FOREST, TRIBALS, AND FOREST POLICY
Forest occupies a central position in
tribal culture and economy. Forests not only provide them home, shelter, food,
dress, material for house building, cultural equipment, medicines, spiritual
life/ pleasure, but also dictate their way of life from birth to death. The
Hari Singh Committee (1967) said that 60% of Indian tribes live in forests and
rest 40% live in the vicinity of forests. They treat the forest as “Mother
goddess”. Moreover, the tribal existence has been linked to forests due to
historical factors. It has been their abode and source of livelihood centuries
together. In fact there existed a “symbiotic relationship” between forests and
tribes. Thus it has been a unanimously held view that forest economy is “tribal
economy” and vice versa.
Not only their economic life but the
religious and religio-magical beliefs of the tribal people have been rotating
round the forests. Many a flora and fauna have been their objects of
worship-totems. They also dedicate some of the forest tracts to their deities –
sacred grooves. Several proto-austroloid tribes marry the mango trees before
their main marriage sites. They require many roots, tubers and leaves for
magico-religious rites. For their recreational life, they sing folk songs, and
dance and roam in the forests. They also organize the annual hunt in the forest
for maintaining a harmonious relationship with nature. Because of their
intimate and harmonious relationship with nature they are called as
“Vanyajati”, “Vanabasi” and “Vanaputra”.
They were the lords and masters of
forests until the establishment of British rule in India. The British policy of
commercial forestry first shattered the rights of the tribals over forests.
This started on 3.8.1855 when the then Governor General, Lord Dalhousie issued
a memorandum on forest conservation showing their concern about the destruction
of forests by the slash and burn cultivation. He emphasized teak production for
earnings and exports to England for ship building in Royal Navy.
Following is the chronicled narration
of evolution of forest policy along with various measures taken by state to
manage the forests.
The first Forest Act of 1865. This act was the first attempt in
the direction of regulation of collection of forest produce by the forest dwellers. In the process, the socially
regulated practices of the local people were restrained by law.
The Forest Act 1878. This act further extended the
states authority over forests. It prohibited certain acts such as trespass (or) pasturing of cattle and declaring certain activities as forest offences. Imprisonment and fines
were also prescribed for these offences.
The first Forest Policy 1894.
The
first forest policy envisaged, for the first time, the regulation of rights and restriction of privileges of the users in
the forests. It also stated that the public
benefit was the sole objection of forest administration. However, several
regulations were made for forests under British control for commercial use.
Due to this fact, the people of India
particularly the forest dwellers faced serious problems as they were deprived
of forest resources. The British forest policy was mainly based on commercial
interest and aimed at supplying timber and other resources to colonial forest
based industries. The commercial exploitation of forests was encouraged at the
cost of forest – dwellers in the name of greater
national interest.
The Indian Forest Act, 1927.
This
act was further curtailed the rights of people over forest land and forest produce. It created an extremely powerful
and adequately protected executive, consisting of forest officers of Indian forest service, State Forest
Service, Rangers, Foresters and Forest guards. These officers enjoy legal
powers. According to this act, any forest officer without a warrant could arrest any person against whom a reasonable
suspicion exists of his motive to pilferage forest or forest wealth and his
act was punishable with one month or more imprisonment. The officials could
also seize and impound the cattle of
the offender under cattle Trespass Act, 1871.
It
further states that no suit shall be instituted against public servant for acts
done in good faith and that all forest officials are deemed public servants.
They played havoc with the lives of forest dwellers. This policy led to the infiltration of traders, contractors and
non-tribal labour into forest areas in substantial number. This led to the
depletion of forest cover, soil erosion and decline of soil fertility. This
further widened socio-economic gulf between tribals and non-tribals. In 1935,
forest was transferred to the State list according to the Government of India
Act, 1935.
The National Forest Policy, 1952.
The National Forest Policy, by and
large followed the lines of British administration where the tribals had
virtually no statutory right but enjoyed only certain concessions / privileges. These privileges include right to
take water for agricultural processes, digging of wells and canals for
agricultural processes, free grazing in open forests, removal of timber,
bamboos, seeds, canes etc. for construction and repair of houses and for
agricultural implements, collection of deadwood for fuel, collection of grass
for cattle and for thatching their huts, fishing and hunting excluding protected
farma and cultivation of forest land.
