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Tribal Rights Bill cleared by Cabinet
The cabinet rejectes the recommendation of GoMs to have separate laws for forest dwellers and forest tribal dwellers, reports Aloke Tikku and Chetan Chauhan.
The controversial Tribal Rights Bill was cleared by the Cabinet on Thursday with approving 2005 deadline to recognise the rights of forest dwellers. The cabinet also rejected the recommendation of Group of Ministers to have separate laws for forest dwellers and forest tribal dwellers. The Cabinet also agreed to some other recommendations of the Joint Parliamentary Committee, which submitted its report in May this year.
Parliamentary Affairs minister PR Dasmunshi told reporters that the government has decided the rights of those living in forests for three generations would be recognised. The deadline for recognisation of rights is December 2005, he said. The cabinet also decided to give Panchayati Raj bodies more decisive role in finalising the rights of those living in forests.
The bill likely to be introduced in Parliament next week will be finalised by a committee of four ministers --- for Tribal Affair, Panchayati Raj, Environment and Forests and Law and Justice. The Cabinet, however, did not agree with the Group of Ministers' recommendation to have separate laws for tribals and forest dwellers.
Welcoming the decision Shankar of Campaign for Dignity and Survival, a federation of bodies fighting for rights of tribal and forest dwellers, said, "if the recommendations of JPC have been agreed we support such decision. But, we will react only when we get a copy of the final bill".
The decision may not leave many conservationists happy. They have been opposing shifting the deadline from 1980 as envisaged in Tribal Affairs, introduced in Parliament last year, to 2005 as stated by the JPC report. They were also against giving power to decide the forest rights to gram sabha. "It will result in death of forests," said former Director Project Tiger, PK Sen.
Munshi, however, said the new law would undo the historical injustice by recognising and vesting the forest rights with the dwellers. It will also help in forest conservation, he said.
