'Relax rules under Forest Act'

Addressing at a meet organised here on Sunday, Forest Rights Committee Kalasa hobli unit Member K L Vasu said that the government, which declared agriculture as non-forest activity, should consider the fact that agriculture too supplements for the protection of forest. People’s representatives and officials should take initiatives to distribute title deeds to all forest dwellers, who cultivate land, he added.

Another Member Kalakodu Vardhamanaiah said that the rules do not consider members of the scheduled caste families as forest dwellers unless they provide documents. Samse Forest Rights Committee President Suresh Bhat said that the rule which mandate scheduled caste family members and others to produce documents to prove 80 years of their stay in the forest is unscientific.