Wild Life Protection Act, 1972:
Wild Life
(Protection) Act, 1972 empowered Government to declare any area to be constituted
as a "protected area", namely a national park, wildlife sanctuary,
tiger reserve or community conservation area where the operations tribals are
greatly restricted and the killing of all the protected animals is a non-bailable
offence. This Act has also usurped the lands which were held by the tribes and
restricted the pastoral tribal movement in the protected areas.
Under the Indian Forest Act 1927 and Wild Life (Protection)
Act, 1972, the rights of people living in or depending on the area to be
declared as a forest or protected area are to be "settled" by a "forest settlement officer."
This basically requires that officer to enquire into the claims of people to
land, minor forest produce, etc., and, in the case of claims found to be valid,
to allow them to continue or to extinguish them by paying compensation.
Studies have shown that in many areas this process either
did not take place at all or took place in a highly faulty manner. Thus 82.9%
of the forest blocks in undivided Madhya Pradesh
had not been settled as of December 2003, while all the hilly tracts of Orissa
were declared government forests without any survey. In Orissa, around 40% of
the government forests are "deemed reserved forests" which have not
been surveyed.
Those whose rights
are not recorded during the settlement process are susceptible to eviction at
any time. This "legal twilight zone" leads to harassment, evictions,
extortion of money and sexual molestation of forest dwellers by forest
officials, who wield absolute authority over forest dwellers' livelihoods and
daily lives.
The recommendations of National
Committee on Agriculture – 1976 and Tribal rights:
The NCA recommended a drastic reduction in the peoples’ rights over
forests and forest produce. It stated that free supply of forest produce to
local communities and their privileges have brought destruction to the forests,
because they are contributing much to the maintenance of forests. It further
recommended strengthening of forest legislation by the enactment of a revised
All India Forest Act.
These recommendations were rejected by
Forest Ministers Conference in 1982. In 1976 by 42 Amendment Act of
Constitution, the forests were brought into the concurrent list.
The
Committee for review of Rights and Concessions – 1980
The Ministry of Agriculture
constituted a committee under the Chairmanship of Sri M.S. Chaudary, the former
Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh in 1961, to review the rights and concessions
of tribals over forests.
This committee recommended that the
exercise of rights and concessions should be restricted to those tribals and
other rural people residing within the
distance of 8 K.M. from the existing forests that to non-reserved forests. The task of collection of MFP (Minor Forest
Produce) should be taken by State and that should be distributed to tribals
through departmental depots opened outside the forest for this purpose. The
committee also recommended that the grazing of cattle in the forests should be
restricted to the carrying capacity of the forest.
B.K. Roy
Burman Committee on Forests and Tribals :
The Ministry of Home Affairs under the
chairmanship of Prof. B.K. Roy Burman, an eminent Anthropologist, appointed a
committee in 1980 to re-orient the forest policy to serve the tribal economy.
The committee submitted its report in 1982. It emphasized importance of forests
in tribal life. It stated that besides getting free fuel, fodder and wood for
house construction, the tribals earn one
third of their income from the sale of MFP.
The committee expressed it regret over
the little importance given to the tribal economy in previous forest policies.
It stated that benefits should flow to the tribal people through the
imagination forestry programmes and conservation and recognition of their
skills. In other words, the individual tribal the local tribal community and
national interest should be regarded as the three corners of a triangular
forest policy.
Forest
policy must fulfill three sets of needs – (a) ecological security (b) foods,
fruit (c) fuel, fodder and other domestic needs of particularly the rural and
tribal population.
The committee also recommended that
wherever the community rights exist on the forest land they should be
recognized and adopted to serve the urgent needs of soil and water management
and reforestation of tracts by suitable
plants.
New
National Forest Policy – 1988 and Tribal rights :
It is pro-tribal forest policy in
which most of the recommendations of Prof.
B.K. Roy Burman committee are accommodated. It envisages environmental stability, and maintenance of ecological
balance through the active involvement of local communities. This policy
may be called “ENVIRONEMNT POPULATION” policy. This is the first forest policy
which recognized the needs of the forest dwellers for the first time since the
forest administration began in India.
This policy recognized the symbiotic
relationship of tribals with forests and directed all the agencies involved in
the forest management including the forest associations should involve tribals
in the protection, regeneration, and development of forests as well as to
provide gainful employment to the tribals living in and around the forest. It
assumes that customary rights and concessions are fully protected, adding to
the domestic requirement of firewood, fodder and MFP. Though it relates the
rights and concessions of tribals to the carrying capacity of forests, it also
mention ‘need for optimizing this carrying capacity by increased investment,
silvicultural research and eco development. This policy strongly desires for
the re-establishment of the symbiotic relationship with tribals for the
protection, regeneration and development of forest.
