ORISSA is a state with a large number of tribes – as many as 62 major and minor ones. Some like the Khadias, Dongria Kondhs, Lanjia Sauras, Mankadias and Bondas are ‘very primitive’ and continue to live their traditional lifestyles. Many are hunter-gatherers and roam the forests in search of food, their worldly possessions limited to some baskets, cooking utensils and hunting weapons.

Almost all districts of the state have tribal people though they are in a clear majority only in the western and central hill districts of Malkangiri, Koraput, Nowrangpur, Rayagada, Kalahandi, Sundargarh, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Deogarh, Kondhmal, Boudh, Sonepur, Bolangir and Nuapara. As much as 23% of the state’s population comprises of tribals with their total population exceeding seven million as per the 1991 census.

Orissa ranks fourth amongst states and union territories in terms of area under forest cover. The state has a total area of 1,55,707. Out of this 26,329 sq kms is reserved forests, 15,524 sq kms is protected forests and 16,282 sq kms is unclassed forests. The total recorded forest area (all of which may not have forest cover) is 58,135 sq kms which is 37.34% of the total geographical area of the state. However, only 31.36% of the area of the state actually has forests on the ground. Ideally, 33.33% of the geographical area should be covered with dense forests. Dense forests form 27,972 sq kms and 20,866 sq kms is open forest.

According to forest department officials a proposal to declare nearly 12,000 sq kms of forests out of the 31,785 sq km under the revenue department as ‘reserved forests’ has been pending for the last 30 years. This includes the sensitive Bhittarkanika mangrove forest and 14 forest blocks of 15,339.46 acres in the Mahanadi delta. The proposals were submitted in 1968-70.

 

Encroachments are encouraged in these areas under revenue control which the tribals are led to believe would be regularized later on. It is a huge scam which no one wants unearthed. Orissa is still home to nearly 192 tigers and 1639 elephants according to the latest census figures. Unless drastic steps are taken the remaining forest area will vanish, leading to the disappearance of wild animals.

Tribals inhabit a widespread area of Orissa including erstwhile forest areas which are now reduced to scrub forests due to massive deforestation. Mining and industrialization has destroyed large tracts of forests, forcing tribes to live a life of penury. The Orissa government also runs an Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) with many sub-schemes aimed at specific tribes like the Dongria Kondhs, Bondas, Bhuyans and Juangs. But any lay person in Orissa would tell you that these schemes have become fountainheads of corruption and there is rampant siphoning of public funds.

The state government has filed an application before the MoEF for diversion of around 4,500 hectares of forest land which was encroached before 25 October 1980 as per the results of a survey carried out by the forest and revenue departments. During the survey itself, many tribals attempted to occupy fresh forest areas and urged the verification teams to enlist them within the pre-1980 list.

If only the diversion were limited to this minuscule proposed forest area out of the total of 58,000 odd sq kms of forest area in the state, the heavens would not fall. Sadly, the situation is different. There are thousands of hectares of forest land which are encroached according to forest department reports. Though officials claim that these lands were encroached post-1980, the encroachers dispute this and claim age-old ancestral possession from pre-independence times.

Whose version will be finally accepted? It is a fact that large tracts of forest lands have been used for human settlements and agriculture during the last 50 years. Some of it was officially done to settle the oustees of the Hirkaud and Rengali dam projects with due permission taken from the Centre.

 

The average tribal in Orissa is poor and uneducated. He is quite different from the tribal of Rajasthan or Andhra Pradesh or the North East states. His immediate thought is from where the next meal will come. I seriously doubt his ability to protect the forests if he is given the proposed land rights. How can he protect the forest when hunger gnaws at his stomach and life is a daily struggle for existence? A proper meal of rice is a luxury for the average tribal living in the impoverished districts of Kalahandi, Kandhmal, Rayagada and Malkangiri.

In Orissa, large scale felling of ‘patta land timber’ is leading to rapid deforestation of tribal lands after there was a ban on working of timber from government forests. The timber mafia can easily swindle the tribals by obtaining the felling rights of valuable timber species like sal, bija and teak by paying a paltry sum for trees worth lakhs of rupees. Due to abject poverty, they are unable to resist the temptation of selling these trees for a song. Obviously, we cannot ignore the critical role of poverty. The timber mafia would find it ridiculously easy to loot the trees standing on forests over which rights have been granted to the new tribal owners.

