Recommends guidelines to be issued by Tribal Affairs Ministry The National Advisory Council (NAC) has drawn up detailed operational guidelines, which it has recommended that the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry issue to the States for strengthening the Forest Rights Act (FRA). These guidelines can be issued under Section 12 of the FRA. One, the gram sabhas that are called for enquiry and verification of claims should be convened at the level of...
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Not out of the woods yet by Ashish Kothari
The promise of the FRA remains largely unfulfilled, says a committee set up by the Ministries of Environment and Forests and Tribal Affairs. IT seems hard for a government used to controlling most of India's common lands to let go of them. Even though it has passed a law mandating more decentralised governance of forests, the government itself is proving to be the biggest obstacle in its implementation. Other than in...
More »NAC undermined by Praful Bidwai
By stubbornly overruling the National Advisory Council, the government risks defeating its purpose as a body that speaks for the poor and the disadvantaged. HAS the Manmohan Singh government begun to regard the National Advisory Council (NAC) as an adversary who should be undermined? Going by their exchanges on key issues such as food security, wages under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), and the implementation of the Scheduled Tribes...
More »Ramesh softens stand, 'no-go' projects to get green nod
Has Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, who till recently was known for his green ‘overdrive’, toned down? Conditional clearance to several high-profile projects, including Posco and SAIL, is a pointer to how his ministry has softened its stand. Ahead of a meeting of the group of ministers (GoM) tomorrow, on the ‘no-go’ issue related to coal projects, 16 coal projects, that have been stuck for a year now, are set to get...
More »State to submit report to MoEF on Posco before month-end
The Orissa government will submit its report to the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) on the issue of compliance with Forest Rights Act at the Posco site before the end of this month. “We will definitely submit the report to the MoEF before the end of this month. The SC & ST department has already reviewed the report which is currently under the scrutiny of the state forest &...
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