[This policy took some essential
decision regarding the development of tribals. They are (1) “to reduce the
illegal cutting and for the exploitation of forest, the contractors should be
replaced by the forest corporation, labour co-operatives and tribal
co-operatives.
(2) Special
attention should be paid to the protection, regeneration and optimum collection
of MFP along with institutional arrangement for its marketing
(3) Family
oriented schemes for the improving the status of tribal beneficiaries and
(4)
integrated area development programmes to meet the needs of the tribal economy
in and around the forest areas”.]
The Ministry of Environment and Forest
on June 1, 1990 issued a circular to the Forest Secretaries of all the States
and UTs providing guidelines for the “involvement
of village communities and voluntary organizations in the regeneration of
degraded forests.” As of May 1996, 16 states initiated “Joint forest management” measures by issuing orders and
guidelines.
The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest
Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006:
It is a key piece of forest legislation passed in India on December 18, 2006 which is intended
to redress the historical injustice done to the tribes and traditional dwellers
of the forest, as a result of the continuance of colonial forest laws in India.
It has also been called the Forest Rights Act, the Tribal Rights Act,
the Tribal Bill, and the Tribal Land Act. This Act, for the first time has
Ø
recognised
and vested the forest rights and occupation in the forest dwelling Scheduled
Tribes and other traditional dwellers who have been residing in such forest for
generations but whose rights could not be recorded,
Ø
provide
framework for recording the forest rights so vested and the nature of evidence
required for such recognition and vesting in respect of forest land and
Ø
recognition
of rights of the forest dwellers includes the responsibilities and authority
for sustainable use, conservation of biodiversity and maintenance of ecological
balance and thereby strengthening the conservation regime of the forests while
ensuring livelihood and food security of them.
This Act came into
effect from 1.1.2008.
1. The Types of rights vested by this
Act can be summerised as under.
1. Title rights - i.e. ownership - to land that is
being framed by tribals or forest dwellers as on December 13, 2005, subject to
a maximum of 4 hectares; ownership is only for land that is actually being
cultivated by the concerned family as on that date, meaning that no new lands
are granted
- Use rights - to minor forest produce (also
including ownership), to grazing areas, to pastoralist routes, etc.
- Relief and development rights - to rehabilitation in case of
illegal eviction or forced displacement; and to basic amenities, subject
to restrictions for forest protection Forest management rights - to
protect forests and wildlife
- Any
other traditional right customarily enjoyed by the forest dwelling
Scheduled Tribes or other traditional forest dwellers, as the case may be,
but excluding the traditional right
of hunting or trapping extracting a part of the body of any species of
wild animal
2. Eligibility criteria and processing
of rights:
The eligibility to get rights under the Act
is confined to those who "primarily reside in forests" and who depend
on forests and forest land for a livelihood. Further, either the claimant must
be a member of the Scheduled Tribes
scheduled in that area or must have been residing in the forest for 75 years.
3. Role of gram sabha
in recognizing the beneficiaries:
The Act is intended to recognise lands that are already under cultivation as on
December 13, 2005.[not to grant title to any new lands, as claimed by certain
opponents of the Act]. The gram sabha, or village assembly, will initially pass
a resolution recommending whose rights to which resources (land, MFP, pasture
lands etc.) should be recognised, i.e. which lands belong to whom, how much
land was under the cultivation of each person as on Dec 13, 2005, etc.. This
resolution is then screened and approved at the level of the sub-division (or taluka) and subsequently at the district level. The screening
committees consist of three government officials (Forest, Revenue and Tribal Welfare departments) and three elected members of the local body
at that level. These committees also hear appeals.
4. Resettlement for wildlife
conservation
Section 4(2) of the Act lays out a procedure by which people
can be resettled from areas if it is found to be necessary for wildlife
conservation. The first step is to show that relocation is scientifically
necessary and no other alternative is available; this has to be done through a
process of public consultation. The second step is that the local community
must consent to the resettlement. Finally, the resettlement must provide not
only compensation but a secure livelihood.
Grey areas of the Forest Rights Act:
The Act did
not specify any time limit before which the process of settlement of claims
over land, pasture lands and Minor Forest Produce (MFP) required to be
concluded. It is applicable to only those tribals who are cultivating or
grazing or collecting MFP, but not to those who are already displaced by the
different development projects. Further, recognition of land rights is
restricted to 10 acres or 4 hectares which is meager when compared to larger
land holdings held by the tribals and the un-productive nature of the land. The
Act would not recognize any new claim on the forest land and therefore the
landless at present continue to be so. Further, it did not address the issue of
land alienated to non-tribals. This act is applicable to tribals and
non-tribals and therefore the non-tribals, given their bargaining power with
the gram sabha as well as corrupt revenue and forest administration, the
tribals voice may be silenced. But for these shortcomings, the Act is landmark
legislation for empowerment of tribals and sustainable development in India.