 

I will cite a specific case where 60,500 acres of forest land was used for settling villages by the revenue authorities in the Dharamgarh forest block of Boipariguda range of Jeypore forest division in 1983. This was done to settle the land rights of 79 villages which had come up there without obtaining the required permission under section two of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. Though the illegality was promptly detected by forest officers, no action resulted. Their reports to the higher authorities were ignored. Even the MoEF did nothing to direct the state government to cancel the pattas.

In the late nineties, when the demand for prime timber jumped, the proud owners of these forest lands went on a tree felling spree. The situation was aggravated by an official ban on the working of forests. Timber merchants became the owners of land through a power of attorney and a full-scale tree felling racket was entrenched. We challenged this illegal diversion of forest land after 1980 without concurrence of the Centre and the High Court of Orissa stayed the issue of permits by the local forest division for three years.

This is exactly what I anticipate will happen if the current bill becomes law. Thousands of acres of forests which have been settled would become legal properties of the local tribals. Due to their deep ignorance and illiteracy, the timber merchants will soon have a field day. They would acquire a power of attorney for the sale of these trees and immediately start a felling binge.

I have little confidence in the ability of the gram sabhas who have been empowered to administer a substantial portion of the proposed bill. Without adequate levels of literacy, it would be next to impossible to expect a vibrant and active gram sabha which would understand the rules/provisions and, at the same time, feel bold enough to take action. In Orissa, large destructive projects with a great potential to destroy the livelihoods of the local tribals have been passed by compliant gram sabhas which were quickly subverted by rich corporate interests. Ultimately, the gram sabhas become pliant platforms for local toughs and petty contractors who easily manage to gain control over their working.

 

Given the mixed forests of Orissa, various forest produce other than timber, known as non-timber forest produce (NTFP), are now collected. However, in the past, such items were collected for meeting the particular food or personal needs of housing, shelter or medicine of the local tribals. Now NTFP has come under the grip of the market economy and has become a lucrative business worth thousands of crores.

The NTFP trade in Orissa was deregulated in 2000 by the BJD government when it came to power. The state government wanted to demonstrate its tremendous commitment to tribal welfare and genuinely believed that permits and restrictions on trade should be removed to improve the lot of tribals who were the primary collectors of NTFP. Accordingly, 67 items were deregulated and all powers were conferred on the gram panchayats to issue collection and trade permits for NTFP products. No permit from the forest department was required for trading in these specified items. Only a few items like sal seeds, tendu leaves and bamboo were reserved by the state as a trade monopoly.

Everybody had high expectations and thought it would lead to a jump in price realizations for NTFP and that the tribals would benefit. Nothing of the kind happened; prices stagnated and those of certain commodities even fell.

 

A survey conducted by us in 2002 in the district of Mayurbhanj revealed some disturbing facts. Valuable NTFP products like wood resin (jhuna), sal leaf, lac, honey, medicinal plants like chain climber (pippali), harida, amla, bahada and so on were being collected daily and procured through a chain of small traders located in key tribal villages. The trade also enabled the survival of thousands of tribal families who have marginal land holdings. The procurement prices being paid to the primary collectors were miserably low, indicating a well-entrenched trader cartel. It was sheer and ruthless exploitation of the poor tribal population of Orissa to encourage them to collect more and more NTFP which raises a serious question regarding forest and wildlife habitat conservation in the future.

There are many items which are now collected in extremely large quantities that were not collected earlier. The proposed bill plans to hand over rights over forest produce which are not ‘historical’ as these items were not collected until a few decades ago. Let me cite the example of the sal leaf trade. The sal leaf plate trade in Orissa is worth Rs 500 crore annually. It may be relevant to note that sal leaf plates came into vogue only during the early eighties when an enterprising trader noticed their use for feasts by the local Kolha tribals of Mayurbhanj. Sal leaf plate making has now become a giant revenue earner. The bright side is that no tribal family in Mayurbhanj district ever goes hungry to bed. It has increased people’s incomes and removed the abject poverty prevalent earlier in this district.

