Scheduled Tribes Bill, 2005

Conservation is believed to be most effective when people, who depend on a particular resource, are made partners in managing that resource. Instances have favourably recorded the involvement of local people in forests or wildlife after they were accorded a stake in the protection or propagation of the same. The scheduled tribes bill, being currently debated by the government, promises to be the first step in laying the foundation for a more democratic management of forests, essential for both forests and forest communities to survive.