A fact-finding committee of Call For Justice, a Delhi-based organisation, visited the tribal hamlets in Mysuru to apprise itself of the status of implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.
The committee members were in Mysuru district from July 27 to 29 and this is a follow up of their similar visits to Maharashtra, Assam, Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
The committee sought information on the factual position and situation with respect to grant of individual forest rights as well as community forest rights to the forest-dwelling STs and other traditional forest dwellers. The members included V.K. Bahuguna, retired Indian Forest Service official, Ritwik Dutta, advocate, and Sanjay Kulkarni of CFJ. They interacted with tribals besides Forest Department officials.
The tribal position was explained by Forest Rights Committee members Shivanna of Ayyanakere haadi, P.K. Ramu of Shettalli and Nagesh of Kolavige who pointed out that despite filing the applications as per norms for availing the benefits of the FRA, their applications were rejected in 2009-10 on the grounds that individual rights are not legally tenable in wildlife areas. Community rights have been denied without providing any valid reasons, said the tribal representatives.
Mr. Ramu and Mr. Shivanna said that the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, rendered them homeless as they were evicted from forests more than 50 years ago and urged the CFJ members to ensure that justice was delivered to the tribals and their individual and community rights were restored.
J.D. Jayappa of Rani Gate hamlet told the CFJ members that in Periyapatana, as many as 987 applicants from 38 hamlets submitted the applications for availing benefits under FRA but the rights with respect to only 115 applicants were recognised. Though community rights were accorded to 18 tribal hamlets, the Forest Department was preventing them from exercising the rights and denying them entry into forests, said Mr. Jayappa. Though tribals of Kardibekke hamlet were residing in the forests and the community rights were recognized, individual rights had been rejected and the community members were being prevented from constructing houses or even tilling their land.
The tribals also informed the CFJ members that the forest land where community rights could be exercised had been co-opted into wildlife area thus depriving them of their rights. There were similar tales of woe narrated by tribals from Aanemale in Kakanakote, H.D. Kote taluk.
S. Sreekanth of Development through Education, explained the violation of the FRA, and said that in Hunsur taluk alone 1,311 applications seeking individual rights were rejected and tribals in 33 hamlets who were affected by the Wildlife Protection Act had been deprived of justice. Of 31 applications seeking community rights, only 3 were considered, he added. As a result, the tribals have been denied access to their sacred groves and places of worship, burial grounds etc besides being deprived of access to minor forest produce, said Mr. Sreekanth.
He added that applications were rejected on flimsy grounds that the tribals have not provided proof of living inside the forests before December 13, 2005, which is the cut off date.
