History of errors
Committees and more committees. No results. Will a proper rehabilitation deal ever come through?
1985: Committee under B D Sharma, then commissioner for sc and st, created to form a policy for displaced tribal communities. Committee suggests uniform policy for all those displaced
1993: Rural development ministry comes up with first draft
1994: Draft revised, but does not consider rehabilitation as a right of the displaced
1994-95: Civil society comes up with an alternative draft, more than 1,500 people endorse and present it to the government, pushing for the right to be rehabilitated for the displaced
1997: A committee of secretaries writes a new draft that overrides the principle of prior informed consent
1999: Dialogue between government and civil society proposed but Union government falls
2004: National policy enacted, misses out on most suggestions of the civil society
2005: National Advisory Council produces a new draft
2006: Government creates several groups to consider it