The Environment and
Forests Minister, Shri T. R. Baalu today stated in the Lok Sabha
that the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1990 do not infringe on the
rights, concessions and privileges of the tribal people. He, however,
said that in certain areas the tribal people may be facing some
problems on account of faulty settlement of the claims of tribals
by the State Governments due to which some tribals are being treated
as encroachers. Making a statement in the House on a Calling Attention
Motion, Shri Baalu assured the House that the Ministry is committed
for settlement of pre-1980 settlement claims of the tribal people
if the relevant records were submitted by the State Governments.
Shri Baalu said
that all proposals involving utilities and basic amenities, specially
those meant for the tribals are given top priority and special
attention while giving approvals under the Act. The House was
informed that the Environment and Forests Ministry recently regularized
tribal encroachments over 65,000 hectares in Madhya Pradesh and
Orissa. The Ministry also approved conversion of forest villages
into revenue villages in three districts of Madhya Pradesh involving
9,940 hectares of forest land.
Stating that
the pressure of development after Independence led to massive
diversion of forest lands for non-forestry purposes, the Minister
said that Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 was enacted to check
indiscriminate diversion of forest land. As a result, the rate
of diversion of forest land was brought down to about 25,000 hectares
per year from the pre-1980 annual rate of diversion of 1.5 lakh
hectares. Conservation of forests safeguards the interests of
tribals and other local people who are heavily dependent on forest
resources for their living, said the Minister. For effective conservation
and maintenance of forests, Joint Forest Management (JFM) has
been introduced and over 14 million hectares of forest areas are
being managed by 65,000 JFM committees in the country, informed
the Minister.
The Calling Attention
Motion was moved by Shri Laxman Giluwa, Prof. Dukha Bhagat and
Shri S. Bangarappa on the situation arising out of difficulties
being faced in providing basic amenities in tribal areas due to
the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 and steps taken by the Government
in this regard.
