Law to protect plantations soon

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government was actively considering enactment of a law to prevent diversion of plantation land for other purposes, Revenue Minister K.P. Rajendran told the Assembly on Tuesday.

Responding to a calling attention from P. Krishnaprasad (CPI-M), the Revenue Minister said the proposed law would take care of use of plantation land for purposes such as tourism and their fragmentation under various guises.

The proposal to enact the law was mooted to protect the interests of plantation labour as well, he added.

Mr. Rajendran said the State had 22 plantations having a total area of 1,16,400 acres. These were given on very low lease rent. However, the State government had increased lease rent on a par with those applicable to plantations controlled by State agencies. It had also initiated an inquiry into allegations that the Harrisons Malayalam Plantations Limited had violated the lease norms. Action would be taken on the basis of the inquiry report, he added.

Source: The Hindu 14 July 2010

Concern over forest policy

The Campaign for Survival and Dignity, a national platform of tribal
and forest dwellers organisations, has expressed concern over the
Union government's recent decision to spend huge sums of money
collected in the name of "compensatory afforestation." In a statement
issued here on Thursday, the Campaign said such a policy would
accelerate deforestation and result in destruction of wildlife. It
would institutionalise a system that encouraged use of forests on
payment. It would also displace more tribal people and forest
dwellers. When forests were cleared for changing land use, the locals
were neither informed nor consulted. This would also be the case if
funds were allocated for compensatory plantations, the statement said.
"In both the cases — where forests are destroyed and where
compensatory forests are developed — the people lose their land and
livelihoods." The Campaign said the policy would increase violations
of the Forest Rights Act through illegal eviction of cultivators, as
the Forest Department would rush to access the huge funds coming in
from plantations. Monoculture tree plantation would also cause
environmental damage and biodiversity threats. This would also deny
the State governments and local bodies their rightful share of the
money, the statement said. "A crucial opportunity to make India's
forest management system more environmentally sensitive, transparent,
democratic, and accountable has now been lost."
"Back door deals"
The Campaign said the Ministry had acted in a blatantly
unconstitutional manner, ignoring both Parliament and the State
governments and proceeding through back door deals to ensure easy
access and continued control over the enormous funds. This would only
fuel more deprivation, conflicts and violence in the forest areas,
while accelerating the loss of some of the country's precious
resources, the statement said.

The Hindu, July 17

Forest policy follows a pragmatic approach

The forest policy, approved by the Cabinet on Wednesday, is the result of a thorough revamp of the draft published early in 2007.The draft underwent changes both in form and content. The form improved considerably. Statements that looked like proposals in the future annual Plans of the department have been replaced with pure policy statements, sometimes clearer than the original. The changes in the content have positive and negative aspects to it.The policy states that efforts to increase the protected areas to one-third of the forest areas will continue, and specifically mentions the proposal to form a Malabar wildlife sanctuary. However, the protected area network proposed for the State by the Wildlife Institute of India two decades ago will not be realised in full. The policy strongly subscribes to the national policy that one-third of the total land areas should be under forest or tree cover. However, it has been clarified that the focus would be on extending tree cover through farm forestry and not by extending forest cover. This is despite a clear statement in the policy that forest leases would be cancelled in the event of breach of lease conditions and renewal would be subject to assessment of ecological importance of the area. The clarification does not come as a surprise as the government is already sitting on transfer of forested areas to the Forest Department in the Kannan Devan Hills of Idukki district. It is under tremendous pressure over non-renewal of lease of Thoothanpara and other estates. The government is also contemplating return of substantial areas of ecologically fragile lands taken over by it through an ordinance. Against this background, the policy has gone back on the draft proposal to protect all ecologically fragile areas. However, the policy does not talk about retaining all forest plantations as the draft did. (There is a Central government ban against replanting plantation in higher elevation areas.). Instead it speaks about improving productivity. It is silent on species rotation, which had been added to the draft during consultations, but mentions a plan to shift from exotic to indigenous species. Similarly, the proposal to tune ecotourism ventures to carrying capacity of specific locations has been dropped besides one to collect a fee from those who exploit ecosystems. No strategy has been proposed for fire control other than enlisting of public participation to prevent fires. The policy recognises deep links between forest conservation and water conservation.

The Hindu, 2nd May 2009

Swaminathan moots food security policy for Kerala

M.S. Swaminathan, Chairman of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, has called upon agriculture scientists to go to the land from the lab. He was chairing a State-level policy dialogue on 'sustainable food security of Kerala' organised by the Navasakthi Trust, a non-governmental organisation, at Thazhava. Dr. Swaminathan said that the food production situation was bad globally. Therefore, a policy on food security was urgently needed. More awareness and encouragement measures were needed. Kerala should seriously ponder over ways to reverse the decline in paddy cultivation. He suggested that the government declare a 'food security saviour award' for all those who make a notable contribution for improving the food security of the State. Steps should also be taken to reduce the cost of production.

