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Communist Party of India Rajya Sabha MP, Binoy Viswam has raised concerns over the newly notified Forest Conservation Rules, 2022 in a letter to Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupendra Yadav and urged that the law should be withdrawn immediately.
"I am writing this letter to you to raise my concerns with the newly notified Forest Conservation Rules, 2022 under the Forest Conservation Act which repeals and replaces the earlier 2003 Forest Conservation Rules," the MP said. He also said that the new rules would 'only uproot whatever is left of compliance with the Forest Right Act'. "The Forest Rights Act, 2006 (FRA) was promulgated to undo the historic injustice heaped on the country's forest-dwellers, especially the tribal peoples, which was affirmed in the Supreme Court's Vedanta judgement. These new rules will only uproot whatever is left of compliance with the Forest Right Act in forest diversion under the Forest (Conservation) Act 1980, under which governments should seek free, prior and informed consent of forest dwellers before allowing a project on their traditional lands." The MP further said that this will lead to a grave violation of the Forest Right Act since the responsibility for obtaining consent from Scheduled Tribes and other forest-dwelling communities before forests are cut into is now shifted to state governments. "Therefore, approaching the Gram Sabha after the final approval is granted will only make its role irrelevant and the powers of the rights holders under the Forest Rights Act redundant," he added. These rules will also simplify and shorten the process of diverting forest land for development projects and make land availability for compensatory afforestation easier, thus facilitating corporate looters to gain access and control of forest lands, the MP said. "Even the tribal affairs ministry had previously forewarned the forest ministry of the consequences of neglecting the Forest Right Act, stating that it would leave the forest approvals vulnerable to judicial review and would lead to conflict, harassment, and injustice," Binoy Viswam further stated. "Given the circumstances, I request that the law be repealed immediately and that the concerns of the tribal communities and forest dwellers be protected," the MP added. (ANI)
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