The Hindu : National : Centre for time-bound implementation of Forest Act

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Wednesday, Feb 20, 2008
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Centre for time-bound implementation of Forest Act

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Union Tribal Affairs Ministry has stressed the need for the implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act in a time-bound manner and impressed upon the States to complete the preliminary work for identification of beneficiaries by the middle of next month.

Addressing the concluding session of a two-day meeting of the State Secretaries of Tribal Development here on Tuesday, Union Tribal Affairs Secretary G.B. Mukherji said that the Centre accorded high priority to the implementation of the Forest Rights Act and urged upon the States to draw up an action plan besides setting up an effective monitoring mechanism at various levels for continuous review of the implementation of the legislation.

Making presentations of the preparatory actions already taken for the implementation of the Act, most States said the exercise of convening gram sabha meetings would be initiated from February 28 and completed by the next month. The actionable points for the States and the role of the Ministries of Environment and Forests and Panchayati Raj as envisaged in the Act were also explained in the meeting.

During the meeting, performance of the States in the implementation of two important programmes — Special Central Assistance to the Tribal Sub Plan and the utilisation of grants for various tribal welfare schemes — was also reviewed.

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