S.M. Krishna tribute: A Cabinet meeting in a forest that expedited tribal welfare 

Back in 2001, S.M. Krishna, who was then the Chief Minister of Karnataka, created history when he convened a Cabinet meeting in a forest. Apart from the Cabinet meeting itself being a milestone, the decisions taken then paved way for improvement in tribal welfare.

Back in 2001, S.M. Krishna, who was then the Chief Minister of Karnataka, created history when he convened a Cabinet meeting in a forest. Apart from the Cabinet meeting itself being a milestone, the decisions taken then paved the way for improvement in tribal welfare.

The immediate trigger for the meeting was the case filed against the Government of Karnataka by R. Balasubramaniam, who along with a few like-minded students of Mysore Medical College, had founded the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM) to make a difference to the poor and marginalised sections of society in the 1980s.

Recalling the developments, Dr. Balasubramaniam, a public policy advocate, development scholar and author, said that he had petitioned the National Human Rights Commission and drawn its attention to how the tribals were deprived of their rights and were denied rehabilitation after being evicted from forests for construction of dams or declaration of national parks.

“I had sued the government for violation of tribal rights as their right to life and livelihood was taken away, and won the case,” said Dr. Balasubramaniam and recalled his subsequent interaction with Krishna.

“I explained the issues plaguing the tribals and how the Forest and Revenue Departments was not seeing eye to eye,” he said. Krishna said that he would convene a Cabinet meeting to thrash out the issue and Dr. Balasubramaniam suggested that the Cabinet meeting be held in a transparent manner with tribal leaders in attendance.

“Here I saw the humane side of Krishna who agreed to my suggestion and for the first time in the history of Independent India, a Cabinet meeting was convened outside any State capital and held inside a forest,” said Dr. Balasubramaniam.

The date was April 4, 2001, and the meeting was held at Viveka Tribal Centre for Learning at Hosahalli tribal colony in H.D. Kote taluk, and in all, 24 tribal leaders or ’Yajamanas’ were in attendance.