The Hindu Business Line : (Em)powering tribals

KISHOR Rithe was not in a particularly good mood when one met him last week in Mumbai. The first flowers of spring, like the blooming, blood red of the Indian Coral and the Silk Cotton trees standing across our office, did not touch him much. Something was bugging him, and when we settled down to a cup of coffee, he came out with the news.

"The Government has cleared some 20 hydel projects, and the number could go up before the model code of conduct becomes operational. Quite a few of these projects have stay orders issued by courts on them and yet the Government wants to go ahead, " Kishor said with a face veined with sadness.

Then he came up with the copies of two orders issued by Dr V.K. Bahuguna, Inspector-General of Forests, on February 3 and February 5, 2004, which were recently stayed by the Supreme Court. The February 3 order deals with "stepping up the process for conversion of forest villages into revenue villages," and lays down the procedure to be followed by the State Governments. The order admits to "very few proposals" having come from the states; only 384 forest villages have been converted into revenue villages (311 in Madhya Pradesh and 73 in Maharashtra) in the last year. The number of forest villages is put at 2,690 spread over 13 states.

The Central Government is "committed to the conversion," says the order and adds: "The Central Government would consider all land on which pattas have been issued prior to October 25, 1980, by the concerned divisional forest officers or the authorised officers and patta holders and the land is in their or legal successors continuous possession."

A forest village comes under the Forest Department, and the villagers (mostly tribals) nurse a symbiotic relationship, protecting plants and animals. The Forest Department provides them some of the modern conveniences of life, and the practice can be traced to the British when they wanted hands to run a paying timber business. In the process of becoming a revenue village, the tribals become dependent on the district administration and one is not sure if it makes for any credible change in their lives. The order states, "If any of the forest village falls in a National Park and Sanctuary, the State Government shall submit the proposal for conversion to the revenue villages only after obtaining the approval of the Standing Committee of the National Board of Wildlife and the Supreme Court." Experts in the field are not as worried as they are over the February 5, 2004, order regularising the rights of tribals on the forest lands. This order is being seen as an attempt to garner tribal votes ahead of General Elections 2004. The order contends, "Tribals have been living in harmony with the forests since time immemorial and their rights on such lands should be recognised."

It says: "In respect of these recognised rights of the tribal forest dwellers on the forest lands, the Central Government upon the receipt of complete proposals from the State Governments/UT Administration concerned, shall consider the proposals for diversion of continuously occupied forest land under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, so that these tribals can get unfettered legal rights over such lands. This decision shall apply for those tribal dwellers who are in continuous occupation of such forest land at least since December 31, 1993."

The Government realises the existence of a stay on such regularisations and the order admits, "As the Honourable Supreme Court, vide their order dated 13.11.2001 in W.P. 202/95, had restrained the Central Government from regularisation of encroachments, the Central Government shall approach the Court for modification of their order so that the instant decision taken in this regard by the Central Government is implemented."

If nothing else, there seems to be some contradiction between clearing dams and promising regularisation of tribal land in forests as dams do disturb forests and tribals. Over the last few years, tribal resettlement programmes have been taking place with the consent of the tribals to leave forests undisturbed.

More importantly, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs has come out with a Draft National Policy on Tribals and the Government could have waited for the public response. The draft has laid down some guidelines when tribals are resettled. Arguing that "when displacement becomes inevitable, each scheduled tribe family having land in the earlier settlement shall be given land against land."

For sometime now, tribal resettlement programmes have been taking place with the consent of the tribals, freeing forest lands. If the Government goes ahead there may be little left of primitive forests and the animals living in them. In turn, it could affect the flow of rivers as most have their origins in forests apart from adversely affecting rainfall patterns.

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