Maharashtra: ‘FRA, PESA have replaced government administration with grassroots democracy’

The occasion was the release of a booklet ‘Margadarshak Tatve ani Margadarshika’ (guiding principles and guide), designed to guide gram sabhas to devise their own working plan of forest management. The booklet is a result of efforts by a committee set up by Kumar in his capacity as Chairman of the Vidarbha Statutory Development Board.

Led by tribal activist Dewaji Tofa, who spearheaded a forest rights movement at Mendha-Lekha village in Gadchiroli over the past three decades, the committee has come out with extensive guidelines for how the Gram Sabhas should prepare their working plan for the forests they have been granted Community Forest Rights (CFRs) over.

Mendha-Lekha’s forest rights story was, in fact, instrumental in inspiring the historic FRA of 2006 as clearly acknowledged by then environment minister Jairam Ramesh.

“The FRA clearly mentions that the government isn’t giving anything to the Gram Sabhas which they didn’t originally own. But with the village community’s forced alienation from their forests and the resources therein for long, the communities had virtually lost touch with their vast traditional expertise and knowledge of sustainable forest management. Hence, it was necessary to reorient them to this traditional knowledge with some modern techniques integrated into it. That is the objective which this booklet envisages to serve,” said Tofa.

Mohan Hirabai Hiralal, who scripted the Mendha-Lekha story along with Tofa through a long process of persuasion and consensus involving the entire community, said, “Gram sabhas managing forests and forest resources under FRA isn’t only about the community’s rights but also about their duties and is hence participatory, transparent and responsible in the real sense.”

Noted environmentalist Madhav Gadgil, who helped the committee in enlisting the various provisions in the booklet, said, “Real development is the one that confers self-respect on people. The FRA has done precisely that. For many decades after Independence, some expert views not rooted in ground reality were prevailing causing a lot of problems to ushering in real development. The tried and tested traditional knowledge of the communities had fallen by the wayside. Acts like FRA and PESA will go a long way in putting the process of development on the right track.”

Chief Conservator of Forest (Gadchiroli) Kalyan Kumar described FRA as “a step in the right direction” but stressed that “self-regulation” was necessary for proper management of the forest resources.

Parimal Singh, Deputy Secretary to the Governor, flagged the issue of “habitat rights” to pastoral and nomadic communities under FRA saying, “The Dindori village in Madhya Pradesh granted such right first to these communities. Gadchiroli, which has emerged as a leader in the CFR movement with maximum number of CFRs granted, should take the initiative in this direction also.”

Singh categorically said that the Gram Sabhas also had the right to grant Transit Passes (TPs). TPs had long been a bone of contention between Gram Sabhas and the forest department.

The booklet contains detailed guidelines about adoptive management of natural resources, EGS linked to CFR and biodiversity management, making detailed maps of village and its resources, enlisting important floral and faunal species, GPS survey of community forest, periodic check of the resources, registration of minor forest produces, nurseries, soil conservation etc.