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The Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs has told the Ministry of Power that the Forest Rights Act, 2006 has no provision for obtaining Gram Sabha consent for forest clearance, and that such matters fall outside its purview.
The exchange followed a Committee on Public Undertakings report on NHPC, which found forest clearance for under-construction projects took an average of 106 months — close to nine years.
The committee called 100% Gram Sabha consent the 'single most critical bottleneck' and cited the 520 MW Teesta-IV project in North Sikkim, stalled because three of ten gram sabhas withheld consent.
NHPC proposed a 'qualified super-majority' of 70-75% of affected Gram Sabhas for large hydropower projects of national importance.
The consent requirement in fact comes not from the FRA text but from forest-diversion guidelines framed under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, which require an NOC from the Gram Sabhas.
Enacted to undo the historical injustice to forest-dwelling communities. It recognises individual and community rights over forest land and resources, makes the Gram Sabha the authority that initiates the determination of those rights, and names the Ministry of Tribal Affairs as the nodal ministry. It came into force in December 2007. It contains no express clause on Gram Sabha consent for diverting forest land — the fact at the centre of this dispute.
Requires prior central approval for diverting forest land to non-forestry use, through Stage-I (in-principle) and Stage-II (final) clearance. The guidelines and rules framed under it, not the FRA, are what require FRA processes to be completed and a Gram Sabha NOC obtained before diversion.
Dropped the express requirement of Gram Sabha consent before Stage-II clearance that had been introduced in 2017, allowing consent to be taken after Stage-I or even after Stage-II approval. The dilution was contested at the time and is the backdrop to the present exchange.
Extends Part IX of the Constitution to Fifth Schedule areas and makes consultation with the Gram Sabha mandatory before land acquisition and resettlement, giving the Gram Sabha a statutory standing in tribal areas independent of the FRA.
Nodal ministry for the Forest Rights Act, 2006 and for the welfare of Scheduled Tribes; created in 1999 by bifurcating the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
One of the three financial committees of Parliament, constituted in 1964. It examines the reports and accounts of public sector undertakings and has 22 members — 15 from the Lok Sabha and 7 from the Rajya Sabha — elected annually. Its report on NHPC triggered this dispute
Central public sector hydropower producer under the Ministry of Power, incorporated in 1975; the developer of the stalled Teesta-IV project
The 520 MW Teesta-IV project lies on the Teesta in North Sikkim, in and around Dzongu, the reserve set aside for the Lepcha community. The Teesta rises in the Sikkim Himalaya, runs the length of the state and enters West Bengal before joining the Brahmaputra in Bangladesh — so one river carries both India's hydropower cascade and a long-running bilateral water-sharing question.
GS Paper 2 > Government policies and interventions; welfare schemes for vulnerable sections. GS Paper 3 > Conservation, environmental impact assessment, infrastructure
General Awareness > Indian Polity: Acts and parliamentary committees
At the national level, which ministry is the nodal agency to ensure effective implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006?
Answer: Ministry of Tribal Affairs
Consider the following statements: 1. As per recent amendment to the Indian Forest Act, 1927, forest dwellers have the right to fell the bamboos grown on forest areas. 2. As per the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, bamboo is a minor forest produce. 3. The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 allows ownership of minor forest produce to forest dwellers. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer: 2 and 3 only
Under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, Stage-I is in-principle approval with conditions; Stage-II is the final approval issued once those conditions, including compliance with the FRA, are certified as met.
The no-objection certificate that forest-diversion guidelines require from every affected Gram Sabha. It is the fourth of four prescribed steps, and it is what is popularly called 'Gram Sabha consent' — a term the FRA itself does not use.
The NHPC proposal that consent from 70-75% of affected Gram Sabhas, rather than all of them, should suffice for large hydropower projects deemed of national importance.
The ministry a statute names as responsible for its implementation. The FRA names the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, which is why its statement that these matters fall outside its purview has been questioned.