The sal leaf plate trade has boomed in recent years and exports have jumped. Foreign buyers prefer them for their hygienic bio-degradable and single use quality. However, though there is an official restriction on the quantum of collection, it could not be practically enforced in the field. Similarly, I remember that leaf collection was earlier done in the non-regeneration period of winter and spring, soon after the paddy season was over. Now it is done year around. As per the official policy, sal leaf can only be collected from non-reserve and non-protected areas. But in practice it is collected everywhere, including the core area of the Simlipal Tiger Reserve.

This over-exploitation of sal forests throughout the year will surely lead to the collapse of the sal forests of Mayurbhanj, unless the trade is controlled to ensure sustainability.

 

In 2002, we had estimated the collection levels of sal leaves in the district and found that exploitation was seven times greater than the permissible limits. I am sure this must have now become ten times. The state government wanted to realize some royalty and sales tax on the sal leaf plates. They imposed a free permit system. The traders opposed this measure as it would have led to determining their real income and they would have to file income tax returns. We supported these measures because we thought that this could be an easy way to ascertain the quantum of collection. There was stiff resistance by the traders who organized the tribals to stage rasta rokos on the plea of affecting tribal livelihoods. Major political parties also jumped into the fray opposing the levy.

It puzzled everyone as to how the measures were affecting the income of the tribals since the royalty was to be paid by the traders and the free permit was for movement of sal leaf plates, not for collection from the forests. This is yet another example of how traders and commercial lobbies easily subvert the interests of innocent tribals and use them as convenient pawns to safeguard their own monetary considerations. The government was ultimately forced to withdraw the royalty provision. Thankfully the permit system stood up to judicial scrutiny by the Orissa High Court after the state government and we jointly contested the plea of traders to withdraw the provision. Now the matter has been taken to the Supreme Court by the trader groups.

 

Sal leaf collection and leaf plate making constitutes more than 80% of the income of tribals of Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Nayagarh districts. It is pertinent to note that the export prices quoted in Calcutta for pressed sal leaf plates is a mind-boggling $0.40 per piece or Rs 932 for 50 pieces (procured locally at Rs 12 for 50 pieces) signifying a profit margin of nearly 7700%. Similarly, in the district of Koraput, it was found that amla was being procured at the rate of Re 1 per kg by local traders. A leading medicine company from outside the state was ready to lift unlimited stocks of amla at Rs 8 per kg. It is clear that the traders were making a profit of 800%.

The 2002 study revealed that the average income of an individual tribal from each such activity ranged between a measly Rs 4 to 6 per day. Employment was also limited to less than six months in a year. It is clear that the best intentions of the government in freeing the controls over NTFP products had backfired on tribal interests in the absence of a regulatory body to ensure remunerative prices for the collectors. Clearly, a laissez faire market economy can only function when there is complete information and literacy amongst the sellers. If the tribal collectors obtain good prices from forest produce, it would ensure a sustainable income level and result in lower exploitation of forests.

 

The forest department went into a sulk, unhappy about having to give up control over the trade. Now it looks the other way as NTFP items are rampantly collected from the reserve forests and sanctuaries, though the collection has been banned. Without permits by the forest department, nobody really knows the extent of collection.

Some tree species are now highly endangered and on the path to extinction. Amla and bel fruits are being collected by hacking down mature trees. Similarly, liptia trees have become extremely rare since they are cut down to strip them off the bark that is used for making agarbattis. Wildlife species are now deprived of their rightful food needs due to sheer over exploitation of NTFP items, many of which formed a part of their food.

It is instructive how the altruistic efforts of the state government to free the NTFP trade from the shackles of government control ended up proving to be disastrous for the incomes of tribals as well as the ecological health of Orissa’s forests. Though total power was given to the local tribals and panchayats for collection and trade, it is apparent that they could not use it effectively.

