Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh, who is all set to flag off harvesting of bamboo by villagers under the new Forest Rights Act, is facing severe embarrassment from the Maharashtra government which has threatened to arrest those who do so.
Ramesh is all set to kick off harvesting of bamboo by the villagers of Mendha Lekha in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli village on Wednesday.
Letter from Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) Environment & Forests to Prithviraj Chavan, Chief Minister of Maharashtra on whether access to and collection of bamboo in the reserve forest amounts to a forest offence under the Indian Forest Year 1927.
In response to forest department's opposition to giving community rights to freely sell, harvest and transport bamboo, Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh has said that Minor Forest Produce is a ownership right vested by Parliament under Forest Rights Act and all state authorities are obliged to respect this provision.
Letter to Additional Chief Secretary (Forests) on Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers Act 2006 from Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (HoFF), Maharashtra State, Nagpur : Legal position with regard to exercise of community rights in reserved forest of Lekha-Mendha village in Gadchiroli District.
On 27th April 2011, Maharashtra will rewrite history as Mendha Lekha will become the first village in India to exercise its community right to harvest bamboo under the Forest Rights Act (FRA).
The impending ease of restrictions on bamboo will be a dream come true for crores of people belonging to forest dwelling communities, artisans and crasftsmen in the country for whom it is a traditional source of subsistence.
Union Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh communicated a set of guidelines to Chief Minister N.
Over the last 10 years, Maharashtra has improved its literacy rate and sex ratio though the child sex ratio has taken a steep fall during the same period, pointing a finger at disappearing girls in the state.
If bamboo is a tree or timber, it belongs to forest dept; if it is a grass, then it would be classified as a minor forest produce
The definition is contested as the answer has immense economic implications. If bamboo is a tree or timber, it belongs to the forest department and can be auctioned to the paper and pulp industry, often at throwaway rates.
In a state that has the least priority for it, wildlife is finding its own natural ways of surviving and thriving. Reflecting the grave irony is the latest news from the embattled Chaprala sanctuary in Gadchiroli that had recorded the last tiger sighting in 2003
