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Recent posts
Category Archives: Forest Rights Act (FRA)
“Our forests are ours again. In 2006, the government finally accepted the historical injustice meted out to Adivasis and passed the Forest Rights Act thus recognizing our rights to forests.” – Adivasi Munnetra Sangam (photo caption, 2017 calendar)
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=21811
“The British established mode of forest governance imposed restrictions on local forest-dwelling communities. In 1860, the Company withdrew all access rights for using the forests (food, fuel, medicine and selling forest products) since the forests and forest-dwelling communities provided refuge to the rebels during the Sepoy Mutiny.” – Research team (Sayantani Satpathi, Shambhavi Singh & Subhodeep Basu) in “Revisiting the Forest Rights Act: Status of Implementation with respect to Land Tenures and Collection of Minor Forest Produce), Bharat Rural Livelihoods Foundation (New Delhi, 12 July 2019), p. 4
https://www.academia.edu/41756309
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=14402
“The forests were ‘wastelands’ that needed to be tamed, settled and developed [according to the official 1960s plan by the Government of India to ‘colonize’ the Andaman and Nicobar Islands]. It did not matter that these forests were the home of myriads of plants and animals that had evolved over aeons. It did not matter that ancient tribal peoples were living here for centuries, neither that they were physically and spiritually sustained by these forests. The idea that forests could mean more than just the timber the trees provided had not even taken seed in the national consciousness.” – Pankaj Sekhsaria in Islands in Flux: The Andaman and Nicobar Story (Harper Litmus, 2017), pp. 4-5
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=10151
“The passage of the Scheduled Tribes and other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act (2006), recognizing both the individual and community rights over forest and forest resources is an attempt to redress the “historical injustice” meted out to [200 million] tribals and OTFDs [other forest dwelling communities].” – Research team (Sayantani Satpathi, Shambhavi Singh & Subhodeep Basu) in “Revisiting the Forest Rights Act: Status of Implementation with respect to Land Tenures and Collection of Minor Forest Produce), Bharat Rural Livelihoods Foundation (New Delhi, 12 July 2019)
https://www.academia.edu/41756309
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=10151
“Under the [FRA] law, forest dwellers can apply to state governments for either individual or community forest rights – which means they can take ownership of the process of protecting and conserving forests in their areas. They can also gather and sell minor forest produce such as tendu leaves or bamboo, which was an illegal activity before the law was enacted. However, states have not been particularly proactive about implementing these rights. [E]ven as Maharashtra is foremost in implementing community forest rights, it is also slowly attempting to reverse this with new forms of forest management.” – Mridula Chari in (Scroll.in, 9 July 2017)
https://scroll.in/article/843046/ten-years-of-forest-rights-act-maharashtra-tops-in-implementation-but-credit-goes-to-one-district
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=23920
“The Act makes concrete provisions to allow adivasis to enter the forest and continue using forest produce, on which they have depended for generations [like] the basket that was once woven in bamboo that was collected from the forest is now being replaced by plastic ones bought from the market.” – Priyashri Mani in “Home is where the forest is”, illustrated story for Accord (Gudalur)
https://cultureandconservation.wordpress.com/2013/08/29/home-is-where-the-forest-is/
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=12436
“There are three important stakeholders on whom rests the successful implementation of the Act [Forest Rights Act (2006)]. This includes the Gram Sabha itself, the Forest Department and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (Tribal Department in various states); the Tribal Departments are the nodal agencies responsible for the implementation of the Act. Revenue officers at the District and Block level also have a role to play in the finalization of titles, making changes in the official revenue maps etc. Apart from this an institutional framework has been created at different levels of checks and balances, management and redressed structures from the village to the state level. This involves the Forest Rights Committee at the village level, the Sub-Divisional and District level Committees and a final appellate authority of the State Level Monitoring Committee.” – Rebecca S . David in “An analysis of the impact of the Forest Rights Act (2006) in three states of India” (MPhil University of Cambridge, UK, 2014), p. 1
Websites:
CG-Net Swara: http://cgnetswara.org/
The Forest Right Act: https://www.forestrightsact.com/home
Forest Rights Act: https://www.fra.org.in
Ministry of Environment and Forests: http://envfor.nic.in/
https://www.academia.edu/30648733/
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=28027
“[I]ncome security of tribal peoples has been adversely affected by losses and access to productive resources (rights to forest or agricultural lands coupled with poor compensation). ” – Programme report on Tribal nutrition: “UNICEF’s efforts to support the tribal population, especially children who suffer from malnourishment”
https://www.unicef.org/india/what-we-do/tribal-nutrition
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=11674
