SC pronounced direction on an application for identification of sacred groves such as Orans by the Rajasthan Government in accordance with the T.N. Godavarman judgment (1996).
Key Directives/Suggestions of the Supreme Court
- Grant protection under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, especially through Section 36(c) (declaration of community reserves).
- Active measures are required at the Governmental level to ensure that Models like Piplantri village are implemented/replicated in other parts of the country.
- Piplantri model is created in a small village in Rajasthan’s Rajsamand district.
- It is a community-driven conservation effort, villagers use to plant 111 trees for every girl born.
- Active measures are required at the Governmental level to ensure that Models like Piplantri village are implemented/replicated in other parts of the country.
- The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC)shall create a comprehensive policy for governance and management.
- Under it, MoEFCC must also develop a plan for a nationwide survey of sacred groves.
- Suggested the Rajasthan government to identify and empower traditional communities as custodians under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.
- MoEFCC and the Forest Department, Rajasthan shall constitute a committee to supervise the mapping and identification exercise.
Sacred Groves
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