Greens frown on forest act

Smooth transition for NC Hills department; Tripura law fans ethnic conflict

Agartala, May 26 : The controversial Recognition of Forest Right (RFR) Act, 2006, which has set alarm bells ringing among environmentalists across the country, is likely to trigger fresh ethnic conflict in Tripura over allotment of land within Autonomous District Council (ADC) areas. The resurrected Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) has petitioned Tripura Governor Dinesh Nandan Sahay to stop allotment of land to non-tribals living within the ADC area on the ground that it will violate the provisions of the Sixth Schedule under which the ADC was formed. The governor has assured the IPFT delegation headed by party president Narendra Debbarma that he would “look into the matter”. Sources in the forest department said in accordance with the provisions of act, tribal people and “other forest dwellers” living in reserve forest area are entitled to allotment of forest land. “For the non-tribals, the qualifying mark for land allotment is continued habitation in forest areas for three generations or 75 years and this has created the problem,” a source said. After the act had been passed, more than a year was spent in drafting rules for implementation but over the past one year more than 1.25 lakh indigenous tribal families living in reserve forests under Autonomous District Council areas have received allotments. But the question of allotting land to non-tribals has now created a tense situation. The allotment to non-tribals has triggered serious resentment among regional tribal-based political parties which have pointed out that none of the non-tribal families has been living in ADC areas for more than 50 years. “Our point is not against non-tribal community as such but what we are trying to press home is that non-tribal families listed for land allotment actually started living in forest areas of Tripura only after the partition of the country when largescale influx occurred and thus they do not fulfil the criterion of continued habitation for three generations or 75 years,” said Narendra Debbarma. He indicated that unless the government called off the move to allot land to non-tribals and cancelled the allotments already given, his party would launch agitation programme. “Such agitation may lead to ethnic misunderstanding and conflict but we are helpless; we cannot allow the autonomous status given to the Autonomous District Council for tribals under the Sixth Schedule to be diluted by administrative orders or decisions,” Debbarma said. Speaking on the issue, CPM’s senior tribal leader C.R. Debbarma, an executive member of the Autonomous District Council, accused the IPFT of misinterpreting the RFR Act and the Constitution. “The IPFT leaders harp on the Sixth Schedule but do not care to understand and interpret the basic structure and its overall supremacy in the interpretation of the Constituion,” Debbarma said.