Thousands of forest dwellers in Kashmir are hoping that the Forest Rights Act, 2006, which is finally being implemented in the region 12 ye...
Thousands of forest dwellers in Kashmir are hoping that the Forest Rights Act, 2006, which is finally being implemented in the region 12 years after it came into force elsewhere in India. will protect their rights over forest resources.
But Kashmiri-speaking pastoralists known as Chopans, who are also the traditional forest dwellers, fear that they “might get a raw deal” considering the “tough conditions” that apply to them under the Act.
Last year in December the Jammu and Kashmir forest department put out a list on its website containing information about 63,000 cases of encroachment over an area of 15,000 hectares of forest land. It surprised many as it was done merely two weeks after the Union Territory’s government officially announced that it was going to implement the Act in the region.
The long delay in implementing the Act amid the eviction of Adivasis from the forests of Jammu had already raised suspicion and has created a big political controversy.
Delayed implementation
Despite its implementation in other states of India in 2008, The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, also known as the Forest Rights Act, was never implemented in Jammu and Kashmir.
Those opposing its implementation cited the now-repealed special status of Jammu and Kashmir that gave the region’s Legislative Assembly the authority to implement or...
