Traditional Forest Dwellers
(Judicial Quest News Service)
Chapter IV of the Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (FRA Act in short) provides that the Gram Sabha shall be the authority to initiate the process for determining the nature and extent of individual or community forest rights or both that may be given to the forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers within the local limits of its jurisdiction under this Act by receiving claims, consolidating and verifying them and preparing a map delineating the area of each recommended claim in such manner as may be prescribed for exercise of such rights and the Gram Sabha shall, then, pass a resolution to that effect and thereafter forward a copy of the same to the Sub-Divisional Level Committee.
As per Section 6(7) of FRA, State Level Monitoring Committee is to monitor the process of recognition and vesting of forest rights and to submit to the nodal agency such returns and reports as may be called for by that agency. Section 11 of FRA Act provides that the Ministry of the Central Government dealing with Tribal Affairs or any officer or authority authorized by the Central Government in this behalf shall be the nodal agency for the implementation of the provisions of this Act.
The State Governments/UTs have already been issued advisories by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs from time to time to carry out the provision of the Forest Right Act, 2006 and Rules there under while processing the claim of Forest dwellers under the Act and to ensure that no eligible claim is rejected. In addition, recently a letter dated 26.03.2019 was also issued to all Sates/UTs indicating various directions issued by Ministry of Tribal Affairs regarding the implementation of FRA, 2006 circulated, to facilitate necessary action by the States/UT Governments. The advisories to State Governments/UTs include advice to review rejected claims so as to ensure that no eligible claim is rejected.
Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEFCC) has informed that protection, conservation and management of forests including activities related to improving the forest cover and regeneration of forests etc in the country are carried out as per the existing National Forest Policy, 1988; the Indian Forest Act, 1927; Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980; Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972; Biological Diversity Act, 2002; forest related specific Acts and Rules of the respective State/UT Governments and as per the prescriptions of Working Plan/ Management Plan prepared under Working Plan Code.
MoEFCC has further informed that to increase the forest cover and improvement of forests, the Ministry implements various Centrally Sponsored Schemes such as National Afforestation Programme (NAP) and Green India Mission (GIM). The National Afforestation Programme is for regeneration of degraded forests and adjoining areas through people’s participation. The scheme is being implemented through a decentralized mechanism of State Forest Development Agency (SFDA) at State level, Forest Development agency (FDA) at Forest Division level and Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMCs) at village level.
The details of the claims in the forest land that have been received/rejected State-wise are given below :
Claims Received And Rejected As On 31.03.2019
| S. No | States | Claims Received | Claims Rejected* |
| 1 | Andhra Pradesh | 1,81,508 | 75,927 |
| 2 | Assam | 1,55,011 | 0 |
| 3 | Bihar | 8,022 | 4,215 |
| 4 | Chhattisgarh | 8,90,240 | 4,61,590 |
| 5 | Goa | 10,136 | 47 |
| 6 | Gujarat | 1,90,056 | 64,769 |
| 7 | Himachal Pradesh | 2,241 | 0 |
| 8 | Jharkhand | 1,10,756 | 28,107 |
| 9 | Karnataka | 2,81,349 | 1,80,956 |
| 10 | Kerala | 37,535 | 7,889 |
| 11 | Madhya Pradesh | 6,24,975 | 3,60,834 |
| 12 | Maharashtra | 3,74,716 | 45,525 |
| 13 | Odisha | 6,31,761 | 1,46,749 |
| 14 | Rajasthan | 75,855 | 36,299 |
| 15 | Tamil Nadu | 33,988 | 11,742 |
| 16 | Telangana | 1,86,679 | 83,757 |
| 17 | Tripura | 2,00,635 | 68,610 |
| 18 | Uttar Pradesh | 93,644 | 74,945 |
| 19 | Uttarakhand | 6,665 | 4,956 |
| 20 | West Bengal | 1,42,081 | 96,587 |
| TOTAL | 42,37,853 | 17,53,504 |
(* Rejected claims under FRA, 2006 are being reviewed as per Hon’ble Supreme Court’s Order dated 28.2.2019)
This information was given by Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Smt. Renuka Singh Saruta in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.
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NB/SK/jk/Tribal Affairs-03/22-07-2019