NEW DELHI: The committee created by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to recommend the community forest resource guideline will soon hold a meeting with its members and stakeholders to discuss terms of references. The committee has now been granted an extension from March 21 to October 31 amid the pandemic. It is planning a virtual meeting with the stakeholders.
“The agenda of the meeting would be to discuss the terms of references... The whole idea is that the gram sabha should know how to proceed and how to ensure that powers given to them under Section 6 of the Forest Rights Act are implemented,” said N C Saxena, the committee’s chairperson.
The Committee would make two sets of recommendations for the lands on which either an individual or community rights have been recognised, or claims for such rights are pending recognition, and for lands which do not fall within the purview of the first, but fall within the territorial jurisdiction of the gram sabha, said a recent order from the Ministry.
If found necessary, the terms of references of the committee may be suitably modified to provide for this, it said. These were added recently. The committee may also recommend guidelines on review of community rights claims rejected previously along with reasons of rejection, to safeguard the interests of the forest-dwelling communities according to the ministry.