Zedong said. For Lekha-Mendha, though, such power seems rooted in bamboo. The village in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli today became the first in India to win the right to grow, harvest and sell bamboo, a key goal of a five-year-old central law which aims to give tribal communities control over some resources of the jungles they live in. “This is a historic day. Bamboo has...
More »Posco: Jairam refuses to accept Orissa's assurance
“Consider local bodies' resolutions” Having been tossed between the State and the Centre for the past few months, the question of a forest clearance for Posco project is in the Orissa government's court once again. On Thursday, Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh delayed a final decision on the clearance once again, telling the State that he could not accept its assurance on Forest Rights Act (FRA) implementation as long as it...
More »Orissa govt didn't submit assurance on Posco project
Though a month has elapsed since the Centre accorded conditional clearance to the Posco project, Orissa government finds it tough to submit its assurance to the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) on proper implementation of the Forest Rights Act , 2006. While giving conditional clearance to the Rs 52,000 crore project on January 31, the Centre had sought written assurance from the state government on the implementation of the...
More »Not out of the woods yet by Ashish Kothari
The promise of the FRA remains largely unfulfilled, says a committee set up by the Ministries of Environment and Forests and Tribal Affairs. IT seems hard for a government used to controlling most of India's common lands to let go of them. Even though it has passed a law mandating more decentralised governance of forests, the government itself is proving to be the biggest obstacle in its implementation. Other than in...
More »