The All India Forest Front for Rights Struggles, a national forum comprising of adivasi organisations, NGOs and concerned individuals, met recently in Delhi to discuss the challenges adivasis , forest rights and bio diversity. There were more than 37 representatives from different parts of the country.
The main focus of the meeting was on the following issues:
- The Forest Rights Act (FRA) has legally accepted the rights of the Adivasis over forests. But it is not implemented yet properly.
- The CAMPA Act is an attempt to reduce the rights of the Adivasis and strengthen the Forest Department
- The proposed new draft policy on forests seeks to privatize forests in India by commercializing forests. This must be opposed tooth and nail.
- The Supreme Court order to displace Adivasis is a violation of Indian Constitution. As per the Forest Rights Act, the right to accept or reject any claim rests with the GramaSabha. The legal process on this was not followed.
Activists who attended the meeting in Delhi were unanimous on the above issues. It was decided that the national platform should strengthen the campaign on the above issues. It was also decided that positive personalities in different political parties should be approached to brief them about the above concerns. As a result meetings with leaders of different political parties were held in Delhi. The delegation of activists met Central Minister ArjunMunda, Brinda Karat of CPI(M), Mr. Jai Ram Ramesh, ManishankarAiyer of Congress and CPI General Secretary Sudhakar Reddy. All the leaders promised support to the demands raised and the need to strengthen the campaign on these issueswere, raised by all. The common suggestion, which came up in these meetings, is to hold a National Convention on Forest Rights so that the issue would have further support.
The following organisations and concerned individuals participated in the meeting.
List
The main demands of All India Forest Front for Rights Struggles are the following:
List:-
| Sl.No | Name and Address | Organisation name | Email ID and Contact No |
| 1 | Sangamitra Duley | Independent Researcher | 8763382452 |
| 2 | Biren Nayak | ActionAid | 9437901648 |
| 3 | Paulome Mishrey | EKlavyaSangatha | 9447303306 |
| 4 | A.Shivashanthakumar | Humane Trust | 9486226783
ashiva55@gmail.com |
| 5 | K.Thangaraj | TAK | 9943355578 |
| 6 | Bapunath | 9680299396 | |
| 7 | Majesh Raman | Jvala _Waynad | jvalawayanad@gmail.com 9562911098 |
| 8 | Sasi P | JvalaWaynad | 9526923510 |
| 9 | Shamabhavi M | EklavyaSajthanGothar | 9726335768 |
| 10 | S.Nanaju | DharithriOrganisationAndra Pradesh | dharitri.org@gmail.com
9908869003 |
| 11 | K.P.Sasi | Visual Search Bangalore | Kpsasi36@gmail.com 8593835669 |
| 12 | Insha | Down to Earth | 8447270352 |
| 13 | Asha K,J | CORD/BKS/NAARadhakrishna Layout, Kushalnagar, Karnataka State. | 9482930546 deenaasha@gmail.com |
| 14 | K.N.Vittala | ZillaBKS,Chickmagalore District, MudigereTaluk, Gonibeedu Post and Village, Karnataka | 944855350 vittalbks@gmail.com |
| 15 | S.BasuMallick | JJBA Ranchi | sanjay_samar@hotmail.com 9431103041 |
| 16 | SatyaPrasanna | Indian School of Business Hyderbad. | 9418230944
spbambam@gmail.com |
| 17 | ChaturbhaviBhobhav | EkalavyasangthanDahod | 8980645076 |
| 18 | V.S.Roy David | CORD/NAAlliance,
Kushalnagar |
vsroydavid@mail.com
9448648568 |
| 19 | Akshay Jasrite | Himachal Van AdikarMAnch(HVAM) | 9805030820 |
| 20 | Pawna Kumari | Himachal GhumantuPashupala K Mahasabha | 9736352861 |
| 21 | Roma | All India Union of Forest Working people. | 9415233523 |
| 22 | Soumen Roy | National Platform for small scale Fish workers | 7908180781 /9433003771 |
| 23 | Dipak | Indsan Community Activist Network(ICAN) | 9818848755 |
| 24 | Nikita Samarnath | Research Fellow CIJD, Nahonal law University Delhi | 8586007264 |
| 25 | Xavier Kujur | BIRSA/JJBA Ranchi , Jharkhand | 9471143276
xk3.ipr@gmail.com |
| 26 | Mamatha Bose | AIFFRS | 9717894445
maarimata68@gmail.com |
| 27 | Satya Narayan Patnaik | SebaJagat, M.Rampur, KalahandiOdisha | 9437070326
sebjagat@rediffmail.com |
| 28 | Ashok Choudhry | AIUFNP | 9868857723
ashok.chowdhury@gmail.com |
| 29 | Abijith | ISB-TF | 8130658467
anijitwasi@gmail.com |
| 30 | Keshav Shori | DISHA Chattisgarh | 9406292239
dishacg@gmail.com |
| 31 | Nohrit Mand | KankereChattisgarh | 9406292239/8305035074 |
| 32 | Pratindi | 9437001219 | |
| 33 | Paulose Mistrey | EkalavaSansathan | 9427303306 |
| 34 | Hemanth | JMKU Jharkhand | 8340200920 |
| 35 | T.K. Chatterji | NPSSFWCD and DMF | 9874432773 pradipdisha@gmail.com |
| 36 | Abhay XaXa | National Campaign for Adivasi Rights (NCAR) Delhi | 9999095633 |
| 37 | Sanjay Upadhyay | Advocate Supreme Court-Delhi | 9820298530 |
All India Forest Front for Rights Struggle appealed to activists all over the country to support the demands and work for strengthening the bio-diversity of the forests in India by strengthening the rights of the Adivasis as per the Forest Rights Act.
