Forest Department

To Control Forest Fires, Goa Must Involve Local Communities

A participatory form of forest management will not only increase the effectiveness of any fire warning systems but also reduce costs for the forest department.

In early March 2023, more than 70 fires burned for days across ecologically sensitive forests in Goa’s Western Ghats. The fires, which caused significant damage to these ecosystems, were described as a “perfect storm within already bad conditions” by a field expert. Frantic efforts by the Navy, forest department, and local people were needed to douse the fires. Finally, on March 15, forest minister Vishwajit Rane declared that the state was fire free. However, the scale and intensity of the fires have left many surprised and unsure of the causes.

Goa’s forests receive nearly 3,000 mm of rain annually, enough to classify them as wet forests. Such forests do not naturally experience fires, except during rare instances in very dry years, explained Jayashree Ratnam, an ecologist working on fire-mediated ecosystems at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru. She added that even during the hot summer months, the soil in these areas retains moisture, preventing forest fires from igniting and spreading.

Arvind Saran, a former principal scientist at the National Institute of Oceanography who has been working in the state for the last 30 years, said that natural causes could not have caused the fires. He also noted that many of the fires began deep inside the forest, indicating that they are unlikely to be accidental fires or controlled fires that went awry.

Some members of the bureaucracy have indicated that cashew plantation owners may be to blame. Anushka Rege, who has worked on reconciling agriculture with conservation in the northern Western Ghats, opines that there is a lot of weedy and invasive growth around cashew plantations if they are not well-kept. They could contribute to a faster spread of fires. But forest fires will harm the livelihoods of cashew farmers also, since the plantations are often located next to forests, she said.

Goa, a small state (3,702 square km) approximately the size of Hemis National Park (3,350 square km), has many more MLAs per person, ~22 MLAs per million, compared to neighbouring Maharashtra’s 2.5. The state is undergoing political expediency coupled with larger changes by private and public entities that have often not taken local people on board at the state and local levels.

Pakhi Das, an independent wildlife conservation policy researcher, extracted the last eight years’ data about forest clearance proposals that were granted in the state. Das, who is an analyst and national coordinator of the Indian Youth Biodiversity Network, obtained this information from the web portal Parivesh.

Her research found that 17 proposals were cleared in the last eight years with more in the pipeline. Of these proposals, 57% are linear infrastructure projects (railways, roads, and transmission lines). Many use designs that are not contextual and seem to follow the same patterns all over the country. They fail to design region-appropriate infrastructure, said Goa-based architect and researcher at Goa Collective, Satyajit Kambli.

Goa Collective said in a statement, “When it comes to road planning, the authorities have been rather ignorant about its effects on the existing local ecosystems. A single unplanned road in the fields or forests disrupts the natural water flow leading to dryer patches in the summer and floods in the monsoons.”

Table 1: The number and area of infrastructure proposals in forest areas under various clearance stages in Goa.

Clearance stage	Total Area (ha)	No. of proposals
Approved	292.0054	17
Draft	78.44217	12
Inprinciple	0.92812	3
Pipeline	271.11392	18
Grand Total	642.48961	50

Many of the fires occurred across the northwest parts of the state, including in the forest minister’s constituency of Valpoi, which contains large forest areas in and around Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary. These areas have a history of mistrust between people who live near the forests and the forest department. En route towards Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary, signs declare that the forest department is not welcome while a local resident describes that large parts of the sanctuary are unregulated and not under the forest department’s control. These tensions came to a head in the poisoning of four tigers in 2020 over plans to declare the area a tiger reserve. There has been little effort to mend these strained interactions.

A map showing the location of the fires across the northwest of Goa. Photo: Technology for Wildlife

“Village communities need to be brought on board with genuine solutions,” stated Alex Carpenter, who works on forest conservation around the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary. He added that there is an urgent requirement for larger, inclusive frameworks of agro-ecology and tourism. For instance, Carpenter explained, cashews sell for around Rs 100 per kilo, while black pepper, which can grow in the forest understory naturally, fetches Rs 450 per kilo. However, this option hasn’t been explored, and state subsidies are granted only to the former.

The response to the fires in Goa was typically knee-jerk: a ban on all entry to the forests. This will probably serve to further alienate Goans. The ban ignores the fact that during the effort to douse the flames, many local people risked their lives to help control the blazes. It was a powerful reminder that local people must be included in creating a more participatory form of forest management that will not only increase the effectiveness of any fire warning systems but also reduce costs for the forest department.

“Everyone here is left behind, and everyone is sold the idea that it is the forest that is holding them back. In fact, the forest could and should be the very thing that gives these communities a bright future, both economically and environmentally,” stated a conservation practitioner working in Goa.

Meanwhile, lessons about the harmful diversion of forest land have not been learnt. There are 33 other proposals in forest areas that have been given in-principle approval or are in the pipeline, almost double the number of clearances granted over the last eight years, in a state roughly equal to the size of India’s largest protected area.

Farai Divan Patel is an ecologist and Nandini Velho is a wildlife researcher working on the human dimensions of wildlife management. Pakhi Das contributed the summary tables of forest clearances.

A Stillborn Girl Child Symbolises Why These Mirzapur Villages Are Boycotting UP Elections

A 25-kilometre stretch makes it difficult for people of 14 villages to access healthcare, education and many other services.

Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh: Thirty-year-old Kalawati gave birth to a lifeless girl child on February 22. A day later, she is sitting in a corner of her house in Rampur Naudiha village, washing clothes. A few women from the village surround her and sit in silence.

“I lost my child because of the wretched road,” Kalawati fumes in anger.

She is talking about a 25 kilometre stretch of kutcha road that connects her village to Hallia, where the nearest government hospital is situated.

Kalawati is recovering from weakness without any supervision from doctors. Photo: Ismat Ara/The Wire

During Kalawati’s four previous pregnancies, her family had hired a private vehicle to take her to the hospital. But this time, she went into labour a little earlier than expected. The family could not immediately arrange money to hire a vehicle.

They called an ambulance. It refused to come to the village, Kalawati’s mother-in-law, Kailashi claimed. The other women nod in silent agreement.

Other villagers say, “Ambulances never come here.”

Kailashi wants the government to compensate for the loss of her granddaughter due to bad roads. Photo: Ismat Ara/The Wire

After Kalawati’s labour pain became more intense, the family started going house to house to request money to hire a private vehicle. They were able to collect Rs 2,000, the amount charged by private vehicles to reach the hospital in Hallia, a day later.

By the time a vehicle was hired, Kalawati was already in excruciating pain.

When she finally reached the hospital and delivered the child, it was a stillbirth.

The existing road between the two regions is extremely poor, and there is no alternative road either. Photo: Ismat Ara/The Wire

Kalawati wishes that her husband could be with her. Komal works as a driver in Mumbai and could not get any days off to visit his village and be with his wife.

Mirzapur’s Matawar region has 14 villages – including Rampur Naudiha, Nadna, Matwar and Harra – dominated by people from the Kol community.

The 14 villages fall in the Chhanbey constituency, one of the four constituencies in Mirzapur, which will go to the polls in the last phase of assembly elections in UP.

The absence of a road has adversely impacted the villages of Hallia block. Residents struggle to access secondary education, clean water, healthcare facilities, toilets, markets and employment opportunities.

The 14 villages have unanimously announced their motto for this election season: “No Road, No Vote.”

