Tribal Forest Policy

: “Forest Dwelling Scheduled Tribes means the persons who primarily reside in and who depend on the forest lands for bonafied livelihood needs” . This phrase in the “Scheduled tribes and Other traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act” needs to be verified and understood well while sharing the information on the act at the grassroots , Abhay Kumar Pathak , Conservator of Forests said . While the act was speaking more on the rights of the forest dwelling scheduled tribes , it had only offered some specific provisions for other scheduled tribes , he added. He expressed his concern after learning from sources that the meaning of the phrase was interpreted by people differently at different level which could cause more harm than benefit to the people in the villages of Koraput district .

Moreover the problem was coupled with the gaps in the communication between the district administration and the villagers in forming ‘Forest Rights Committees’ in the district . While initially 17th &23rd of this month were fixed by the administration to conduct special Palli Sabhas to form the ‘Forest Rights Committee’ in each revenue village by inviting at least 75% of population including that of the hamlet villages , most of the meetings could not be organizing for the fear of election code of conduct , Pravakar Adhikari , Secretary , Pragati , an organization working on forest and forest related issues at Koraput said . Now that fresh dates were not announced by the district , the delay might derail the fruit of the entire effort if utmost care was not taken , he added .

The act allows the forest dwellers to apply before the Village level forest rights committee to get occupational rights on the forest land , on which he& his family were depending for their livelihood . But the government authorized documents such as voter identity card , passport , house tax receipts and domicile certificates might be the matter of difficulty for the real forest dwellers to furnish along with the application , sources said . Moreover availability of village maps enabling the beneficiary to locate the site of occupation in the forest land from the map was another challenge for the lack of maps and technical persons to assist at the panchayat level , sources feared.
(EOM)