Projects shouldnt get forest nod without my ministrys permission: Chandra Deo

Deos ministry is the implementing authority for the landmark Forest Rights Act that seeks to give tribals and other forest-dwellers ownership over the land they have been living on for years and on which they depend for their livelihood. Under the Act,tribals and forest-dwellers have to be issued certificates of land-ownership by the state governments,making them legal owners of the forest land they live on.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests,which grants clearances to industrial or infrastructure projects,had,in August 2009,issued an order saying diversion of forest land for any project would not be allowed till the process of FRA is completed in that area. Several big projects,including POSCOs iron and steel project and Vedantas bauxite mining project,were stalled because of this order.

But Deo says the Environment Ministry has not been as diligent while appraising most other projects,and has often overlooked its own order while granting clearances. In fact,a few months back,Deo had written to Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan saying that the least that could be done is to accommodate a representative from the Tribal Affairs Ministry on the Forest Advisory Committee FAC of the Environment Ministry. The FAC recommends whether a project can be allowed to come up on forest land or not.

In an angry exchange of letters that followed,Natarajan had dismissed the fears of Deo and remained non-committal on the suggestion to include one representative of Tribal Affairs Ministry on the FAC.

Deo said the lack of any role in deciding whether a project affecting tribal populations should be allowed was just one example of how his ministry is often overlooked in matters concerning tribals. He said various ministries spend over Rs 21,000 crore under their tribal sup-plan,but his ministry does not have any say on where this money is spent.

As the nodal ministry for tribal welfare,we received thousands of applications from states and other organisations for things like school or hospital in tribal areas. But I do not have any control over the funds. My ministrys entire budget is only Rs 4,000 crore. The Education Ministry or the Health Ministry have lots of money under tribal sub-plan,and I cannot tell them where to spend this money, he said.

The right thing to do will be to make my ministry a partner in any exercise meant for the development of tribal population,because that is what the mandate of the ministry is, he said.