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Kishore Chandra Deo, newly-appointed Minister for Tribal Affairs interviewed by Urmi A Goswami

The newly-appointed Minister for Tribal AffairsKishore Chandra Deo, in an interview to ET, outlines the government's new strategy that focuses on prioritising addressing rights of tribals and forest dwellers as the pre-condition to development in remote and combating Left-wing extremism. Excerpts:

There have been problems with the implementation of the Forest Rights Act, a landmark legislation of the UPA-I government.

The problems have been to a great extent on account of discrepancy in rules. By nature, rules are supposed to supplement and complement the law. I will resolve these discrepancies. For instance, gram sabhas are being constituted at the panchayat level instead of at village or habitation level. In the PESA areas, I can take action through orders under Article 12 as it is within the Centre's purview. For the states, I can issue guidelines and persuade them to adopt these. I will intervene wherever I can, and elsewhere I will persuade and persist. I am also studying recommendations of the Saxena-Pandey Committee and theNational Advisory Council and will take action.

Rahul Gandhi proclaimed that he was the soldier of the tribals at Niyamgiri, but he is silent when it comes toPosco and Polavaram. Has the party trapped between development and tribal rights?

The Forest Rights Act and its implementation is a commitment of the UPA government. Both the government and party are serious about it. The FRA is not a charity, it is an attempt to undo a historical wrong and I will use every resource to ensure that states play their part. I am not against any project, but we need to consider larger questions of guaranteeing the safeguards outlined in the Constitution to the tribal population. If scheduled tribes are evacuated from an area what happens to their constitutional safeguards. I believe that we must always consider alternatives before arriving at any final decision. For example, for Polavaram, I am considering an alternative proposal that minimises the submersion of land.

Environment ministry's 2009 order seeks to make the Forest Conservation Act compliant to the Forest Rights Act, but in practice, this hasn't always happened.

Any clearance for forest areas must be preceded by compliance of the FRA. The implementation of this order has to become more stringent, and I will also address the issue of possible conflict of interest in having states verify the resolutions of the gram sabha.

The settling of community rights has been slow and the forest department is seen as an adversary for settling claims.

Community rights have been negated by giving pattas to the joint forest management committees. This is land given to groups usually comprising village heads or other selected by the forest department. This is not the same as community rights defined under the Act. Giving land titles to these committees is a total violation of the Act. Land titles will be given for total area of about 2.4% of the forest cover. This is not charity from the forest department; this is not a loan meal bonanza. It is about recognising the pre-existing rights of the inhabitants of these forests, but whose rights to land, unlike those of the plainspeople, have not been recognised. The concept of rights under the Act has been wrongly understood. These are only heritable rights, so they can't sell off the land.

What are the reasons for lapses by the states in the implementation?

There could have been practical difficulties, besides the discrepancy in rules. The FRA is a pathbreaking legislation. It was a break from the traditional approach to the forest-dwellers and tribals' right to land, requiring a change in mindset.

Do you plan to prioritise FRA implementation in LWE areas?

The unrest in these areas is a result of failure to give people their land rights. It is not a question of more focus but understanding that settling the rights of the tribals and other forest-dwellers is a pre-condition for any other activity in the LWE affected areas. There are issues that need to be taken into account but that is not an excuse for not addressing the basic rights.