Give 2.5 Acres, Rs 15 lakh to tribals displaced for tigers: NCST

New Delhi: Enhance compensation and mandatorily provide land if you displace tribals for tiger conservation, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) has told the Centre, emphasising that tiger conservation cannot infringe on tribal rights, especially in core areas of reserved forests.

After a year-long tussle with the environment and forests ministry over a circular that said forest-dwelling tribals did not have any rights on their land which fell in critical tiger reserves, NCST has recommended a change in rehabilitation policy for displacing tribals from core areas.

It has told the ministry to enhance compensation to Rs 15 lakh per household from the current limit of Rs 10 lakh, mandatorily give at least 2.5 acres of land to displaced tribal households and apply all principles of Land Acquisition Act 2013 when displacing tribals from forests.


The commission has taken the view of the department of land resources under rural development ministry, the nodal agency for Land Acquisition Act, on whether the principles of Land Acquisition Act 2013 can be applied to core areas or critical tiger reserves.

NCST secretary Raghav Chandra told ET, “NCST has recommended to the ministry of environment to enhance compensation and mandatorily give land so that tribals do not suffer.”