Implementation of the Act:
Details rules
were framed and released during 2008 and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs had
issued guidelines inter-alia require the
State Governments to ensure recognition of the forest rights relating to minor
forest produce and to bring the State policies in alignment with the provisions
of the Act, do away the monopoly of the Forest Corporations in the trade of
minor forest produce in the States, play the facilitation role in not only
transferring unhindered absolute rights over minor forest produce to forest
dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers but also in
getting them remunerative prices for the minor forest produce collected and
processed by them.
The Ministry had also observed certain procedural
lacunae in the existing FR Rules, 2008. In order to overcome those lacunae and
strengthen the existing FR Rules, 2008, the Ministry has also notified the
Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest
Rights) Amendment Rules, 2012 in the Gazette of India on 6.9.2012 and forwarded
copies of the Amendment Rules to all the State/ UT Governments on 7.9.2012 for
initiating necessary action as per the Amendment Rules, on priority.
The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest
Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Amendment Rules, 2012 notified by the
Ministry on 06.09.2012 provide interalia for
(i)
identification of
hamlets or settlements and process of their consolidation for holding Gram
Sabha meetings,
(ii)
disposal of minor
forest produce within and outside forest area through appropriate means of
transport,
(iii)
modification of the
transit permit regime in relation to transportation of minor forest produce and
issue of the transit permit by a Committee constituted by the Gram Sabha or the
person authorized by Gram Sabha,
(iv)
making the
collection of the minor forest produce free of all royalties or fees or any
other charges,
(v)
convening of the
quarterly meetings of the State Level Monitoring Committee for monitoring the
process of recognition, verification and vesting of forest rights and
addressing the field level problems,
(vi)
recognition of the
individual and community rights, etc.
The Ministry also organized five Regional Workshops,
nationwide, in order to explain and discuss the amendments in the FR Rules and
the guidelines to the officials of the key State Government Department and the
way forward at State level including drafting of consequent Action Plans for
individual States.
As a result of the efforts, more than
32.37 lakh claims have been filed and 12.79 lakh titles have been distributed
as on 31.12.2012. Further, 14 thousand titles were ready for distribution. A
total of 27,91,330 claims have been disposed of , which is 86.21% of the total
claims received. As per the information available from 14 States, the extent of
forest land for which 12,70,404 titles
have been distributed, is 18,78,358.39
hectares [46, 41,479.94 Acres].
Destruction of the forest
environment and the tribes :
Tribals have symbiotic relationship with forests and they were the saviors of
forest protection. They had communal ownership
rights over forest and the forests remained their lifeblood. With the advent
of British their rights over forests were shattered. But they could not
evacuate them from forest because they found to be cheap labour for commercial
exploitation of forest. This legacy of British continued even after
Independence. The revenue from the forest exploitation was increasing year
after year. The profit of the state turned out to be doom for the tribal. The
satisfaction of their basic needs was considered illegal and attracted penalty.
Their interdependence with forest was never understood properly. Their survival
was increasingly put in jeopardy by the contractor-money lender combine and
they themselves were acted as cheap labour and a safe cover for illegal
felling.
The alienation of tribal lands
continued unabated due to the importance of forests for mining, construction of
multipurpose projects, thermal projects, industries depending on the one
available in forest areas and wild life projects. This resulted in dislocation
of their traditional habitat and ruining of their economy. Often the
compensation is very meager. The illiterate tribals did not know the laws. They
owned the forest lands in the forest for what they had no records. The
customary rights of the tribals over their land are in the form of community
ownership. The Government while recording rights looks for the records and no
general rights on a community basis are recognized.
Because of these reasons, the tribals
were completely alienated from his ancestral lands. They lost the consciousness
that jungle is their security. Therefore, they had little stake for the
protection and preservation of forests. Neither they resisted destruction nor did
they visualize preservation. In the name of scientific forest management the
fruit trees, medicinal trees which have great significance in their life were
replaced by monoculture such as Teak and Eucalyptus plantation which are almost
of no use to tribals or support the wild life.
