April 23, 2015
The decision affects at least 35 projects, it involves more than 20,000 acres of forest land.
Days after the environment ministry relaxed rules to help create strategic defenceinfrastructure, the tribal affairs ministry refused to exempt these projects in the border states of north and north-east India from the purview of the Forest Rights Act (FRA).
The decision, conveyed to the defence ministry on February 24, affects at least 35projects — it involves more than 20,000 acres of forest land — in eight states under the eastern, northern and central commands.
Pointing out that most rights over forests in the Sixth Schedule areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura are vested with the local communities and forests in states like Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and hill areas of Manipur are owned by communities through village councils, the tribal affairs ministry told the defence ministry that the FRA “has no provision to exempt in part or full from the process laid down therein”. Of the 35 defence projects that involve forest land, 11 are in Arunachal Pradesh, six in Sikkim, five in West Bengal, four each in Assam and Himachal Pradesh, three inUttarakhand and one each in Mizoram and Tripura (see box).
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