Environment Minister writes to PM: PMO order is not what you ordered

Tribal rights: Bring us into the debate, you had asked for draft Bill: Raja

25 October, 2005

Being abruptly cut out of the debate on the contentious tribal Bill, a debate it has high stakes in, the Ministry of Environment has officially complained to the Prime Minister.
Told by the PMO on October 4 to stop work on its ‘‘alternative draft’’ Bill on tribal rights, Union Environment Minister A Raja has written to the PM saying that the ‘‘note from your office (the Oct 4 order)...I feel, is inconsistent with the decisions taken in the meeting held by you on 30 September.’’
Raja’s letter is being seen as a last-ditch effort by his Ministry to get itself heard in the meeting convened by the PMO on October 28 to finalise the draft Tribal Bill.
In his letter, a copy of which is with The Indian Express, Raja reminds the PM that it was the Cabinet Committee on Tribal Affairs—formed by the PM himself—that had asked his Ministry to draft a bill.
And that a meeting held by the PM on September 30 had concluded that "the Environment Ministry and the Department of Tribal Affairs would discuss their respective versions of the Bill, and attempt at an agreed draft, to be discussed in a workshop convened by the PMO.’’
But barely four days later, as first reported by The Indian Express, the PMO sent a note asking Raja’s Ministry ‘‘not to proceed’’ with work on the draft Bill.
The key difference between the two drafts revolves around giving land rights in national parks and sanctuaries to local tribal residents. The Environment Ministry has opposed the Tribal Affairs Ministry’s Bill.