Wide support for forest land rights legislation

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Wide support for forest land rights legislation

 

New Delhi, Dec 15: Cutting across party lines, members in the Lok

Sabha today supported a bill to grant forest land rights to tribals

while objecting to unnecessary delay in implementation of the

legislation.

Initiating the debate on Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional

Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill, 2006, as

reported by the Joint Committee, Jual Oram (BJP) said government

should have circulated the proposed amendments in time for study.

Supporting the bill, he said government should put the Tribal Act in

the Ninth schedule of the Constitution to protect it from future

interventions.

Lamenting that the " historical bill " had been delayed under

the " tiger lobby " pressure, he said only two per cent of forest land

would be affected by the legislation.

The legislation would benefit lakhs of tribals and non-tribals

residing in forests for centuries, Oram said.

Madhusudan Mistry (Cong) urged government to include bamboo, sand and

stone under minor forest produce while allowing their sale in the

market.

Bajn Ban Riyan (CPI-M) wondered how government would be be able to

provide land rights to tribals and other dwellers in the absence of

revenue records.

Ramji Lal Suman (SP) and Ram Kripal Yadav (RJD) blamed nexus of land

mafia and some forest officials for destroying forests.

Describing the legislation as a watershed, Kiran Rijiju (BJP) asked

the government to take steps to prevent illegal Bangladeshi

immigrants in the northeast to take advantage of this law.

Prabodh Panda (CPI) wanted the government to clarify the provisions

relating to proof of occupancy of tribals and grant use of fuel wood

and fish from water reservoirs.

Maintaining that most of the historic tribal struggles were fought

over ownership of forest land, Rameshwar Oraon (Cong) asserted

tribals and forests were " inseparable " .

He said the proposal to have an army firing field near Netarhat in

Jharkhand should be shelved as it would displace primitive tribal

groups from over 200 villages in the area.

Shailendra Kumar and Ravi Prakash Verma (both SP) said a " historic

wrong " against forest dwelling tribals had been corrected through the

bill and wanted stern action against forest officials harassing them.

Bhubneswar Prasad Mehta (CPI) demanded a legislation to return land

to tribals which was taken from them for development.

Sandeep Dikshit (Cong) said an anti-tribal mindset was prevailing in

the country and added the legislation when implemented fully would

bring about a massive change, while Mahaveer Bhagora (BJP) sought the

involvement of tribal representatives in forest expansion plans. (PTI)