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The legal base
of Khuntkatti forest in Jharkhand, at present, is not very strong.
Even the laws, actually meant for protection, have managed to “erase”
community rights. Immediately after the independence, by dint of the
Bihar Forest Act, 1948, the khuntkatti land was converted into private
protected forests thereby depriving the Mundas of their ownership of
and management to the forests. The entire land in Khunti region was
vested to the state forest department. Although the subsequent Munda
resistance forced the State Government to give the community back its
land, management still rested with the forest department.
Local rights got encroached upon through the settlement and forest
survey process. Although they were expected to record rights recorded
in previous settlements and the existing situation on the ground, they
are found lacking on both counts.
The rights of local people in Mundari Khuntkatti forests have, thus,
disappeared in practice without appropriate legal procedure.
Lack of
clarity:
The local community lacks clarity on the demarcated forest boundaries
of the different villages. Same is the case with the forest department
functionaries who suffer from the similar kind of ignorance.
Resurvey (since 1956) has been done in an autocratic manner without
any participation of the community. People do not have any idea of
what is going on, neither the forest department is interested to make
their findings and decisions public, which raise doubt and resentment
amongst the communities.
Conflicting legal frameworks such as
Indian Forest Act, CNT Act, etc
between the central and the state laws and policies are creating a
great deal of confusion on what is legitimate and what is not. As a
result the community is unable to fight for their rights. Confusion
and misinformation has been created regarding the status of particular
forests, boundaries and the rights of people. The changing policies
provide considerable scope for harassment, insecurity and threat of
disempowered groups.
Right to Information has not been enforced properly. A number of
relevant information are categorised as confidential and are not made
public. The problem has also accentuated because of absence of
communication between state bureaucracy and local people. The power
structures at the state level have a stake in such confusion. |
