Make all arrangements for the welfare of forest dwellers – Chief Minister Dr. Yadav

bhopal: Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav has said that the bond of affection should not be one-sided. The state government is standing with the forest dwellers at every moment, this message should reach them with full sincerity. Connect all the forest dwellers with the government schemes and work towards bringing the light of development in their lives. Every possible arrangement should be made for the welfare of the forest dwellers. Chief Minister Dr. Yadav said that a social conference of the children of the tribal class who are studying and employed should be called. Through this conference, the government will also take feedback of the benefits reaching these children and the government schemes and facilities will also be made available to those who need it. Chief Minister Dr. Yadav was addressing the meeting of the top committee of the state-level task force constituted for the implementation of the Forest Rights Act and PESA Act in the state and the executive committee constituted for the same subject at Samatva Bhavan (Chief Minister’s residence) on Sunday.

Chief Minister Dr. Yadav directed the senior officials of the Tribal Affairs and Forest Department to resolve individual and community claims of forest rights expeditiously and reduce pendency to zero by 31 December 2025. Chief Minister Dr. Yadav said that PESA Act i.e. Panchayat Provisions (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 is applicable in the state. In this, tribes are also benefited from schemes by giving them information about their rights through PESA mobilizers. The presence of all these PESA mobilizers at their work and high quality work performance should also be visible in the field. Chief Minister Dr. Yadav said that the government is now going to give the right to Gram Sabhas to appoint PESA mobilizers and remove them in case of unsatisfactory performance. This decision will bring uniformity and Gram Sabhas will also be able to get work done from PESA mobilizers as per their convenience. The Chief Minister said that the government is committed to the betterment of forest dwellers. All their interests will be protected. He said that the field staff of the Forest Department should ensure that no new encroachment takes place on forest land.

Chief Minister Dr. Yadav said that for the smooth implementation of the Forest Rights Act, a model based on coordination like the ‘Jalyukt Shivir’ campaign of the Maharashtra government should also be adopted in Madhya Pradesh. He said that all aspects of the action being taken by other states for the implementation of this Act should be studied and the model which is most suitable should be followed. Chief Minister Dr. Yadav said that a vision document has been prepared by the MLAs for the development of all the assembly constituencies of the state. Appropriate provisions for the implementation of the Forest Rights Act and PESA Act should also be included in this vision document. He said that the government is systematically constructing roads especially to backward tribal groups and other tribal dominated villages, mazras and hamlets. The right to spend the amount of PESA fund in the Gram Panchayat Development Action Plan is also being given to the concerned PESA Gram Sabha.

In the meeting, committee member and former MLA Shri Bhagat Singh Netam said that for effective implementation of Forest Rights Act, the police department in Balaghat district is setting up single facility centers in all police stations and organizing camps through this to benefit the tribes. So far 450 forest rights claims have been filed. Chief Minister Dr. Yadav praised this innovation and said that the collectors of all the 88 tribal development blocks in the state should be sent the Balaghat model and asked to take action accordingly. Chief Minister Dr. Yadav said that proposals should be given for the development of all the villages in the forest area. He said that this work should be done by making an action plan. He said that by 31 December 2025, the claims of all the villages should be received and their resolution should also be done during this time. The training of forest officers should be completed by 15 August. He said that if there is any technical problem, then the Forest and Tribal Affairs Department should jointly develop a new portal for this.

Make Vananchal Vikas Kendra more active Chief Minister Dr. Yadav said that the traditional knowledge of the tribes should also be included in the policy making being done for their development. He said that the forest/vananchal development centers should be made more active for further empowering the village councils, proper management of community forest resources, conservation of biodiversity and equitable distribution of forest and forest produce resources. He said that these centers should also play an important role in coordination of forest research, training, market linkage and financial sources like Corporate Social Responsibility-CSR/CAMPA.

