Fizala Khan
The Forest Rights Act is being implemented in Jammu Kashmir as efforts are afoot to grant and safeguard the rights of forest dwellers and communities as per the Act of 2006. The deadline for completing the Record of Forest Rights has been set for March 31st of 2021, according to officials, but members of the community and local activists stress ignorance and delayed response on the government’s end.
Forest Right Act of 2006, which is to be implemented in March of 2021, has not been operational, which has led to series of eviction notices that were sent to the forest dwellers and tribal communities of Jammu Kashmir
The Roshni Act granted ownership to the occupants of the state land. However, the abrogation of the Act has pushed thousands of Gujjar and Bakarwaal families to the brink of losing possession of their land. Together, the communities constitute 11.9% of the state’s population.
Under the Act, traditional forest dwellers are protected against forced displacements and have other rights as well, which include grazing rights, access to water resources and access to forest products (except timber).
The scattered condition has directly affected the transhumance of Gujjar-Bakarwaals in Jammu Kashmir as they pose difficult challenges.
Through summers, these nomads, especially Bakarwaals – rear cattle in the high-altitude grazing lands and put up in the wood and mud structures. As winters approach, they cross over the Pir Panjal range towards the Jammu region and settle there for the next six months.
In August of 2020, around hundred families from the community were sent notices to evacuate their houses in the Batote area on Kashmir highway, after which authorities were allegedly damaging several settlements of the tribe in the area.
The Jammu Kashmir Administration started demolishing temporary (Kaccha) houses of Gujjar and Bakarwaal tribes in Kashmir’s Pahalgam area, back in November of 2020.
On 12th November, President of Jammu Kashmir Gujjar Bakarwaal Youth Welfare Conference, Zahid Choudhary, tweeted a video where a Gujjar Kotha was being demolished by authorities. The video evoked criticism against the authorities that demolished the temporary structures of these tribal people. Government officials, along with rippers, augers, JCB machines, and heavy trenchers, demolished the temporary houses of the Gujjar Bakarwaal community. The community had then protested against the demolishment drive.
The District Commissioner of Anantnag, Kuldip Singh Sidha, who was in charge of the situation told The Kashmiriyat about the demolition drive and said, they are retrieving the forest land/ state land which was illegally occupied by the tribal community. Till now the administration has retrieved 700 canals of land in Pahalgam. He added, “Nobody is abandoned, these structures were vacant and the land was illegally occupied”.
Locals Not a part of the Monitoring Committees
According to activists and locals of the community, better services can be provided to the nomadic tribe by the administration.
The Kashmiriyat spoke to Zahid Choudhary about the developments of the act and the implementation since, and he said, “The deadline that was set by the government (31st of March, 2021) sets the first cardinal rule, which is creating committees on village levels and panchayat levels. Gram Sabha is in conduction too, but the committees are important. People who work on grass – root levels can vouch for how the community is suffering and their rights are being violated.”
“There were multiple mishandlings that took the course. The Gram Sabha electoral should at least have 50 % of adult voters. Basically, the whole concept where rural development parties took over the ‘idea’ of Gram Panchayat looking after all legal proceedings and taking decisions collectively for the people, created uncertainty and disorientation. The committees were also politicized because of the rural party. VLW’s took forward with the course and handled everything according to their conveniences,” said Zahid.
The elected members of the Panchayat chose their own representatives and selected their relatives for the committees and the locals were enraged. There was sheer ignorance by supervising committee as well as the people undertaking and looking after the process.
Zahid also mentioned that the government and administration did not initiate any awareness drive, that would help people to understand the laws and their rights in brief and simple modus operandi. The locals and activists played the most important part in mass mobilizing awareness on the act and the process that was to be followed.
“The government should have used social media, campaigns, radio channels and local functions to spread awareness on the matter. Tribes from Jammu Kashmir will reap benefits from the matter only when empowerment takes place on the ground level as well as individual growth of the tribes and communities. There is a flaw in implementation and it will only cause mishandling. The deadline is approaching and no proper committees are established yet. We have waited for justice, in the past 80 years and more. The government should help us, they should postpone the deadline and help volunteers and monitors on state levels and sub-district and sub-divisional levels,” he added.
