India
Jairam Ramesh slams government’s approach to Adivasi rights on Birsa Munda’s 150th birth anniversary | India News – Times of India
Ramesh, in a statement on Friday, accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government of “paying lip service” to the cause of Adivasis while undermining their rights.
Ramesh emphasized that the Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan (DAJGUA), named after Bhagwan Birsa Munda, is a “mockery” of the government. Forest Rights Act (FRA), a law passed in 2006 under the leadership of former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. According to Ramesh, the FRA was a landmark law that transferred authority over forests from the Forest Department to local Gram Sabhas and empowered tribal communities to democratically manage and govern forests.
“The Forest Rights Act (2006), passed by Dr. Manmohan Singh’s government, was a revolutionary law,” Ramesh said.
The Congress General Secretary added, “It transferred power and authority over forests from the Forest Department to the GramSabha. In another departure from precedent, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs was given the power as the central authority to implement the law. The FRA empowered the Adivasi community and Gram Sabhas to govern and manage forests – as an important reform to ensure democratic governance of forests.”
However, Ramesh alleged that DAJGUA is undermining this reform. He accused the Modi government of diluting the authority of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and transferring powers to the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. “DAJGUA fundamentally undoes this historic law and the democratic reform of forest management,” he stated.
Ramesh also pointed out that DAJGUA has created a parallel structure of ‘FRA cells’ at the district and sub-divisional level, which would take control of key responsibilities from the statutory bodies defined under the FRA, such as the Gram Sabha. He denounced the involvement of corporate agencies and technical experts in the process and warned that it could lead to large-scale rejection of Adivasi claims, as seen in Madhya Pradesh with the VanMiTRA app.
“The Forest Department has now been allowed to be part of Gram Sabha’s own committee for community forest resource management – a direct violation of the FRA,” Ramesh said.
