The tiger, forests, and forest dwellers will remain pawns in this great game. The last decade has also seen monumental efforts to assure legal rights to bona fide forest dwellers through the passing of the Forest Rights Act (FRA). The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill puts too much money (and power) in the hands of the forest department. Bharath Sundaram Bharath SundaramHowever, there is an opposing group of public intellectuals that considers social justice to be of paramount importance in India. A few days ago, the Rajya Sabha passed the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill, thereby paving the way for disbursement of funds from to individual States’ forest departments.

Source: The Hindu August 02, 2016 19:41 UTC