Will not dilute gram sabha consent requirements, says MoEF

In a joint strategy for their meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh next week, Environment and Forests Minister Jayanthi Natarajan and Tribal Affairs Minister Kishore Chandra Deo both reportedly plan to oppose any dilution of tribal rights in forest areas. This, despite the fact that their respective secretaries have signed on to a deal with the Prime Minister’s Office last month agreeing to such a dilution.

Paying heed to tribal affairs minister Kishore Chandra Deo's opposition in public to the Prime Minister Office's report recommending the dilution of tribal rights over forests, PM Manmohan Singh ha

NEW DELHI: Differing from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), Union tribal affairs minister V Kishore Chandra Deo has stood firm on tribal rights granted over forestlands through the Forest Rights Act (FRA) as the government sought more time from the Supreme Court to finalize its position.

The government's plea in the Vedanta case comes in the backdrop of differences on the consent clauses involving gram sabhas. Deo told TOI that "I have previously stood in favour of the August 2009 order (of the environment ministry) and I am against any dilution in the order. The core of the order and this issue lies in the constitutional provisions safeguarding tribal rights."

Tribal minister says he hasn’t seen the report on this, though his own secretary is a signatory

A panel set up by the Prime Minister’s Office to review the mechanism for forest clearances in industrial projects has suggested replacing the need for approval from the relevant gram sabha with state government “certificates’’. Tribal Affairs Minister Kishore Chandra Deo says he has yet to see the report, which in effect asks for disregarding the Forest Rights Act (FRA), which he has been championing.

New Delhi: The joint stand that environment ministry and the tribal affairs ministry take in the critical Vedanta bauxite mining case in the Supreme Court on Monday is set to decide the fate of hun

PSU firm prefers to export the product board to take up the matter in its next meeting

After its alumina refinery at Lanjigarh was shut due to lack of bauxite, now operations at Vedanta’s aluminium smelter in Odisha have been hit by shortage of alumina. Time and again, Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL) has asked National Aluminium Company Limited ( Nalco), which has surplus alumina, to sell it the commodity at a premium, but in vain. B L Bagra, director (finance) of Nalco, confirmed VAL had offered to pay a premium over Nalco’s export price. However, he added the company’s strategy was to export alumina. Others said Nalco’s move was triggered by the company’s reluctance to encourage competition. Nalco and VAL are competitors; both manufacture and sell aluminium.

‘Cos, both PSUs & private, have neither operated in an environmentally sustainable manner, nor socially beneficial manner’

“Mining only leads to greater poverty,” Jairam Ramesh, Union Minister of Rural Development explained to the tribals of Lanjigarh, Odisha at the foothills of the Niyamgiri hills. This is the union minister's first visit to the naxal-affected Kalahandi district, a political tinderbox, where tribal interests are ranged against big corporates. Mr Ramesh insisted his visit was part of his agenda to visit all naxal affected districts and fight extremism with increased rural development.

Wants Tribal Consent Clause Toned Down

New Delhi: The PMO has stepped in yet again to push for dilution of the green clearance procedures, this time asking the environment ministry to render the need for projects to comply with the Forest Rights Act (FRA) almost redundant. The recommendation comes as the latest in a series of moves that the PMO has made to alter the environment and forest clearance process for projects even as it failed to fashion the National Investment Board as an over-arching regulator to supersede the environment ministry. The latest recommendation, substantially denting the importance of what was once UPA’s flagship scheme for tribals — the FRA — has again shown the hands-on approach the PMO has taken to tackle the environmental clearance process.

Tells VAL to look for bauxite beyond Niyamgiri for its refinery

Union Minister for Rural Development, Jayaram Ramesh on Sunday announced a package worth Rs 300-crore envisaging construction of houses and roads for the Dongaria and Kutia Kandhas, a primitive tribes group (PTG), living at the foot-hill of Odisha’s bauxite rich Niyamgiri mountain in Kalahandi district. The package includes Rs 200-core for construction of 2100 houses under Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) and laying of rural roads to all villages with a population of 250 and more in Kalahandi district with an outlay of Rs 100 crore under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).

“Mining has only resulted in displacement of lakhs of tribal families instead of creating jobs for them”

Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Sunday urged the governments in the mineral-rich Naxal-affected States to focus on development of agriculture and implementation of rural development programmes instead of focusing on mining to create employment. Addressing a gathering of Dongaria and Kutia Kandha tribal groups on the foothills of Niyamgiri hills in this tribal-dominated block of Kalahandi district, Mr. Ramesh underlined the need for prioritising agriculture and rural development saying that mining in the country’s mineral-rich States such as Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand had only added to the people’s miseries. Mining had only resulted in displacement of lakhs of tribal families instead of proving to be beneficial for them, he added.