“Though the institution of Forest Rights Act is a policy action on the part of governments, local mobilisation among Tribal population, and non-governmental organisations have played an important role in its effective implementation. This area [the Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra] has witnessed different forms of social mobilization under leaders coming from tribal communities.” – V. Santhakumar (Azim Premji University in “It is possible to have a better life for Scheduled Tribes in India!”, 4 May 2018)
https://vsanthakumar.wordpress.com/2018/05/04/it-is-possible-to-have-a-better-life-for-scheduled-tribes-in-india/
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=24803
“[We need] a change in the colonial outlook that has existed from the pre-Independence period towards forests, tribal forest dwellers and life forms living in forests.” – Minister Anil Madhav Dave while inaugurating a conference; quoted in “Forests, tribals and wildlife are not rivals, says environment minister”, Down To Earth, 21 October 2016
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=21343
“There are indigenous people who have lived in the forests for a long time. They have managed to use the forests sustainably while practicing shifting cultivation or hunting and gathering. Some of them still live in relative isolation in the forests. Human kind should protect their rights and preserve their cultures. They should be models for sustainability in the future. Indigenous people can show us what forest products to use and how to use them properly. They deserve to continue their ways of life.” – Manoj Kumar Hazarika in “Deforestation in Garo Hills and its impact”, The Echo: An Online Journal of Humanities & Social Science, Volume I, Issue IV, April 2013 (Karimganj College, Assam)
https://www.thecho.in/files/Deforestation-in-Garo-Hills-and-its-impact.pdf
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=14246
Knowing their rights and making it known: The four indigenous communities in the Gudalur valley of the Nilgiris – Tamil Nadu
The Gudalur valley in the Nilgiris is home to four distinct indigenous communities – Paniyas, Kattunayakans, Mullukurumbas and Bettakurumbas. Learn more: https://cultureandconservation.wordpress.com/test/ >> On 15th December, 2014, members from 31 Tribal Gram Sabhas of the Gudalur and Pandalur Taluks organized … Continue reading →
Posted in Adivasi / Adibasi, Bees and honey, Community facilities, Customs, Democracy, Ecology and environment, Economy and development, Education and literacy, Forest Rights Act (FRA), Health and nutrition, Names and communities, Nilgiri, Organizations, Photos and slideshows, Quotes, Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Southern region, Storytelling, Success story, Western Ghats - tribal heritage & ecology
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Tagged Bettakurumba, Kattunayaka, Mullukurumba, Paniya
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The “participatory guarantee system” (PGS Organic Council): A renewed effort to sustain the lives and cultures of indigenous communities – Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve
Rich Forests: Making a living under the canopy […] PGS has been received enthusiastically in India and elsewhere. The PGS Organic Council was registered in Goa, India, in April 2011. Since then, the Government of India – under the national project on … Continue reading →
Posted in Anthropology, Bees and honey, Community facilities, Customs, eBook download sites, Ecology and environment, Economy and development, Ethnobotany, Figures, census and other statistics, Forest Rights Act (FRA), Government of India, Health and nutrition, History, Names and communities, Nature and wildlife, Networking, Nilgiri, Organizations, Particularly vulnerable tribal group, Photos and slideshows, Quotes, Rural poverty, Scheduled Tribe (ST), Southern region, Tips, Tribal elders, Wayanad, Western Ghats - tribal heritage & ecology
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Tagged Adiya, Alar, Cholanaikan, Irula, Kuruchiyan, Kurumba, Mullukurumba, Paniya, Toda
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Learn more about tribal communities in Tamil Nadu
Posted in Anthropology, Bees and honey, Childhood and children, Community facilities, Customs, Democracy, Eco tourism, Ecology and environment, Economy and development, Education and literacy, Endangered language, Figures, census and other statistics, Forest Rights Act (FRA), Government of India, History, Literature and bibliographies, Multi-lingual education, Organizations, Particularly vulnerable tribal group, Revival of traditions, Seasons and festivals, Southern region, Success story, Tiger, Tips, Tourism, Tribal elders, Western Ghats - tribal heritage & ecology, Women, Worship and rituals
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Community development involving Bhil women: A synthesis of traditional small community cooperation with the systems of a democratic state – Madhya Pradesh
Adivasi Millennium The Dhas Gramin Vikas Kendra is engaged in mobilisation for rights and community development among the Bhil Adivasis or indigenous people since 1982 in Alirajpur district in the state of Madhya Pradesh in India. […] All this has been achieved … Continue reading →
Posted in Accountability, Adivasi / Adibasi, Central region, Community facilities, Customs, Democracy, Ecology and environment, Economy and development, Forest Rights Act (FRA), Gandhian social movement, Health and nutrition, Names and communities, Networking, Organizations, Photos and slideshows, Quotes, Revival of traditions, Success story, Women
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Tagged Bhil
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Learn more about tribal communities on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
The ancient tribal communities that lived here in the Andaman Islands […] have lived and flourished here for at least 40,000 years., but the end could well be round the corner. […] It definitely began with the British and their … Continue reading →