We only harvest the roots, leaves, fruits, and bark at certain times, according to custom, to
ensure that the plant matter is ripe or ready to be collected, increasing its efficacy and
minimizing damage to the plant or tree. Our methods have been proven to be very
sustainable. For example, we have harvested from some of the same plants for over 20
years.
The health of the plant is of paramount importance to us, even more so than the patient, in
the sense that we would never harvest a plant in such a way that it would die, regardless of
the demand.
We face certain challenges
Our key concern is the way the Government of India has increasingly limited our access to
the areas under its management. We agree with the focus on conservation but feel that their
blanket policies are hurting our communities. There are commercial harvesters who collect
medicinal plants in large quantities in an unsustainable manner. We stand in contrast to
them, revering the forest and wanting to use its resources from time to time in a sacred and
sustainable way. JJVS had dialogued with some policy-makers or decision-makers towards
obtaining on our behalf licenses to permit us entry for small scale collection of medicinal
plants, but the dialogue was not concluded. We feel that the local forests should contain “nogo” areas for pure conservation, but also include areas that allow permit holders to collect
plants according to forest officials’ standards. We have vast traditional knowledge regarding
plant conservation and want to work with the concerned department on this issue and be
recognized as village conservators or village botanists.
Our rights under Indian laws
India is a signatory to a number of international legal instruments that require national
implementation of their provisions, including the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the International Labor Organization
Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, and the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The Republic of India has drawn from these
international laws to promulgate, among other laws of relevance to forest-dwelling
communities, The Biological Diversity Act of 2002 and The Biological Diversity Rules of 2004,
and The Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights)
Act of 2006. We feel that our rights under international law are more extensive than those
granted under domestic law, and we call on the Indian government to further develop laws
that offer us rights in accordance with internationally agreed standards. This having been
stated, we seek the full extent of our rights as enshrined under domestic law.
The Biological Diversity Act of 2002 and the Biological Diversity Rules of 2004: The
Biological Diversity Act of 2002, in its efforts to fulfill India's commitments under the
Convention on Biological Diversity, provides for the conservation of biological diversity,
sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from
the use of such biological diversity and associated traditional knowledge (TK). The
Biological Diversity Act sets up the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) and the Biological
Diversity Rules of 2004 lists the functions of the NBA as including regulating access to
biological resources and associated TK for commercial and research purposes. The NBA is
also empowered to advise the Central Government on any matter relating to the
conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and associated TK and the fair and