India passes landmark tribal rights bill
The Indian Parliament has passed an historic law seeking to give the country’s forest-dwelling tribes rights over forestland (their traditional home) and its resources that are the only source of livelihood.
The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest-Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill 2006 recognises and vests in scheduled tribes and traditional forest-dwellers -- who do not have land records as proof -- the land they are living on and the right to sell minor forest produce.
This contentious piece of legislation was passed by the lower house of parliament, or Lok Sabha, on December 15, and thereafter by the Rajya Sabha (upper house) by voice vote on December 19, after the government had accepted a number of important amendments made by the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC).
The JPC was set up to examine the provisions of the draft legislation that had led to months of wrangling between rights activists and environmentalists. The latter claimed the bill would lead to the virtual handover of 60% of India’s forestland to a small group of tribals, and sound the death knell for endangered wildlife species including the tiger.
In the run-up to the introduction and passing of the bill, the tiger lobby put up strong resistance to some provisions in the bill, saying it would affect the tiger’s natural environment.
However, in a marathon debate that preceded the passing of the bill in the Lok Sabha, Tribal Affairs Minister P R Kyndiah allayed fears that inhabiting forests would degrade them. “Studies have revealed that where there are tribals, forest areas have been dense,” he said, adding that tribal and forest-dwelling communities were the most efficient conservationists.
With its passage, scheduled tribes and other tribals who have been living in forests for three generations will be entitled to the right to four hectares of land, which they can cultivate. They will also have access to and ownership of minor forest produce, rights of grazing, and access to traditional seasonal resources.
The government accepted an amendment suggested by some of its political allies that the cut-off date for being covered under the new bill be extended from October 31, 1980, to December 13, 2005. The original date was opposed on grounds that it would have led to the mass eviction of tribals from forests. Members of parliament in the Lok Sabha were unanimous in demanding the withdrawal of cases registered against forest-dwellers at the behest of forest officials.
The government has also accepted the right of jurisdiction of gram sabhas (village governing councils) to settle tribals’ claims.
Meanwhile, the JPC sought to clarify the process of identifying sanctuaries, asking that independent ecological and social scientists be included in a committee to decide on the matter.
The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in December 2004, and referred to a JPC and then to a group of ministers, following objections by several political parties.
Although the tribal affairs ministry first drafted the bill, the ministry of environment and forests later prepared another draft including occupancy rights of forest-dependent communities. The standoff on this issue led to the intervention of the prime minister’s office, in October 2005. It backed the draft prepared by the tribal affairs ministry and sent it to the law ministry for examination.
The passing of the bill marks the end of a two-year stalemate and, at least in the legislature, to the debate on tribal rights versus conservation.
Source: The Hindu, December 17, 2006
The Indian Express, December 16, 2006
Hindustan Times, December 16, 2006
www.rxpgnews.com, December 16, 2006