"One of the reasons why we are stressing on community forest rights is that community control over the land can be exercised. Unfortunately, while the Forest Rights Act has succeeded in giving a very large number of individual forest rights, community forest rights have not been very successful," Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh said here.
"It would be our endeavour now to impress upon the state governments and forest departments to recognise and respect the community first as the rights of the communities over land is an integral part of the Act," he said at a seminar. Ramesh said that since the implementation of the Act, 10 lakh individual titles have been distributed. The Environment Ministry would also work closely with the Tribal Affairs Ministry to set up a National Forest Rights Council, he said. Ramesh said he has also written to the state chief ministers to declare bamboo as a "minor forest produce". Read the full report here.
Source: IBN Live, New Delhi.
