Jairam Ramesh's removal as Environment Minister creates uncertainties for domestic environment policy and the deadlocked global climate talks. WHATEVER one may think of its overall impact, the recent Cabinet reshuffle was not exactly a damp squib. Its single most important component was Jairam Ramesh's replacement as the Minister of State with independent charge in the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) by Jayanthi Natarajan, a relative political lightweight with very little...

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...

-The Hindustan Times   After farmers, the Central government is looking for a higher compensation regime for forestland acquired from tribals and Forest dwellers for various projects. The move comes after the rural development ministry issued a draft land acquisition bill providing for market-linked compensation to farmers and the demand by tribal groups for a national policy on the rehabilitation of tribals displaced by large-scale mining across India to end lop-sided growth....

The proposed land acquisition bill unveiled by the Centre today will not override provisions of two landmark laws that seek to protect the interests of tribal landowners, thereby addressing a serious concern of states like Jharkhand where bulk of the land being eyed by industry is in forests inhabited by tribals. On a day the Draft National Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation & Resettlement Bill, 2011, was put in the public domain,...

The United Progressive Alliance government on Friday unveiled its second draft Bill addressing the burning issues of land acquisition as well as rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R). The National Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011, as recommended by the National Advisory Council, will make it mandatory that gram sabhas are consulted and the R&R package is executed before the acquired land is transferred. Union Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh...