Activists protest against forest land-grab
May 21st, 2011 - 1:27 am ICT by IANSNew Delhi, May 20 (IANS) Hundreds of forest dwellers and tribals from around a dozen states across the country gathered in the capital Friday to protest against the grabbing of forest land.
Led by a group of activists “Campaign for Survival and Dignity” (CSD), the participants gathered at Jantar Mantar from across the country from places like Maharashtra, Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh among others.
“After years of fighting against the colonial laws that treated forest dwellers and tribals as conquered people and in 2006 the law was changed and the Forest Rights Act was passed with some of the rights recognised,” CSD secretary Shankar Gopalakrishnan told IANS.
“But now the government and the forest department are intent on destroying this law to prevent its implementation… laws are used to help companies and the government to loot and grab their resources for profits,” added Gopalakrishnan.
The activists’ main demand was to implement the Forest Rights Act and recognise people’s power to protect forests and stop illegal handover of forest lands to industry among others.
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Brinda Karat said: “This is the question of the rights and dignity of tribals and we all have to come together to fight and take this cause ahead.”
The agitators marched towards the parliament and courted arrest. They were released later.
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Tags: activists protest, agitators, colonial laws, communist party of india, communist party of india marxist, dadar, dozen states, forest department, forest dwellers, forest land, forest lands, gopalakrishnan, handover, hellip, jharkhand, land grab, mantar, nagar haveli, shankar, tribals