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.

A large crowd gathered at Mendha Lekha village in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district in the morning on April 27 to witness a historic event. The state forest department handed over a transit passbook to the village community leader Devaji Tofa, signifying the village gram sabha would henceforth exercise the power to issue transit passes for selling bamboo harvested from the nearby forests.

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See Also

Feature: Mendha Lekha's struggle.

Letter: States must respect this - MoEF.

Letter: It is illegal – PCCF, Maharashtra.

Letter: Jairam Ramesh to CM of Andhra Pradesh declaring bamboo as MFP.

Opinion: Is bamboo a tree or a grass?

Report: Enhancing livelihoods...

Roundtable: Is Bamboo a MFP?

Feature: Bamboo, minor forest produce.

Act: The Forest Rights Act, 2006.

Feature: How government is subverting.