Memorandum drawing the government’s attention

Although the government’s Tenth Five-Year Plan stresses reducing poverty through the proper management of herbs and forest products by way of community forestry, the plan of action and its implementation still need to be made considerably stronger.

Complications have also been seen with yarsagumba, an important herb of the Himalayan region. The government rules say that yarsagumba may not be exported without processing, but the Act is silent on what counts as processing. For this reason the requirement that it be processed before export should be removed from the Act; exports would then rise and collectors would benefit. Since the present royalty on yarsagumba is very high, we also request His Majesty’s Government to reduce it and fix it at 5 thousand rupees per kg.

The tax arrangement requiring community forest user groups in the Himalayan and hill regions to hand 40% of their income from forest product sales to the government is also impractical. We further draw His Majesty’s Government’s attention to the fact that forest user committees in the Himalayan and hill regions should not be taxed at all on the sale of forest products.