Congress amendment move may block afforestation bill in Rajya Sabha

New Delhi: Government is expected to cross the Rajya Sabha hurdle in getting the crucial Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill passed during monsoon session, but the other important bill that has been on the Prime Minister's priority list - the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) bill - looks set to get stuck as the Congress decides to move an amendment to it in the Upper House. The bill, passed in the Lok Sabha in

May, is meant to unlock nearly Rs 42,000 crore that has been lying unspent for years. This amount, deposited by user agencies which divert forest land for non-forest purpose, is supposed to be utilized to mitigate impact of diversion of the forest land through afforestation.

"Yes, I am moving the amendment for sure (on party's behalf)", said Congress Rajya Sabha MP and former environment minister Jairam Ramesh on Friday while responding to a question on the issue from the TOI.

The Congress had made its intention clear in May when Ramesh had written to the then environment minister Prakash Javadekar, listing its objection to the bill in its present form. Javadekar had, however, gone on record saying that the ministry had no intention of changing the proposed legislation in any way as it had already incorporated "practically all suggestions" made by the parliamentary standing committee.

The Congress is, however, adamant. The party had insisted that the proposed amendment was meant for ensuring certain safeguards to protect legal rights of tribals and forest dwellers under the Forest Rights Act (FRA).

Asked whether the new environment minister Anil Madhav Dave approached his party to resolve the issue, Ramesh said, "The new minister has not reached out (to his party)" -- an indication of the deadlock when even the left parties and JD (U) had opposed to the CAF bill in its present form.

Since the ruling NDA does not have the required numbers to get the bill passed without the support of non-Congress opposition parties, the proposed legislation will likely get stuck.

Explaining the reasons why amendment in the CAF bill is required, Ramesh through a statement, sent to Javadekar in May, had emphasised that the proposed legislation "requires amendment to ensure that it does not result in the wholesale and gross violation of forest dwellers' rights".

He had said, "The reasons why this amendment is required are three-fold: 1) experiences and likely problems that will occur in implementation; 2) the legal provisions of the Forest Rights Act itself; and 3) principles of law that require such provisions to be placed in the statute and not in the Rules".