Funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) are now being put to a strange use - building walls around government forests!

In a letter addressed to chief ministers of states, Tribal Affairs Minister KC Deo has lamented the development saying it’s ironic how MNREGA funds were being used in states to build “high stone walls around government forests” thereby denying tribals and traditional forest dwellers access to their own land and produce.