Parliamentary panel seeks to weaken forest rights consent norms

A parliamentary Committee on Public Undertakings has proposed diluting forest rights protections by allowing projects to proceed with supermajority approval from gram sabhas instead of requiring unanimous consent from all affected communities.

The proposal represents a continued erosion of forest-dwellers' rights across government departments and ministries. Critics view this as a logical but troubling step that weakens existing safeguards for indigenous and forest-dependent communities whose consent is constitutionally mandated for projects affecting their lands.