1. Government in Resolution No. 5503 dated 31.3.2001 and No...... dated 23.08.2001 of Forest and Environment had vested in the Gram Panchayats the authority to regulate the purchase, procurement and trade in 68 (Sixty eight) Minor Forest Produce brought into their respective territories. The Policy Resolution had provided that any person desirous of purchasing MFPs from primary gatherers or trading in MFPs will need to register with the Gram Panchayats within whose territory he does such business on payment of registration fee. No person shall be entitled to procure or trade in MFPs in any GP without being registered with the said Gram Panchayat. The Gram Panchayats were also vested with the authority to cancel the registration of any trader who procured any MFP from the primary gatherers at a rate lower than the minimum procurement price fixed for that MFP. It had also been stipulated that such minimum procurement price will be fixed by a State Level Price Fixation Committee constituted by Government in the S.C. and S.T. Development Department.

2. With a view to empowering the Gram Panchayats to regulate the procurement and trade in MFPs effectively and providing a sound and effective legal frame-work for implementing the scheme of delegation of powers and functions in respect of Minor Forest Produce items to the Gram Panchayats embodied in the above Policy Resolutions, government are in the process of making a set of Rules under the Orissa Grama Panchayat Act as well as amending the existing Orissa Timber and other Forest Produce Transit Rules, 1980.

3. One of the basic features of the proposal legal changes would be to vest the Panchayats who are authoriesed to register the procurers and traders of MFP, also to fix the Minimum Procurement Prices within their local jurisdiction. The making of the new Rules under the Orissa Gram Panchayats Act and amendment of the Orissa Timber and other Forest Produce Transit Rules will, however, take some time. Pending such legal changes delegating, to the Gram Panchayats the function of fixing the Minimum Procurement Prices, Government intend delegating the responsibility and the powers of fixing the minimum procurement prices to the district level; and have, after careful consideration, decided as follows:

4. The collector of every district will fix the minimum procurement prices in respect of all the NTFP items including the 68 Minor Forest Produce items, for the current year beginning with 1st October 2001. The Minimum Procurement Prices fixed by the Collector of the District will be valid for all the G.Ps within the Districts. While fixing the minimum procurement prices the Collector shall consult the Divisional Forest Officers (Territorial), the District Panchayat Officer, the District Welfare Officer, the local representative of the Tribal Development Cooperative (TDCC), the local representative of the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Ltd. (TRIFED), the local representative of the Forest Development Corporation (OFDC), where-ever present and a local representative of the Women and Child Development Department. He will also take into account the overall price and production trends in the Country for each item.

5. The minimum procurement prices should be determined by the Collectors as early as possible, and duly notified in the Distrcit. No approval of Government would be necessary but the collectors should obtain the clearance from their R.D.Cs with a view to eliminating wide inter district variance in the Minimum Procurement Prices fixed should be given wide publicity in the District for the general information of the public. The Minimum Procurement Prices fixed shall be communicated by the District Collector to each Gram Panchayat of the District, who should be required to place a copy there of on their Notice Boards and give wide publicity to these in the local limits, of their jurisdiction. The Minimum Procurement Prices should also be intimated to all Panchayat Samities and the Zilla Parishada for their information.