While there are a few puccha houses in the region, kutcha houses dominate the villages. Photo: Ismat Ara/The Wire

The long road

When this correspondent was going to Rampur Naudiha village, a local in Hallia block market offered to be the guide. “You won’t be able to reach there by yourself. You need a local,” said Chandresh Kumar Agrahari, who runs a small mobile repair shop there.

A National Highway connects Mirzapur city to Hallia block, but from there the road to Rampur Naudiha is kutcha. Construction is ongoing at two places, with narrow, elevated and risky roads. The 25-kilometre kutcha road takes about 2 hours to cross.

Agrahari gets ready to leave and wants to take his 4-year-old son along. He was born in Rampur Naudiha. Agrahari prefers to stay in the city because of transportation problems. He wants to come along because he sees it as an easy opportunity to go back home.

Chandresh Kumar with his son. Photo: Ismat Ara/The Wire

Law and order situation

Agrahari belongs to one of the villages boycotting the elections, but he is a staunch supporter of the BJP, he said. Anupriya Patel, the Apna Dal leader in alliance with the BJP, had even visited his uncle’s funeral, he said.

After getting into the car, he warns that there will be no mobile network available once we enter the forest area.

Most villagers are directly or indirectly engaged in farming activities. Some also work as labourers on daily wages. Photo: Ismat Ara/The Wire

While crossing the kutcha path, the driver asks Agrahari if this area, surrounded by forests with zero mobile connectivity, is unsafe. “No. Under the Yogi government, crime has gone down,” he answered.

However, just a few months ago in October 2021, a case of rape and murder of three sisters village had shaken the entire region. Their bodies were later found thrown in the forest area. An FIR was registered in the Hallia police station, but according to the villagers, no investigation has been done to identify the culprits.

Villagers said that the police came to the area to inspect, but only once. They never returned because their vehicle tank got damaged because of the bad road, they claimed. A few days later, the mother too killed herself.

Girls dropping out of schools

After the incident, many parents have withdrawn their girls from schools. Eighteen-year-old Suman is among the few who still study. She is studying BA at Panscheel Degree College in Hallia.

Because the Madhya Pradesh border is only 15 kilometres from Matwar, there are two private buses that cross the area, helping the villagers with transportation.

However, the villagers must wait for the private buses and travel as per their schedule, and as a result, they cannot predict when they will be back once they have left. Sometimes, the route of the buses changes.

Suman uses these private buses to travel.

Her father Balinder says that he wants Suman to be educated. “That’s why I enrolled her in college. But it is not possible to send her every day because of financial constraints. It is also not safe because there is no public transport,” he said.

So Suman goes to college once every 15 days.

The private buses charge Rs 20 from students but Rs 50 from other adults.

But that is not all. Suman, after getting off the bus, must take a rickshaw because, by the time she reaches Hallia, she is already very late for her classes.

Her 17-year-old brother goes to study in Mirzapur city, while a 13-year-old sister studies in the local village school, which has facilities only till Class VIII.

Suman is among the few girls in this region who are pursuing higher education despite all odds. Photo: Ismat Ara/The Wire

“No road, no vote“

Roughly 20,000 voters from these 14 villages with a population of about 40,000 have said that they will boycott the elections this time.

Every time a campaign vehicle crosses the region, they hold up a poster that reads, “Road nahin toh Vote nahin (No Road, No Vote).”

The villagers are demanding a road. Photo: Ismat Ara/The Wire

A 35-year-old woman had died a few weeks ago, while on her way to the hospital. Every few weeks, a similar death occurs, sending shivers down the spine of the villagers.

Among other issues are the lack of secondary schools (after Class VIII), no college, no hospitals, no public transport and stray cattle destroying crops of farmers.

Dheeraj Kumar, a villager who has lost his 2 bighas of wheat crop, says that he has spent countless nights sitting in his farmland with a stick to guard the crops from stray animals.

Stray animals often destroy the crops of the farmers. Photo: Ismat Ara/The Wire

The villagers accuse the politicians of making false promises when seeking votes but neglect the region afterwards.

Doctors without degrees

When passing by these villages, there are clinics every few kilometres.

When this correspondent asked one of the doctors where he had studied, he said that he is not “that kind of a doctor”.

He has “practice” but no degree, he said. Dr Sunil Kumar Pal is one of the few doctors who holds a degree – a diploma in physiotherapy.

He says he could be earning much more in the city if he opened a clinic there, but people here need doctors like him.

He charges Rs 50 as consultation fees.

Sunil Kumar has a diploma degree in Physiotherapy. Photo: Ismat Ara/The Wire

Mourning

Back at Kalawati’s house, the toilet has broken down. Her mother-in-law Kailashi said that Kalawati now has to wash clothes in public view.

Most toilets constructed in the village under the Swach Bharat Abhiyan (Pradhan Mantri Sauchalay Yojana), broke down shortly after being constructed, an elderly villager said.

Most toilets are either incomplete or have broken down. Photo: Ismat Ara/The Wire

He said that while on paper, at least 500 toilets were built, only about 250 were actually constructed. Most of them are currently not functional. Some are half-finished while others have broken walls and cracked ceilings.

Like a majority of villagers, Kalawati too lives in a kutcha house. Just outside, some cauliflower and potatoes are growing in a small field which they use for self-sustenance.

Kailashi is mourning the loss of her granddaughter. Kalawati said that a few decades earlier, people did not want female children but that has now changed.

Today, the death of a girl child because of poor infrastructure and lack of medical facilities, has enraged all the villagers who are demanding that their voices be heard, she says.

“Iss sadak ki wajah se meri bachchi ki jaan chali gayi (I lost my child because of the road),” Kalawati again said in a low voice, breaking down.

She recounted how even after the child had died, the ambulance refused to drop her at the village. When the family offered Rs 500 for the trip, one ambulance driver agreed.

Manish Sharma, pradhan of the Matawar Gram Panchayat, said that the roads are not getting constructed because the area is under the forest department.

“The administration cannot do anything unless they have clearance,” he said.

According to him, the forest department is opposed to the construction of a road because forest area will have to be cleared in the process.

The Wire visited the nearby forest department office in the area and spoke to some of the workers.

“If roads are made, the forests will get destroyed, there will be accidents, and nature will suffer,” one of them said.

Vijay Narayan Singh, the sub-divisional magistrate of the Lalganj division, reiterated this claim while speaking to The Wire.

“The land belongs to the forest department. We are working towards allotting the forest department alternate area of land right now [to compensate for the land lost to the road],” he said.

A board by the forest department prohibits use of horns. Photo: Ismat Ara/The Wire

He added that the process will be started as soon as the proposal is approved.

Meanwhile, Kailashi wants the government to compensate the family with financial assistance. Kalawati adds, “Even if there is no compensation, the road should be made so that no mother has to lose her child again.”

For How Long Will Van Gujjars Have To Seek Legal Remedies for Their Livelihood Practices?

At Govind Pashu Vihar National Park in Uttarkashi, the arbitrary actions of a single Forest Department officer has put the entire transhumant community at risk.

On May 25, 2021, the nomadic Van Gujjars finally relaxed. After a protracted struggle with the forest administration of the Govind Pashu Vihar National Park in Uttarkashi, the high court of Uttarakhand ordered the local administration as well as the deputy director of the national park to allow the pastoralists entry into the bugyals (meadows) within the protected area as they are entitled to do under the Forest Rights Act, 2006.

