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Debate over constitution of Committee by MoEF

Ministry of Environment and Forests has constituted and notified a high level committee comprising of 10 members to study the implementation of Forest Rights Act, 2006 on 11^th of February 2010.

As mentioned in the notification 

• The Minister of Environment and Forests, Mr. Jairam Ramesh had chaired a meeting of key officials within the Ministry on the 30th of January 2010 to discuss the implementation of the Forest Rights Act 2006.

• Further on the 10^th of February 2010 with high level representatives from within the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Secretary of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs wherein the implications of the Forest Rights Act on sustainable forest management was discussed.

• It was decided that the Ministry of Environment and Forests, jointly with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, would constitute a high level committee of experts to look at the issues of implementation, sustainable forest management and the protection/settlement of the rights of forest dwellers in detail.

Terms of Reference:

Further both the Ministry jointly worked out a term of reference for the Committee. In TOR following points are charted out on which the committee is going to submit their report within 3 months from the date of constitution:  

1.  The Committee shall study in detail the implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006 and its impact on Forest Management.

2.  The Committee shall recommend necessary policy changes in the future management of the forestry sector in India which may be necessary as a consequence of implementation of Forest Rights Act.

3.  The Committee shall identify the role of stake holders and beneficiaries in the conservation, restoration and regeneration of forests. It shall also prescribe measures and guidelines to involve these stake holders in forest restoration and regeneration.

4.  The Committee shall identify opportunities for and recommend measures to ensure convergence of various beneficiary oriented programmes for the forest rights holders taken up by various line departments in the states.

5.  The Committee shall define a new role for the Forest Department vis-à-vis the Gram Panchayat for forest conservation and regeneration.

6.  Any other matter which the Committee feels is ancillary or incidental to the purposes of its establishment.

Members of the Committee:

The high level committee which has constituted jointly by the MoEF and MoTA comprises of 10 members head by former DG of Survey of India, while ADG(E), ICFRE is the member Secretary.

1. Dr. Devendra Pandey, Former DG, Forest Survey of India             Chairman

2. DG, ICFRE, Dehradun                                                                 Member

3. Dr. H.S.Pabla, PCCF(WL), M.P., Bhopal                                       Member

4. IGF(EAP), MoEF                                                                         Member

5. Dr. A.K. Jha, Commissioner, TRTI, Pune                                      Member

6. Shri A.K. Srivastava, Director, MoTA, New Delhi                          Member

7. Shri Ashish Kothari, Director, Kalpavrikash                                  Member

8. Ms. Harini Nagendra, ATREE, Bangalore                                       Member

9. DIG (FP), MoEF                                                                         Member

10. Shri R.K. dogra, ADG(E), ICFRE, Dehradun                                   Member

• Copy of the Notification

Stiff opposition from various groups, eminent personalities and individuals on the move of MoEF:

Campaign for Survival & Dignity, a national level platform of adiviasis and forest dwellers' mass organization, which has played an important role in bringing the historical law, has opposed and condemned the move of the Shri Jayram Ramesh, Minister of Environment and Forests, GoI and described the move as "fox guarding the henhouse". (to know more on the issues related to implementation of Forest Rights Act, please visit www.forestrightsact.com)

Eminent persons write to the Prime Minister opposing MoEF Committee on Forest Rights Act - A group of eminent persons including Shri K.B. Saxena, Dr. B.D. Sharma, Dr. Manoranjan Mohanty, Dr. NJ Kurien,Dr. Amit Bhaduri, Adv. K.G. Kannabiran have written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressing serious concern at the constitution of the committee by the MOEF.  Pointing out that the committee is composed of only forest officials they have questioned the legal mandate of the committee and demanded to dissolve it.

To know more on the above issue please click on followings:

• Eminent personalities wrote letter to Hon'ble Prime Minister over the move of MoEF

• Letter to Shri Jayram Ramesh, Hon'ble Minister of Environment and Forests by Campaign for Survival & Dignity

• NFFPFW Condemns the MoEF Move to form a FRA Assessment Committee

• Activists up in arms against panel to review working of Forest Rights Act

Views and thoughts of Individuals/Organizations:

Mr. Xavier Manjoorn, Rajgopal Legal Aid Society, in his mail, he described the move of MoEF as atrocious, illegal, unjust, against the spirit of FRA act and a gross betrayal of the adivasis of the country. He called for nationwide protest against anti tribal anti poor attitude of the tribal department and the infiltration of the forest department into the implementation process of the FRA.  (source: e-mail, dated 12th Feb 2010)

Mail your views and thoughts on the MOEF committee to us. Our e-mail ID is forestrights@gmail.com

[Disclaimer: the views expressed here is not necessarily the view of the host organization. The intention of this page is to create a meaningful debate to make the governance system more responsive and accountable]

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