Archaic forest rule to be scrapped

By the governments own admission,almost 90 per cent of offenders booked under the Forest Act belong to this category.

The government has agreed to amend a decades-old rule that authorises forest officials to arrest people or confiscate property for an offence that is punishable with a fine of Rs 50 or more,if the fine remains unpaid.

The Union Cabinet today cleared an amendment in the Indian Forest Act,1927,wherein arrest or attachment of property can take place only if the sum of fines against any person,compounded for all offences,reaches to Rs 10,000,and remains unpaid.

In Schedule 5 areas regions with substantial tribal population this power can be exercised by the forest officer only after obtaining and recording the views of the gram sabha,an assembly of which every resident is part.

The amendment,which will have to be ratified by Parliament,will benefit thousands of forest-dwellers who are often harassed for petty offences like cutting grass in a forest area or entering a reserve forest without a permit. By the governments own admission,almost 90 per cent of offenders booked under the Forest Act belong to this category.

Tribal and forest rights activists have long been agitating against this provision,which was enacted well before Independence. They have,in fact,been demanding a revision in the definition of offences,especially after the enactment of the landmark Forest Rights Act,2006,that bestows legal right over forest land and produce to traditional forest-dwellers.

In a related development,meanwhile,Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has written to all chief ministers,asking them to declare and treat bamboo as minor forest produce as defined in the Forest Rights Act.

Bamboo is a traditional source of subsistence for many forest-dwelling communities… and is the foundation for many indigenous crafts and cottage industries… There is a pressing need to institute a system for the conservation of bamboo forests and enable the empowerment of people for sustainable use and management of this important resource, Jairam wrote.