By Abdul Bari Masoud
New Delhi: The PM’s announcement of an economic package of Rs. 20 lakh crores a “self-reliant” India on Tuesday came under sharp criticism from several quarters. While demanding for a COVID Response Plan for tribal communities, tribal groups on Wednesday said the “Atma-Nirbhar Bharat” finds no mention of Adivasis despite persistent appeals by tribal groups, experts and opposition leaders.
They also underlined that the PM in his hour long speech did not utter a single word about 300 million tribals and forest dwellers who constitute a quarter of country’s population and suffered most due to Covid –induced lockdown.
They said the Central Government and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to come up with a COVID Response Plan for tribal communities and issue comprehensive guidelines to state governments to address issues and concerns of tribal communities.
Experts expressed their dismay over the failure of the government to come up with a Covid response plan for triblas. They highlighted that the procurement of the minor forest produce- a major source of income for tribal communities- was impacted and that this may have a long term consequence for communities.
“100 million forest dwellers depend on minor forest produces for food, shelter, medicines and income. Still they suffer ignominy, displacement and impoverishment, State has betrayed them. #CovidAndForestRights”, said the National Alliance of People’s Movement (NAPM)- a coalition of civil society and rights organisations across the country.
To highlight the issues being faced by the tribal and forest communities, netizens took to twitter on Monday, May 11, a day before the video conference by MoTA and PM’s address. They urged PM Modi, Arjun Munda and other ministries to pay attention to the adverse impact of the lockdown on livelihoods and survival of millions of tribals and forest dwellers.
Historian Ram Chandra Guha said, “The impact of the COVID crisis and the lockdown on our already disadvantaged tribal and forest communities has been immense; the Government must act to alleviate their suffering.”
On May 4, a group of civil society organisations, activists, researchers and experts working with tribals and forest dwelling communities submitted a report to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA). The report highlights the socio-economic distress situation in tribal areas arising out of Covid19 outbreak and lockdown measures. The report was also submitted to Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR), Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA), NCST, Prime Minister’s Office and Niti Ayog, and to National Disaster Mitigation Authority.
Despite all this, the government did not pay any heed to the plight of tribal communities in its “economic package” of 20 lakh crores .
Experts also demanded that the huge money collected under the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act (CAMPA) should be disbursed among the Gram Sabhas so that they could use the money to appropriately address the challenges posed due to the lockdown depending on their local needs.
They said the government should ensure adequate testing and healthcare facilities in tribal areas even by deploying Mobile Health Units.
The other demands including effective implementation of Forest Rights Act (FRA)to ensure land and forest security to the tribal and forest dwelling communities; the Ministry of Environment and Forest ust withdraw the forest clearance decisions and other guidelines issued during the lockdown period; and the huge CAMPA funds (50000 crores) controlled by the forest dept should be released to the tribal communities and Gram Sabhas.