Denial of forest rights spurs conflict in Little Rann

Ahmedabad: Salt pan workers, fishing community and maldharis in the Little Rann of Kutch (LRK) should be given their respective rights - salt making, fishing and pastoral land grazing. When denied these rights, locals illegally make salt and graze cattle in the forest area, leading to hassles with the forest department, a study commissioned by the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has found.
During the 2012 assembly election campaign, salt pan workers met Congress leader and All India Congress Committee vice-president Rahul Gandhi. They demanded that they be given their legal rights within the forest area.
The study stated that in the absence of these rights, the locals come in conflict with conservation authorities. The study titled 'Biodiversity Conservation and Rural Livelihood Improvement Project - Social and Environmental Assessment of Little Rann of Kutch Landscape,' has stated that giving the locals the rights they deserve will help the conservation of the wild ass and the environment.
The study reveals that residents of Nimak Nagar "did not refer to any problems but were extremely antagonistic to the wild ass because their livelihoods - that is salt making and fishing - are at stake." The people of Taga said the increasing population of wild ass has resulted in the animals raiding their crops.
A lot of respondents also said that since salt making activity was mostly illegal without their rights being guaranteed, salt producers did not get good prices for their produce. "When there were leases on the land in the past, salt producers got Rs 140 per tonne. Now they are left at the mercy of merchants. The salt workers continue in this trade for lack of any other occupation."
At Chikli village the study reveals that people have almost been forced out of salt making because of poor brine quality. They have either become labourers in the salt transportation work or agricultural labourers.
People had no idea of the wild ass. They only knew that migratory birds came to that area. LRK communities also have no access to any of the government's development schemes.