The Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill 2005 has been prepared by the Ministry of Tribal Welfare, Government of India, "to recognize and vest the forest rights and occupation in forest land in forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes who have been residing in such forests for generations, but whose rights could not be recorded;' and "to provide for a framework for recording the forest rights so vested and the nature of evidence required for such recognition and vesting in respect of forest land.' The Bill was introduced in the Parliament during December 2005 and generated deb

An acrimonious exchange of words over the Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill, has appeared in the national press during the past couple of months.

An amendment to the Orissa forest act gives sweeping powers to forest officials

An Act to provide for the extension and application of, and to amend the Assam Forest Regulation, 1891 (Regulation 7 of 1891) and the Meghalaya Forest Regulation and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

Builders and residents affected by the Bombay High Court ruling on

In a decision that will affect the status of over 100 acres of land in north Mumbai suburbs, the Bombay high court on Monday upheld Maharashtra government's action of declaring a swathe of private lan

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan has said that wheat would not be allowed to be sold below the support price of Rs. 1100 a quintal.

In a hardening of stance, some powerful wildlife NGOs and conservationists have written to the Prime Minister against the government implementing the Forest Rights Act without a fresh review. Wildlife NGOs and individuals who are part of the National Board of Wildlife (NBWL), which is headed by the PM, have complained that the government has not set up a committee to review the Act. "The decision taken at the fourth meeting to have the adverse impacts of the Forest Rights Act looked into by a subcommittee (of the NBWL) was totally ignored (by the environment ministry) and no such sub-committee has been formed,' the letter says. While the members have claimed the PM had agreed to a review, the minutes of the meeting record that a committee would be formed merely to

New Delhi: In what could be a fresh headache for government, a petition challenging the constitutional validity of a pet UPA project, the Forest Rights Act aimed at giving land rights to traditional forest dwellers, has been filed by prominent wildlife groups in Supreme Court.

The ministry of tribal affairs has stressed the need for implementation of the Forest Rights Act in time bound manner, urging the states to complete preliminary work for identification of beneficiaries by the middle of March. In two-day meeting of state secretaries of tribal development that concluded in Delhi today, secretary of the ministry of tribal affairs G.B. Mukherji said the Centre was giving priority to the implementation of Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.

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