Several Adivasi communities or indigenous people are spread over the Eastern Ghats across the
southern and eastern region of the Indian sub-continent. It is the most tragical ironies of
development that these adivasi communities are at their vulnerable worst at the end of this
millenium. Our experience as a social action group, having worked with the tribal/adivasi
people for over a decade has been a struggle for a right to human life with dignity, a struggle to
fight the severest of odds in the face of "sustainable development" theories of the state.
Indigenous and tribal communities, biodiversity conservation and
the Global Environment Facility in India
General overview and a case study of people’s perspectives of
the India Ecodevelopment Project
A variety of forest myths and a jungle of forest laws have over the years served to deny social justice to the forest-dwelling tribals. Two commissions, one on tribal matters and the other on forests, are presently reviewing these subjects and this is a golden opportunity for both to meet and resolve all the land issues relating to tribals and forests and the issue of tribal access to their own forest resources which alone can bring peace and prosperity in the tribal areas.
Conflict over control, management and decision-making over resources is the primary
consequence of the increasing changes in politico-economic trends and policies. These
conflict situations, having led to an alarming degradation of natural resources has given rise
to new thoughts on the need to take people into confidence and involve them in the process of
development. One such effort made by the government is the Joint Forest Management
programme (JFM) initiated by the Andhra Pradesh Forest Department.
The Scheduled Areas of India are home to a bulk of the mineral resources and forests
and as also tribals. The emphasis of the various five-year plans on industrial
development and development of these resource based (mining) industries has taken its
toll on the tribals who are residing in the scheduled areas. Of the total persons
displaced due to various industrial projects almost forty percent have been tribals.
Exact estimates of the tribals displaced are difficult to come by, however the mid term
appraisal report of the Ninth Five Year Plan puts the figure at 2 crores.
The SLP filed in the Supreme court led to a historic judgement in July 1997 by a three
judge-bench which declared that government is also a ‘person’ and that all lands leased to
private mining companies in the scheduled areas are null and void.
The Fifth Schedule of the Indian Constitution that provides protection to the Adivasi people
living in the Scheduled Areas, is under imminent threat of being amended to effect transfer of
tribal lands to non-tribals and corporates. This move has serious implications to the 80
million tribal population of the country, their very survival and culture.
Andhra Pradesh Community Forest Management Project:
A preliminary independent evaluation of a
World Bank forestry project by Forest Peoples Programme & Samata
Forest