The court recognised that the treatment meted out the Van Gujjars in the past month had forced them to survive without any basic human dignity. It set a deadline of June 15, 2021 to ensure the community has access to their summer homesteads and is provided with basic amenities for their survival as well as for the well-being of their livestock. While initial reports have seen positive enforcement of the order by the relevant authorities, the Van Gujjars continue to live in fear of the Forest Department, who have time and again, in contempt of court orders, issued eviction notices in the past without regard to their claim to reside within the forest.

But for how long will the Van Gujjars have to seek legal remedies for a routine livelihood practice like transhumance? Will the forest department continue to find their migratory practices unfavourable and deny them their basic right of existence within forests? Is the COVID-19 pandemic another excuse for the department to inhibit such practices and forcefully resettle the Van Gujjars from their nomadic ways? Can the conservation of wildlife continue to be cited to deny legitimate forest rights to these pastoralists?

In 2020, there was a complete ban on the annual migrations of the Van Gujjars due to the nationwide lockdown for the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to a loss of income propelled by the lack of availability of fodder and drinking water. So they had hoped that in 2021 they would not face challenges in accessing their summer homesteads. However, arbitrary actions taken by Komal Singh, the deputy director of the Govind Pashu Vihar National Park in the Purola division of Uttarkashi, has had them camping in tents at the edge of the forest for nearly two months now, prevented from entering the park for one unjustified reason or another.

People of the forests

The nomadic practices of the Van Gujjars see them traverse the Terai Bhabar and Siwalik regions of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh in the winter and climb to the higher reaches of the western Himalayas in the summer months in search of greener pastures and the plentiful water resources provided by recently melted snow.

The migration undertaken by the community is attuned to the lifestyle and need of the indigenous gojri breed of cattle they tend, which requires rotational grazing.

A female Gojri buffalo. Photo: icar.gov.in

However, although the Forest Rights Act, 2006, recognises the rights of pastoralists under section 3 to access common pastures and claim community forest resource rights, the implementation of the legislation has been dismal, with frequent barriers imposed by the Forest Department who contest the access claims of the Van Gujjars.

The discourse of forest conservation pursued by the Forest Department has sought to inhibit access to the Van Gujjars in protected areas of the forests, often citing them as a threat to wildlife despite ample proof of coexistence amongst the community, including the maintenance of water sources and fire lines within the forests, the equitable use of forest produce, no recognised poaching background due to a predominantly vegetarian diet and deep knowledge of the ecosystem that shows them where they can safely graze their cattle and which areas to avoid due to threats to wildlife.

Also read: Why India’s Forest Rights Act Is the Most Viable Forest Conservation Law

‘An animal existence’

The present issue concerns Komal Singh, the deputy director of Govind Pashu Vihar National Park in Uttarakashi, and the Van Gujjars who migrate to the bugyals within the protected area of the park.

When the Van Gujjars arrived at the outskirts of the park at Naitwad at the end of April 2021, they were denied access to their homes within the park because the deputy director failed to recognise the permits and permissions from the chief secretary of the chief minister’s office requesting the principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF, also known as the head of forest forces or HoFF) to grant the Van Gujjars permission to migrate.

As time passed, Singh continued to deny them entry even though he received letters from the PCCF as well as the chief wildlife warden to permit the Van Gujjars to enter the national park, not to mention numerous representations sent by the Van Gujjar Tribal Yuva Sanghathan.

Singh also cited COVID-19 protocols as a reason to prevent the Van Gujjars from entering the park, stating that they would be a health risk to the wildlife and thus showing that he thought of the community as below the dignity of animals. Rather than conducting COVID-19 tests at the earliest or deciding upon quarantining rules based on standard operating procedures, he usurped the authority of the district administration in complete violation of the right to life and basic dignity which the Van Gujjars required after a tedious transit.

Singh is not the nodal authority under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, but he arbitrarily denied access to the Van Gujjars without a deadline. In doing so, he directly contravened the Uttarakhand high court’s orders in the Think Act Rise Foundation case of 2019, which had granted an injunction upon the Forest Department to evict any forest dweller until a committee that the high court had ordered to be established decided upon the requisite rights of the Van Gujjars.

Uttarakhand high court. Credit: Navin Bhatt

Because of the actions of Komal Singh, the Van Gujjars continue to stay precariously in open tents. The last month witnessed severe rainfall and hail, which the community had no option but to cope with since they do not have access to their homes. The inability to sell milk in neighbouring towns and villages due to lockdown has led to another barrier in their livelihood. The rest stop where they are stationed lacks access to grass and fodder for the livestock, which has so far resulted in the starvation to death of ten buffaloes. Babies, young children and elderly people have been exposed to adverse health conditions. This situation was aptly described to the Uttarakhand high court on May 25 as one of mere animal existence, all due to the autocratic exercise of power by certain officials.

A malafide act?

Komal Singh appears to have a history of prejudice against the Van Gujjars of Uttarakhand. In 2017, as the chief wildlife warden of Rajaji National Park, he had wrongfully, without adhering to Section 61-A of the Uttarakhand Forest Act, issued notices for the eviction of the Van Gujjars across the three ranges where they resided – the Gohri, Chillawali and Asarori ranges across the Pauri Garhwal, Haridwar and Dehradun districts, respectively.

By categorising the Van Gujjars as encroachers and using violence and intimidation, Singh managed to evict around 200 Van Gujjars from these ranges. However, certain members of the communities from the Gohri and Asarori ranges somehow managed to resist the eviction and stayed put.

Thereafter, as deputy director of Govind Pashu Vihar National Park, Singh was made a member of a committee for the rehabilitation of Van Gujjars, which he delayed for two years, denying benefits to those he had evicted by referring to them as illegal encroachers. Some of the evicted members of the community are still eking out their existence on rented land or on the banks of the river Ganga in Haridwar.

Singh’s actions as the chief wildlife warden of the Rajaji National Park are now pending enquiry. They were questioned as malafide in the 2019 Think Act Rise case in the Uttarakhand high court, which ordered the establishment of a committee with the chief secretary of the Social Welfare Department, Uttarakhand, as the chair and people from the Forest Department and civil society as other members, to ensure the rights of the Van Gujjars under the Forest Rights Act, 2006.

Right to human dignity

The Think Rise Act Foundation is a student-led, self-funded NGO founded in 2018 by Arjun Kasana, a graduate of the University of Delhi, to pursue justice through legal and extra-legal means for the Van Gujjars.

In 2019, the foundation challenged the evictions of the Van Gujjars from various areas of Rajaji National park, which had been carried out through illegal notices under Section 61-A of the Uttarakhand Forest Act. The foundation also pleaded for the recognition of the legal rights of the Van Gujjars.

When Komal Singh denied the Van Gujjars entry into Govind Pashu Vihar National Park this year, the community contacted the foundation on May 17, 2021. The foundation thereafter filed a supplementary affidavit and mentioned the issue on the ongoing PIL No. 140 of 2019 before the high court, highlighting the plea of the Van Gujjars and their deplorable condition in makeshift tents.

Chhattisgarh’s Low-Profile Scheme To Conserve Water Is Showing Encouraging Results

The scheme to conserve water and make long-term environmental plans has resulted in forest areas regenerating and contiguous agricultural landholdings.

Bhopal: “In my more than two decades as a forest official, this is the first chief minister I have come across who understands contour maps, grids, subsoil water conservation, gabion structure and their importance. He raised so many questions and suggestions during our presentation that we knew immediately we had a backer for our ambitious project,” says V. Sreenivasa Rao, the chief executive officer of the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) in Chhattisgarh.

