KEY TRENDS • Section 105 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, which provides for excluding 13 Central legislation, including Land Acquisition (Mines) Act 1885, Atomic Energy Act, 1962, Railway Act 1989, National Highways Act 1956 and Metro Railways (Construction of Works) Act, 1978, from its purview, has been amended for payment of compensation with rigours $ • The amendments have now...
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Dormant Tribal Affairs Ministry turns pro-active by Smita Gupta
Realising it was losing the turf war with the hyperactive Union Ministry of Environment and Forests on a subject that has become a top priority for the United Progressive Alliance government, the once comatose Tribal Affairs Ministry has, in recent weeks, suddenly begun to assert its rights over its responsibilities. The first sign of this realisation was reflected in Tribal Affairs Minister Kantilal Bhuria shooting off letters in quick succession on...
More »Cut out the shortcuts by Sunita Narain
The Ministry of Environment and Forest’s decision to stall the Vedanta project in Orissa must be understood. The ‘story’ is about a powerful company breaking the law. But it is equally about a development puzzle in which the richest lands of India are where the poorest people subsist. The N.C. Saxena committee has indicted the mining conglomerate on three counts of breaking the environmental laws. One, it took over and...
More »Khunti resists new forest act by Suman K Shrivastava
The Centre’s sunshine law — Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, — has failed to find favour in Khunti district, the birthplace of tribal icon Birsa Munda. Villagers in the district said the new act is irrelevant as the Chotanagpur Tenancy (CNT) Act, 1908, framed by the British following the Birsa movement, ensures more rights to the tribals than what the new law promises. Little...
More »Process Betrays the Spirit: Forest Rights Act in Bengal by Sourish Jha
The implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 has created controversy in West Bengal. The gram sabha, the basic unit in the process of forest rights recognition, has been replaced by the gram sansad, denoting the village level constituency under the panchayati raj system. This has been followed by contiguous arrangements as well as initiatives which are inconsistent with the Act....
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