After its success on the issue of the Land acquisition bill, Congress is launching a national campaign to protect the Forest Rights Act, 2006, which it alleges is being diluted by Narendra Modi government.
Party Vice President Rahul Gandhi has also convened a meeting of the PCC chiefs here on February five on the issue of MGNREGA to review its implementation under the Modi dispensation amid complaints that proper attention was not being paid to it.
Gandhi would be visiting a village in Anantpur district of Telangana on February 2 to mark the tenth anniversary of launching the ambitious scheme there.
Former Union Minister and party spokesman Jairam Ramesh told reporters that a series of actions of the Modi Government are now "diluting and weakening" the Forest Rights Act, 2006.
Ramesh did not give the exact date of the launch of the national campaign but said it would be done before the commencement of budget session of Parliament next month.
He said that the actions which have raised concern include notification of rules under the colonial Indian Forest Act, guidelines for privatisation of forests, diversion of forest lands without the consent of the gram sabhas, massive plantation in tribal lands among many others.
"These moves have greatly affected the early gains made by the FRA in empowering the tribals and even halted the process of implementation in many states. All these exhibit an intolerance towards the democratic governance of forests in the country and the protective legislations (FRA, PESA) enacted after a long struggle by the tribal and forest dwellers," he said.
Insisting that the Forest Rights Act, 2006 is one of the outstanding achievements of the UPA Government, Ramesh said about 16.7 lakh forest dwellers, predominantly tribals, have received legal titles for the lands they have been residing on and cultivating for decades.
A former Environment Minister, Ramesh claimed that the decision taken by the central government and the Environment Ministry to open up 40 per cent of the forests in India for private sector has created huge uproar.
In August 2015, the Ministry issued guidelines for handing over degraded forests to private companies for afforestation, he said.
Menda Lekha a tribal village in Maoist-affected Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra had become a national symbol of empowerment of the gram sabha when the UPA government handed over the control of bamboo from the forest department to the gram sabha in April 2011. Now the same village is protesting the take-over of its rights by the forest department once again, said Ramesh.
