Editor,
Is section 177 of the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act applicable whenever the traffic police feel like imposing it? Or do they enforce it whenever they need money? Is this Act just for a single day? I have been living here in Williamnagar for many years and have seen this arbitrary system being perpetuated. Traffic police allow drivers of two wheeler to ply without helmets for months on end and then and suddenly on a weekly market day or any day they feel like checking and imposing fines on two wheelers they make them all line up. Poor people come from long distances to Williamnagar for the weekly market have to part with fines out of their hard-earned money for not wearing helmets. And why should they when the Traffic branch is not making it compulsory on other days or for months on end and suddenly stops them and fines them one fine day? Why not enforce the Act every day and fine those who don’t wear helmets on a regular basis so that all learn to obey the law?
It’s a totally senseless act on the part of the Traffic department because I have seen many violators riding right in front of them without any action being taken. Do they wait for the market day knowing that there will be more scope of making money on this day since many more people will be riding their motor cycles/scooters without helmets? This is blatant corruption.
On August 11, I saw the officer in-charge Traffic in a drunken state while imposing fines. He was stinking of alcohol. Ask any Williamnagar rider and he will narrate the drama played by the Traffic police. I appeal to the higher authorities to take stock of matters and do something to end this charade. Please enforce the MV Act every day as is done in Shillong and Tura and not in fits and starts. I have video-graphed this altercation between the Traffic police and motor bike riders in case I need to prove my point.
Yours etc.,
- Shadap
Williamnagar
Indigenous peoples are owners of forests
Editor,
International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples is celebrated every year on August 9. This day is significant because it reminds us about the necessity to recognize the rights of the Adivasi (Indigenous) Peoples to their traditional lands, territories and resources. This is a crying need not only for the sake of justice ~ of returning to the real owners their properties but also for the friendly ecosystem which is a must for the survival of both forests and forest peoples. India has passed an excellent piece of legislation in the form of Forest Rights Act, 2006. Previously, millions of Adivasis had no legal rights whatsoever to their homes, lands or livelihoods. It was the government officials who enjoyed all the powers including legal privileges resulting in deaths and destructions of both forests and forest dwellers.
Unfortunately, Indian forest dwellers have been witnessing torture, bonded labour, extortion of money, rapes, harassment and eviction of millions of Adivasis on the pretext of being intruders in their own homes since the British legislation of Indian Forest Act, 1927. The fact of the matter is that the Indian Forest Act, 1927 was made only to serve the British need to extract timber. The Wild Life Prevention Act, 1972 followed somewhat the same model.
These forest laws destroyed all the community management and regulations that had existed before, forced tribals to either leave the forest and those who live there are treated as criminals. Ironically, it was a criminal offence to plant a tree in a reserved forest but it was perfectly legal for the forest department to destroy the entire forest! At present, India needs to speedily implement the 2006 Forest Rights Act and do what China has done. China has given direct rights of over 100m hectares of forest area to its traditional inhabitants, which helped it reduce poverty and protect environment.
In our country, community rights have been recognised only in less than three per cent of the forest area. However, in those areas, it has been seen that making traditional inhabitants managers of their forest land not only improves their lives but also enhances the environment. It is high time we implemented the Forest Rights Act, 2006 in the remaining 97 per cent of the forest area.
Yours etc.,
Sujit De,
Kolkata
Peace in the sub-continent
Editor,
This refers to the recent statement of ‘The Dalai Lama’ that India and Pakistan were divided because Nehru didn’t relinquish his desire to become the PM of India to Jinnah, even though Mahatma Gandhi advised him to do so. It is an established fact that the partition of India was the result of extreme narrow divisive politics of the Muslim League on the one side and RSS and Hindu Mahasabha on the other. Majority of the people on both sides of the border were totally averse and somewhat unaware of the divisive politics being played by their leaders. Even after seven decades of partition, people of both the countries still have to bear its consequences. Animosity and mistrust for each other still loom large over the minds of people in both the countries. It’s time we realise the blunders committed by our forefathers and try to rectify them by evolving into two friendly and mutually cooperative Nations and thereby usher an era of peace and prosperity in the subcontinent.
Yours etc.,
Sadiq H.Laskar,
Guwahati.