Govt's bid to water down tribal rights takes a hit
NEW DELHI: The government's plan to detach tribal rights from clearances to projects requiring forestlands partially boomeranged after the Supreme Court on Thursday ordered that the gram sabha should decide if their customary and religious rights would be impacted by Vedanta's proposed bauxite mining in Niyamgiri hills in Odisha. The decision will dampen the pressure within the UPA to further dilute the norms that empower tribal gram sabhas under the Forest Rights Act to give consent to projects requiring forestlands. A report prepared by the PMO in December 2012 had recommended that the rights of gram sabhas under the Forest Rights Act to give prior consent to projects should be watered down to operate only in cases of exception. The tribal affairs ministry gave in to the pressure and agreed to the report and the environment ministry followed up by agreeing to do away with the need for consent from gram sabhas for linear projects. But the pressure building u