| To: Dr. Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister of India and Minister for Environment and Forests
Government of India Sub:- Continued illegal diversion of forest land in violation of
applicable statutes, in particular Scheduled Tribes and Other
Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act Dear Sir, We are writing to you to express our deep concern at the repeated
violation of the law by the Ministry of Environment and Forests when
diverting forest land for non-forest use under the Forest (Conservation)
Act, 1980. The Ministry's failure to respect, acknowledge and abide by
the statutory requirements gives rise to concern that it is seeking to
allow diversion at all costs, rather than fulfilling its constitutional
duty and mandate. Diversion of forest lands for industrial, commercial and other projects
has been increasing rapidly over the past decade; the annual rate of
diversion between 2002 and 2008 was 50% higher than that between 1980
and 2002. The acceleration in diversion reflects increased pressure from
industry, especially mining companies, for access to minerals and forest
land. Forty five mining projects have been given in principle or final
clearance in just October and November 2008, and 74 more are pending.
Many of India's protected areas, wildlife corridors and community
forests have been greatly harmed by forest diversion for extremely
destructive activities. Such forest destruction is now a serious threat
to forests, wildlife and to the livelihoods of tribals and forest
dwellers in India. On January 1st, 2008, the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest
Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act was brought into force.
Since this law seeks to protect the traditional rights of forest
dwellers, it has a direct bearing on questions of forest diversion. In
particular there are at least two aspects of this law that would
directly affect the legality of forest diversion: * Under section 4(5), no forest dweller can be removed from his or her
lands until recognition of rights is complete under the Act. Further
forest lands on which other rights – such as to minor forest produce –
are exercised can also not be diverted until recognition is complete. As
such, from January 1st onwards, no lands which are being cultivated by
forest dwellers or which are being used for other rights can be diverted
until recognition of rights is complete.
* Under sections 3(1)(i) and 5 of the Act, forest dwelling communities
are empowered to also protect and conserve forests. Section 3(1)(e) also
gives Primitive Tribal Groups and pre-agricultural communities a right
to their habitat. Forests where communities have such rights, or where
they have declared their intent to protect, clearly cannot be diverted
without the consent of the gram sabha of the concerned community – which
is a statutory authority under the Act. Despite this, the Ministry has continued with forest diversion for large
projects in direct violation of these statutory requirements, as the
above statistics show. Even in areas where forest dwelling communities
have asserted their rights and invoked the Forest Rights Act – such as
the Niyamgiri hills, where Vedanta plans bauxite mining, or the POSCO
steel plant project – the Ministry has continued to support diversion
before the Supreme Court. We call upon you to immediately halt such illegal actions by the
Ministry and to ensure that the forest diversion process is undertaken
in compliance with the letter and spirit of applicable laws. Rampant
diversion of forest land is not in the interests of wildlife, forest
dwellers or the nation. Sincerely, On behalf of the Convening Collective
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