FRA: Govt formally rolling out accord of forest rights tomorrow

JAMMU: The Jammu and Kashmir Government is rolling on Monday the process to accord rights dwellers in forest areas to eligible members of the tribal communities under the Forests Rights Act.
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha made this announcement in Srinagar today while interacting with a delegation of tribal communities comprising Gujjar, Bakerwal, Gaddi and Sippi communities. “To take a firsthand appraisal of the various ongoing schemes and initiatives for the development of tribal communities of J&K and to discuss their concerning issues, Lieutenant Governor interacted with a delegation”, a Raj Bhawan spokesman said.
Development of Tribal communities of J&K is one of the top priorities of the government and for the first time in the history of J&K, we are going to roll out the handing over of rights under the Forest Rights Act from the coming Monday, the LG announced.
The LG noted that the UT administration is committed to make development of tribal population a key element of the overall development agenda. “With the commitment of social equality, we have taken a slew of decisions in the last few months to bestow the due rights to all the tribal communities of J&K”, he added.
The Lt Governor observed that the government has taken many unprecedented decisions for the development and upliftment the tribal population, besides contemplating a host of other initiatives in that direction.
“To implement an overarching plan for development of tribal communities, a two-month long survey has been conducted for effective policymaking based on ground realities”, he noted.
The Lt Governor informed that the UT government has decided to develop transit accommodations at 8 places at an estimated cost of Rs 28 cr for accommodating seasonal transitory population, besides provisions for medical camps, animal yards, veterinary care, and adequate security. The holding capacity and other requirements will be as per the assessments derived from the recent Migratory population survey.
He added that the government has decided to build Tribal Bhavans in Jammu, Srinagar and Rajouri. Project report is under preparation and the process will be started to construct the same.
To provide better healthcare facilities and to cater the needs of migratory population, the UT administration has come up with a Tribal Health Plan for which Rs 15 crore has been set aside, noted the Lt Governor.
“Government will create health sub-centre for the static population and mobile medical care units for the migratory population. It will be completely modern with good doctors and machinery and shall run with the collaboration of National Health Mission, Health Department, and the Tribal Affairs Department”, he added.
On the issue of ensuring sustainable livelihood for the youth belonging to the tribal communities, the Lt Governor announced the establishment of 1500 mini sheep farms, which will provide employment opportunities to 3000 youth in this financial year. The program will not be a one-time initiative and every year 33% new sheep farms will be established.
The Lt Governor noted that ‘Mission Youth’ along with Tribal Department have started the process of setting up 16 Milk Villages to connect at least 2000 youth to the dairy sector at the cost of Rs 16 crore, besides providing training, branding, marketing and transport facilities to the youth.
Haroon Khatana, on behalf of the Gujjar-Bakerwal community expressed gratitude to the Lt Governor for fulfilling the commitments made during the earlier interaction held at Jammu in the month of April.
Various members of the Gujjar-Bakerwal and Gaddi-Sippi communities and Sh Anwar Choudhary Phambra raised their concerning issues and submitted a Memoranda of demands to the Lt Governor, on the occasion.
Our community has been kept away from development and prosperity for more than 70 years. Now, under the present dispensation, we are hopeful of a better future, said Javaid Khatana, member of Gujjar-Bakerwal community.
Praveen Jaryal, representative of Gaddi-Sippi community, conveyed his gratitude to the UT administration for providing a common platform to the members of the tribal communities to project their concerning issues.