States "violating" tribal rights in India's mining areas: mm&P delegates tell MPs, PMO, NCST

By Our Representative
A delegation led by mines, minerals and People (mm&P) chairman Ravi Rebbapragada, who is executive director, Samata, and Ashok Shrimali, secretary-general mm&P, and consisting of mm&P executive committee members from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Goa, has raised mining-related issues before India's top parliamentarians.
The issues raised included non-implementation and utilization of District Mineral Foundation (DMF) funds in all Indian states; recent hazard in the role hole mines in Meghalaya; false and fabricated cases against tribals across the country; Samata judgment and its implications in various states; illegal coal mining in Churulia, West Bengal; granting leases without the gram sabha consent as in the case of coal mining in Godda district by Adani group; and displacement due to Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor and bullet train project.

The delegation stressed on how the Goa government has approved its Goa Regional Plan 2021 without identifying the tribal areas, thereby ignoring the fact that the Goa has about 12% of the tribal population, noting, the state government has constituted an interim Tribes Advisory Council without giving any representation to the tribal community members, violating the Scheduled V of the Constitution of India. It added, the tribal sub-plan (TSP) funds are diverted in large scale in Goa and hence failed to meet its purpose to benefit the tribal population.
Pointing out that the tribals of Goa are kept in total darkness about the provisions of community forest rights (CFR), enshrined under Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006, it said, false and fabricated cases are being registered against the tribals who are protesting for their rights.
The delegation handed over a memorandum on these issues to Mansukhbhai Vasava (MP, Gujarat), Prabhubhai Vasava (MP, Gujarat), Jitendra Chowdhary (MP, Tripura), D Raja (MP, Tamil Nadu), Sadhavi Savitri Bai Phule (MP, Uttar Pradesh), the Prime Minister Office, and the vice chairperson of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST).

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