Category: Environment, Forest and Climate change

How to kill a forest

The Hindu | Soumya Sarkar | April 13, 2019

On a fine morning in the spring of 1974, a small girl ran to Gaura Devi, raising an alarm that loggers had come to cut down trees in the mountain forest. On that day (March 25), there were no men present in the remote village of Reni in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand. Gaura Devi gathered the women in the village and rushed to confront the contractor.

An argument ensued. The men with axes refused to budge. But the women of Reni were not to be cowed down. In a flash of inspiration, they decided to hug the trees and the loggers had not option but to leave. It was a high point in an epochal environmental movement that resonates even today, at a time when new moves are afoot to separate India’s forests from her people. Read more

Demand to implement FRA gains momentum in Mandi

The Tribune | April 12, 2019

As the nation goes to polls for its 17th Lok Sabha elections, Himachal’s geographically largest constituency Mandi comprising Kinnaur, Bharmour, Lahaul Spiti, Kullu and Mandi districts is witnessing the demand for implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006.

A massive rally was taken out today on this issue under the banner of Van Adhikar Manch, Himachal Pradesh, at the district headquarters Mandi. The office-bearers of the manch alleged that the state government is reluctant to implement Forest Rights Act (FRA) in full spirit. As a result, people of the state have been deprived of their rights under the FRA. Read more

Disenchanted Surjagad flaunts NOTA

The Hindu | Sharad Vyas | April 10, 2019

Nearly 25,000 voters to register protest against iron ore mining on forestland

A day after Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Bhima Mandavi was killed by Maoists in Dantewada, 70 gram sabhas along the Chhattisgarh-Maharashtra border have announced they will choose the NOTA, or none of the above, option in the Lok Sabha election on Thursday.

An estimated 25,000 voters living around the iron ore deposits of Surjagad in remote Gadchiroli took this decision in protest against the Maharashtra government’s approval of iron ore mining on 40,900 acres of forestland and the increased “militarisation” of 70 gram sabhas in the Etapalli tehsil, having a population of 81,700 spread over 180 villages in the highly sensitive security zone. Read more

Forest Rights Act poorly implemented in ST areas

Orissa Post | April 11, 2019

Bhubaneswar: A recent study conducted by the Community Forest Rights Learning and Action Group based on government agency data and responses to RTI queries found that the status of implementation of the Forest Rights Act (2006) in Scheduled Tribe (ST) constituencies was very poor.

The study conducted by the national think-tank examined the status of FRA implementation in the 33 Assembly constituencies reserved for STs.

The Assembly seats covered 11 of the 30 districts, 16,229 inhabited villages and 20,25,740 households with an ST population of 54,61,507 and an SC population of 9,86,217. The study analysed the success of the legislation in the scheduled areas.
The study found that 2.76 lakh Individual Forest Rights (IFR) were distributed between 2008 and August 2018. This constituted 66 per cent of the total titles distributed in the state, while 0.02 per cent of the titles were distributed to Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFDs). Read more

Intricacies of abolishing child labour

The Hans India | Dr MOHAN KANDA | April 10, 2019

Much has been said and written about the scourge of child labour, worldwide as well as in India. The malady has had a chequered history for centuries, with societies and governments adopting approaches suited to the ethos and culture of their environments at different times.

rom the second half of the previous century, however, it has been accepted universally that employing children for work is a pernicious practice. As a result, several measures have been taken, legal, policy and operational, by various countries including our own.

In the strict and formal sense, child labour refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives them of childhood, prevents them from attending school and harms them physically, mentally, socially and morally. Read more

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