Dehradun, August 1
Even as Uttarakhand forests face challenges in the form of forest fires, illicit cutting, smuggling of forest produce and poaching, van panchayats have maintained and guarded the state’s forests efficiently and continue to have a crucial role in management of Uttarakhand forests.

There are total of 1,13,049 Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMCs), including the van panchayats of Uttarakhand, in the country.

Hill-predominant Uttarakhand has 12,089 van panchayats and 1,434 JFMCs and stand second to Madhya Pradesh, which has a total of 14,428 such committees.

Maharashtra has 12,473 JFMCs, Jharkhand 10,903, Orissa 10,647, Andhra Pradesh 8,498, Chhattisgarh 7,887, West Bengal 4,192 and Rajasthan 4,882.

Constituted with an aim to involve local villagers for protection and management of forests, the JFMCs have an important role in enriching the forests by preventing encroachment, forest fires, illicit cutting, smuggling of forest produce, poaching of wild animals and regulating grazing.

Accordingly, village micro-plans are prepared and JFMCs are entrusted the work of protection, management and development of jointly managed forests.

The importance of JFMC programme can be gauged from the fact that these committees have raised plantations in about 1.58 million hectares in the country.

Committee members have been able to meet their requirements for fodder, fuel-wood, small timber and minor forest products.

In forest-predominant Uttarakhand, van panchyats outnumber JFMC due to state’s hilly topography.

With its origins in 1921, van panchayats has been a concept indigenous to the hill region of the state.

The van panchayats owe their inception to forest protection efforts and the locals’ rights over forests. These were created out of civil (protected) forests under the jurisdiction of the Revenue Department.

The state has over 6,000 van panchayats managing 405,426 hectares of forests covering approximately 13.63 per cent of forest area in the state.

Describing van panchayats a resounding success, Prof NP Todaria, head of the Forestry Department at HNB Garhwal University, said that van panchayats’ role in protecting and enriching Uttarakhand forests certainly stands unparalleled.

He, however, admitted that van panchayats do face challenges as these have to depend on the State Forest Department in carrying out most of their works.

“The Forest Department still holds supremacy over these van panchayats and the participation of villagers certainly has its limitations,” argues Todaria, who has been closely associated with Makkumath Van Panchayat in the Chamoli region of Garhwal that comprises one of the biggest van panchayats of the state.

State forest authorities too keep high hopes from these van panchyats which have been the first in countering forest fires, an ever-growing problem in Uttarakhand forests.

The van panchayats’ contribution in protecting community forests in the state has been immense and the department is firm on providing adequate support to them,” said Uttarakhand Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Dr RBS Rawat.

But most of these panchayats have failed to ensure enthusiastic participation of women in their committees.

A case study published with Indian Forester vis-à-vis JFMC in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand by Neelam Pant and Nidhi Pandey from Almora campus of Kumaon University has termed the participation of women in JFM committees as grossly inadequate.

They argued that while women were regular visitors to forests but they had little participation in village committees.

Villages of Suryagaon, Salri, Soangaon, Pandeygaon and Alchana villages in Nainital district were taken up for the case study.

Participatory development process may take a more positive role if heartfelt participation of women is enforced.

As per central guidelines, at least 50 per cent members of the JFM body should be women and their presence to an extent of at least 50 per cent are a pre-requisite for holding the general body meeting of the JFM.

There is no denial that women traditionally have been forest friendly and conservation-oriented and prefer planting trees that satisfy immediate family needs. The study calls for ensuring better representation to women in JFMC.

Dehradun, August 1
The State Bank of India (SBI) has launched statewide SBI Life Insurance Grameen Shakti scheme for the members of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) working in the state.

While, announcing this, deputy general manager SBI Maheep Kumar said that the scheme would cover members of about 15,000 SHGs linked with their bank in the state.

Under the scheme, each member will have to pay just Rs 361 annually as the premium. The duration of the scheme is five years. The bank has already educated the SHGs and the NGOs about the scheme.

There are more than 25,000 SHGs working in the state, which are linked with all the banks. But the SBI has taken a lead over others in providing cheaper insurance cover for the members.

Though Uttaranchal Grameen Bank has floated another insurance scheme for the SHGs but its benefit is limited to accidental death only.

The policyholder in the SBI scheme, however, will be entitled to host other benefits as well besides total Rs 30,000 in case of the accidental death.

The scheme will start from August 1 and will remain open up to September 15. All the members between 18 to 50 years are eligible for it. The scheme is tailored in a way that its benefits cover almost all segments of the target population.

Since most of the members of the SHGs are rural women of the state, the scheme offers cover for the death of a woman during delivery of a child. Half premium is refundable after the policy period if no accident occurs.

“The scheme is in fact, a part of the RBI policy of hundred per cent financial inclusion.

“Our bank is already providing liberal credit to all sections of people but with this scheme we have tried to make benefits of insurance available to them as well,” said Maheep Kumar.

The SBI started the scheme in the North-East recently in which about 22 lakh members of the SHGs have been covered.

Dehradun, August 1
Monuments and archaeological sites are disappearing fast under the onslaught of rapid urbanisation and human neglect.

In Uttarakhand, there are at least three untraceable monuments that have been lost forever, claims the central government.

