Maharashtra’s Tribal Development Department is helping 18 villages in three districts to use the Forest Rights Act to exercise their control over tendu leaves.

After the job guarantee scheme played a crucial role in UPA’s reelection the government is working on a plan to reach out to 100 mil lion tribals to ensure remun eration for minor forest pro duce.

As part of the effort to grant tribal communities rights to minor forest produce, the Maharashtra Government has granted permission to 81 gram sabhas in Gadchiroli and Gondia districts of the state

A total of 266,000 standard bags of tendu leaf have been collected in Madhya Pradesh this year.

New Delhi In a move that is expected to benefit millions of people earning their livelihood from the forest, the government has decided to appoint a special commission for fixing minimum support price (MSP) for minor forest produce like bamboo, mahua and tendu leaves.

The commission is expected to be appointed by January 2013 under the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation (Trifed), tribal affairs minister V Kishore Chandra Deo said on Monday. The Planning Commission has already given its approval for setting up such a commission. “There is a procedure for setting up a commission. We have received a go ahead from the Planning Commission and Trifed will be its nodal agency,” Deo said.

Right to land and forest resources still remains a distant dream for women across the country.

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Raipur: In inky blue darkness, Bargu and Sunita stir their children out of slumber and drag them to the forest.

The Environment Ministry is moving ahead with its efforts to ensure a minimum support price for minor forest produce such as bamboo and tendu leaves.

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has reiterated his ministry