FOREST RIGHTS ACT

WHY IN NEWS:

• Maharashtra Governor on 30^th Sept 2020 issued a notification modifying the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006 that will enable tribals and other traditional forest dwelling families to build houses in the neighbourhood forest areas.

BACKGROUND:

• Several Acts and policies such as the 3 Indian Forest Acts of 1865, 1894 and 1927 of Central Government and some state forest Acts curtailed centuries?old, customary?use rights of local communities lived in and around forests
• This continued even after independence
• Recognizing the symbiotic relationship between tribal people and forests, the National Forest Policy, 1988, made provisions to safeguard the customary rights and interests on forest land of tribals.
• The Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006 was drafted to fulfill the need for a comprehensive legislation to give due recognition to the forest rights of tribal communities

PROVISIONS OF THE ACT:

• The Bill seeks to recognize and vest forest rights in forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes (FDSTs) and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFD) with respect to forest land and their habitat.
• The rights can be inherited but they are not transferable
• The act identify four types of rights:
• Title rights:
  • It gives FDST and OTFD the right to ownership to land farmed by tribals or forest dwellers subject to a maximum of 4 hectares.
  • Ownership is only for land that is actually being cultivated by the concerned family and no new lands will be granted.
• Use rights:
  • The rights of the dwellers extend to extracting Minor Forest Produce, grazing areas, to pastoralist routes, etc.
• Relief and development rights:
  • To rehabilitation in case of illegal eviction or forced displacement and to basic amenities, subject to restrictions for forest protection
• Forest management rights:
  • It includes the right to protect, regenerate or conserve or manage any community forest resource which they have been traditionally protecting and conserving for sustainable use.
• Exemptions:
  • Customary rights exclude hunting, trapping or extracting body parts of any wild animal.
  • FDSTs also cannot indulge in any activity that adversely affects wild animals, forests and the biodiversity in the local area and need to ensure that adjoining catchments areas and water sources are adequately protected.
• Authorities for Vesting Forest Rights
  • The Gram Sabha shall have the authority to initiate the process of determining the nature and extent of individual or community forest rights that may be given to FDSTs within the local limits of its jurisdiction under this Act.
  • The Gram Sabha is empowered to receive claims, consolidate and verify them, and prepare a map delineating the area of each recommended claim
  • Gram Sabha would then pass a resolution to that effect and forward a copy to the Sub-Divisional Level Committee (SDLC).  
  • The SDLC, which shall be constituted by the State Government, would examine the resolution passed by the Gram Sabha and prepare the record of forest rights.  It would then be forwarded to the District Level Committee (DLC)
  • The DLC would be the final authority to approve the record of forest rights
  • A State Level Monitoring Committee would be formed to monitor the process of recognition and vesting of forest rights.
  • If a person is not satisfied by the ruling of the Gram Sabha, he can file a petition to the SDLC and if not satisfied with the ruling of SDLC, he can petition to the DLC within 60 days of date of decision of the SDLC.
  • The DLC’s decision would be final and binding.
• Penalties for Offences:
  • The Act provides punishment for persons found guilty of contravening the provisions of the Act, engaging in unsustainable use of forest or forest produce, killing any wild animal etc

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ACT:

• Undoing a historical injustice:
  • The acts looks to right the wrongs of government policies in both colonial and independent India toward forest-dwelling communities, whose claims over their resources were taken away during 1850s.
  • Thus granting them the formal right over forest land is just undoing a historical injustice
• Sustainable livelihood to forest dwellers:
  • The act also has potential of sustainably protecting forest through traditional ways along with providing tribes means of livelihood.
• Reduce influence of left-wing extremism in tribal areas:
  • Providing entitlement to tribal population will helps in tackling spread of extremist ideologies among them.
• Act is crucial to the millions of tribals:
  • This Act is crucial to the rights of millions of tribals and other forest dwellers in different parts of our country as it provides for the restitution of deprived forest rights across India, including both individual rights to cultivated land in forestland and community rights over common property resources.
• Better conservation of forest:
  • Traditional forest dwellers help in preserving forests, and giving them land rights would actually help in ecological conservation
• Check exploitation of forest resources by officials
  • The act will ensure that people get to manage their forest on their own which will regulate exploitation of forest resources by officials

CHALLENGES:

• Threat to ecology:
  • The main challenge of the Act is to harmonize the potentially conflicting interest of recognizing forest rights of FDSTs while protecting forests and wildlife resources
  • Conservationists say that certain species of animals (such as the tiger) cannot co-exist with humans, and there is a need to reserve at least some parts of forests to conserve these species
  • They also say that increased human habitation in forests will cause depletion of forest cover, resulting in significant ecological costs.
• Lack of data:
  • There are no reliable estimates of the number of families who will be benefiting from the legislation
• Lack of clarity in proving occupancy:
  • The Act does not specify the kind of evidence that FDSTs would require to prove their occupancy of forest land
  • The tribes and communities also lack the capability to prove their occupancy over the forest land
• Systemic issues:
  • There is lack of coordination between the tribal, revenue and forest department on implementation of the Act.
  • Moreover, there is lack of recognition of Community Forest Resource rights. There is a huge resistance from the forest department to recognize CFR Rights and sharing of power with Gram Sabha for conservation and management of forest resources.
• May led to oppressive state actions:
  • The Act does not place any explicit restriction on the methods that can be used to remove non-eligible forest dwellers.
  • This is a concern, given the history of cases where brutal force has been used to evict tribal families
• Creates social unrest:
  • The Act recognizes rights of Scheduled Tribes who primarily reside in and who depend on the forests or forest lands for bona fide livelihood needs.
  • Other communities who depend on the forest for survival and livelihood reasons, but are not forest dwellers or Scheduled Tribes, for instance in large sections of Chattisgarh and forest tracts of Uttarakhand, are excluded from the purview of the Act.
  • This could lead to large-scale eviction of such people and increase social tension among the various forest communities
• Role of Gram Sabha is minimal:
  • Although the Gram Sabha has been given the power to initiate the process of determining forest rights, the final decision rests with the District Level Committee (DLC)

WAY FORWARD:

• Capacity building:
  • It is important to develop a detailed strategy of training and capacity building of people responsible for implementing the Act
• Utilising technology:
  • Technology needs to be utilised to support implementation of Act and make the process more efficient and effective.
• Align other forest legislations with the provisions in FRA:
  • Ensure that legislations and policies governing forest land such as Indian Forest Act, 1927 and the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 are not acting as a barrier to the successful implementation of the Act

PRACTICE QUESTION:

Q. How far the implementation of the provisions of Forest Rights Act (FRA) will helps in rectifying India’s poor track record of forest governance?