This type of short sighted monoculture methods and unscientific
destruction of forest resulted into the soil erosion and less productivity
of forest lands and extinction of most of the wild life. Thus the forest
management deprived the tribals, game (wild animals), land and Minor Forest Produce
and completely ruined thir life.
Importance
of involvement of local tribes protection of the Environment:
India’s forest and wild life policy,
till the Forest Rights Act 2006, is essentially an extension of colonial policy
that considered forests and ecological assets as profit making entities and
tradable commodities. The commercial exploitation of forests was encouraged at
the cost of forest dwellers in the name of greater national interest. The
unscrupulous traders, contractors and money lenders exploited the forests as
well as tribals to the maximum. This led to the continued depletion of forest
cover, soil erosion, and decline in soil fertility. So, the “non-sustainable
centralized and bureaucratic approach” to the management of forests, parks,
sanctuaries, and protected areas that excludes local communities is clearly obsolete.
The Forest Rights Act, 2006 is a
result of untiring efforts of several anthropologists, NGOs, environmentalists,
ecologists and social activists over the years in making serious efforts to
create public opinion in favour of involving local communities in the
management of national parks and forests had made the Forest. This Act has
recogised the twin concepts of conservation, viz., conservation of biodiversity
and the livelihood security of local communities. It is universally accepted
principle that the polity of the government that it shall do justice to the
local communities both tribal and non tribal, and to the nature – vegetation
and wild life and to the future generations in sustainable manner. Sustainable
development of forest is possible if local people are protected who in turn
protect the flora and fauna. If they were protected and made saviors of the
forest, the natural forests will be saved and justice to the nature would be
done and future generation will not face the brunt of forest degradation. It is
pertinent to see certain case studies explaining the symbiotic relationship
between the tribals and nature.
Case studies:
1. The Bishnoi communities of Rajastan
who live in and around deserts have been zealously guarding lush green forest
stretches and the black bucks for centuries, in the arid region of Rajastan,
Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, from rapacious human encroachers. The word Bishnoi
is derived from bis (twenty) and nai (nine) i.e. followers of 29
principles given by Guru
Jambheshwar. The latter gave the message to protect
trees and wildlife around 540 years ago when nobody could predict that harming
the environment means harming yourself. He formulated twenty nine tenets. The
tenets were not only tailored to conserve
bio-diversity of the area but also ensured a healthy eco-friendly social life
for the community. Out of 29, eight tenets have been prescribed to preserve
bio-diversity and encourage good animal husbandry. These include a ban on
killing animals and felling green trees, and providing protection to all life
forms. The community is also directed to see that the firewood they use is
devoid of small insects. Wearing blue cloths is prohibited because the dye for
colouring them is obtained by cutting a large quantity of shrubs. In 1730, 363
Bishnoi men, women and children gave their lives to protect trees from cutting
by the then king's men. This incident happened in Khejarli which is a village
in Jodhpur district of Rajasthan, India 26 km south-east of the city of
Jodhpur. In this incident 363 Bishnois sacrificed their lives while protecting
trees, by hugging to them, this incident is the first event of the Chipko
movement in history. [The Bishnois are presently spread over
the western parts of Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh. They are teetotalers
and normally they wear a white shirt, dhoti
and turban.
This dress pattern is ideal for the hot dry desert climate. They pay special
attention to cleanliness in their houses. Only one crop of pearl
millet (bajra) is grown during the monsoon season. The
bushes, which grow in the fields, protect the loose sand from wind erosion and
provide the much-needed fodder for animals during a famine. Bisnois often live
in little hamlets called Dhani and villages,
with just a few round huts with intricate thatched roofs. The mud floors are
plastered with cow dung to keep vermin away. The interiors are airy and clean. There
is a granary to guard their rations and a sump for stored water. Bishnois in
Haryana and Punjab are much wealthier than other castes.]
2. Many tribes have plants and animals
as their totems whose killing is tabooed and also it is their bounden duty to
protect their totems by providing congenial growth environment and stopping
encroachments and poaching. This method is just tip of the iceberg, in
biodiversity conservation by tribals.
3. The Talakona experiment of Joint
Forest Management (JFM) in Sheshachala hills of Eastern Ghats is worth
emulating elsewhere for wonderful results. Talakona is a famous eco-tourism
centre for its waterfalls and lush green forest, used for shooting films. Here,
the Forest Department of Andhra Pradesh has built a conference hall and guest
houses, called “log-huts”. These guest houses are maintained by local self help
group of indigenous tribe, “Yanadi”, called “Vana Samrakshana Samithi” (VSS).
