The delegations of Tripura Upajati Ganamukti Parishad, the tribal frontal wing of the CPI(M)   and  “Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch” (AARM) in their separate representations to the chairman of  joint committee of Parliament on “examination of the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill” claimed that the new Forest Bill a threat to the backward tribals of the country.

In their separate memorandum before the chairman of Rajendra Agarwal in New Delhi on May 16 came down heavily on the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill 2023 saying that the new Bill would only shift control over land from the tribal societies to the capitalists through privatizations.

In their memorandum submitted to  Rajendra Agarwal said any dilution to the Forest Rights Act 2006 which did not get any mention in the said Bill would imperil the lives of tribal people who are living in the forest since time immemorial.

 “We are very much concerned about The Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023 because it denies and dilutes The Forest Right Act, 2006, which is most important for the survival of the tribals of our country. The correlation between the Forest (Conservation) Act of 1980, and the Forest Rights Act 2006 is unignorable. But in the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023, nothing is said about FRA, 2006,”said the memorandum.

They said that the tribals or the adivasis are  recognized as the most backward and vulnerable section of the society, have been living in the forest areas since time immemorial and facing multifarious problems in the country. One of the major problems is land alienation. Before and after independence lakhs of tribals have been evicted from their own land without any proper rehabilitation and compensation because of different developmental projects implementation in the forest areas and added that tribals were treated as illegal encroachers of forest land not as protector of forest in their own land.

Raising a two-point charter of demands, the GMP said that before implementation of any developmental projects in the forest areas, prior permission from the concerned Gram Sabha be made obligatory and  proper rehabilitation and compensation should be done for the forest dwellers where eviction is unavoidable before project implementation starts.

Explaining the significance of the Forest Rights Act 2006 and its implications in Tripura, the memorandum mentioned that a total of 1.29 lakh forest dwellers (tribal) had received land titles after FRA 2006 was enacted.

“Therefore, any dilution of FRA-2006 is unacceptable to the tribals. We are aware of the danger of global warming and the necessity of forest conservation, forestation, ecological balance, etc and we are not against the implementation of development projects in tribal areas. But we are opposed to the privatisation of forest land and resources for monopoly capitalists,” said the memorandum.

The memorandum was signed by TUGMP president Naresh Jamatia and general secretary Radhacharan Debbarma, whereas the memorandum by “Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch'' (AARM) was signed by  CPI(M) state secretary and MLA Jitendra Chaudhury, Smita Gupta and Dhulichand Meena.