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Forest Rights in Baiga Chak, Madhya Pradesh
Translating the potential of the Forest Rights Act into reality is a challenge even in regions “meant for” Adivasis, such as the Baiga Chak in eastern Madhya Pradesh, given the weak capacity for collective action, tangled relationship with the forest department, changing youth aspirations, and people’s conception of the environment at variance with some provisions of the act.
We have been talking about van adhikaar kanoon [Forest Rights Act] in our village since 2008. But people are not interested. The forest is not even half of what it was in my childhood; by the time my grandchildren are my age, the forest will be gone and the rivers will have dried up. But what to do, our people don’t realise [this].
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