Focus on community livelihood Chief Minister Dr. Yadav said that livelihood is the first need. By focusing on the means of community livelihood, tribes should be encouraged to produce milk in order to increase their cash income. As many milch animals (mainly cows, buffaloes) should be made available to them under the government’s scheme. This will make them financially strong and self-reliant. He said that tribes should also be linked to the employment-oriented schemes of the Cottage and Village Industries Department. He said that since forest dwellers are particularly dependent on forest produce, tribal communities should get a major share of the profit in the collection, processing and marketing activities of minor forest produce, this will improve their standard of living. Special emphasis should be laid on the cultivation of medicinal plants so that the products of the tribal class can be directly linked to the market. He said that value addition centers should also be developed for the sustainable livelihood development of tribal classes, so that tribes do not go out in search of employment and the youth get employment at the local level.

Chief Minister Dr. Yadav said that the production of Shrianna produced by the tribes should be encouraged. By preparing products like biscuits, cookies, kheer and halwa from Shrianna, provide market linkage to the tribes to sell them in the open market. He said that people eat Kodo-Kutki in Shrianna as Mordhan during fasting, this is a good thing, this will increase the consumption of Shrianna. Chief Minister Dr. Yadav said that we should adopt a coordinated approach to get good results of the Forest Rights Act. All laws like Forest Rights Act, PESA, BDA should be implemented in an integrated manner at the Gram Sabha level. For this, the Gram Sabha should be made the center point of decision making. All departmental schemes should be coordinated through the Gram Sabha only. He said that for the development of villages in tribal areas, the Gram Sabha, Forest Department and investors should together ensure transparency and distribution of benefits to the beneficiaries. All departments should work under the leadership of the Gram Sabha in mutual coordination, so that both inclusive development and sustainable environmental protection can be ensured.

The members present in the meeting also presented their views factually and gave their suggestions for better implementation of Forest Rights Act and PESA Act in the field. More than 2.89 lakh claims have been approved so far In the meeting, Principal Secretary Tribal Affairs informed that from the year 2008 to 2023, a total of 2 lakh 89 thousand 461 forest rights claims have been accepted. Action is being taken to resolve the pending claims. According to the Van Mitra Portal, after verification of the claims previously accepted by the districts, the forest rights claims of the beneficiaries found ineligible have been invalidated. He informed that 87 thousand 283 claims have been received for re-examination and one lakh 86 thousand 224 new claims, thus a total of 2 lakh 73 thousand 457 claims are still pending. He informed that more than 7-7 thousand forest rights claims have been accepted in Barwani, Dhar, Khargone, Mandla, Betul, Chhindwara, Shahdol, Khandwa, Singrauli, Raisen, Dindori, Alirajpur, Burhanpur, Seoni, Umaria and Balaghat districts of the state.

In this first meeting of the Apex Committee of the Task Force, Committee Vice Chairman and Tribal Affairs, Public Asset Management and Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Dr. Kunwar Vijay Shah, Committee Vice Chairman and Minister of State for Forest and Environment Mr. Dilip Ahirwar, Ex-officio Member Secretary of the Committee and Chief Secretary Mr. Anurag Jain, Ex-officio Member Co-Secretary of the Committee and Principal Secretary Tribal Affairs Mr. Gulshan Bamra, Additional Chief Secretary in the Chief Minister’s Office Dr. Rajesh Rajoura, Ex-officio Member of the Task Force Executive Committee and Additional Chief Secretary Forest Mr. Ashok Barnwal, Ex-officio Member and Principal Secretary Revenue Mr. Vivek Porwal, Ex-officio Member and Director Panchayat and Rural Development Mr. Chhote Singh, Committee Member Former MLA Mr. Ram Dangore, Tribal Advisory Council’s Dr. Rupnarayan Mandve and Mr. Kalu Singh Mujalda, Committee Member Legal Expert Dr. Milind Dandekar, Expert Member Mr. Girish Kuber, Subject Expert Mr. Milind Thatte, Additional Secretary to Chief Minister Mr. Laxman Singh Markam, Additional Commissioner Tribal Research and Development Institute Mrs. Rita Singh and other related officers were present.