The Hindu, 30th  January 2009
 

Kerala declares water policy

Kerala declared its water policy acknowledging water as a public resource and asserting the right of the citizens for access to the resource.Presenting the policy in the Assembly, Water Resources Minister N.K. Premachandran said water could indeed become a very scarce commodity in future due to global warming and consequent climate change.No longer can Kerala take for granted the abundant availability of water for its mounting needs. Conserving all water resources in the best way possible, coordinating the efforts of various government agencies and involving the people themselves in the task, has now become a crucial necessity, according to the policy document.It says that Kerala shall not enter into any new water transfer pacts with neighbouring States without the consent of the State legislature. The policy stipulates treating each river basin as a unit while planning water conservation measures and deciding how the resources on hand shall be apportioned among various consumer groups. The first priority is for domestic consumers. Next in the list are the farmers, followed by power generation, agro-processing sector and industrial/commercial customers, in that order. Commercial use of water is to be subjected to stringent regulations.The Minister said existing laws and rules on the use of water required a thorough review in the light of the policy, formulated by the government after several rounds of discussions with experts and all stakeholders. The policy proposes new laws for setting up 'river and wetland authority' and regulating groundwater exploitation."There will be regulations on groundwater exploitation in all cases except wells dug for domestic use," he said.The policy specifies measures against the delays that have become a norm, rather than an exception, in the execution of drinking water and irrigation projects in Kerala. It says that no more big irrigation projects are advisable for the State. The focus henceforth shall be on small projects, especially lift irrigation schemes that can reduce water wastage.Rainwater harvesting, protection of forest cover, preventing water pollution with stringent penal provisions against the polluters, checking saline water intrusion into inland water sources and strengthening research are some of the other focus areas mentioned in the water policy.

The Hindu, Jul 22, 2008

Cabinet nod for draft IPRs policy on traditional knowledge

The Cabinet approved the draft intellectual property rights (IPRs) policy aimed at protecting traditional knowledge and inventions.The policy states that the government will ensure protection of the rights of people possessing traditional knowledge and inventions. Prior permission from the State Biodiversity Board will be required for outsiders to make use of traditional knowledge and inventions. Permit from the Board will also be mandatory for trade in bio resources except those related to traditional uses. The Board will compile details of traditional knowledge and bio resources of the State. Access to the database will require permission from the Board. It will assist people in getting patents for their inventions. There will be restrictions on outsourcing research related to biological resources from Kerala.The policy proposes legislation to protect the intellectual property rights of people possessing traditional knowledge. Punitary provisions will be incorporated for enforcement of the policy. There will also be a supervisory council with Chief Minister as chairman and the Law Minister as vice-chairman to oversee implementation of the policy.Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan told mediapersons after the Cabinet meeting that Kerala would be the first State to adopt a policy on intellectual property rights.

The Hindu, June 2, 2008

State to frame comprehensive land-use policy

The Government is working out a comprehensive land-use policy for the State. The Revenue Department will soon release a draft in this regard for feedbacks from stakeholders and experts. According to department sources, the policy, when finalized, will set a broad out line for sustainable utilization of the State's divergent land resources, including paddy fields, forests, hill ranges, watersheds and coastal areas.

One of the major proposals is to declare non-river water reserves such as backwaters, freshwater lakes, ponds and marshy lands as protected areas. Encroachments, filling and sand-mining will be prohibited in such areas. Wetland information and management systems will be evolved for conservation and effective tapping of resources such as rivers, backwaters and other water bodies. In order to protect fast dwindling paddy fields in various agricultural zones in the state should be declared as 'paddy producing regions'. Conversion or filling of such areas should be totally banned, except for very unavoidable purposes like construction of own houses. Here also permission for filling should be given only for five cents of land, and that too only in the border areas of paddy fields. The draft policy suggests that sanction be given for other short-term crops and fish farming in paddy fields alternately. Only the government should have the power for filling paddy fields for public purposes and development activities. Clay mining will be strictly regulated I the paddy fields

(The Hindu,21^st February 2007)

New farm policy aims at doubling output in 10 years

The Karnataka Government on Thursday unveiled a 'farmer-centric' agricultural policy aimed at doubling farm production in 10 years by setting he target at 4.5 percent a year during the next decade.

It seeks to reverse the declining growth rate in agriculture, which was 1.5 percentage of the State Gross Domestic produce at close of the 10th five year plan.

The policy envisages renaming of the Agriculture Department as Department of Agriculture and farmer's welfare and fixing the budgetary expenditure on agriculture at 10 percent of the development expenditure. It also proposes to extend the minimum support price scheme to all crops in the State, specially turned to cover small and marginal farmers.

(The Hindu,15/12/06)

Agri. ministers meet on draft policy for farmers

National Commission on farmers Cahirman Dr.M.S.Swaminathan on Tuesday said a national policy for farmers might soon become a reality. Talking to reporters at a press conference he said "Union agriculture Minister Sharad pawar is expected to take a decision on our draft report at a meet on December 22. The meet will be attended by State agriculture ministers as well".
The commission submitted its draft report on October 2. The Centre is also planning to implement the scientists reports on "more crop and more income per drop of water", from June 1 onwards . "The programme will cover 6,000 villages in the country. The Ministry of water resources had decided to allocate Rs.50,000 for each villages", he said.

The key recommendations of the committee, constituted under the Chairmanship of Dr.M.S.Swaminathan includes micro irrigation technology to increase productivity of crops with less water, crop diversification with high value but less water requiring crops, adequate support to farmers for making and access to market information and introduction of weather-based crop insurance protection for minimizing losses. The commission,he said, he also recommended setting up a price monitoring committee at the State-level for ensuring assured returns to farmers under contract farming system.

According to him, food and water banks were needed in each, village to expand the food basket. "We also need to introduce a universal public distribution system covering the entire population".

(The Economic Times,13/12/06)