The rules have eliminated the earlier mandatory requirements of obtaining the prior consent of the Gram Sabha before utilising forestland for non-forestry purposes, read the letter dated December 1
An estimated 200 million people across India depend on forests for their primary livelihood. Representation pic
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Friday said he has expressed his reservations about the Centre’s Forest Conservation Rules 2022 to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as they “brazenly dilute” powers of local gram sabha and “uproot” the rights of forest-dwelling communities.
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The rules have eliminated the earlier mandatory requirements of obtaining the prior consent of the Gram Sabha before utilising forestland for non-forestry purposes, read the letter dated December 1.
Soren said that as the CM of a state where 32 indigenous communities reside, he felt it is his duty to bring to the PM’s knowledge about the violation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006 in the change effected by the Forest Conservation Rules 2022.
An estimated 200 million people across India depend on forests for their primary livelihood, and around 100 million people live on land classified as forests, it pointed out.
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“These new rules will end up uprooting the rights of these people who have called the forests their home for generations but whose rights could not be recorded,” he said in the letter. “I implore that you step in and ensure that this fait accompli that has been created is done away with and the voice of the tribals is not silenced under the guise of progress.”
The Centre will introduce Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2022 in the Lok Sabha.
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