PM Narendra Modi puts drive to transfer land title to tribals in ‘campaign mode’

NEW DELHI: After recasting Congress-led UPA’s schemes, the BJP government has set its eyes on claiming its predecessor’s flagship initiative – the Forest Rights Act. PM Narendra Modi has directed the Tribal Affairs ministry to ensure all states implement the initiative and give land rights to tribals over the next two months.

The ministry has been directed to implement the Forest Rights Act in “campaign mode”. According to sources, the PM was not pleased with the status report of implementation in the last two reviews and asked the ministry to emphasise on the implementation. For the first time, the ministry has been asked to follow a target-based approach and set a time-line for the states.

Secretary (tribal affairs) Arun Jha has written to all the states asking them to expedite the implementation which involves recognizing the rights of scheduled tribes living in the forests for generations. This exercise includes distribution of pattas or titles to forest-dwellers after processing their claims. Eight states have been identified as “laggard states” and asked to fix targets.

These include Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Kerala. A calendar has been given to the states and they have been asked to set targets and stick to the timeline.