NAC for change in FRA to aid tribals

Seeking to give a better deal to tribals, the National Advisory Council (NAC) headed by Sonia Gandhi on Saturday cleared recommendations to amend the Forest Rights Acts (FRA) that could give forest dwellers more say in managing their affairs.

Updated on: Feb 27, 2011, 24:54:18 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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Sonia Gandhi headed National Advisory Council on Saturday sought change in rules to prohibit any diversion of forestland without gram sabha’s approval, higher participation of tribals in implementing Forest Rights Act (FRA) and allow them sale of minor forest produce.

To undo past injustices, the NAC's key recommendation is to have at least two-third tribals in area forest right committee, instead of the present one-third and allow them to sell minor forest produce improve their source of income.

To make gram sabha effective, the NAC wants to reduce mandatory quorum of gram sabha meeting from two-third to half of the total people in the village. And, to hold gram sabha at the village or hamlet level, instead of panchayat level, a body having several villages.

"The purpose of these recommendations is to ensure that the key features of this law - the democratic process of recognising rights, the protection to a range of livelihood rights, and the powers of communities to protect and conserve forests - are not undermined," the NAC has told the government.

Different groups including Campaign for Survival and Dignity and the government's own panel on FRA headed by NAC member NC Saxena had accused the government for failing to give forest dwellers their rights as enshrined in the FRA.

To address major concern of tribal communities, the NAC has said no claim should be rejected without hearing them and the government should not blindly follow the claim of forest departments. "Claims are often rejected at sub-divisional or district levels without hearing the claimant, which is contrary to principles of natural justice," the NAC said.

Lok Pal bill next

The NAC has decided to work on the Lok Pal bill, which has been hanging fire for over four decades now. Mired in controversies, the Lok Pal is billed as an independent body to inquire into allegations of corruption against MPs, ministers and the Prime Minister but after getting clearance from the presiding officer of the House concerned.
HTC, New Delhi

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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