the government proposed and then disposed of their proposal, well almost. upa government's National Advisory Council (nac) had, in December 2005, provided an alternative to the controversial national policy on resettlement and rehabilitation for Project Affected Families, 2003, by way of a draft policy. Media reported on May 3, 2006 that the prime minister's office (pmo) had turned down the new draft policy calling it untenable in parts. At a meeting held in pmo on May 2, 2006, T K A Nair, principal secretary to the pmo, headed a secretaries' meet, which categorically rejected most of the radical clauses of the 2005 draft policy or put them in limbo by postponing discussions on them.

To obfuscate matters further, the draft was being discussed at several levels within the government at the same time. The draft initially went to the pmo and the Union ministry of rural development. The pmo further created a committee of secretaries and a group of ministers to review the draft policy. Meanwhile, the inter-sectoral committee on tribal affairs under the Planning Commission was also involved in the process of reviewing the draft.

The convoluted chain, however, does not end here. The inter-sectoral committee has further created a group of four to begin the task of formulating the draft's legislation and will present its comments by June-end.

The Union ministry of rural development, on the other hand, has remained silent so far, but is also expected to come out with a report by the month-end.


Mammoth task

The new draft policy presented by the nac is poles apart