Rights View
Published on Mar 6, 2019
On 5th March 2019, hundreds of Adivasi/indigenous peoples organisations with the support of the Dalit organisations observed “Bharat Bandh/India Shutdown” against the order of the Supreme Court to evict over 12 million forest dwellers, mainly indigenous peoples, whose applications under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) had been rejected. The directions of the Supreme Court came in response to the PILs filed by environmental groups. Mr Suhas Chakma, Director of the Rights & Risks Analysis Group (RRAG) in conversation with Mr Dilip Chakma explains that the judgment itself is untenable as the Supreme Court assumes that those whose applications had been rejected by the authorities under the FRA do not have the right to judicial recourse. Mr Chakma further explains the problems with the absence of rights based approach among the environmental groups as witnessed from the allegations that the World Wide Fund for Nature had funded paramilitaries allegedly involved in serious human rights violations like rape, torture in the name of protection of the environment.