The Gujjar-Bakarwaal community was given access to forests with proper registration Under Dogra rule (1846-1947), and they were also allotted patches of land, but the rights with the course of time were eroded. The abrogation of the Roshni Act has thrust thousands of Gujjar and Bakarwaal families to the verge of losing possession of their land.
Shabir Ahmed Swathi, a local resident of the Mamar area in Pahalgam of Anantnag district in Jammu Kashmir, was sent an eviction notice by government officials after November of 2020, when the administration initiated a demolishment drive, destroying multiple houses of the community.
Eviction Notices and the Panic
The Kashmiriyat spoke to Shabir and he said, “What can I say? There were more than 17 families in my locality who were sent these notices. I was worried about my children. I was rattled when I saw the notice. The act should provide safeguarded rights to the tribes and not belittle our cause. We are troubled. Is a piece of paper with signatures going to validate our land and our existence? We have flourished in turmoil and moreover the years. This is disheartening.”
The authorities have asked the members of the Gujjar – Bakarwaal community to bring their Schedule Cast certificate and apply for the process, if they do not have the document, proving their identity. However, Shabir claims that the officials are delaying the process and only creating new hurdles for the members of the tribal-nomadic community.
He added, “Most of our community come from backward grounds, they are people who do not even understand class divide and paperwork, how are they expected to rummage around offices and seek validation for who they are? They are clueless. They keep knocking on the doors of one office followed by the other. What feasibility is this? “
Shabir claims that the officials ask for ST and SC certificates, but the process only takes time and does not help with the fixed timeline. All members of the family are given certificates at different times. He said, “We are all troubled. If they are providing us the rights to our own house, they should help the bereaved with the certificates too”.
The Kashmiriyat also spoke to Tribal and Student activist, Choudhary Irshad Ahmed Khatana from Pahalgam. Irshad said, “The committees were to be formed on the district level. The 15-member committee, where 10 from Schedule Tribe and 5 others, is reserved for women. They were the ones who were supposed to sort the legalities of the procedure, with a proper understanding of locals and their land. All claims should be individual and it should be attached with a map, that shows where does the individual residents and their traditional transhumance. All information stating their water usage and all their infrastructural base.”
He added, “We have noticed on ground levels, that the committees are being unreasonable. They are selectively choosing their own people and not the elected members. We have tried contacting higher officials about the said issue, the committees were then dissolved. We have also received complaints from people who were elected as Chairperson or VP of the committee. They have said, that no proper information or guideline is being provided by the government. Secretaries have also said that they have filed all claims for forms, but the seals and further proceeding is ignored by higher officials.”
The Gujjar – Bakarwaal community has preserved forests and saved them from devastating events. Their rights are being ignored on the ground level and by higher officials.
The Jammu Kashmir administration planned to complete the “survey of claimants” by the forest rights panels for assessing the nature and extent of rights claimed at the village-level by the second week of January in 2021. The sub-divisional committees were asked to complete the scrutiny procedure of claims and preparation of the “record of forest rights” by January 31, 2021. But negligence on the administration’s end has fabricated the process. Committees at the district-level shall consider and approve this by March 1, 2021, and more than 64% of the tribe is yet to file their ‘claimant’ forms.
These nomadic pastoralists are faced with three major problems – The erosion of their resource base, changes in their economic relationships within regional contexts, and domination of political relationships with the sedentary population and state. Nomads dwelling in the forests of Jammu Kashmir faces higher risks with temperatures stooping low in winters, as they are challenged to keep themselves warm and provide for their families. Climate change is a non – negligible factor pushing for increased competition on the control of lands and natural resources. In recent decades, changes in political patterns and conflict have led to extreme situations for transhumant routes and modification in pastoral migration patterns for the community.
The members and representatives of the community believe that the government and administration can help the process on a fast – track basis, while other members of the tribe fear that their land will be snatched by authorities with eviction notices if the deadline is not met with all official proceedings.