BENGALURU: PANEL’S ADVICE ON LAKES DOES NOT HOLD MUCH WATER

Niranjan Kaggere | Bangalore Mirror Bureau | Nov 23, 2017

Though it claims to be 'humanitarian' in its approach, the Joint House Committee report on lake encroachment in and around Bengaluru does not offer much reprieve to the affected people. Instead of putting to rest the fears of the public, who are knowingly or otherwise encroaching upon lakes, the recommendations in the report have left them facing the threat of 'losing' their properties.

The 10-members committee, headed by Speaker KB Koliwad, verified land records spanning more than 10,000 pages and concluded that over 10,000 acres of lake area has been encroached upon by land sharks. The committee makes separate recommendations on how to clear private and government encroachment.

The report suggests regularisation of encroachment by BDA and other government agencies by fixing a lake development tax, but it orders either complete demolition or takeover of the properties like flats, apartments and gated communities built by private builders and housing societies and allotment of the properties to the same people on an annual lease agreement. "In case of encroachment of lakes by private authorities, the structures (residential buildings) have to be razed, provided there is scope for rejuvenation of the lakes. If there is no scope for rejuvenation, then the government must declare such lakes as dead and take over the properties. The properties can then either be re-allotted among the existing inhabitants for an annual lease rate or be handed over to inhabitants in lieu of payment of one-time settlement fee," Koliwad said.

On commercial buildings, the report says, "If there is no scope for rejuvenation of lake, the government must either demolish the buildings or if demolition were to be considered of national waste, then the government must maintain those buildings." While the report suggested confiscation of properties of builders and officials responsible for encroachment, the report offers no clarity on who these officials are and who should initiate action against officers, who colluded with the land sharks.

"There are more than 5,000 encroachers and it is impossible to pinpoint each and every encroacher. As a committee, we are only submitting recommendations to the House and the government can take further action," Koliwad added in way of explanation.

The committee has also suggested abiding by the NGT ruling over the extent of buffer zones.

Source : http://bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com/bangalore/others/Bengaluru-Panels-advice-on-lakes-does-not-hold-much-water/articleshow/61759333.cms

Community Forests, Common Lands Threatened by New Plantation Guidelines

India Finance News | 10 November, 2017

NEW DELHI: New guidelines on identification of lands to conduct “compensatory afforestation” issued by the union environment ministry threatens to deprive forest dwellers’ access to customary community forests.

In a letter sent to all state governments on November 8, 2017, the ministry said “the revenue lands, zudpi jungle, chhote-bade jhar ka jungle, jungle jhari land, waste lands and others… shall be considered for the purpose of compensatory afforestation.” Most state governments had been facing severe shortage of land to conduct compensatory afforestation. Every time any forest land is diverted for non-forest purposes like mining or industry, the user agency—private or public-sector project is supposed to “afforest” an area of the same size of the forests that were diverted, to make up for the ecological loss. Since these plantations do not immediately provide the ecological services that the natural forest that was cut down would provide, the law requires the user agency to compensate the loss by paying the “net present value (NPV)” of the forests for the next 50 years. The NPV, calculated by a panel of experts is anywhere between Rs 5 to 11 lakh depending on the type and quality of forests that were diverted.

The letter quoted guidelines issued by the ministry in 2003 on implementation of the forest conservation act 1980 which states compensatory afforestation can be allowed on community forests provided those lands are notified as revenue forests. “The application of GIS based decision support system (DSS) by the ministry suggests that in many cases a substantial portion of land identified for compensatory afforestation already contain vegetation of varying density. Creation of compensatory afforestation on these lands will not fully compensate the loss of trees and there will not be enough space for requisite number of plants to be planted,” the letter states adding that “outright rejection of such non-forest land for compensatory afforestation is not desirable. However, once such lands have been selected for compensatory afforestation, they are required to be transferred to the state forest department and brought under its regular control management.”

Further, the letter adds that some amendments have been made to the earlier definition of compensatory afforestation in the 2003 guidelines. The amends state that the “purpose of compensatory afforestation is to compensate loss of land by land and loss of trees by trees,” if requisite number of trees i.e 1000 per ha cannot be planted in the non-forest land identified for compensatory afforestation, then it can be planted in degraded forest lands. The document also states that compensatory afforestation can include “soil and moisture conservation, regeneration cleaning and silvicultural activities in addition to plantation.”

The letter also asks for expediting creation of land banks for “speedy disposal of forest clearance proposals.” It adds that priority for inclusion in the land banks will be given to degraded forest lands with crown density up to 40% under forest department, wildlife corridors, catchments of rivers etc. While this may boost conservation of degraded forests in India, the letter doesn’t mention forest rights of tribals and other forest dwellers.

Forest rights experts and activists are up in arms against the new guidelines. “There is no mention of the forest rights act or the rights already vested in these lands. We had strongly criticized this earlier as all these lands are community lands with substantive rights vested in them. But that was before the forest rights act (FRA) had been enacted. Now with the FRA in force, and all these lands claimable as community forests, requiring that these be converted into a land bank for compensatory afforestation is criminal and must be challenged,” said Madhu Sarin, forest rights expert.

