Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh on Thursday attacked the Modi government over 150 civil society groups and activists’ letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 'the systematic and consistent manner in which the Forest Right Act, 2006 has been subverted by the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change.'
He alleged that the track record of the Modi government on concerns related to environment protection does not inspire confidence that they will be discussed and resolved.
In a post on X, Ramesh, a former environment minister, said that that 150 civil society groups and activists have made five major points, starting with Minister of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav's statement, allegedly holding the implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006 "responsible for degradation and loss of prime forest areas".
Sharing two pages from the letter by several activists and societies working for environment protection who have written to the prime minister seeking redressal of their issues, he said they raised continued submission of legally untenable data on encroachment of forest areas to Parliamentary forums as well to the National Green Tribunal.
They also raised the issue of orders issued by the National Tiger Conservation Authority in June 2024 for the eviction of almost 65,000 families from tiger reserves across the country.
The Congress leader claimed that activists and societies have raised "mis-attribution" by the Forest Survey of India for the loss of forest cover over the last decade to the implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006.
Ramesh said they also raised the "2023 amendments to the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 that were bulldozed through Parliament and the subsequent Van Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan Rules, 2023 that adversely impact both the quantity and quality of forests."
"The issues that have been raised are of profound significance especially to tribal and other communities residing and earning their livelihoods in forest areas. They are also of fundamental importance to ecological security,” he wrote.
"The track record of the Modi Government does not inspire the confidence that these issues will even get discussed and debated with those who have been compelled to bring the PM's attention to them," the senior Congress leader said.
With inputs from PTI
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