The Environment Support Group (ESG) has said that the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has violated rules by not consulting the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) in the process of drafting the Forest (Conservation) Amendment BIll. Several activists are in disagreement with the Bill which allows exploitation of any forest which is within 100 km of the Line of Control (LOC) or international border.
A statement by ESG said that the drafting of the Bill was in violation of Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961. "MoTA should have been fundamentally involved, even co-leading, any amendment to any existing laws, or in shaping any new law, or in formulation of a policy or scheme, that are “relating to the rights of the forest-dwelling Schedule Tribes on forest lands”. When what has been stated by MoTA and MoEF&CC in the Rajya Sabha are read together, it is glaring that the Ministries have not worked in conformance with the Doctrine of Harmonious Construction," a statement by ESG said.
The ESG said as per the Allocation of Business Rules, 1961, the MoTA was in charge of "all matters including legislation relating to the rights of forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes". The ESG added that replies by the Ministry of Environment in the Rajya Sabha showed a lack of compliance with the rule.
ESG is a not-for-profit organisation that promotes environmental and social justice through research and advocacy.
TNM had earlier reported how several activists in the Himalayan belt had raised concerns about the Bill. Takpa Tenzin, a tribal representative and member of the Spiti Society in Himachal Pradesh, argued that a clause in the Bill completely dismisses rights of people living at the borders and has the potential to make things worse for tribal groups. Clause 4 (2a) of the Bill says any land which is 100 km away from any international border or LOC and which could be used for construction of strategic linear projects of national importance shall not be protected as forest land.
On Thursday, the Ministry of Environment told the Rajya Sabha that the Bill was proposed after "inter-ministerial, state and public consultation". A note on the Bill was circulated to all ministries including the MoTA. However, the ESG said that the MoEF&CC had failed to respond specifically to the question if the proposal was made in accordance with the Allocation of Business Rules.
While the Bill was referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) instead of a standing committee, ESG argued that no forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribe person or other traditional forest dwellers were invited to depose before the committee.
The ESG note was authored by ESG trustees Leo Saldanha, Bhargavi Rao and research associate Nidhi Hanji.