Centre not sincere about implementing FRA

The Centre is not sincere in implementing the Forest Right Act (FRA) so that the interest of the corporate houses are protected, CPI-M Politburo member Brinda Karat alleged today.
"In the name of mining and implementing development works in the forest areas the corporate houses are looting people and if the Forest Right Act is implemented properly in the forest areas, the interests of the corporate houses would be hampered. So, the central government is not sincere in implementing this act," she told reporters here.
Karat, who is here in connection with a convention of 'Adibasi Adhikar Suraksha Mancha', a tribal body of CPI-M, said according to a recent data over 32 lakh applications were submitted by tribals for getting land rights in the forest, of which about 50 per cent applications (15.8 lakh) were rejected.

In the majority of the states they are not getting land rights in the forest, she said.
"Tripura is an exception and has set an example in the country by giving patta or land right documents to 1.17 lakh families," she said.
She demanded an amendment in the FRA to provide land rights to non-tribals too as many of them have been in forest areas since the British rule.

CPI-M, she said, had demanded that the Centre allocate fund for tribals in planned budget according to the ratio of their population. "We demand allocation of more fund under the fifth and sixth schedule of the Constitution for protecting the interests of the tribals in the country.

She also demanded that harassment of tribals should be stopped in the name of containing the Maoist menace.
To a question, Karat said, the Centre's sanction for a separate Telengana state has fuelled the demand for separate states in Assam and West Bengal which cannot supported.