Ranju Dodum
Itanagar, Apr 25: An incident a few weeks ago has once again brought to light the challenges that indigenous tribal communities continue to face in an ever-changing landscape.
On April 8, men claiming to be from the state forest department reportedly seized wild herbs and vegetables that were being sold by vendors, almost all of whom are women, from Gandhi Market, one of the oldest functioning daily bazars in the state.
News and videos of the incident quickly began doing the rounds of social media and WhatsApp, and condemnations were quick to come in.
For tribal communities, foraging of wild herbs and vegetables for consumption forms a vital part of the daily diet. So, when officials acted upon an order issued by the Itanagar Capital Region deputy commissioner Talo Potom on March 27, the criticism came quickly and in plentiful.
The deputy commissioner had reportedly directed the Papum Pare Biodiversity Management Committee (PPBMC) chairperson, Nabam Regum, to seize the items, claiming that wild animal meat and other forest items were being sold illegally.
On his part, Regum said that his team only seized forest items that come under the purview of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.
The DC’s March 27 order had said that it was Regum who had brought it to the notice that a “number of shops and individuals selling wild animals’ meat, other forest items and carrying out illegal activities” and that the PPBMC had sought action from the administration.
As with most wet markets and vegetable bazaars in the Northeast, the vendors typically tend to be women from indigenous communities.
Reacting to the seizures, the Arunachal Pradesh Women Welfare Society (APWWS) called for immediate action to provide the vendors with compensation and investigate the matter.
The APWWS said that the seizures were an “attack on indigenous food practices that have sustained our communities for generations”.
Apart from the cultural food practices, the APWWS also said that the women in these markets are often the sole income-earners in their families, and such actions can have a major impact on them.
The APWWS and critics of the action have also alleged that the seizures violated the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, which permits ownership of Non-Timber Forest Produce (NTFPs), including "minor forest produce" of plant origin.
Incidentally, following the almost uniform widespread condemnation of the seizures, the forest department distanced itself from the incident.
The state forest issued a “clarification”, stating that the “Magistrate appointed by the ICR district administration along with police personnel and 2 frontline staff (one Forest Guard and one contingency Forest Watcher) working under the Deputy Chief Wildlife Warden, Itanagar Sanctuary Division, Naharlagun have been seen involved in wrongful seizure of herbs and other organic leafy vegetables”.
It even termed Regum as being a “self-proclaimed Chairperson of All Arunachal BMC Members Association”.
The clarification from the department said that the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, doesn’t authorise any person or government authority for wrongful seizure of any produce, and that it “has neither directly involved nor authorised any individuals for such acts”.
It added that it has sought an explanation from the Deputy Chief Wildlife Warden, Itanagar Sanctuary Division, Naharlagun, as to why two of its staff, including a forest guard and a contingency forest watcher, were engaged in carrying out the seizures.
The statement did say that there is a list of Schedule plants in the Wildlife Protection Act, which are prohibited from being cultivated or planted except with prior permission from the Chief Wildlife Warden of the state.
However, it added that “prima facie it appears that none of the seized plants are of the above category of Scheduled plants or their derivatives”.
It also slammed Regum for allegedly acting on his own accord on past occasions and seizing fish from markets on the pretext that they were caught from the river flowing through the Wildlife Sanctuary.
On this matter, too, the department said that while fishing inside Protected Areas and fishing of Scheduled Aquatic species is prohibited unless permitted under the Wildlife Protection Act, it does not prohibit “general fishing in the rivers, streams, lakes or any other water bodies in which traditionally the local communities have been dependent as part of their food habit”.
A few days later, Kapu Ano, a young Nyishi woman from Kra-Daadi who sells varieties of vegetables and edible seeds at the market, said she was not present when the raid began but that her mother was.
Pointing at the assortment of leafy vegetables that are a staple of most tribal cuisine, she said that the officials on the day took around worth Rs 5000 of food items. By her count, there are at least around 30 vendors who sell their products in the market.
She said that there were around six men, including a few law enforcement officials, who seized leafy vegetables, including honyor and oyik, fresh and dried varieties of Sichuan pepper that are found abundantly, and even smoke-dried ghost peppers and banana blossoms.
