December, 2023 Newsletter: Amendments to the Forest Conservation Act (1980)

 Newsletter, December, 2023

Justice in Mining Network

Ranchi Social Centre, Ranchi

Amendments to the Forest Conservation Act (1980)

Amendments to the Forest Conservation Act (1980) came into effect from 1 December, 2023. The amendments are highly criticised as it eases the grabbing of land in the name of "public welfare". The Forest Conservation Amendment Act (FCAA), 2023 violates the landmark legislation Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006, that designates the forest dwellers and gram sabhas as statuary protectors of forests and their wildlife biodiversity. The Act allows for the diversion of forest for "defence" or "national security" in most northeast India without forest clearance. 

Excerpts from First Dr Kumar Suresh Singh Memorial Lecture

Xavier Institute of Social Sciences, Ranchi

by Prof. Virginias

Prof. Virginus Xaxa, a renowned sociologist from the Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics; and lead of the High-Level Committee (HLC) constituted by former Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh delivered the first lecture of Dr Kumar Suresh SIngh Memorial Lecture on 16 November, 2023. Dr Xaxa traces the trajectory of the Adivasi situation within a decade from 2013 to 2023. He spoke anxiously about the dismal performance of the Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP) that is one of the key strategies adopted in the 1974-75 for Scheduled Tribes development by allocating financial resources to key welfare areas. He has noticed that there has been a large amount of unspent amounts under the TSP. Moreover, the TSP funds were used for the construction of roads for minerals or industrial projects that increased the displacement of the Scheduled Tribes. Further, even the actual allocation through different plan phases invariably remained far short of the stipulated size of the tribal population. 

Dr Xaxa accounts that the scale of dispossession from land, forest and other resources has turned big landholding Adivasi into small and marginal landholding as well as even landless; leading them to their impoverishment and vulnerability. In the year 2021-22, land acquisition has further increased. The land acquisition for the construction of the MSME park at Rio village under Panposh sub-division in Sundargarh district, Odisha has been facing resistance.   Another acquisition of private land amounting to 27.26 acres in the village Lanjiberna under Kutra Tehsil of Sundargarh for expansion of mining activity by M/S Dalmia Cememnt Bharat Ltd has been under progress. Despite large scale protest over mining in the dense forests of Chhattisgarh, the Union government has agreed stage two clearance to the Parsa Coal Block. Parsa is one of the six coal blocks allocated in the region despite Adivasi agitation. The launching of 41 blocks of coal for commercial mining spread across Odisha (9), Jharkhand (9), Madhya Pradesh (11), Maharashtra (3) and Chhattisgarh (9) amid the deadly second wave of Covid-19 pandemic are now in the process of operation. This would lead to not only displacement of people but also loss of forest cover and rich biodiversity. This would disturb the ecological balance and lead to environmental degradation and climate change. Dispossession has been the single most important factor in the impoverishment of tribal people in India. 

You can learn more about the Dr Kumar Suresh Singh Tribal Centre here . 


Paper Presentation at The Musings on Indigeneity (National Seminar) at Indian Social Institute, Lodhi Colony, New Delhi |  14-15 December by Deepti Mary Minj & Dr PM Antony, SJ 

This paper attempts to trace the roots of indigeneity in south Asia while exposing the historical processes of the emergence and dominance of Brahmanical hegemony in the subcontinent. While doing so, it highlights the reliable foundations of indigeneity based on the experiences, achievements, and struggles of Adivasis (mainland India's indigenous peoples) in today's context. Pre-colonial historiography on Adivasi social formations in India remains largely inferential, and post-colonial ones remain biased, devoid of Adivasi perspectives. Subaltern studies have benevolently bestowed some agency to Adivasis' struggle against zamindars and sahookars during colonial times. But contemporary scholarship has given little attention to the Adivasi struggles against the draconian model of development of “Shining India” based on land-grab. The dual forces of hegemonic brahmanism and corporatisation are either neglecting and invisibilizing; or, assimilating distinct culture, traditions, language and religion of adivasi into non-indigenous institutions.

The full seminar can be found here

Day 1

Day 2





Useful Resources

1. COP28: Extraction of minerals needed for green energy must be 'sustainable and just' . united nations

2. Daily Court Digest: Major environmental orders. Down to Earth. 

3. Chhattisgarh's new BJP government restarts controversial coal mining in Adivasi areas. Frontline Magazine. 

4. How three women turned into environmental defenders in India


Follow our pictorial journalling on Instagram @ http://www.instagram.com/bagaicha_jim/ 



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