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 |
5 | K.Thangaraj | TAK | 9943355578 |
6 | Bapunath | 9680299396 | |
7 | Majesh Raman | Jvala _Waynad | [email protected] 9562911098 |
8 | Sasi P | JvalaWaynad | 9526923510 |
9 | Shamabhavi M | EklavyaSajthanGothar | 9726335768 |
10 | S.Nanaju | DharithriOrganisationAndra Pradesh | [email protected]
9908869003 |
11 | K.P.Sasi | Visual Search Bangalore | [email protected] 8593835669 |
12 | Insha | Down to Earth | 8447270352 |
13 | Asha K,J | CORD/BKS/NAARadhakrishna Layout, Kushalnagar, Karnataka State. | 9482930546 [email protected] |
14 | K.N.Vittala | ZillaBKS,Chickmagalore District, MudigereTaluk, Gonibeedu Post and Village, Karnataka | 944855350 [email protected] |
15 | S.BasuMallick | JJBA Ranchi | [email protected] 9431103041 |
16 | SatyaPrasanna | Indian School of Business Hyderbad. | 9418230944 |
17 | ChaturbhaviBhobhav | EkalavyasangthanDahod | 8980645076 |
18 | V.S.Roy David | CORD/NAAlliance,
Kushalnagar |
[email protected]
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 |
26 | Mamatha Bose | AIFFRS | 9717894445 |
27 | Satya Narayan Patnaik | SebaJagat, M.Rampur, KalahandiOdisha | 9437070326 |
28 | Ashok Choudhry | AIUFNP | 9868857723 |
29 | Abijith | ISB-TF | 8130658467 |
30 | Keshav Shori | DISHA Chattisgarh | 9406292239 |
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 [email protected] |
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.