In just under two years as chief minister, Bhupesh Baghel seems to have achieved spectacular success in at least one area: water conservation and environment planning to regenerate forest areas and contiguous agricultural landholdings.

And it is the least known of Baghel’s efforts, as several precious months have been lost in advertising vague-sounding and even more vaguely implemented schemes like ‘Narwa-Garwa-Ghurwa-Badi’ (canal, cow, manure pit and kitchen garden). It is the conservation of narwa (small, seasonal rivulets) that Baghel wanted the district administration to focus on, as most of them lie in revenue areas. Intriduged by the chief minister’s suggestion, Sreenivasa Rao decided to try and fix the narwa in forest areas.

Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel at a review meeting of the forest department. Photo: By arrangement

In less than two years, his department has been able to make more than 10 lakh small structures for above-ground and sub-soil water conservation. In the initial phase, 863 nullahs in 137 water-scarce patches across the state were conserved. With a comparatively small budget of Rs 167 crore in the first year, Rao was able to motivate his department officials to spend time in the summer months identifying small rivulets which flow into bigger nullahs, which subsequently feed rivers. And no one is talking about this silent transformation yet because the forest department has a low profile, even in a state which apparently has more than 33% green cover.

The rainwater flows downwards with the contour of the land and results in the erosion of top soil and minerals. These subsequently join several bigger streams, which take the soil and deposit it further downhill. Over the years, small check dams had been made on several hundred nullahs across the state. The top soil and debris carried by seasonal streams deposited silted, making the check dams less efficient. This resulted not just in soil erosion in forest areas and silting downstream, but also in the lack of subsoil water, which had a devastating effect on the trees and led to the depletion of forests itself.

Exposed roots of plants can be seen due to the erosion of soil. Representative image. Photo: Jon Fisher/Flickr CC BY NC ND 2.0

The solution

The solution to this lay in studying even the minute details of contour grid maps of the entire state. Rao hired 40 conservation professionals from the private sector and identified officers in his own department who would be able to deliver.

After the identification of conservation areas on the grid, the process is simple but cumbersome. Very small gully plugs and loose boulder check dams, which cost about Rs 1.5 lakh to build, have to be made. The task is enormous as a small forest area of about 20 acres may require more than two dozen gully plugs and loose bolder dams.

The idea is to slow the flow of rainwater and allow it to retain the soil it is carrying underneath before it joins a bigger gabion structure. A gabion is built on a small-size nullah which will initially collect rainwater from about two dozen streams. Again, the process is aimed at slowing down the flow of run-off water before it reaches the bigger nullah.

An illustration of gabion structure. Photo: By arrangement

At the bigger nullah, a large CCT structure or a check dam further slows the flow of water before it eventually meets the river. All this accumulation and slowing of water at various stages from the gully to gabion to check dam has a tremendous effect on the subsoil. It retains water for longer, which feeds the trees for longer, preparing them for a harsh summer. It has also led to an increase in ground water levels across several districts like Durg, Rajnandgaon, Kawardha and Gariyaband.

This correspondent has observed first hand both the pre-conservation and post-monsoon results in Gariyaband. Gully checks and gabion structures were laid on the Tonhi nullah near Gariyaband in the summer. After the monsoon, the effect has been tremendous. One can see there is plenty of water retention at all levels. Though the subsoil water can’t be seen, the healthy condition of the trees shows that it has been replenished. The roots which had become exposed after years of soil erosion have not lost their grip this time and the bark and trunk look healthier. Farmers in the surrounding areas are feeling the difference in their bore wells. The force of water tells them that the level has risen.

Future plans

More than nine lakh hectares of agriculture land is supposed to benefit from the conservation efforts and so far, 4.5 lakh hectares has already been covered. The state government has increased the Budget modestly to Rs 200 crore this year. Though not everything can be verified on the ground, Rao has meticulously documented the work being done with longitudinal locations and pictures. It will also help determine the progress in the future.

Bharjodi Nala in Darbha range of Bastar division. Photo: By arrangment

Unfortunately, the forest department’s efforts are not being supplemented by the district administration and rural development departments, which have larger areas to cover. For these departments, the priority is to ensure that the narwas located in revenue areas are not captured by land sharks.

It appears that a lot of work done by these departments – de-siltation of urban water bodies and cleaning of nullahs – has not met with Baghel’s approval. Besides, the forest department and Rao have the unique benefit of working across the state’s geographical, while district administrations have limited vision and plans.

Rao is as low profile as his department and even though he is credited with turning a stone quarry at Mangatta near Rajnandgaon into a resplendent 200-acre national park in five years, he has never claimed any public acclaim for it. Today, wildlife in Mangatta is flourishing, a sharp contrast that is apparent to anyone who visited the place some years ago. The park is abundant with deer, wild boar and rabbits. More importantly, illegal mining and wildlife exploitation have been stopped after the park area was sealed off.

IFS officer V. Sreenivasa Rao. Photo: By arrangement

Rao is hopeful that five years of the narwa project will result in a similar, visible difference to the state’s forest wealth and make agriculture easier. His contribution and of course Baghel’s, will be measured and felt much later and for much longer. It may not be of much political benefit in these days of swift, hyperbolic promises, but nobody can argue that there isn’t real progress.

‘Conflict of Interest’: Activists Criticise Andaman’s New Order on ‘Temporary’ Forest Land

The forest department’s order allows a user agency to ‘recommend’ if the grant should be provided.

Jaipur: In a move to further dilute the 2019 order of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) that facilitated ‘temporary’ use of forest land by private persons even without the consent of the Union government, the Andaman and Nicobar forest department has issued an order to constitute a committee that would ‘recommend’ the divisional forest officer (DFO) to grant permission for such ‘temporary’ activities.

The order dated February 28, 2020, states that the committee would comprise of a deputy commissioner of the territory at the revenue department as its chairman, head of the department of the requisitioning department and the DFO as its members. The DFO of the area would decide on the proposal “subject to” the recommendation of this committee.

Environmentalists have termed this order illegal and a clear case of non-application of mind.

Ritwick Dutta, environment lawyer and founder of Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE) says, “The same person [DFO] is at two places. The union territory administration has formed a committee where the person responsible to take a decision [DFO] will make a recommendation to his/her own self [DFO as member of the committee] This is absurd.”

The fundamental problem with the committee is that its chairman, who has to ‘recommend’, is a coordinating authority among various departments in the district, which indicates that the recommendation would be binding upon the DFO.

“In any district, the district magistrate or deputy commissioner (as called in Andaman and Nicobar islands) is the head and all authorities are below him/her,” said Dutta.

Inclusion of officials from the revenue department and the requisitioning department (that would be using the forest land, for instance, a private person applies to seek land for setting up a tent for an event over the forest land, therefore, the tourism department would be the requisitioning department in that case) to ‘recommend’ use of forest land for temporary purpose also emerges as a clear case of conflict of interest.

“There is no denial that the revenue department has a role in the forests. In fact, under the Indian Forest Act, 1927 and the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, it’s the revenue department that notifies the wildlife sanctuaries and national parks but the point is that why a user agency [the requisitioning department] would deny the usage of forest land,” added Dutta.

He suggests that the committee should have comprised of the forest department, NGOs or some independent institutions to scrutinise the proposal.

Speaking to The Wire, Sudharshan Bhandari, PCCF (principal chief conservator of forests) at the Andaman and Nicobar forest department, who has issued the order, insisted that the committee’s recommendation would not be binding on the DFO. “It [decision to constituting a committee] has been issued as per [Centre’s] order but the final say would be of DFO only,” said Bhandari.

