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Forest Rights Bill This section focuses on the forthcoming "Forest Rights Bill". The Bill is the result of ongoing national agitations against the perennial livelihood insecurity that forest dwellers face. This section is managed in collaboration with the Campaign for Survival and Dignity, a network of some 200 organisations concerned with the rights of tribal people. The most recent example of such insecurity was the large-scale drive from 2002 onwards to evict forest-dwelling communities from their traditional homes, conducted with great violence by State agencies such as the Forest Department. These communities have lived in a legal twilight zone ever since the British instituted a system of forest laws that brought all forest lands under centralised control. Both before and after Independence, the process of declaring areas to be "Government Forest" generally ignored the rights of marginalised forest dwelling communities (particularly tribals) to forest land, to use of forest resources, and to their traditional forest activities. Since their rights were never recorded, they have subsequently been declared "illegal encroachers", and their livelihoods criminalized. This has made them vulnerable to eviction, brutality, corruption and harassment. Meanwhile, the absolute power given to the forest authorities in current law has greatly harmed conservation and contributed to greater corruption. The Forest Rights Bill seeks to correct these historical injustices by laying down "a procedure for recognition and vesting of forest rights in forest dwelling Tribes". While the Bill has generally been welcomed, there has been much debate about specific provisions of the Bill. For instance, concerns have been expressed about the appropriateness of the "cut-off date" of 1980 for the purpose of recognising land rights, the inadequacy of the land ceiling of 2.5 hectares, and so on. The aim of this section is to facilitate further discussion of these important issues. The following documents introduce the central issues raised by the "Forest Rights Bill". These will shortly be supplemented by reports and discussions from the media and concerned citizen's groups.
Campaign Updates The CSD maintains a regular mailing list for updates on the campaign and its activities. Past updates are posted below.
For further information, contact: CAMPAIGN FOR SURVIVAL AND DIGNITY Last updated: 7 February 2005 |
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