Jharkhand’s implementation of the Centre’s flagship scheme to grant land rights to forest dwellers has been extremely poor, ringing hollow promises by successive governments to uphold rights of over three lakh tribals of the state. According to a report prepared by a 19-member committee constituted by the Union ministry of environment and forests, 24 districts of Jharkhand had granted land rights to a mere 7,207 forest dwellers under Scheduled Tribes and...

Raising doubts on the impartiality of the Saxena-Pandey committee appointed by the Centre, the Orissa government has questioned the authenticity of their findings about violations in the Posco project area. Countering the charge of violation of the Forest Rights Act, the state government has asked the environment ministry to reconsider its “stop work” order. In a letter to the Union environment ministry, the state government has alleged that “the way...

The Jagatsinghpur district administration has refuted the claims of National Forest Rights Act (NFRA) committee on presence of Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFDs) at the Posco project site and also on seeking the consent of gram sabha for diversion of forest land for the project. Contrary to the observations of the committee, the district collector said, there is no proof of any villager cultivating the forest land for the last three...

In continuance with the government’s effort to empower people of Naxal affected areas, the government is considering significant changes in two Central laws to meet the aspirations of locals. The two laws — Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas  Act, also called PESA, meant for scheduled tribe areas and Forest Rights Act (FRA) covering those living in forests —are said to contradict each other  while identifying rights of the locals. While PESA...

The implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act in Madhya Pradesh faces a host of problems due to a strange interpretation of the Act by the Forest Department. While the department's opposition to the Act is no secret — several petitions have been filed against it in the Supreme Court by retired forest officials or organisations run by them — new information obtained...