A well-thought out and effective long run strategy to contain the spread of Naxalites has been ambushed. And the culprit is the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF). This is as news of the collapse of Andhra Pradesh-Naxalite peace talks crowd newspapers, triggering fear of fresh violence in the affected states. During the AP peace dialogue also, the MoEF raised objections to amendments to the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, to facilitate land reforms as demanded by the armed group.

The strategy in the form of the Scheduled Tribes Recognition of Forest Rights Bill was to confer rights of settlement to forest dwellers, a prime constituency of the Naxalites. The Bill was to make a one-time concession for settlement of their rights inside forests. It promised to revert to the pre-1927 position when the British brought the Indian Forest Act and took away the rights of tribes over forest land which traditionally belonged to them. The strategy, formulated in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in consultation with non-governmental organizations and other natural resources experts in early January this year, was to insulate the forest dwelling people from Naxalite influence by addressing their livelihood problems. The Bill, initiated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and marshaled by the PMO, came as a definitive recognition of the fact that just unleashing security forces couldn't contain Naxalites. It was a part of the National Common Minimum Program.

The proposed Bill promised giving ownership rights on land holding to tribal population in and around forests, which they have been occupying since 1980. Currently about 10 million tribal forest dwellers are under threat of eviction from their settlements inside forests under a Supreme Court order jealously pursued by the Union Environment Ministry. In states like Orissa, Karnataka, AP, Chattisgarh and Jharkhand, Naxal groups have been exploiting this eviction issue to garner support from local people. The Bill sought to override the apex court ruling by giving legal rights to the tribal people.

Interestingly, the Bill got tremendous support from the Union Home Ministry and reportedly Home Minister Shivraj Patil extended his support. After this support from the nodal ministry in control of the Naxalite situation, the Prime Minister announced drafting of the Bill just before Republic Day 2005. He set the deadline of 17 February for drafting of the Bill to be placed before Parliament during the budget session. Sensing oppositions from the MoEF, the PMO didn't involve it in drafting and rather asked the ministry of tribal welfare to be in charge. For a change a group of non-government experts drafted the Bill.

However, the Bill couldn't be placed before Parliament. While officials in PMO concede that the forest bureaucracy has proved to be more powerful than they expected, the experts involved in the process lament it as a "humiliating defeat" of the country's top executive in front of a colonial bureaucracy. The MoEF has said that the proposed Bill would cause irreparable damage to the environment. Citing the official philosophy of considering forests as national wealth, it has contested the Bill as beneficial for a few tribals. In February first week the MoEF wrote a letter of objection to the tribal ministry questioning its 'legal validity' in dealing with forest related issues. The MoEF is the final word in any forest issue in India. Using this legal obstacle, which anyway could have been solved using the good office of the Prime Minister, the tribal ministry backed out halfway from the process.

This has put the Union Home Ministry in a very tricky situation. Patil had described the Naxalites as "misguided youth" and said that it was not entirely a law and order problem. The proposed Bill (its origin can be traced to a June 2000 meeting of chief ministers on the problem that recommended forest laws liberalization to contain Naxalites) was a solid tool for the ministry to implement its two-fold strategy: take up developmental works in the affected areas while maintaining constant pressure on the Naxalites. The collapse of the peace dialogue in AP has already forced it to support such initiative in future. The nodal ministry is now without any effective counter-Naxalite strategy. On 25 March a group of Members of Parliament (MPs) met Patil and pressurized for pro-active step like the proposed forest Bill to stem the menace from the root. But what Patil couldn't disclose to the visiting MPs was that the Prime Minister had already conceded to the pressure of the MoEF to stop the presentation of the Bill.