The Fifth Schedule of the Constitution, the 73rd amendment and the landmark PESA and Forest Rights Act (FRA) have progressively acknowledged the rights, and special powers of the Gram Sabha in deciding developmental projects as well as playing a role in protecting the ecology and forests. But a clutch of clever exemptions in recent months are ensuring that centralised authorities take away the same powers through the back door, without routing...
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‘Implementation of Forest Rights Act a panacea for all ills’ -K Jeevan Chinnappa
-The Hindu Chairperson of panel for STs unhappy with State’s performance Chairperson of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes Rameshwar Oraon is displeased over the tardy implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, by the State governments. In an exclusive interview with The Hindu here on Thursday, Mr. Oraon said the objective of the Forest Rights Act was to facilitate welfare of the tribal...
More »Guj: Tribal voters get pre-poll sweetener from Modi -Mahesh Langa
-The Hindustan Times Gujarat's tribal voters, who traditionally favour the Congress, have received a pre-poll sweetener from chief minister Narendra Modi. Barely two weeks before the model code of conduct came into effect on October 3 with the announcement of two-phase polls in December, the Modi government decided to reconsider nearly 75,000 "rejected" claims from tribals on forest land. The ruling Bharatiya Janta Party's (BJP) decision is being seen as a move to...
More »Mendha Lekha model for Bengal and five-Basant Kumar Mohanty
-The Telegraph Bengal should follow in the footsteps of Mendha Lekha if it wants to beat back Maoists. And so should Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. That’s what rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has advised in a letter he wrote last week. Create “more Mendha Lekhas”, he said, referring to the Maharashtra village that gave villagers community rights over minor forest resource and transit permit to sell such produce. For thousands...
More »Rules to help tribals assert forest rights-Basant Kumar Mohanty
-The Telegraph The Centre today announced fresh guidelines to protect the rights of forest dwellers and “undo” years of “injustice” these tribal people have had to face over claims on land and minor produce. Sources said the Union tribal affairs ministry, which issued the guidelines, felt the implementation of the forest rights act (FRA) had been “poor” on the ground. “The FRA aims to undo the historic injustice made against the tribal people...
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