Banni: Recognised, Yet Waiting
In the Banni grasslands of Kutch, the communities know the landscape like they know their breath — shifting, seasonal, alive. For generations, Maldharis here have moved with their herds, managed the grass, protected water bodies, and adapted to a landscape shaped by drought, flood, salt, and resilience.
And yet, when it comes to forest rights, that deep relationship remains unresolved on paper.
A few years ago, many of Banni’s Community Forest Resource (CFR) claims were approved at the SDLC level — an important administrative step that should have meant recognition of their legal rights to govern and conserve the grasslands.
But here’s the truth: those claims still haven’t reached the communities
No official titles. No paper. Just silence.
For the people of Banni, this isn’t a bureaucratic delay. It’s a lived uncertainty. Without official CFR recognition, they are left in limbo — expected to care for the land, but denied the formal authority to do so. Their grazing patterns, water usage, and everyday life remain under threat of displacement or restriction, even as they are the ones who’ve protected Banni when few others paid attention.
What does it mean when a community’s rights are “approved,” but not handed over?
It means promises made in meetings but never fulfilled on the ground. It means the law exists in theory but not in practice. And it means that communities who’ve waited in good faith must now fight again, for what was already theirs.
In a time when climate justice, conservation, and decentralised governance are buzzwords, Banni offers a quiet, uncomfortable truth: Rights delayed are rights denied.
If we are serious about ecological restoration and justice, we must ask — what’s stopping the last step? Who benefits from the delay?
The communities in Banni are not waiting passively. They are still living on the grassland, still resisting enclosures, still demanding what was promised. And they shouldn’t have to wait any longer.