Deepak Pani Mayurbhanj is a beautiful combination of plains, hills and mountains clothed with green and serene forests which human beings have inhabited for over fifty thousand years. This region is an adivasi heartland of eastern India, bordering Jharkhand and west Bengal, situated in the northern end of Odisha. Throughout the annals of Mayurbhanj history there is reference to forests; the forests have been a silent spectator in the rise and fall of Mayurbhanj since ages.. For the common man in Mayurbhanj forests are a symbol of reverence and awe and have the appeal of religious sanctity. The existing forests are still home to millions of trees, a wide variety of animals, streams and rivers, hills and valleys, ravines and waterfalls.

Arjun Nag & Umamaheshwar Rao Over the years the people of Sandhkarmari have struggled against forest mafia to protect their forest, and they have sacrificed much to do this. They even stopped the weekly market – usually a matter of pride for the people of any village - at their village as that led to the illegal transport of wood and forest product from their village forest. These were the circumstances when Legal and Environmental Action Forum (LEAF) started forest protection and conservation in this area, with people’s participation in sustainable harvesting of Nontimber Forest Products (NTFPs); trade in NTFPs; awareness of forest-related issues; health; legal aid; establishment and maintenance of a nursery, etc.

Pandurang Hegde The forest of Gersoppa is on the banks of Sharavati River in Western Ghats, in Karnataka. The lush forest along the river valley is home to a rich biodiversity. Historically, Arab traders came to these regions to buy pepper and transport it through the ports for trade in Europe. The abundance of wild pepper in the forest surprised the traders from overseas and European travelogues, such as those of Francis Buchanan (1801), mention this valuable resource of these forests. For the past two thousand years this region has been the trading hub of (uncultivated) wild pepper, collected from the forests. The sustained supply of pepper from this region over centuries has earned it the reputation of “Pepper Queen”.

Samata Since the 1960s, mining leases have been given in the Eastern Ghats to private companies. Leases have been given even within Reserve Forest areas in some panchayats, in violation to the Land Transfer Regulation Act. In many cases, the local adivasi people have been denied pattas to cultivate their own lands! Even the million year old Borra Caves, which should rightly be a heritage site, were not spared: leases were given for areas directly above the caves. It was in 1993, that Samata first joined hands with the people of Borra Panchayat in their struggle to stop the destructive mining activity in their area.

Krishna Srinivasan 2006 is a watershed year in the history of the Adivasi-forest relationship. This is the year when the Government of India could garner enough strength to acknowledge and recognise the historic injustice meted out to the Adivasi communities of the country. This was the year when the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act was passed (hereafter referred as TFRA). It took 153 years for the ‘intellectual’ and ‘progressive’ society to acknowledge a simple fact that Adivasi people and their forests are entwined entities.

Samata As far as the implementation of Forest Rights Act is concerned the state misses the opportunity to converge several factors with regard to adivasi people and the forests and proceeds as if it were yet another welfare scheme. In several instances the Forest Rights Act is surrounded by ambiguity. For example, in Hukumpeta and Paderu mandals of Vishkapatnam District of Andhra Pradesh the people are still not very clear about the Act. In fact, in many villages the Forest Rights Committee has put forth a demand for a resurvey and in a few places resurveys are taking place.