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After widespread criticism from tribal communities across states, the government on 15 November 2019 announced that it has decided to withdraw a contentious draft bill to amend the Indian Forests Act, 1927. The zero draft proposed in March 2019 had sparked protests among various tribal organizations over some of the proposed changes, which pitted the forest-dwellers against the government. The tribal organizations argued that if it became a law, the bill would give government the power to divest the forest dwellers of their rights.