On Thursday, Mendha-Lekha and Marda in Gadchiroli will be India's first two villages to get community right to harvest bamboo under the Forest Rights Act (FRA). This will formally be announced by Union environment and forest minister Jairam Ramesh and chief minister Prithviraj Chavan. Sunita Narain, director general, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), will also be present.
Talking to TOI on Friday, Ramesh confirmed his Gadchiroli visit on April 27 with Chavan. "I will declare bamboo as minor forest produce (MFP). This will go a long way to supplement livelihood needs of tribals," he stressed.
Even the state government in its Vidarbha package announced in 2009 had promised to declare bamboo as a minor forest produce and said tribals would be allowed to extract bamboo and sell it. Read the full report here.
Source: Vijay Pinjarkar, TNN, Nagpur.