When asked if the inclusion of the revenue department and the requisitioning department would result in a conflict of interest, he replied, “That would be handled by the district, I can’t comment on it.”

Andaman and Nicobar forest … by The Wire on Scribd

The Andaman and Nicobar islands is an ecologically sensitive region with rich biodiversity. As per a recent publication of the Zoological Survey of India, the islands comprise of about 0.25% of the country’s geographical area and is home to 11,009 species.

Last month, the Uttarakhand forest department had issued a proposal to transfer 778 hectares of Rajaji National Park and Narendra Nagar Forest division to the Kumbh Mela Samiti in order to initiate ‘temporary’ construction for the Kumbh Mela scheduled in 2021.

This proposed area of the national park intended to remain with the Kumbh Mela Samiti for over nine months, beginning from September 1, 2020, to May 31, 2021.

These moves by the state forest departments are a consequence of an October 2019 order issued by the MoEFCC that permitted the temporary use of forest land – which is not a part of a protected area – without the prior approval of the Central government.

The order had also authorised the DFO to have jurisdiction over the proposed forest land to accord permission for such temporary use.

In January 2020, MoEFCC had added that temporary use of forest land can only be permitted if it is ensured that such use of forest land is ‘unavoidable’ for public purpose and there is no ‘alternate’ non-forest land available for the proposed temporary use.

The time period for temporary use of forest land was fixed for a period not exceeding two weeks.

This drew severe criticism from the environmentalists, who claimed that the order was a ‘clean chit’ to violate the Forest Conservation Act, 1980.

Questioning the 2019 MoEFCC order, Dutta says, “The Forest Conservation Act has used the word ‘non-forest use’ but the law doesn’t make a distinction between ‘temporary’ and ‘permanent’ use. Therefore, the ministry delegating the power to permit ‘temporary’ use of forest land for a non-forest purpose to state government is in violation of the Act.”

He also pointed out that the order has not included breaking up or clearing of forest land while granting it for temporary use, something which is not avoidable.

“For instance, if one has to set up a tent or make parking area in a forest, the person would be required to clear the area, mark it and drill holes. In such a case, breaking and clearing of land is inevitable,” said Dutta. This would defeat the purpose of the Forest Conservation Act.

Forest Advisory Committee Okays Scheme to ‘Trade’ Forest Land

The new scheme would allow agencies like private companies to identify land, grow plantations and sell them to industries in need of reforested land.

New Delhi: The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) of the environment ministry has approved a scheme that could allow “forests” to be traded as a commodity as it would allow the Forest Department to outsource its responsibility of reforesting to non-government agencies, according to a report in The Hindu.

The FAC is an apex body tasked with adjudicating requests by the industry to raze forest land for commercial use.

As it currently stands, industries need to find appropriate non-forest land in lieu of and equal to the forest land that was razed. The industry would also have to pay the State Forest Department the current economic equivalent of the forest land. It is then the responsibility of the Forest Department to restore vegetation in that area, which would over time grow into forests.

Industries claim that is difficult to acquire appropriate non-forest land, which has to be contiguous to existing forest. Over the decades, the funds, which amount to almost Rs 50,000, collected by the Centre have been lying unspent as states were not spending the money on regrowing forests.

After an intervention by the Supreme Court, a new law was introduced with rules about how this fund was to be administered. About Rs 47,000 crore have been disbursed amongst the states until August, but it has not led to any restoration of forests.

The new scheme approved by the Forest Advisory Committee called the ‘Green Credit Scheme’ would allow agencies like private companies and village forest communities to identify land and grow plantations.

Also read: Environment Ministry Says States Can Define What Land Constitutes a Forest

After a period of three years, they would be eligible to be considered as compensatory forest land if they met the criteria set by the Forest Department. An industry in need of forest land could then pay for these patches of forest land, and this would then be transferred to the Forest Department.

Previously, in 2015, a ‘Green Credit Scheme’ for degraded forest land with public-private participation had been recommended, but was shelved when it was not approved by the Union environment ministry.

According to a note in the minutes of the meeting held on December 19, the FAC believed that such a scheme would encourage plantation by individuals outside the traditional forest area and would help meet international commitments such as sustainable development goals.

The Green India Mission, which aims to battle climate change by, amongst other means, adding 30 million hectares in addition to existing forest does not help the core problem of compensatory afforestation.

Kanchi Kohli, who works with the Centre for Policy Research and investigates forest rights, told The Hindu that the new scheme does not “solve the core problems of compensatory afforestation”.

“It creates problems of privatising multi-use forest areas as monoculture plantation plots. Forests are treated as a mere commodity without any social or ecological character,” said Kohli.

NTCA Resolves to No Longer Hire Private Hunters or Use the Label ‘Man-Eater’

The NTCA now needs to have every license granted to private individuals or groups posing as legitimate NGOs involved in wildlife conservation investigated.

As die-hard tiger conservation campaigners prepared to mark the first anniversary on November 2 of the killing of the tigress T1, a.k.a. Avni, who had been declared a ‘man-eater’, the National Tiger Conservation Authority’s (NTCA’s) technical committee had a consequential meeting on October 30.

On its agenda among various issues were two that will have far-reaching effects. The first was a break from the British Raj terminology of ‘man-eaters’. Henceforth, any tiger found in conflict with humans will simply be called a ‘dangerous’ tiger’.

Second, the committee recommended an end to the shenanigans of trigger-happy private hunters posing as conservationists and who have sometimes been aided and abetted by pliable state forest and wildlife officials as they added more wild animal hunts to their résumé.

Also read: Reports on Avni Death Harden Case that Hunter Went in With Killing Intent

The NTCA decisions effectively close the curtain on the era of man-eaters, whether tigers, leopards or other big cats. There is a certain dread that that very term evokes. Even in cases where a big cat’s actions have resulted in the death of a human, such incidents don’t necessarily turn the cat in question into a ‘man-eater’.

What the NTCA has done is to lay down the new law by changing the existing text in its Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). Previously, pages 38 and 39 of the SOP used to read:

After ‘declaring’ the man-eater, its elimination should be done by a Departmental personnel having the desired proficiency, while providing the fire are with an appropriate bore size (not below .375 magnum). In case, such expertise is not available with the Department, an expert may be coopted from the other State Governments or outside with due authorization…

This has been replaced with:

After ‘declaring’ the animal as dangerous to Human Life, its elimination should be done by a Departmental personnel having the desired proficiency, while providing the fire are with the appropriate bore size. In case, such expertise is not available with the Department, an expert may be coopted from other competent Government departments.

After years of wildlife conservation experts, including wildlife veterinarians who routinely tranquilise tigers and leopards in some of the country’s best-known tiger reserves, simmering at the prospect of the government engaging so-called outside experts, the NTCA’s virtual announcement barring such individuals from any capture or kill exercises in the country is a very welcome development. It should hopefully end this cottage industry that has over the years accrued the patronage of forest and wildlife protection officials as well as politicians of all hues.

Also read: Chronicling the Killing of T1, the Tigress

But this is not all. The NTCA needs to go one step further, and ask every state forest department to investigate every single permission given to private individuals or groups posing as legitimate NGOs involved in wildlife conservation and who/which has been licensed to purchase and own a tranquilising gun. This single piece of equipment has empowered private hunters to pose as conservationists. So if the state will no longer enlist the assistance of such individuals and groups, the state should also extend the restrictions the NTCA has developed to them – and therefore to other wildlife-human conflict situations.

