Protected Area Network in Orissa - Vasundhara

een codified or recorded in any record of rights. Declaration of the ProtectedAreas with restrictions on the entry and forest produce collection means thatlivelihoods of the poor and resource dependent are taken away withoutcompensation or alternatives.• The Wildlife laws and policies provide that the people living in and around theProtected Area can collect and remove the forest produces, but only to meettheir ‘bonafide needs’. The problem is that the law does not define whatbonafide needs means. The matter would have been simple to interpret if thedefinition of ‘commercial collection’ and ‘personal bonafide use’ would havebeen defined in the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.• Issues pertaining to Right settlement in the Protected Areas. In context ofOrissa, most of the sanctuaries are located in the remote tribal areas where onlyone round of settlement has taken place. There are no. of villages inside thePAs which have not been surveyed and hence not regularized. The ForestDepartment treats these villages as encroachers, whereas records exist thatthese tribal settlements are very old and never been surveyed. As per the WPA,1972, these villagers are not entitled to any sort of compensation and neitherare people who have been cultivating land not regularized in their names (andwhich should have been recorded in their names as per the existing law).People have not yet got patta for the land which they have been cultivatingsince ages. Since proper survey and settlement process has not been donebefore the declaration of the sanctuary hence many people are deprived of thecompensatory package and benefits of the Govt. schemes.• Non recognition of rights over land in the Survey and Settlement. This appliesmainly to the practice of shifting cultivation. As the shifting cultivation landhas been settled as Govt. land, declaration of sanctuaries means that a large no.of tribals who depend upon shifting cultivation in sanctuary areas aresummarily evicted, creating major conflicts and misery. ( Kotgarh, Karlapat,Sunabeda and Lakhari sanctuaries.)• Lack of final settlement of claims. In most Protected Areas in Orissa thesettlement of claims and rights as laid down in Section 19- 26 A of Wildlife Actof 1972 has not taken place. Only one PA has been finally notified. How can the142