Impact of NTFP ban on the lives and livelihood of the ... - Vasundhara

diet <strong>of</strong> the people. Other items include leafy vegetables, tubers and mushrooms which is seasonal.The condition <strong>of</strong> landless family is even worse in comparison to the families having agricultural land.Most <strong>of</strong> the marginal farmers and landless families customarily depend upon forest products fortheir survival. Around 50% <strong>of</strong> their annual income is derived by selling <strong>of</strong> forest products likehoney, Sal seed, Jhuna (Sal Latex), Paluo, Sal Leaf, Siali leaf, Siali fiber etc. The study carried out byVasundhara in the year 2001, reveals that in case <strong>of</strong> Khadia and Mankidia 60 to 100%. <strong>of</strong> the annualincome <strong>of</strong> the families comes from forest produces.Location Caste Groups <strong>NTFP</strong>s % to total HH annual incomeSimlipal Tiger Reserve Khadia (ST) Honey, Sal Resin, Arrowroot, 60-70Malika chera(root), Sal Leaf, SalSeedMakdia (ST) Siali fibre, Honey 100Bathudi(ST)Sal and Siali leaf plate stitching,Sal SeedMore than 50I.A No.548 in the Godavarman case is a matter in which allstate governments were restrained from ordering theremoval <strong>of</strong> dead, diseased, dying or wild fallen tree, driftwood and grasses etc from any National Park or gamesanctuary. Hon’ble Supreme Court on 14.2.2000 passed andorder restraining ‘the removal <strong>of</strong> dead, diseased, dyingor wind fallen trees, drift wood and grasses, etc fromany National Park or Game Sanctuary or forest’. On28.2.2000 the Supreme Court passed another orderclarifying further on the 14.2.2000 order which said, In theorder dated 14.02.2000 the word for forest in the 2 nd line from bottomat page 4, are ordered to be deleted. The sentence would read thus as:‘…In the meantime, we restrain respondent No. 2 to 32from ordering the removal <strong>of</strong> dead, diseased, dying orwind fallen trees, drift wood and grasses, etc from anyNational Park or Game Sanctuary…. There weresubsequent orders by the court and Central EmpoweredCommittee, which were towards restriction <strong>of</strong> rights <strong>of</strong>forest dependant communities.But collection <strong>of</strong> forest productsincluding <strong>NTFP</strong>s has been <strong>ban</strong>nedinside the Sanctuary and National Parkareas since 2000 following the order <strong>of</strong>Supreme Court dated on 14.2.2000, inWP No. 202/95. Since all the villages<strong>of</strong> Gudugudia and Barehipani fallswithin the sanctuary boundary, thepeople are being restricted by theSanctuary authorities for collection andselling <strong>of</strong> any forest products. Even ifsuch restriction is still in force in duecourse <strong>of</strong> time due to non-availabilityother means <strong>of</strong> survival the tribalpeople are collecting the productsillegally from the Sanctuary area andselling it to the traders in throw awayprices.45