EDITORIAL : THE DAILY STAR, BANGLADESH

Novel way to save forests

This is what social forestry is all about

Authorities have taken the right course of action to save the Madhupur forest. The indigenous people who survive on the forest are now being trained to protect it. They are also receiving orientation and fund to switch to alternative ways of livelihood like agricultural farming, apiculture, fishery, poultry and livestock raising, afforestation, vegetable gardening and so on.
The government deserves commendation for hitting upon this ingenious strategy to rehabilitate the 5,500 families living inside the forest.
Ironically, the indigenous people of the Madhupur forest, mainly members of the hunter-gatherer Garo community, were so far looked upon as looters of forest resources. But it was never thought that the forest people had no other means to survive than on the forest. Even the local poor non-indigenous settlers were not so much to blame for living off the Madhupur forest. Now the approach is changing. The indigenous Garos and the poor non-ethnic settlers have so far been pursued by the law-enforces in court cases as forest thieves.
The authorities have finally come to realise, though at a huge cost, the futility of the earlier approach to protect the forest, which is now facing virtual extinction with the decimation of around 83 per cent of the original forestland.
We hope that with apt use of the new approach of rehabilitating the Garos and other poor locals in the forest as its protectors, the remaining part of the traditional sal forest could be saved. And with the learning of the alternative means to survive, the local communities, too, would be able to reduce their dependence on the forest.
But while implementing the new strategy, the authorities must not lose sight of the fact that the real enemies of the forest are the outside loggers, who have money and influence. The forest department and the law-enforcers should have to be incorruptible and merciless in dealing with the forest robbers in order to save the forest.

Protecting consumer rights

Implementation of law is key

World Consumer Rights Day passed off Wednesday without any appraisal of where we stand in terms of implementing Consumer Rights Protection Law, 2009. All that Commerce Minister Faruk Khan could promise is that the government would amend the 2009 law in order to make it more effective. Obviously, the law is flawed in many ways as it is weighted towards the sellers rather than to the buyers, let alone the non-deterrent penalties prescribed in it. Besides, the whole spectrum of goods, services and utilities that the consumers have use for, have not been covered by the law. Still, whatever has been provided remains confined to paper and not yet applied.
One of the major shortcomings lie in the National Consumers' Rights Protection Directorate (NCRPD) being acutely short of manpower. It cannot afford to be a centrally controlled affair, there will have to be district and upazila offices to respond to consumers' complaints against being cheated in weights, measures, contents, expiry dates, and, above all, overpricing. There has been talk of separate courts for disposing of disputes relating to denial of consumer rights with attendant remedies, relief, compensation and penalties extracted from the offenders.
Part of the problem is in consumers not coming forward to demand justice. Basically, therefore, we need to concentrate on building awareness among the citizens of their rights to protection as consumers, legal remedies available to them and how they go about obtaining results from the system.
Merely giving more teeth to law is no guarantee for saving the consumers from the onslaught of food adulteration, spurious drugs, short-weight deliveries and overcharges. On the contrary, it can fuel corruption.
It is, however, a good idea to include financial services under the protective umbrella. But no matter how inclusive the law is, it has to be underpinned by a fair competition policy and a structure for surveillance and law enforcement that are free from corrupting influence of any vested interest.