It is responsible for protecting the forest and not to allow felling of the
trees and poaching of animals. The sales proceeds of log-huts and catering
services are received into a joint account held by the chairman of VSS, who is
invariably a Yanadi tribal and the concerned “Forest Ranger” and the same is used
for paying salaries to yenadi people who are involved in the maintenance of
guest house and restaurant. They are also entitled to collect Minor Forest
Produce such as honey, fruits of Amla, Tamarind, plums etc. and tubers such as “Maredu gadda’’ & “Pala gadda” and
certain roots used in making perfumes. This
is quite successful in a way that local communities are empowered and
environment is also protected.
4. The beliefs and religion of around 8000 Dongria Kondh’s
of Niyamgiri Hills in Berhampur and Raigarh districts of Odhissa have helped the
growth of dense forest and unusually rich wildlife. The Dongrias worship the top of the sacred
mountain, the ‘mountain of law’ as the seat of their god, “Niyamaraja”. They
call themselves Jharnia, meaning
‘protector of streams’, because they protect their sacred mountains and the
life-giving rivers that rise within its thick forests. They strongly believe
that any disturbance in the hills such as mining is tantamount to angering
their god who has been protecting them for ages and therefore doom them. The fought a heroic battle against
mining giant Vedanta Resources and Odisha Mining Corporation to save their
sacred mountain. The Supreme Court in its landmark decision in 2013, had told
Vedanta that the Dongria must decide whether to allow mining or not. Consequently,
Gram Sabhas are conducted in their hamlets and all 6 Gram Sabhas, locally
called as “palle sabhas” had rejected the mining of $2billion worth of bauxite deposits. This
is the first ever
environmental plebiscite conducted in India. In one of the Gram Sabhas, one of the tribal
women has stated that they buy only kerosene and salt and the remaining is
provided by the hills for their livelihood. This summarizes the intricate
relationship between the nature and tribal life and tribal way of protecting
the environment and forests.
Conclusion:
The Rio Earth Summit, 1992 and Rio Earth Summit 2012 [United Nations Conference on
Sustainable Development
or Rio+20] has rightly acknowledged the customary rights of “indigenous
communities” or “the ecosystem people” to live in forests and use its resources
in a sustainable manner. The summit also brought into the focus the immense
knowledge of the local communities about the biodiversity and their inherent
traditional methods they practice for conserving ecological diversity of the
area they inhabit. The summit had advocated that States should recognize and duly support their identity,
culture and interests and enable their effective participation in the
achievement of sustainable development. The Forest Rights Act, 2006 is a right
step in this direction, but alone may not be suffice to do the needful. The need of the hour is to change
the policy of Government towards joint forest management with traditional
skills and new technological techniques. The tribals should be made real stake
holders in the forest and wildlife management with immediate stoppage of
habitat destruction and enhancement of forest cover and growing of the
traditional plantations which not only provide green cover, but also enhances
the carrying capacity of the forest for sustainable livelihood needs of the
tribals and other traditional forest dwellers. The rights over the forest land,
pasture lands and MFP shall be implemented in true spirit and the indigenous
communities to be given reasonable veto power in exploitation of forests and
mining in those areas. It is to be noted
that India is going to emerge as most populous country in the world by 2045
with 1.5 billion population and to sustain the needs of such huge population,
we have to take ample measures at least from now to increase the forest cover
in place of destructed ones and enhance its carrying capacity. Hence, in the
interests of country as a whole and specially in the interest of marginalized
tribals, let us save them from the contractors, industrialists, money-lenders
and from the red tape inflicted beaurocracy, especially at cutting edge
level and march towards Joint Forest Management
and Sustainable Development by blending the indigenous knowledge with
innovative technologies.
*****
Tribal population as per
2011 census: According to the 2011
Census of India, Bhil is the most populous
tribe with a total population of 4,618,068, constituting 37.7 per cent of the
total ST population. Gond is the
second largest tribe, with a population of 4,357,918 constituting 35.6 per
cent. The next four populous tribes are: Kol,
Korku, Sahariya and Baiga. These six tribes constitute 92.2 per cent of the
total ST population of the State. Pardhan,
Saur and Bharia Bhumia have a population ranging from 105,692 to 152,472;
together, they form 3.2 per cent. Four tribes, namely, Majhi, Khairwar, Mawasi and Panika having population in the range
of 47,806 to 81,335 account for another 2.2 per cent of the ST population;
remaining thirty three tribes (out of total of 46 tribes) along with the
generic tribes constitute the residual 2.5 per cent of total ST population.
