Is Maharashtra tendu trade rule amendment a trap for gram sabhas?

A draft amendment to the rules for trading in forest produce in Maharashtra, proposed by the state forest department, has come under severe criticism from forest rights groups across the country. The amendment gives government the power to appoint gram sabha as an agent in tendu trade.

Not a bankable strategy

10 villages to get forest benefits

IN A first-of-its-kind move, the Maharashtra forest department has decided to pay 10 villages their share of benefits under the Joint Forest Management (JFM) scheme. A total of Rs 74,51,063 will be paid to eight villages in Gadchiroli district and two in Gondia district.

10 Maharashtra villages to finally get Rs 74.5 lakh as benefits under joint forest management scheme

In a first of its kind move, Maharashtra's forest department has decided to pay ten villages in the state their share of benefits under the Joint Forest Management (JFM) scheme. A total of Rs 74,51,063 will be paid to eight villages in Gadchiroli district and two in Gondia district, states a letter dated May 24, 2012, written by the state joint secretary of forests to the  principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF). The amount is to be paid out of the 7 per cent forest development cess that is deducted from the income from forest produce.

Another Maharashtra village demands community forest rights

These days all 225 residents of a small village in Maharashtra, Pachgaon, are busy slicing bamboo to make sticks on which incense stick material can be stuck.

Letters - January 31, 2012

Safe or unsafe?

Wealth of forests withheld

Some 40 years ago an experiment began in Arabari forest range of West Bengal that caught the fancy of the nation. The forest authorities roped in the people living in the area in regenerating degraded forests. In return they offered them a share in forest resources and revenue. It worked. Two decades later the Centre adopted the Arabari model to start the Joint Forest Management programme. The response was such that today it involves 25 million people.

Forests for people

There was some disappointment when Bhutan did not win the prestigious Future Policy Award for the world’s most innovative and influential forest policies this year. The nomination had a lot going for it—a Constitutional commitment to maintain at least 60 per cent of its land under forest cover for all time; the fact that it has set aside the largest proportion of its forestland under protected area of any country in Asia; and its community forest management (CFM) scheme that hands over large chunks of forests to rural communities to eradicate poverty.

Letter

Play safe with forests

‘Forest department is the encroacher’

Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act was enacted 15 years ago. Do you feel helpless because it has not yet been implemented? As the minister of panchayati raj, my first job is to remind people about the existence of PESA. If need arises I can go for further legislation to ensure that states comply with the provisions of PESA. For this, I will talk to chief ministers and ministers in charge of panchayati raj activities. Interviewee:  V Kishore Chand...