Anna Hazare writes to Sonia Gandhi, seeks support for village forest scheme

The Forest Departments counters the charges, saying the rules clearly lay down that they will not be applicable to gram sabhas that opt for CFRs under FRA or are entitled for PESA benefits and, as such, are not infringing on the two other community forest management actions. Pointing out that his own Ralegan Sidhhi and social activist Popatrao Pawa’s Hivrebazar have opted for village forest among over 100 such villages, Hazare has said in his letter, “Instead of criticising the scheme, Patel and Aiyar should actually visit some villages benefiting from the scheme.”

Hazare further says, “The scheme gives villages a very good option to manage their own forests and benefit from its resources.”
He points out that Ralegan Sidhhi has benefitted immensely with the forest providing substantial fodder that has led to increase in milk production from 300 litres 20 years ago to over 5,000 litres today.

The VFRs have been caught in a stir with the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MOTA) opposing it since the last about two years ever since they were notified in 2014. Even Union ministers Prakash Javadekar and Nitin Gadkari have thrown their lot behind the scheme, asking MOTA to drop its opposition. MOTA has finally reconciled to VFRs and has dropped its opposition, recently.