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A fresh look at settlement of displaced persons

By Sunny Sebastian

JAIPUR, AUG. 31 .The National Advisory Council (NAC) has accepted a proposal from its members to take up the issue of rehabilitation of the displaced persons. The NAC meeting, presided over by its chairperson Sonia Gandhi in Delhi over the weekend, has asked one of its members, Aruna Roy, to table a proposal in this regard.

Talking to The Hindu , Ms.Roy said the idea was to set up a National Commission on Rehabilitation as at present the country had no proper programme and procedure for rehabilitation and settlement of displaced persons. "Even the existing rules on rehabilitation and resettlement are not followed by the authorities,'' she noted.

Ms.Roy said the proposed National Commission on Rehabilitation, which would have both executive and judicial powers, would be set up with the cooperation of organizations and peoples' movements like Narmada Bachao Andolan and others which were fighting for the cause of displaced and relocated persons.

The Commission would take into account the cases of those suffered from misplaced development activities as well, including the expansion of cities and land acquisitions by the Government as well as the multi-national companies, Ms.Roy informed.

The formulation of the draft proposal would be carried out by Ms.Roy herself and other two members of NAC, N.C.Saxena and Jean Dreze. She promised wide-ranging discussions on the proposal before giving it a final shape.

The Saturday's NAC meeting, fourth since its inception and mostly devoted to education, child development and water-shed development, got the indication that the draft of the Right to Information Bill, seeking amendments in the existing Freedom of Information Act 2002, could be expected to be tabled in the winter session of Parliament.

The draft of the amendments proposed in the Act, along with the draft of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, is presently with the United Progressive Alliance Government after the NAC clearing it in its third meeting a fortnight back. However, the time frame for tabling the Employment Guarantee Bill is not yet known.

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