[www-features] Press Release on Tribal Forest Rights Demonstrations in India

Thu Nov 30 09:25:31 PST 2006

*Great Demonstrations in Cities of India*

*Demanding Tribal Forest Rights*

Tens of thousands of tribals from across the country marched on the streets
yesterday, 29th November in simultaneous protests in big cities of India
demanding recognition of their forest rights. Similar protests took place
simultaneously in hundreds of villages across the tribal belts of India.

The rally's major demand was the passage of the Scheduled Tribes
(Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill, 2005, with the amendments recommended
by the Joint Parliamentary Committee.  Jantar Mantar, parliamentary area in
Delhi was witness to a ten thousand strong demonstration of tribals and
forest dwellers from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh and Karnataka
among other states.

The national protest rally, the collective effort of over a hundred tribal
and forest dwellers organizations of 'Campaign for Survival and Dignity',
was addressed by many parliamentarians as well tribal and local leaders from
the various organisations. Speakers condemned the government for its
continued delay in the passage of this crucial and historic legislation.

On the same day, meanwhile, in four other cities similar mass demonstrations
took place.  In Mumbai, approximately 10,000 people gathered at Azad Maidan
after forming human chains across the city.   In Bhubaneshwar as well 11,000
people demonstrated.  In Ranchi, more than 12,000 people gathered and were
addressed by the Deputy Chief Minister, who gave his full support to the
forest rights struggle.   In Bangalore, more than 1,000 people gathered to
demonstrate on the same issue.

The demonstration demanded the Government and Parliament of India to pass
the Forest Bill immediately in the form proposed by the Joint Parliamentary
Committee (JPC) with the following demands:

·           Strengthen transparency and democracy by empowering the gram
sabha to decide rights

·           Give Adivasi the powers to protect our forests against the
mafias and against industry

·           Remove the unjust 1980 cutoff date

·           Accept the JPC position on effective and transparent wildlife
protection

·           Include genuine non-ST forest dwellers

Speakers of the rally, including also former heads of the National
Commission of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, like Dilip Singh Bhuria
(Gondwana Ganatantrak Party) and Dr. B.D Sharma (Bharat Jan Andolan),
stressed the historic rights of the tribals to their own homeland and to
their own resources. What the forest-dwellers want from the Government is
for them to be allowed to continue to live in harmony with their natural
habitat.  Forest dwellers have been born in the forest, preserving the
forests for centuries by living there indigenously without official land
ownership documents. Now the city-dwelling governing elite tends however to
consider tribals as "encroachers" and to displace them formally in the name
of forest conservation while at the same time distributing thousands of
acres of land for the polluting mining and forest degrading industries.

As the tribals alone are nearly 9 % of the total population of India and the
JPC-proposed Forest Bill would ensure only about 2 % of the total forest
area for cultivated habitat of forest dwellers, their demand is very
moderate, the speakers pointed out.

The rally in Delhi ended with an oath of the masses of forest dwellers, who
declared that they have a responsibility to preserve the forest for their
children.

The rally demanded forest rights to be given equally to all forest dwellers
including also those who have been displaced from the forest or moved inside
the forest during the last 26 years (after 1980 cut-off year). This was
recently proposed also by former Lok Sabha parliament house speaker PA
Sangma, General Secretary of the Nationalist Congress Party, in his letter
to the Prime Minister (find attached from the webadress below).