In April this year, Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra made history. One of its villages became the country’s first to win the right to sell and harvest bamboo. Down To Earth reports how India's largest paper manufacturing company Ballarpur Industries Limited (BILT) is using most of the bamboo in Maharashtra, leaving little for residents.
Maharashtra government has demanded the Planning Commission to grant an environmental bonus for Gadchiroli to develop this region, known for its green cover.
"We have demanded environmental bonus for Gadchiroli in our recent meeting with the Planning Commission as the region has 85-87% forest cover, which has hampered development there," chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said.
As Mendha Lekha becomes the first village in India to exercise their communities right to harvest and freely sell bamboo under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), Down To Earth takes a look at the key players.
Mendha-Lekha, a remote village in the Maoist-affected Gadchiroli district of eastern Maharashtra, has become the first in the country where tribals have been given the right to sell bamboo harvested from the surrounding forests, an official said.
The villagers, numbering around 3,000, attended the function Wednesday when village head Devaji Tofa was handed over a transit passbook, enabling the
Making further concessions for creating public infrastructure in Naxalite areas, the government on Thursday ordered that projects like building of roads, schools or hospitals on forest land would not require clearance under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 as long as the total forest land to be diverted is not more than five hectares.
In such cases, the state governments themselves would be au
After a long battle with the Forest Department, this village in a remote, Naxal-affected part of the state on Thursday became the first village in the country to become eligible to own, cut, use and sell bamboo
Union environment and forests minister Jairam Ramesh, along with Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, on Wednesday launched a programme giving tribals right to harvest bamboo as a forest produce in a tribal village here.
Ramesh and Chavan handed over transit passes to tribals of Lekha Mendha village thus according them the right of harvesting and managing bamboo as a forest produce.
Mendha Lekha village in Naxal-infested Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra will become the first in the country to get the right to harvest and sell bamboo after 150 years. The right to harvest and sell bamboo was taken away by the British government over 150 years ago under the Indian Forest Act. Since then bamboo has been under the control of government.
