‘Ministry says villagers were already provided rehabilitation’

A complete U-turn in a matter of one month by the Union Ministry for Tribal Affairs (MOTA) on the application of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) now promises to remove hurdles before the controversial Mapithel Multipurpose Project in Manipur, which has been under construction without mandatory green clearances for eight years.

Coerced and threatened over the past year, they are fighting for rights over forestland that is part of coal-block given to Tata Steel

In Latehar district’s Jala village, a hamlet of 250 tribal villagers has refused to make way for coal mining by Tata Steel and Adhunik Power and Natural Resource Limited (APNRL) till their forest rights are settled first.

The unilateral decision by union ministry of tribal affairs (MoTA) to convert forest villages into revenue villages even in national parks, sanctuaries and tiger reserves has been termed 'illegal'

While resolving to hold sensitisation camps in 400 panchayats of the state for the effective implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA), the Himalaya Niti Abhiyan (HNA) has demanded the constitu

More than five years after the Forest Rights Act, 2006, was implemented in the country, Union minister for tribal affairs V Kishore Chandra Deo said its execution was slow.

“The implementation of the act is the responsibility of the state governments which I found to be rather slow and tardy,” Deo said.