However, the Dehradun Circle of ASI maintains that so far, they have no clue regarding the location of the Kutumbari temple while the other two monuments have been erroneously mentioned due to a mix-up in the list.

The issue, which cropped up recently in the Rajya Sabha, sent the the ASI Dehradun Circle into a tizzy.

The Central government had made a written submission that 35 monuments managed by it could not be traced. The disappearance was reported after a survey was conducted.

The three monuments namely Kutumbari temple, Dwarahat, Ranikhet tehsil, Almora district; Khera ki Bandi, Old Cemetery, Roorkee tehsil, Haridwar district and the remains of ancient buildings locally identified as Vairatapattana, Dhikuli, Ramnagar tehsil, Nainital district figure in the missing list of monuments.

Superintending Archaeologist Dr DN Dimri said, “So far, we have not been able to locate Kutumbari temple. We are trying to get some clues from the locals. We are also resurveying the area.

“Even if the temple has been destroyed, the discovery of its remains can lead us to it. There are around eight temples under the protection of the ASI. We could not have missed it.”

The existence of Khera ki Bandi too has confounded officials of the ASI who said that there is confusion regarding the listing of the cemetery.

“A cemetery by the same name is located in Saharanpur. To be doubly sure, we have asked the Agra circle of the ASI to study the revenue records. At the same time, we are undertaking our search,” said Dr Dimri.

The ASI official pointed out that the remains of ancient buildings locally identified with Vairatapattana is actually a temple located in Ram Nagar that has been a protected monument since 1920.

“There was confusion regarding the exact location of the site. We only had records to verify the location of the temple. The physical location of the site at Vairatapattana was ascertained and the temple was located once the Dehradun circle was created in 2003,” said Dimri.

The ASI was keen to build a road for pilgrims but as the area falls under the buffer zone of Corbett National Park, a dispute arose that has not been resolved.

The ancient temple dedicated to Lord Shiva with an old ‘Shivling’ has been renovated by the villagers numerous times.

“The plinth, idol of lord Bhadarwarka and other scattered remains in black granite can be traced back to the 11th century. The ‘Shivling’ belongs to eighth century,” said Manoj Saxena, Assistant Archaeologist, ASI Dehradun Circle.

The officials also said that some monuments and archaeological sites may have fallen prey to rapid urbanisation. The Archaeological Survey of India, Dehradun circle, is carrying out a survey to verify claims of their existence or extinction.

“Several mounds were levelled during the Green Revolution. These ancient sites had not been identified at that time,” said Dimri.

Dehradun, August 1
Justice Dr DY Chandrachud, Maharashtra High Court yesterday said that in order to foster inclusive justice the interface of Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and civil society with judiciary is of utmost import.

He was speaking today at an informal lecture organised by the human rights wing of Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra, an NGO.

“It has often been seen that those who regulate laws are it’s worst offenders, the courts should be apprised of diverse views held by civil society and NGOs. They can play a key role in highlighting the problems that may not be in the purview of the courts,” said Justice Chandrachud.

He further said that though courts are averse to participation by civil society as they feel this would threaten their positions, nevertheless it should be encouraged.

“With human rights and public interest litigations gaining ground the courts cannot remain merely arbitrators of law but they have a responsibility to ensure that whatever decision taken is in the larger interest of the society and is vitally linked to it’s development. In matters pertaining to environment the issue of right to livelihood too should be taken care of,” said Justice Chandrachud.

The role of NGOs Justice Chandrachud said that becomes all the more important as several individual litigants may be sponsored by corporate houses to serve their own limited interest. Adding that the views of NGOs and civil society can be of immense help in providing a balanced view. “In Vidarbha region of Maharashtra when distressed cotton farmers committed suicides, it was brought to light that there was complete breakdown of communication and no government agency was disseminating information, the only information the farmers were receiving were the corporate houses whose action had troubled them in the first place,” he said.

He further said that it is lack of information that exposes the vulnerable sections of society to exploitation. Presenting a case from Maharashtra that represents the microcosm on Indian society Justice Chandrachud said, “There was lack of information among the slum dwellers and Bangladeshi migrants. The Muslims living in the slums are worst off economically and educationally so are Bangladeshi migrants who are subject to exploitation as they have no identity and no country to call their own.”

Dehradun, August 1
The five-day Public Information Campaign of the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting started at Haldwani, yesterday.

Inaugurating the campaign, Nainital MLA Kharak Singh Bora emphasised on bringing to the knowledge detailed information of public welfare schemes undertaken by the central government.

He said often lack of information of public welfare schemes resulted in the general public getting deprived from availing the benefit of these schemes.

He said schemes like 108 emergency services under National Rural Health Mission were proving to be of great assistance in betterment of health facilities for the people of the state.

He held that works regarding providing electricity to far off villages under Akshay Urja Scheme was being done speedily in the state.

Bora also held that the state government was committed to provide best of amenities to the people of the state.

Bora also exhorted both central and state government officials to ensure that the public welfare schemes reach the people. Nainital MLA also sought better coordination between Centre and state for large interest of the general public. He said better central-state relations revealed an healthy democracy.

Earlier, Manoj Pandey additional director General Press Information Bureau, Delhi, asked the public to avail full benefit from the campaign.