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A few things to keep in mind while thinking about the #ForestRightsAct and the SC order effectively asking for the eviction of 1 million people.
1. The forest department is the largest land owning agency in the country. And that has historically been the case.
1. The forest department is the largest land owning agency in the country. And that has historically been the case.
2. The forest department was not designed to conserve nature. Its colonial roots are based on a different relationship with nature entirely. Where the forest is a resource - trees for timber and animals for hunting.
3. In fact, conservation itself is an idea which is deeply rooted in these ideas but has (somewhat) moved on since then. But what hasn't changed is how many in the forest department view the forest dwellers
4. The relationship has been largely antagonistic, steeped in caste bias - but worsened by the notion that "they don't belong" or that "forests are pristine spaces devoid of humans".
5. Across the world, but especially in India, we have seen the forests, its people and wildlife and co-exist. But this is a problematic idea for the conservation model we have right now - that looks to exclude people and posit them against wildlife
6. As far as the issue of adivasis and forest dwellers proving 'ownership' of the forest land (which, lets face it was taken away from them historically by force), these issues become significant.
7. Hurdles are often introduced by a bureuacratic system which continues to view them through the same paradigms, while many simply don't have the documents to prove their ownership.
8. This is not to say that there aren't any encroachers. Of course there are, but this doesn't help conservation. Evicting the poor and rendering them landless will only harm the forest in the long run - and there exists historical evidence for this.
