{"id":32231,"date":"2018-10-29T13:09:41","date_gmt":"2018-10-29T07:39:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=32231"},"modified":"2018-10-29T13:09:41","modified_gmt":"2018-10-29T07:39:41","slug":"mankidia-denied-habitat-in-simlipal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/mankidia-denied-habitat-in-simlipal\/","title":{"rendered":"Mankidia denied habitat in Simlipal\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mankidia denied habitat in Simlipal<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Context<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mankidia, one of the 13 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) in Odisha, were denied habitat rights inside the Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) under the historic Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, as the State Forest Department has objected on grounds that\u00a0 tribals\u00a0\u00a0<\/a>could be attacked by wild animals, especially tigers.<\/p>\n

Vulnerable Odisha tribe would have been first to benefit from Forest Rights Act<\/strong><\/p>\n

But tribal rights activists said the Forest Department continued to play the role of an obstructionist by denying tribals their rights<\/p>\n

Habitat<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018Habitat\u2019 as defined under Section 2(h) of the FRA (Forest Rights Act) includes the area comprising the customary habitat and such other habitats in reserved forests and protected forests of primitive tribal groups and pre-agricultural communities and other forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes,\u201d ChittaranjanPani, a researcher on tribal rights and livelihoods, said.<\/p>\n

Mankidia now deprived of Siali<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mankidia, a marginalised group that critically depends on making rope with\u00a0siali\u00a0fibre that\u2019s richly available in Similipal, would now be deprived of the non-timber forest produce.<\/p>\n

Habitat an obstruction in the free movement of the animals<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the District Level Committee (DLC) meeting\u2019s proceedings, J. D. Pati, deputy director of STR, had raised objections, saying habitat rights would create barriers for free movement of tigers and other animals.<\/p>\n

Risk to life<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is also apprehension of the risk to life of the PVTG,\u201d Mr. Pati said<\/p>\n

Confined to the buffer zone<\/strong><\/p>\n

While advocating that habitat rights to PVTG should be confined to STR\u2019s buffer zone.<\/p>\n

No threat to life<\/strong><\/p>\n

But, Hemant Kumar Sahu, a researcher with NGO Vasundhara, said, \u201cThere is no empirical evidence that Mankidias face tiger threat in their villages.<\/p>\n

For decades, they have been residing inside the core area of the tiger reserve with animals<\/p>\n

The first to have habitat rights<\/strong><\/p>\n