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It’s a conspiracy against tribal people: NAA

Bangalore: The National Adivasi Alliance (NAA), a grouping of 22 NGOs working in the field of tribal welfare, has termed it as a conspiracy to move tribal communities out of the reserved forests, national parks and other forest areas.

It was also an attempt to deprive them of their constitutional rights, it said.

Addressing presspersons here on Sunday, NAA spokesperson V.S. Roy David said a national conference held here for three days resolved to intensify efforts to lobby for the effective implementation of the Forests Rights Act.

Mr. David said that tribal leaders from Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra felt that it was high time the respective governments looked at seriously at the Adivasi ways of sustainability and ecology governance.

The deliberations focussed on the plight of Adivasis in remote parts of the country. The meeting brought to the fore the inhuman conditions that Adivasis were living in in some parts of Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

The conference attributed it to the lopsided policies of the respective State governments.

Pointing at the Orissa and Tamil Nadu High Court orders staying the implementation of the Forests Rights Act, Mr. David lamented that the legitimate rights were not allowed to reach the Adivasis.

The NAA has expressed solidarity with activists such as Binayak Sen and others who were languishing in prisons for supporting the tribal cause.

The statements of Public Works Minister C.M. Udasi came in for severe criticism from the activists.

Mr. Udasi had stated that the provisions of the Forests Rights Act would apply only to those tribes settled on the fringes of the forests and not to those within.

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