IN MAY-END, Maharashtra, Odisha and Chhattisgarh, where over one-fourth of India’s tribes live, changed a law meant to protect them. They modified the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, or FRA, threatening to make the forest-dwelling communities even more vulnerable.
On May 18, Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, using his powers under Schedule V of the Constitution, notified an amendment in Section 6 of FRA. Now, a divisional-level committee would serve as the appellate body to examine people’s grievances. As per the government, the change would help serve justice to tribal people whose individual or community rights have been rejected by the district-level committee.
Creation of the new appellate body has taken many by surprise because under the FRA provisions, a state-level monitoring body already exists to oversee the process. “On several occasions, state-level bodies have asked the district-level committees to review their decisions. It’s a different matter that state-level committees, which are supposed to meet once every two months, do not meet. Creating another body will only complicate matters,” says Shomona Khanna, a Supreme Court advocate and former legal counsel of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA). “It will also reduce the claimants’ ability to approach higher courts to challenge the decision of the district-level committee, as the courts would hold that an appellate body has already rejected the claim,” she adds.
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Denne historien er fra June 16, 2020-utgaven av Down To Earth.
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A SPRIG TO CARE FOR
Punarnava, a perennial herb, is easy to grow and has huge health benefits
DIGGING A DISASTER
Soapstone mining near Dabti Vijaypur village has caused many residents to migrate.
REVIEW THE TREATMENT
Several faecal sludge treatment plants in Uttar Pradesh suffer from design flaws that make the treatment process both expensive and inefficient
MAKE STEEL SUSTAINABLE
As India works to double its GDP by 2030, its steel industry must balance growth with sustainability. By embracing policies like the Steel Scrap Recycling Policy 2019 and adopting green technologies, India is paving the way for a more sustainable future in steel production
Can ANRF pull off the impossible for India?
Anusandhan National Research Foundation is expected to reorient India's innovation goals but funding issues, old mindsets remain a drag
TROUBLED WOODS
Forests are a great bulwark against climate change. But this is fast changing. AKSHIT SANGOMLA travels through some of the pristine patches of the Western Ghats to explore how natural disturbances triggered by global warming now threaten the forest health
BLINDING GLOW
The science is clear: increased illumination has damaging consequences for the health of humans, animals and plants. It’s time governments introduced policies to protect the natural darkness and improved the quality of outdoor lighting.
GROUND REALITY
What happens when the soil loses the ability to grow healthy, high-yield crops on its own?
GM POLICY MUST BE FARMER CENTRIC
On July 23, the Supreme Court of India directed the Union government to develop a national policy on genetically modified (GM) crops for research, cultivation, trade and commerce through public consultation.
Vinchurni's Gandhi
A 96-year-old farmer transforms barren land into a thriving forest in drought-prone region of Satara