These vegetables and seeds form an integral part of the cuisine and diet of the indigenous populations of the state, which is home to over 20 tribes and over 100 sub-tribes.
With its large swathes of forest land and low population, communities in Arunachal Pradesh have traditionally not suffered food shortages until modern times, with the establishment and growth of urban centres. Foraging of food items such as the leafy vegetables that were seized on the day are an intrinsic part of the tribal way of life.
When news of the incident broke out, several channels, big and small, most operating only on Facebook or Instagram, began uploading videos of the women who were complaining about what had played out. In several of the videos, the vendors questioned the wisdom of such laws, stating that the items are things that have existed and have been consumed by people for centuries, and no harm has ever come to them.
An oft-heard argument is that the naturally growing vegetables are better for health since they are growing organically without human intervention, as opposed to farm-grown products injected with chemical fertilisers that make their way from the plains of Assam and beyond.
There is no one channel through which these naturally grown vegetables make their way to bazars such as Gandhi Market. Some products are procured by the vendors themselves, while others are brought by suppliers who, in turn, source them from various parts of the state. The furthest that the products come from would be around an eight or nine-hour drive from the state capital.
Whilst listing the products that were seized, Ano said that the Sichuan peppers came from Bomdila in West Kameng district, which is six hours now thanks to improved road connectivity, the honyor from her home district (roughly five hours), and that the chillies were locally sourced from near the rural areas surrounding Itanagar.
During the brief conversation, Ano said things that present various arguments.
While she said that the women were upset that the seizures happened suddenly without any prior notice, she also questioned the logic behind the act.
“I understand if action is taken against people cutting down trees and plants. But can these (vegetables) ever cease to exist,” she said.
“Jungle ka sabji khatam hoga kya,” she added.
This line of thought is not unique to her or her fellow vendors alone.
Starting in the middle of 2023 to the beginning of 2024, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-India and Arunachal Pradesh State Biodiversity Board (APSBB) held consultative meetings in all districts of the state as part of the development of the ‘Arunachal Pradesh State Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan: People's Plan’.
I was part of those meetings as the state consultant and hoped to provide a more nuanced perspective of local issues, apart from my other duties.
Throughout those consultations, which were represented by a wide spectrum of demographics including farmers, young entrepreneurs, panchayat leaders, forest officials, political leaders, women’s groups, etc, one often came out with the sense that many people had the same thinking that forest products would never run out.
As mentioned earlier that due to the large forested lands and relatively low population of the indigenous communities, the idea of food products running out seems absurd to many, especially those who continue to spend most of their time in villages, away from the pressures of a capitalistic market economy.
While there is still abundant forest land that is fertile for the natural growth of edible plants, there is a slow and alarming development taking place.
As per the India State of Forest Report 2023 (ISFR 2023) that was released in December last year, with 67,083 sq km area under forest and tree cover, Arunachal Pradesh sits behind only Madhya Pradesh, which is also a geographically larger state.
However, the same study also noted that the state’s total forest cover went from 66,966.09 sq km in 2013 down to 65,881.57 sq km in 2023, resulting in a total loss of 1,084.52 sq km in the ten years.
The state also lost 45.32 sq km of Reserve Forest Areas, behind Madhya Pradeshh, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh.
While these figures may seem minimal, its real-life impacts are more acute.
The lives we live and the impact it has are not insular. While the state continues to be the highest carbon stock contributor at 1,021 metric tonne, the effects of climate change are felt in real terms.
From 2021 to 2023, the average temperature in January has increased from 15 degree Celsius to 16 degrees.
The average temperature for May has remained consistent at 24 degrees but through 2023, marginal increases in high temperature were recorded.
While currently the attention is on the now, it is important that we also look to focus on the next. While the arbitrary actions of the administration were without a doubt wrong and have been rightly condemned, we must also ask ourselves as to what path of development we are on.
Can the aspirations of a modern Indian state in a developing world looking to free itself from the dependency of central funds be enough of a justification to destroy our natural resources?
Can "development" be planned in a manner that can sustain the tribal ways of life for future generations?
The planned infrastructural development of large-scale projects will have an immense effect on the state's forests. When the forests vanish, the abundant riches inside them that have sustained livelihoods and moulded tribal narratives will vanish too.
