The power of the hills
THE people of the Uttar Pradesh hills have always strongly opposed attempts to snatch their traditional rights. Today, they are asserting themselves once again.
At various seminars and meetings organised recently, van panchayat members have consistently voiced their aversion to impositions by officials and have instead lobbied for greater autonomy. At the Van Panchayat Sarpanch Sammelan held in Haldwani in December, approximately 50 sarpanches asserted that they be given greater control over revenue and management of van panchayat lands. Their demands include:
Revenue be given directly to the van panchayats and members be allowed to use 50 per cent for afforestation and land development and the rest for development programmes.
• The government should advise the villagers on the economic utilisation of comparatively less valuable species.
• Forest produce be marketed by the van panchayats or auctioned on their directions because forest department officials do not respond in time to requests for sale or undervalue the produce.
• Government-funded development programmes such as Jawahar Rozgar Yojana and Garibi Hatao be implemented through van panchayats.
• Van panchayats have maps clearly delineating their boundaries.
• Sarpanches have the right to sanction at least Rs 500 from the van panchayat budget.
• Sarpanches have the right to auction wood of up to Rs 15,000 instead of the present limit of Rs 500.
• Thirty per cent of the van panchayat seats be reserved for women and they be coopted in development and afforestation programmes.
• Van panchayat members be able to independently enforce rules.
• Van panchayat members have the right to information on laws and accumulation of their funds in accounts maintained by the administration.
Related Content
- Order of the Supreme Court regarding 3009.84 acres of land situated at Vadipatti village and a part of the Sirumalai hills, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, 18/03/2024
- Affidavit by Pune Municipal Corporation on planned construction of three new reservoirs at Fergusson College Hill, 16/02/2024
- Order of the National Green Tribunal regarding repeated instances of fire in Kozhikode waste treatment plant, Kerala, 02/11/2023
- Order of the National Green Tribunal regarding illegal encroachment and construction on grazing land and Bagela pond by filling it with debris, Munwas village, district Udaipur, Rajasthan, 07/08/2023
- Draft on Uttarakhand State Solar Policy 2022
- ‘Need to tap hydropower potential of hill states’