Grazing rights are also proposed to be recognized for forest dwelling tribes. In recent years, goat rearing has become an important occupation for many tribals living in and around forest areas since they get free grazing areas for their goats. This plays havoc with forest regeneration. Our study found that each goat on an average nibbled at least 250 seedlings. The goat population in 60 villages bordering the Simlipal Tiger Reserve on the Thakurmunda and Kendumundi ranges was in excess of 14,000. I may point out that goat rearing was not common in Orissa before the 1960s. This is a new practice which is now being sought to be recognized as a historical forest grazing right of the tribals. Armies of goats enter the dense forests even in monsoon months to graze and destroy the regenerating plants.

The bill speaks of the rights over collection of forest produce even in sanctuaries and reserve forests which would be disastrous for the future biodiversity of India’s rich forests. Collection of NTFP in a commercial manner in India’s wildlife sanctuaries would spell disaster for the resident wildlife population. We have to protect our surviving species of flora and fauna which have now become ‘islanded’ in the patches of protected areas of the country for the sheer sake of the biodiversity security of the country.

 

What alarms me most about the proposed bill are the powers being entrusted to the gram sabhas to manage these forests. For all its faults, the forest department is still one of the few agencies, at least in Orissa, which works well in the field. Though corruption is prevalent, the forest administration has not yet totally broken down. Checks and balances remain and there are many conscientious officers who are dedicated and genuinely work for forest protection.

Managing a forest requires training, education and knowledge about the intricate ecosystems and the numerous linkages and interdependency prevalent among the organisms. It requires rigorous scientific training and knowledge which no gram sabha possesses.

Though an local community is the ideal forum for managing natural resources this can only be done after there is a level of education and training and instituting sufficient safeguards to prevent forest degradation and exploitation. The bill in its present form does not have such safeguards.

 

With approval of the Supreme Court, the area which has already been encroached before 1980 can be regularized and pattas issued. What then is the necessity of a special bill? I foresee tremendous conflict since apart from scheduled tribes, there are many communities belonging to scheduled castes which inhabit forest areas where the tribes live. It would enhance their expectations and they would surely encroach upon the forests expecting that the government would subsequently regularize the encroachment. Can you dole out largesse to one section of the population and expect the others, who are also poor and landless, to watch silently?

There exist sound legislations like the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 and the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 which may be overridden by the rights bill. Though the enforcement track record of the government in enforcing these two acts is mixed, it is widely agreed that had they not existed, most of our remaining forest tracts may have been lost forever. The courts have gone into the provisions of these acts a number of times and passed many judicial pronouncements as a result of which the law is well settled.

Though the bill casts a responsibility on the tribal settlers to protect the forests, in the event of failure, nothing can be done about it except punish them with a ludicrous fine of Rs 1,000. What action can any government or gram sabha take against an impoverished tribal who will simply say that he was forced to cut and sell the tree for buying rice?

There is some element of confusion regarding the definition of ‘bonafide livelihood needs’. This has been defined as ‘the use of forests and forest based products for subsistence of such tribes or for their own consumption and includes barter and sale of such forest based products for their household needs.’ Now, what are household needs? Where does one draw the line? A well-educated tribal with a modern lifestyle would obviously have a level of household needs much higher than that of a primitive tribal.

As per clause 2 (d), ‘forest land’ means land of any description falling within any forest area and includes unclassified forests, existing or deemed forests, protected forests, reserved forests, sanctuaries and national parks. Thus, forest rights would also accrue in the reserve forests and national parks. Such rules contravene the provisions of the Orissa Forest Act, 1972 as well as the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

 

Apart from the stated cut-off date of 25 October 1980, the proposed bill provides for such other date as the central government may decide. This leaves the gate open for future cut-off dates after the current specified date. I am sure this will encourage large scale encroachments with active support of vote-seeking politicians who would promise regularization to the encroachers when in power.

The proposed bill first needs to ensure that none of its provisions conflict or override the forest and wildlife laws. It must go through a lengthy process of debate, deliberation and wide consultations before being introduced in Parliament. India’s biodiversity is priceless and we should not hastily sacrifice it at the altar of political expediency to pander to protected vote banks.