TOI had highlighted last year that dense natural forests around some villages in Odisha are being cleared to conduct compensatory afforestation. Forest communities have been protesting these plantations for years now. The particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs), who are entirely forest dependent, do not approve of the species that are being planted as they do not supplement their diverse food basket. The plantations are also causing a fodder scarcity for elephants.

Source : https://www.indiafinancenews.com/community-forests-common-lands-threatened-by-new-plantation-guidelines/

Illegal Mining on Panchayat Land Threatens Ecology at Moga Vllage

Kulwinder Sandhu | Tribune News Service | November 6, 2017 | Moga

Illegal mining and encroachment have been reported on the panchayat land at Janer village in Moga district.

The Rural Development and Panchayat Department has conducted a preliminary inquiry and found that top soil (earth) from 25-acre panchayat land has been sold by the village sarpanch in connivance with senior leaders of the Akali Dal during the previous SAD-BJP government between 2014 and 2016.

Block Development and Panchayat Officer (BDPO) Jagir Singh has sent a detailed report in this regard to the district collector, who has further referred it to the district mining officer for financial assessment of the total losses.

According to an estimate, the top soil of the fertile land worth Rs 2 crore has been allegedly sold to the nearby brick kilns for making bricks.

“I have seen tractor-trailers and trucks loaded with soil coming out of the panchayat land and going to the brick kilns,” said Balwinder Singh. a local resident.

When this correspondent visited the panchayat land on the Janer-Dhalleke link road, it was found that the whole stretch of the panchayat land has been deeply excavated posing danger to the local ecology. The ground level of the panchayat land is 8 to 10 ft deeper than the nearby fields.

Local residents said illegal mining operations were done during the intervening period of harvesting and sowing of the crops. The residents revealed that senior leadership of the Akali Dal was also hand in glove with the sarpanch in the illegal mining operations.

When contacted, sarpanch Malwinder Singh Kali denied the allegations and said he had just leveled the panchayat land. No illegal mining was done by him. “Officials of the Rural Development and Panchayat Department are harassing him under political influence after the change of guard in the state,” he said.

“I have also filed court cases against officials of the the Rural Development and Panchayat Department in the Punjab and Haryana High Court as well as in a local court for harassing me,” he added.

On the other hand, one could also see widespread encroachment on the great mound of Janer, which is roughly 7,000 sq ft in area and about 30 ft in height. It is spread in a total area of about 100 acres.

The mound is covered with encroachments in the form of houses, gurdwara and grain market. It has a pond and a waste stretch also.

Source : http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/illegal-mining-on-panchayat-land-threatens-ecology-at-moga-village/493033.html

Green Shoots of Dignity Sprout in Dalits’ Fields

Radheshyam Jadhav | TNN | Nov 1, 2017

BEED: Struggle has forever been a constant in Kantabai Ichake's life. The septuagenarian Dalit farmer from the Marathwada region in Maharashtra is from one of the most disadvantaged and oppressed communities in the country. And a chronic drought makes living that much harder. So, when Dalit women across Marathwada staked their claim to the 'gairan' land (common grazing land in a village) for cultivation, others in the village ridiculed them. "You will bang your heads on the rocky land and die," they said.

But with no other option left, these women put their heads down and got to work. 

Within a few years, they turned barren patches into lush green fields. 

And that's when the problems started. Women claiming ownership to land and successfully growing crops predictably riled upper-caste villagers. Mobs destroyed crops, burnt Dalit hamlets and attacked women and children. Still, they were unable to stop the Dalits from tilling the 'gairan' soil. 

Kantabai, a prominent face in the land rights movement in Marathwada (comprising of eight districts: Jalna, Aurangabad, Parbhani, Hingoli, Nanded, Latur, Osmanabad and Beed) that was started by late Eknath Awad, recalls the horrors — humiliation, physical violence and exploitation. 

"What people do not realise is that it is not just about our livelihood, it is also about our rights and dignity. We will continue our fight. We are not scared of the struggle. We will continue to demand that the government transfer land titles to our names. The government says 'gairan' land belongs to the village, and it must be kept for grazing cattle. 

Is the government more worried about cattle than people like us?" Kantabai asks. 

The ownership of 'gairan' land has become a contentious issue in the Marathwada region. According to the Jamin Adhikar Andolan (JAA), a land rights movement, 'gairan' land belonged to the Dalits in pre-independence India. Activists claim that even in Marathwada, then a part of the Nizam's Hyderabad, 'gairan' lands had been conferred to the Dalits. 

They substantiate their claim with the Nizam's order from old archives. The lands were brought under the gram panchayat's management in 1956. In the 1990s, the JAA was set up to seek legalization of the Dalit title over 'gairan' land. 

The JAA wants the land title to be made jointly in the names of husband and wife. 

Source : https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/green-shoots-of-dignity-sprout-in-dalits-fields/articleshow/61377482.cms