6 million Trees Disappeared from Farmlands

Why in news?

• Researchers have revealed that India may have lost close to 5.8 million full-grown trees in agricultural lands from 2019 to 2022.

About

• Agroforest treesin India are remnant trees from forests cleared for agricultural use, offer shade, soil fertilization and other benefits to the land.
  • Agroforestry is the practice of retaining large trees in and along croplands.
• Trees such as mahua, coconut, sangri, neem, babul, shisham, jamun, vegetable hummingbird, karoi and jackfruit in farmlands provide fruits, fuelwood, sap, medicine, mulch, fiber, fodder and wood for animal and human use.

Benefits of Agroforestry

• Agroforestry systems act as carbon sinks, reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
• Trees can provide shade, windbreaks, and microclimate regulation, which benefit crops by reducing stress from extreme weather conditions.
• Tree roots absorb excess water during heavy rains,reducing flooding, while also improving groundwater recharge. 
• It provides a range of non-timber forest productssuch as fruits, nuts, and medicinal plants, which can contribute to food security and income generation.

Reasons for loss in Agroforest trees

• The conversion of diverse agroforestry systems to monoculture agriculture, such as paddy fields, result in the removal of large trees.
• Farmers perceive that the benefits provided by trees in agroforestry systems do not outweigh the costs or effort required to maintain them.
  • This perception leads to deliberate removal of trees to make farming practices more convenientor profitable.
• In regions where water availability is a limiting factor for agriculture, farmers remove trees to establish bore wells or irrigation systemsto access additional water sources.
• Tree mortality due to natural disturbances such as wildfires, fungal infections, insect infestations, and droughts is a natural part of ecosystem dynamics.

Agroforestry in India

• The area under agroforestry in India covers about 65%of India’s total geographical area.
  • About 56% of India is covered by farmland and 20% by forest.
• The highest concentration is in the states of Uttar Pradesh(1.86 million ha), followed by Maharashtra (1.61 million ha), Rajasthan (1.55 million ha) and Andhra Pradesh (1.17 million ha).
• The Sub-Mission on Agroforestry (Har Medh Par Ped) Schemewas launched in 2016-17 to encourage tree plantation on farm land along with crops/ cropping systems to help the farmers get additional income and make their farming systems more climate resilient and adaptive.

Way Ahead

• India’s tree cover has notably expanded in recent years, but it’s crucial to recognize that our reporting only accounts for gross losses, without distinguishing tree gains separately.
• A certain loss rate is natural, and the cutting of trees is also part of agroforestry management systems, and not every lost tree is related to climatic disturbances or human appropriation.
• Moreover, mature trees in fields are often removed, with newer trees cultivated in separate block plantations, generally possessing lower ecological significance.

Personality Rights

Why in news?

• The Delhi High Court has protected the personality and publicity rights of a Bollywood actor.
  • The court has restrained various entities – e-commerce stores, AI chatbots, social media accounts etc – from misusing the actor’s name, image, voice, and likeness without his consent.

What are Personality Rights?

• Personality rights refer to the right of a person to protect his/her personalityunder the right to privacy or property.
  • These could include a pose, a mannerism or any aspect of their personality.
• These rights are important to celebrities as their names, photographs or even voices can easily be misused in various advertisements by different companies to boost their sales.
• Many celebrities even register some aspects as a trademark to use them commercially.
  • For example, Usain Bolt’s “bolting” or lightning pose is a registered trademark.

Reasons for providing these Rights

• The idea is that only the owner of these distinct features has the right to derive any commercial benefit from it.
• Exclusivity is a big factor in attracting commercial dividends for celebrities.
• Personality rights are not expressly mentioned in a Laws in India but fall under the right to privacy and the right to property.

Are Personality Rights different from Publicity Rights?

• Personality rights consists oftwo types of rights:
  • Firstly, the Right of Publicity, or the right to keep one’s image and likeness from being commercially exploited without permission or contractual compensation, which is similar (but not identical) to the use of a trademark;
  • Secondly, theRight to Privacy or the right not to have one’s personality represented publicly without permission.
• Publicity rights fall into the realm of the‘tort of passing off’, when someone intentionally or unintentionally passes off their goods or services to another party. This type of misrepresentation damages the goodwill of a person or business, resulting in financial or reputational damage.
• Publicity rights are governed by statutes like the Trade marks Act 1999 and the Copyright Act 1957.

Legality of Personality Rights

• Celebrities can move the Court and seek an injunctionwhen an unauthorised third party uses their personality rights for commercial purposes.
• Personality rights or their protection are not expressly mentioned in a statute in India but are traced to fall under the right to privacy and the right to property.
• Many concepts in intellectual property rights used in protection of trademarks such as passing off, deception can be applied while deciding whether a celebrity deserves to be protected through an injunction.
  • An ex-parte injunction is when relief is granted to a party without hearing the other side.
  • An omnibus injunction refers to an injunction granted against any unauthorised use- even those that are not mentioned in the plea.

Criteria for Granting Injunction

In the Titan case, the HC in its order listed out the “basic elements comprising the liability for infringement of the right of publicity.”

• Validity of the Right: The plaintiff owns an enforceable right in the identity or persona of a human being.
• Easy to Identify in the alleged misuse:The defendant’s unauthorized use must make the celebrity identifiable easily.
• Celebrity is identifiable: The unaided identification should be enough if the celebrity is well-known. Otherwise, the plaintiff will have to bring evidence which adds up at a geometric rate to associate with the plaintiff.

Previous Cases on Personality Rights

• Anil Kapoor had moved the Delhi High Courtin a civil suit seeking protection of his personality- his name, photographs, manner of speaking, gestures etc.
  • He also claimed protection of his copyright in the dialogue and in the image and other associated works.
• In 2022, the Delhi High Court had dealt with a similar case involving Amitabh Bachchan. 
  • From using variations of his name such as “Big B” to including his “unique style of addressing the computer the HC injuncted the use of his personality rights.
• In 2015, the Madras High Court, in a similar case involving actor Rajnikanth had observed that “personality right vests on those persons, who have attained the status of celebrity”.