What happened in November 2018, in the case of Avni, is still very fresh in everyone’s mind. Now, the NTCA has shown – at least on paper, though its letter dated November 11 – with the amended SOP guidelines sent to the forest departments of all states that it can bare its canines when it chooses to. Then again, it remains to be seen if there is any bite: the words on paper will have to be turned into appropriate action on the field.

Balu Pulipaka is a senior journalist and has been involved in tiger conservation efforts for the past thirty years.

But Why Is the Cauvery Calling?

The Isha Foundation has constructed buildings on sensitive catchment areas of the Noyyal and the Cauvery rivers, disregarding legal notices to stop work.

The world’s social and political elite might see Jaggi Vasudev and his Isha Foundation as environmental champions but closer home, among its tribal neighbours and the farmers in Coimbatore, the organisation and its founder don’t enjoy a good reputation. Isha and Vasudev haven’t been able to counter the allegation of environmental violations from their endeavours.

People living around Isha’s yoga centre say the facility features prominently in the list of institutions that have constructed illegal complexes in the ecologically fragile foothills of the Western Ghats. Less powerful violators have been shut down while higher profile offenders, left unpunished, have even expanded operations.

The local people allege that these illegalities have exacted a toll on the environment and local wildlife, and eroded the region’s water resources and farming economy.

Curiously, Isha’s ‘Rally for Rivers’ and ‘Cauvery Calling’ campaigns market themselves as doing the opposite: improving the environment, enhancing biodiversity and water resources, and enriching farmers.

Isha insists these allegations are politically motivated and that it is fully legally compliant.

Following an email requesting details of licenses required and obtained under various environmental laws, an Isha spokesperson first pointed the author to Isha’s blog, which was devoid of any specific details. Repeated email requests over the last month for documentary evidence finally elicited a response on November 4:

Most of the Swamis who are involved in the approval process are in silence until this upcoming Pournami, which is on the 12th. So any detailed answers or documents that you’re seeking will have to wait until they come out of silence. In the meantime, we can have our volunteers who have been helping with the approval process meet with you at a mutually convenient time.

* * *

Unlicensed construction isn’t really news in India at the moment; however, a visit to Isha by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2017 to inaugurate one of the suspect facilities appears to have triggered a change of heart among state government officials, which is noteworthy. Since March 2017, officials have reversed earlier findings of illegalities, harm to wildlife and a decision to lock-and-seal the facility, and began attempting to ‘regularise’ some of the infractions.

Their attempts notwithstanding, the yoga centre and the 112-foot-tall Adi Yogi statue that Modi opened remain illegal. Neither facility has all the licences required under various environmental laws nor do they possess valid licenses to operate under the relevant statutes. Requests to Isha to furnish details regarding these licenses were unanswered at the time of publishing.

The facts

The Isha Foundation website claims it is located in 150 acres of “lush land” with “pristine hills with thick virgin forest, sparkling rivulets and waterfalls and abundant wildlife.”

According to a letter from the forest department, Isha has since 2012 undertaken unlicensed construction over 427,000 sq. m within the yoga centre campus, including covered buildings, playgrounds and open-to-sky parking spaces.

The Adi Yogi statue is located on a 4.29-acre plot of paddy wetlands. The foundation has set up a parking lot over an additional 37 acres of paddy wetland. The “activity area” here, which includes built-up spaces and activities open to the sky, is over 150,000 sq. m in size.

Both facilities are located on private patta land. The yoga centre shares a boundary with the Booluvampatti Reserve Forest range, a well known wild elephant habitat.

The densely forested Velliangiri hills are also the birthplace of the Noyyal river, an important tributary to the Cauvery. Isha’s facilities are located between two rivers – one originates high in the Velliangiri, above the Anaiatha Koil, and flows along the northern and eastern side of the centre; the other forms the main stem of the Noyyal and flows along the south of the Adi Yogi complex. The paddy wetland is part of the land watered by the northern river.

Land-use along the headwaters and the catchment of a river determine a river’s health. The Noyyal’s headwaters in the Velliangiri are mostly densely vegetated and unbuilt. The catchment where the Noyyal climbs down to the plains – where Isha is located – has changed drastically over the last two decades. Built-up and paved or hard surfaces have replaced open, vegetated and softer paddy wetland soil, negatively affecting the hydrology.

None of the new constructions have assessed this impact. Simultaneously, enclosed spaces restrict the movement of elephants and other animals.

The law

From an environmental standpoint, the yoga centre and the Adi Yogi statue and parking yard attract the provisions of the following laws.

→ G.O. Ms No. 44 (Planning and Development) of 2.4.1990 constituting The Hill Areas Conservation Authority (HACA) in Tamil Nadu amended on 24.3.2003 by G.O. Ms No. 49

Under this rule, in force since 1990, Isha ought to have obtained clearance from HACA before commencing any construction.

In 1990, the HACA rule argued:

The present status of the hill areas of Tamil Nadu are fast reaching a point of no-return. There has undoubtedly been an alarming decline in the ecosystem of the Western Ghats even within living memory. This is because all economic activities, ultimately, entail increased extraction of environmental resources and always have an impact on modifying them. … Therefore, when the development takes place in an ecologically fragile area like hills, the interaction leads to serious stress when the environment is loaded beyond its safe use capacity.

HACA clearances ought to be received after studying the appropriateness and impact of development at a given location. The Adi Yogi statue’s construction and subsequent branding as a tourist attraction has increased traffic and commercial activity in a predominantly wild and agrarian landscape.

→ Tamilnadu Town and Country Planning Act, 1972

Public buildings, including religious structures and educational buildings, can only be approved by the local planning authority, not the panchayat.

Sections 48 and 49 of the Act require developers to obtain permission for their proposed activities and approval for the building plan from the local planning authority before starting work.

During construction, the developer has to obtain a construction continuance certificate at the plinth level. Next, once construction is completed and before the facilities are occupied, the developer has to apply for a completion certificate. These licenses help regulators detect plan violations at an early stage.

Isha did not seek prior approval under this law for any of their buildings; the foundation applied for approval only after the buildings had been erected, between 1994 and 2011 and covering 69,193 sq. m within the yoga centre. Till date, both the foundation’s and the statue’s facilities don’t have a completion certificate from the town and country planning department.

→ Environmental Impact Assessment Notification, 2006

Isha’s facilities are “townships and area development projects”, listed as item 8(b) of the notification. Covered projects and roofless projects with a built-up area and activity area, respectively, of over 150,000 sq. m need to get an environmental clearance after undertaking a detailed environmental impact assessment.

→ Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981

Under Section 25 of the Water Act and Section 21 of the Air Act, Isha is required to obtain two licenses: a ‘consent to establish’ before constructing the facilities and a ‘consent to operate’ before occupying the facilities. The latter license is to be renewed periodically and kept up-to-date.

Isha’s activities

In a post published on its website, Isha offers a specific rebuttal to allegations of illegality. They admit they “went ahead and completed the construction in spite of not having the [HACA] clearances in hand at that time” but that the “authority, through its 59th meeting held at Chennai, gave the technical clearance to all the constructions…”. Isha also claims “the buildings have now been regularised and as we stand, all the buildings within the yoga centre premises have all the necessary permissions.”

The regularisation and full legal compliance claims are false. HACA approvals are conditional and don’t enter into effect until all conditions are fulfilled. Per the conditional approval, Isha is required to demolish certain offending structures and relocate others to mitigate the impact on elephant movement. This has not been done.

