2005 - Indian Social Institute

akha samitis had accordingly been formed in 130 villages in Bijapur and Dantewara districts on an
experimental basis. Backing them would be police clusters, each covering 4-5 villages. Twelve
ground-level meetings had already been held in this connection, with another scheduled for July 24 at
Bhairamgarh (near Jagdalpur). To scuttle the master plan, the Naxals have already killed 16 people in
separate incidents in the last few weeks. What was encouraging, said Mr Rathor, was that the tribals were
cooperating despite the attendant dangers. So much so that 97 adivasis who had joined the Naxalites will
officially surrender in the presence of chief minister Raman Singh at the meet. The current campaign,
however, is not the first one. A similar programme in 1992-93 had to be dropped after the Naxals
butchered 70 tribals. (Asian age 22/7/05)
Centre may amend act to help tribals get land (6)
New Delhi, July 23: The Centre has decided to amend the Forest Conservation Act 1980 that will enable
Schedule Tribes to get ownership rights on the land where they were living. The amended legislation will
be tabled in the Monsoon Session of Parliament. Talking to this correspondent, Mr Kunwar Singh,
chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, said, "Tribals have no right on the land where
they live. The total population of tribals in the country is 8.5 crore. Now the government has decided to
amend the Forest Conservation Act 1980." "Provisions of the FCA should be suitably amended to allow
development activities to be taken up inside the forests," he added. Most of the states are demanding
amendments to the act to facilitate the regularisation of settlements inside forests. This demand has
received a fillip with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi lending her support and directly attributing the spread
of Naxalite groups to the FCA. He further said, "The chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and
Jharkhand had earlier demanded Union home minister Shivraj Patil’s intervention in amending the FCA.
The meeting reached a consensus that the Centre should take steps to amend the FCA to allow tribals to
build houses and harvest and trade forest produce inside protected areas. It was also decided that forest
rights settlements should be speeded up." According to sources, in 2002, then chief minister of Madhya
Pradesh Digvijay Singh wrote to then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee asking for the act to be
scrapped in order to facilitate peace in the Naxalite-affected areas. (Asian Age 24/7/05)
North-east civil groups seek region-wise discussion on Bill (6)
NEW DELHI: Civil groups in the North-east have demanded a region-wise consultation on the Scheduled
Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill before it is placed before the Union Cabinet for approval. In an
open letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, 28 civil groups, non-governmental organisations,
institutions and concerned citizens said the 'statement of objects and reasons' in the draft Bill was not in
the context of the region and issues, as much of the area was administered under special constitutional
provisions such as Article 371 and the Sixth Schedule. The ambit and scope of the Bill was too narrow in
its formulation and did not reflect the spirit of its objectives to comprehensively address the historical
injustice and the collective rights of the tribal and indigenous people and forest dwellers. "The Bill needs to
be developed in consonance with the objectives of the National Policy on Tribals, which itself is under
formulation," the letter said. The "restricted and hurried manner" in which the Bill was drawn up, lack of
transparency and the need for wider consultations was implicit in the draft. The groups objected to the
"extremely limited manner and avenue" in which the Tribal Affairs Ministry sought suggestions and
comments on the Bill. "We simply cannot accept the existing deadline for comments from concerned
citizens, when the Bill is only accessible on the Ministry website and to a privileged few." (The Hindu
27/7/05)
Two Rajasthan Ministers lock horns over PDS (6)
JAIPUR: Two senior Ministers of the Rajasthan Government have locked horns over alleged
blackmarketing of wheat meant for distribution among the tribal population in Udaipur. One of them,
Kirorilal Meena, Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, has written to Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje
complaining against Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria's "attempt'' to shield those involved. As such
there is no history of old rivalry between Dr. Meena and Mr. Kataria, both of whom share a Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh background. It may be a case of trespass as the geographical territory involved is
Udaipur, Mr. Kataria's home turf while the concerned department is Dr. Meena's. Dr. Meena, who led
raiding parties to the godowns of the Rajasthan Cooperative Federation and private mills in and around
Udaipur in June this year wrote to the Chief Minister a week back complaining to her about the recent
transfer of police officials who were actively involved in the raids. The Minister complained that the