National consultation on danger of eviction of lakhs of forest dwellers after July 10

Several civil rights organisations have decided to hold a day-long consultation on forest rights movements and the way forward in New Delhi July 2, 2019 against the backdrop of the fear that lakhs of forest dwellers may again be on the verge of an “existential crisis” after July 10, the date till which the Supreme Court gave a reprieve on February 23 for its controversial February 13 order, directing state governments to evict them if their claims under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) have been rejected.

The consultation will be held to press upon Central and state governments to implement FRA “effectively and unconditionally” in all forest regions, including Critical Forest Areas, even as working out a plan for a united struggle with the “collective initiative” of diverse forest rights organisations/groups and supporters in different walks of life, including journalists, lawyers, researchers, social action groups and others.

The consultation proposes to begin a dialogue with political parties to bring FRA in the mainstream of political discourse so that this historic act can become an important political issue during and after the electoral process.

A decision may be taken to form an all-India alliance with organisations/groups, actively engaged in forest rights movement to represent the collective voice and to take forward the task ahead.

To be held at Assam Association, Srimanta Sankaradeva Bhawan, Satsang Vihar Marg, Qutab Institutional Area, the consultation will be preceded by a meeting of the Bhumi Adhikar Andolan on July 1, 2019 which will be critically discussing on the Land Acquisition Act 2013, the various state legislations which has been drafted in this regard.

The organisers of the consultation include Jitendra Choudhary of the Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch, Hannan Mollah and Prem Singh of the Bhumi Adhikar Andolan, Roma and Ashok Choudhary of the All India Union of Forest Working People, Meera Sanghamitra and Madhuresh Kumar of the National Alliance of People’s Movements, and Shweta, Satyam Shrivastava, Sanjeev Kumar, Anil Varghese of the Delhi Solidarity Group.

This article first appeared in CounterView