The member secretary of Coimbatore’s local planning authority confirmed over telephone that the Isha yoga centre does not have a building completion certificate, without which a facility can’t be legally occupied. The foundation hasn’t yet applied for the certificate, he said.

Also read: The Empty Environmentalism of ‘Rally for Rivers’

The officer also confirmed that the Adi Yogi statue and the associated civil works, including the car park, don’t have the planning authority’s approval. It is unclear whether the statue and the car park have HACA approval.

The yoga centre and the parking yard don’t possess an environmental clearance under the 2006 EIA notification nor the consents to establish and operate operate under the Air and Water Acts from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board.

All environmental laws that would have enforced environmental diligence have been given a go-by. Had Isha undertaken an environmental impact assessment, the resulting report will have shown the location to be unsuitable for a project of this scale, and highlighted its impact on the Noyyal’s hydrology as well as on wild elephants in the region.

While both the forest department and the Directorate of Town and Country Planned have issued warnings to Isha since 2012, neither body has enforced the law.

Chronology of violations

→ January 19, 2012: Internal communication from forest ranger (FR) to district forest Officer (DFO):

– The foundation’s buildings are located in a route frequented by wild elephants

– As a result, elephants are routinely leaving forest areas and destroying farm lands

– Lakhs of people visiting the yoga centre use the forest road. Noise from their vehicles, the ongoing construction, the impact of hundreds of labourers working there and the heavy machinery is affecting the forest and wildlife, and harming the route taken by wild elephants.

→ February 8, 2012: Communication from FR to Isha Foundation:

– Isha Yoga has constructed on 69,193 sq. m without approval and in violation of HACA

– Work is ongoing for construction of new buildings on a large scale

– All ongoing construction works are in violation of HACA and must be stopped

– Work should resume only after HACA approval

→ March 26, 2012: FR to DFO:

– No prior permission obtained for already constructed buildings over 66,204.25 sq. m and 29,323.26 sq. metres

– New construction is ongoing over 52,278.88 sq. m and 3,217.6 sq. m

– Electric fencing on all sides affecting daily routine, life and movement of wildlife

– Owing to the enclosures, elephants stray from the reserve forest and cause damage to crops, property and lives

– Isha Foundation’s request for an NOC should be rejected

→ August 17, 2012: DFO to principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF):

– Isha Trust owns 42.77 ha of property in Booluvampatti village

– Already constructed buildings measure up to 63,380 sq.; to-be constructed buildings measure up to 28,852 sq. m

– No mandatory HACA approval obtained for both sets of construction, only application has been made

– DFO’s field inspection revealed ongoing construction as of 2012 over 28,582 sq. m (built-up space) and additional area for pathway, playground, material storage area, vehicle parking, etc. over 334,330.86 sq. m. Total is 427,700 sq. m

– 78% of total area for parking, playground, etc.

– Only panchayat approval obtained for a few constructions

– Application for HACA approval pending but construction is ongoing

– As per BSO standing order, revenue department must maintain a buffer zone of 40-60 m from forest boundary to patta land. Isha has constructed compound wall and front entrance at the forest boundary. All constructions are within a distance of 1.7 metres to 473 metres from reserve forest.

– All mentioned survey numbers are in elephant corridor

– Human-wildlife conflict has increased by ever-increasing use by yoga centre’s visitors

– DFO’s notice to stop construction on February 8, 2012, and April 14, 2012, not complied with

– In dry summer months of March and April, Mahasivarathri festival is celebrated. Lakhs of visitors use forest land.

– Due to an increasing number of religious visitors, increasing construction of Isha every day, more vehicular traffic and increased human-wildlife conflict, DFO objects to HACA approval

→ November 5, 2012: ‘stop work’ notice from Town and Country Planning Department (TCPD) to Isha:

– Proposal for approval made by Isha was incomplete and particulars were called for on October 12, 2012

– Inspection on November 2, 2012, found that construction of 60 building blocks had been completed and 34 were under construction

– Permission not issued to any of the buildings

– A notice was issued by regional deputy director of TCPD to stop construction and obtain permission within three days, failing which action would be taken under Sections 56 and 57 of TCP Act, 1971

→ December 21, 2012: Notice issued by deputy director of TCPD to restore the land to its original condition within 30 days of the notice

Also read: Soon, We May Not Have a Cauvery River to Fight Over

→ March 1, 2013: Letter from deputy director to commissioner, both of TCPD:

– Isha buildings were constructed and new ones are being constructed without TCPD approval

– Isha Yoga’s proposal dated July 20, 2011, was returned on February 20, 2012, with direction to submit a complete application

– Application was resubmitted on September 12, 2012

– Site was inspected on October 8, 2012:

– Construction was ongoing

– Building plan submitted did not tally with the ongoing work

– Considering deviation from original plan, Isha was directed to resubmit plan after obtaining requisite NOCs from forest department, Public Works Department, district collector, etc.

– Sealing notices issued, giving 30 days notice to restore land to original condition; time expired on January 26, 2013

– Citing Isha’s disregard of ‘stop work’ and sealing notices, TCPD deputy director requested TCPD commissioner to issue necessary orders to seal unauthorised buildings

→ September 3, 2013: deputy Director of TCPD to district collector of Coimbatore:

– Construction at Isha not stopped despite lock and seal notice

– Isha has not applied properly for permission

– Isha submitted revision petition to commissioner of TCPD asking for quashing of the lock and seal and demolition notices

– In the parawar remarks to the revision petition, TCPD’s deputy director restates the forest department’s objection to Isha’s buildings on grounds that they are located in an area frequently used by elephants

– The department is in a situation to reject application because buildings are for religious purposes; no HACA approval obtained; NOCs from various departments have not been obtained; application has been made for buildings already constructed

→ November 26, 2014: ‘lock and seal’ and demolition notice from TCPD to Isha:

– Lock and seal notice has already been issued in 2012

– Proposal in full form has not yet been submitted

– Construction is still ongoing

– Field inspection on January 17, 2014, revealed that construction of Sivapadam block and Dhyanalinga temple has been completed; compound on temple’s front side also being constructed disregarding ‘stop work’ and ‘lock and seal’ notices.

– TCPD issued a fresh ‘lock and ‘seal notice

→ Year ending 2017: report of the Comptroller and Auditor General:

– DFO (Coimbatore)’s field inspection in February 2012 found that construction on 11,973 sq. m was permitted by village panchayat without consulting HACA

– Field assessment report of August 2012 states that Isha continued to construct buildings within buffer areas of Booluvampatti Reserve Forest range despite notice from forest department to cease construction

– Forest department failed to take action to stop further construction

– Isha Foundation resubmitted application to forest department for NOC to allow Isha to submit application for HACA approval

– New DFO at forest department recommended the grant of HACA to PCCF for already constructed buildings and related purposes, subject to certain conditions:

Shifting of road running parallel to the forest road from south to north by 100 m away from RF; construction of adequate fencing and elephant proof trenches; and removal of kalari shed situated at a distance of 16 m from RF, water tank with swimming pool situated at a distance of 6 m from RF, and temporary shed situated on the western side, are the mitigation measures.

The member secretary of the local planning authority confirmed that compliance to the above conditions will be verified only after Isha applies for a completion certificate. No such application had been submitted at the time of publishing.

