Discuss the loopholes in the draft Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) Rules – a mechanism envisaged to offset forest losses. (200 words)
Refer – The Hindu
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 7 years
KEY POINTS
· The Union Government recently notified the draft Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) Rules, 2018 to facilitate utilisation of over Rs.50,000 crore among states to expand India’s forest cover.
· However, environmentalists and forest rights activists criticized the draft rules stating they violate the Forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006.
Loopholes in the draft rules
· FRA Act mandates that Gram Sabhas (village councils) have both the right and the power to protect, manage and conserve their forests.
· On the contrary, the draft rules violate FRA and have allowed for illegal plantations in community lands.
· The definition of Gram Sabha has been diluted in the draft rules.
· The draft rules states that compensatory Afforestation work can be carried out in consultation with a gram Sabha or Van Sanrakshan Samiti (VSS).
· But, VSS is not a legal body and cannot be equated with Gram Sabha.
· This is clearly a strategy to bypass Gram Sabha and engage with VSSs which don’t have any legal standing.
· The draft rules placed this huge fund (CAF) at the unilateral disposal of the forest bureaucracy, giving it unchecked powers to undertake plantations on private and common property resources.
· The proposed rules don’t have provision for getting consent of the Gram Sabhas (only mention consultation) and provision for transferring funds to the Gram Sabha.
· It is a clear step backward from the consent provisions in the FRA and the 2014 Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act.
· This will result in further atrocities and crimes against tribals and forest dwellers.
· Consultations are not stipulated for all Afforestation projects, and need not even involve the affected Gram Sabhas.
· This indicates a wilful blindness to conflicts under way across forested landscapes.
· The draft says absolutely nothing about how consultation should be done, and what happens if local communities refuse their consent.
· The rules provide no meaningful safeguards against the forest bureaucracy implementing compensatory plantations on dense forests, and where FRA claims have been issued, are pending or have to be filed.
