Uttarakhand forms panel to look into problems faced by nomadic Van Gujjars

The panel will submit its report within six months after analysing all these issues and factoring in the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006

Updated on: Nov 4, 2020, 16:41:30 IST

Hindustan Times, Dehradun | By Neeraj Santoshi

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The Trivendra Singh Rawat-led Uttarakhand government has formed a five-member committee to look into the eviction issues faced by nomadic Van Gujjars in the hill state.

Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat. (PTI)

The committee has been mandated to look into the issues faced by Van Gujjars, including their eviction and rehabilitation.

The panel will submit its report within six months after analysing all these issues and factoring in the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.

Principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF) (wildlife), Uttarakhand; the state chief wildlife warden; field director, Rajaji Tiger Reserve (RTR); a person nominated by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII); and a person nominated by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) will be the committee members.

Also read | Covid-19: Nomadic Van Gujjars fight stigma, face livelihood challenges

The Uttarakhand high court (HC) is hearing a raft of public interest litigations (PILs), which have raised various issues related to Van Gujjars in the state.

Himalayan Yuva Gramin Vikas Samiti, Van Adhikar Samiti Dudhala and Think Act Rise Foundation have filed the PILs in the HC.

The state government informed the HC about its decision to form the panel and submitted an affidavit to this effect on October 20.

A copy of the affidavit, which HT has seen, was made available on Wednesday.

The HC in its August 17 order had directed the state government “to come out with a proposal with regard to the constitution of the committee, its scope, the extent to which the inquiry will be done by it and the period within which a report or a solution will be offered by it for the dispute to be resolved”.

The HC had maintained that “we are of the view that the legal rights of Van Gujjars, as available in the law, require to be protected. They require not only the protection of the law, but its benefit as well”.

Earlier in 2018, the HC had directed the state government to evict Van Gujjars from national parks, reserved forests and protected forest areas in Uttarakhand.

Later, Van Gujjars had moved the Supreme Court (SC), and obtained a stay order from the apex court.

Van Gujjars had argued that they cannot be evicted from the forest areas in Uttarakhand and cited Section 3 (1) d of The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, as the legal protection guaranteed by the Union government.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Neeraj Santoshi
Neeraj Santoshi is the Chief of Bureau for Hindustan Times in Uttarakhand, where he leads the state reporting team while covering government, politics, environment, wildlife, Uttarakhand High Court, and issues shaping the Himalayan region. With more than two decades in journalism across conflict zones, he has covered politically sensitive regions and environmentally fragile landscapes, and focused on stories that combine public interest with in-depth storytelling. An alumnus of Pune University with a Master’s in Communication Studies, he has reported extensively from Jammu & Kashmir (2003-2010), Madhya Pradesh (2010 to 2018 ) and Uttarakhand (Since 2018), covering subjects ranging from insurgency, elections and governance to wildlife conservation, mining, climate change, agriculture, human rights and social justice. He has covered politics and legislative assemblies of both Jammu & Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh over more than a decade. Before taking over as Chief of Bureau in Uttarakhand, he served as Special Correspondent with Hindustan Times in Madhya Pradesh and earlier reported for both Hindustan Times and The Indian Express in Jammu & Kashmir, where he covered state politics, environment and insurgency-related developments. Over the years, his stories have focused on environmental degradation, wildlife, illegal mining, governance and the changing social fabric of Himalayan states and Central India. He is particularly interested in long-form explanatory journalism, and stories that explore the intersection of ecology, conservation, governance and society. Outside the newsroom, Neeraj enjoys reading widely on neuroscience, consciousness studies, Artificial Intelligence and quantum physics, with a special interest in Kashmiri Tantric Shaivist traditions. He is also passionate about wildlife, mountaineering and the Himalayas, interests that continue to inform his reporting and deepen his understanding of the region he covers.Read More

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