* * *

Isha has constructed buildings illegally on sensitive catchment areas of the Noyyal and the Cauvery rivers, disregarding legal notices to stop work. This incident exposes the chinks in India’s regulatory infrastructure. One need go no further to understand why the Cauvery is calling.

The author would like to thank M. Siva for inputs and documents.

Nityanand Jayaraman is a Chennai-based writer and social activist.

Environment Ministry Says States Can Define What Land Constitutes a Forest

With well-established forest departments, states are better equipped “to understand their own forests and needs”, the Union ministry said.

New Delhi: The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) of the environment ministry has clarified that states do not need permission from the Centre to define what constitutes unclassified land as forest, according to a report in the Hindu.

While the liberty to define land that has not already been classified as a forest by the Centre has been the prerogative of states since 1996, recent reports over the ministry of environment, forest and climate change’s drafts to evolve a legal definition of forests had cast doubts about the ministry’s efforts. However, the FAC’s clarification has put an end to such speculation.

The FAC, which comprises of independent experts and officials in the Centre’s forestry division, said that with well-established forest departments, states were better equipped than the Union ministry “to understand their own forests and needs, and should frame criteria for their forests… criteria so finalised by a state need not be subject to approval by MoEF&CC”.

The ministry’s meeting records noted that the issue had come up for discussion because the Uttarakhand government had put forth a set of criteria defining forest land and asked the ministry for its opinion.

A Supreme Court judgement in 1996 re-defined the meaning of forests to include all areas with natural forests irrespective of their ownership as well as those that came under the ‘dictionary’ meaning of forest. Under the Godavarman judgement, states were also directed to form expert committees to identify forests as defined and file reports.

Also read: Environment Ministry Defines Forests, Legally

Speaking to the Hindu, Director General of Forests and Special Secretary in the ministry Siddhanta Das said that not all states had submitted the necessary criteria. According to him, forests defined under this criteria constituted about 1% of the country’s forests and once so defined would be known as ‘deemed forests.’

Das also noted that given that almost 16 different types of forests existed across the country, an all-encompassing definition of forests wasn’t viable.

Additionally, given that states tend to claim helplessness in preventing encroachment on a patch of land on the grounds that it hadn’t been classified as a forest – as in the case of the felling of trees in Mumbai’s Aarey Colony – the decision to lay the onus of defining forests with the states is significant

Sushant Agarwal has previously noted that the Union environment ministry had attempted to distance itself from the 2016 draft of the National Forest Policy that had floated the concept of a National Community Forest Management (CFM) Mission.

The 2018 draft then, in reference to community conserved areas, mentioned the northeast and had stated that, “the State Forest Departments will also play proactive role in preparation of working plan and working schemes and management plans of protected areas in the North-East in totality.”

A close examination of the State of Forests Report 2017 showed that by counting plantations, which are no substitute for natural forests, as “forest cover” and calling it a net gain in India’s forest cover, the government was attempting to mask the extensive deforestation that had taken place.

Also read: The Centre’s Exclusionist View of Conservation Is Increasingly Counterproductive

Under these parameters, states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Odisha and Telangana recorded a net increase in forest cover. The report further signalled that the increase in forest cover could be attributed to the conservation measures taken up by the government and technological advancement in satellite imaging technology. An improvement in technological advancement in mapping technology, however, does not entail an increase in forest cover, but merely that the government is able to more accurately map the existing forest cover.

Human-Wildlife Conflicts Could Consume the Forest Department in the Long Run

The department needs to actively draft strategies to different kinds of conflict situations while also being actively engaging with stakeholders to assuage them.

The past year has been one to forget for India’s wildlife. A terrified elephant calf engulfed in a fireball was photographed running behind its equally terrified mother, chased by an angry mob of villagers. Avni the tiger was killed in a politically charged operation that involved a controversial sharp shooter. The Lalgarh tiger, whom the forest department couldn’t track and capture, was killed in the ugliest of fashions: a spear right through his face by a group of villagers who tracked it before the forest department could.

The forest department in most states had few answers in each of these episodes.

In 2018 alone, 460 leopards died, mostly due to human-made causes – the highest in any year till date. Thirty-five elephants were killed by accidental electrocution. The bodies of nearly half of all tigers that died in 2018 were found outside protected areas. While India celebrated its ‘wildlife week’ in October, Gujarat did so in an unusual way: by signalling to the world that 23 Gir lions had died due to a disease that that could have been dealt with with efficient precautionary measures. The story of the great Indian bustard was even more morose.

In the shadow of this grief, regulatory agencies cleared countless ‘developmental’ projects, paving the way for the destruction of the Aarey forests and mangrove sanctuary in the Mumbai metropolitan region. Authorities also snatched land from indigenous communities in Hasdeo Arand to set up a coal mine.

In fact, between 2012 and 2017, 162 forest rangers lost their lives guarding India’s forests – the most in the world. News reports seldom focus on the extreme human reactions to wildlife straying into populated areas. Leopards and elephants are being brutally killed but there also snatches of reports of arson against forest department personnel. Most reportage has put the onus of extreme conflict on officials, who are often photographed preparing to deal with a stick-wielding mob.

This didn’t happen overnight. For the last two decades or so, the forest department has not been popular among the masses. On issues ranging from implementing joint forest management strategies to interpreting the Forest Rights Act, communities have accused the department of rampant corruption, oppression and denial of basic rights. A plethora of schemes meant to improve the lives of forest-dwelling groups have come a cropper, leaving rural communities dissatisfied.

On the other hand, the department has always considered the forest and wildlife its properties. And the fact remains that despite overwhelming odds, innumerable officials within the department have gone out of their way to preserve our forests – often drawing the ire of their counterparts in other departments, who view it as an obstruction to their own development-related work.

In spite of frequent setbacks, the forest department has steadfastly stood against diversion of forest land, poaching, encroachment and fragmentation. And like it or not, it will go down in history as one of the key protectors of whatever is left of India’s biodiversity.

This isn’t to say their work is flawless. Forest department officials often fight for the forest at risk to their lives while also working tirelessly, and perhaps involuntarily, to alienate communities integral to the forest ecosystem. This has led to animosity on both the sides.

In villages, irate mobs see each transgression by the unfortunate tiger as an act of revenge against the forest department and their latent anger is fuelled into revenge killings, forest fires and arson. In other circles, the department has been increasingly vilified for clumsy crisis management – as exemplified by murder of the tigress Avni, when the national media pushed the Maharashtra forest department into a corner.

One of its most significant failings is to communicate, instead choosing to get into a huddle after each rescue attempt. This only betrays a lack of willingness to engage with communities and to seek public support. And over multiple occasions, it worsens the department’s impression.

Recent events in the Indian biodiversity sphere suggest human-wildlife conflicts can also be responsible for the increasing incidence of human-made forest fires, deforestation, resettlement retaliation, road-kills, etc. So the department needs to actively draft strategies to different kinds of conflict situations while also being actively engaging with stakeholders to assuage them.

The thorn around paying cattle-kill compensation needs to be swiftly addressed. A successful model exists in and around the Bandipur tiger reserve, where the Mariamma Charitable Trust preempts any outburst by disbursing compensatory funds within a few hours of a kill.

Above all, the department should consider promoting culturally sensitive officials who have shown that they’re in the service out of a sense of heightened duty and not simply because wildlife postings are considered plum opportunities in the current setup.

Abhijit Dutta has a postgraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Forest Management and works on issues related to wildlife and tribal communities. Kunal Sharma has 15 years of experience in the field of conservation across the forests of South India.