Displaced tribals be compensated, says Manmohan

The government today admitted its failure in dealing with the losses suffered by tribals in land acquisition for various projects, but said one solution was that tribals must benefit from the projects for which they had been displaced.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the government needed to improve its laws and mechanisms through which “we provide compensation to displaced tribals”. He was speaking at a conference attended by chief ministers, state tribal welfare and forest ministers. The two-day meeting has been called to expedite distribution of land ownership titles to forest dwellers under the Forest Rights Act.

Several industrial projects have been held up thanks to tribals’ opposition to land acquisition, especially in states like Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. In Orissa, Vedanta Resources’ mining project in Kalahandi has been held up for years, while tribal opposition has made it difficult for Korean steel major Posco to acquire land in the state.