Significance of the Forest Rights Act, 2006 and its implementation in forest-dwelling communities of India (original) (raw)
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Economic Affairs, 2019
Tribal population is the aboriginal inhabitants of India who have been living a life based on the natural environment and have cultural patterns congenial to their physical and social environment. Realizing the disadvantage position of forest dwelling communities, Government of India passed The Schedule Tribe and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (FRA). The act aims at granting legal entitlement, empowerment and improvement of livelihood by way of various provisions of the act, but due to lack of proper awareness and impediments in the implementation this goal was not fully achieved. The present study was conducted in the tribal majority district of Kerala, Wayanad, where FRA was implemented to strengthen the social security and livelihood improvement of forest dwelling communities. This study attempts to enlighten the status and progress of FRA in Wayanad along with its impact on the major tribal communities. The assessment of impact on socioeconomic and livelihood improvement was done based on the primary data collected from 160 households of four tribal communities viz., Paniya, Kuruma, Kattunaika, and Urali, which are the predominant communities found in the study area. Study revealed that Kuruma community found to have 'very good' socioeconomic condition after the implementation of Act. There are positive outcomes in terms of socioeconomic status and livelihood progress of other communities as well but the difficulties in realizing rights and utilizing it lead to the poor impact of FRA, 2006 on them. Highlights m Even after 11 years of implementation of FRA, 2006, the impact of act remains meager among the major beneficiaries due to lack of awareness and defective governance.
The Schedule Tribe and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (FRA) was passed by the Indian Government to recognize rights of forest dwelling tribal communities. The Act aims to positively impact the livelihood of the forest dependent tribals, but due to the lack of clear understanding and irregular implementation this goals was not fully achieved. The present study was conducted in Tripura, where FRA was implemented to achieve sustainable land utilization and to strengthen the socioeconomic status of the tribals. This study attempts to throw light on the relevance and progress of implementation of FRA in Tripura along with initiatives and benefit schemes of the government agencies to provide sustainable livelihood option through convergence with FRA. The assessment of impact in terms of livelihood improvement and socioeconomic conditions was based on primary survey of 300 FRA beneficiary households in two tribal dominated districts, Gomati and Dhalai. There are indications of positive outcomes regarding, socioeconomic status, change in mindset towards sustainable farming, and impact on income but there are issue with decentralization of governance, implementation of land rights and benefit schemes, and sustainability in farming practices. There is no empirical study conducted on the implementation and impact of FRA in Tripura and therefore such field oriented, policy study would be useful for further implementation and research in regions where forest and tribals are co-existing.
Critical Appraisal of Indian Forest right Act, 2006 and situation of tribal’s in India
Millions of people live in and near forest domains, but have no officially permitted right to their homes, lands or livelihoods. FRA, 2006 recognises forest dwellers' rights and makes conservation more accountable. According to 2011 census report, Tribal population is 104.3 millions and constitute 8.6% of total population, which is 8.2% in 2001. There were 2, 57,226 forest cases pending against tribals between 1953 to 2004 under Sections 26, 33 and 41 of the Indian Forest Act 1927 pertaining primarily to illegal felling of trees for domestic use and ferrying of wood by bullock carts. The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, are a major opportunity to strengthen economic, political empowerment and social security of tribes and other forest dwellers. The present paper is an attempt to examine the status of forest Act, 2006 in India with reference to tribal problems. The attempt has also been made to assess the major challenges which are coming during the implementation of this Act and the preservation of sustainable livelihoods of the tribes and other traditional forest dwellers. The paper also highlighted the relevance and validity of forest act, 2006. The findings suggest that Indian policies are well designed but worst implemented. FRA, 2006 is a very good effort to serve the marginalized tribal communities. But, in order to make this Act a boon, more efforts are needed. It requires strengthening of the forest dwellers' rights, makes conservation more accountable and more transparent.
Forest degradation and livelihood of local communities in India: A human rights approach
Journal of Horticulture and Forestry, 2013
India's current forest and tree cover is estimated to be 78.29 million ha, constituting 23.81% of the geographical area of the country. As per the India State of the Forest Report (ISFR) 2011, forest cover has declined by 367 sq. km compared to the forest cover in the preceding ISFR in 2009. The National Forest Commission report 2006 indicated that around 41 per cent of total forest in the country is already degraded, 70 per cent of the forests have no natural regeneration, and 55 per cent of the forests are prone to fire. In the forested landscapes of India, the livelihoods of the people, especially the indigenous communities, living close to forest and within the forests are inextricably linked to the forest ecosystem. People depend on the forest for a variety of forest products for food, fodder, agriculture, housing, and an array of marketable minor forest produces which can potentially degrade forest if harvested unsustainably. People living in these forest fringe villages depend upon forest for a variety of goods and services. These includes collection of edible fruits, flowers, tubers, roots and leaves for food and medicines; firewood for cooking (some also sale in the market); materials for agricultural implements, house construction and fencing; fodder (grass and leaf) for livestock and grazing of livestock in forest; and collection of a range of marketable non-timber forest products. Thus, this increasing degradation of forest is hampering the basic human right to life and livelihood of the local communities, especially the indigenous community whose life is closely linked with the resources and environment amidst which they live.
Online , 2013
The very enactment of the historic Forest Rights Act, 2006 by the Indian Parliament in the country after the 60 years of India's independence is a landmark constitutional reform. Campaign for Survival and Dignity (CSD) played a vital role in mobilizing the tribals, forest dwellers and people's representatives at different levels in whole country and successfully got this Act passed by the Indian Parliament which admitted for the first time in the history of India to have done historical injustice to the tribals and forest dwellers before and after India's independence. We believe that FRA aims at reddressal of a numbers of problems arose due to the draconian Acts like Indian Forest Act, 1927 and Land Acquisition Land, 1894 which were used to evict the tribals and the forest dwellers from their homes and shelters like goats and cattle. The Forest Rights Act, 2006 not only revived the tribal self governance regime in scheduled 5 th area enforced by the Central PESA Act, 1996 but also it extended the provisions of the PESA even to the non scheduled area(whole State) empowering the Village Council, the Gram Sabha to decide over their fate and fate of their resources which has been upheld by the Supreme Court, the highest Court of the nation in the Niyamgiri case on 18 th April 2013. All the State's Apparatus has now to accept that "Gram Sabha" is the lowest unit or form of "Government" having its own exclusive legislative, executive and judicial power and authority over its stipulated areas like any other forms of Government at Block, District, State and Central level. The FRA has also raised fundamental questions over the ongoing Panchyatitaj systems; representative system runs in different State and aims at implementation of direct democracy sidelining the over empowered bureaucracy. Forest Rights Act, 2006 has also challenged the age-old State hegemony over forest protection and conservation in the name of "scientific forest management" and has strengthen the conservation regime handing it to the community people who live and die in the forest.
FOREST RIGHTS ACT IN ENSURING TRIBAL DEVELOPMENT Using law as a tool for right-based development
The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, commonly known as the Forest Rights Act (FRA), has been the focus point of many heated arguments since its coming into force. With introduction of concepts like Community Forest Rights, which are totally new to the Indian jurisprudence, the Forest Rights Act aims at securing tenurial and access rights of forest dwellers while simultaneously ensuring sustainable use, conservation of forest and maintenance of ecological balance. On the other hand, with numerous existing schemes and programmes miserably failing in their attempt to forcibly impose the so called ‘development’ on the tribal people, it’s been crystal clear that development needs a radically different perspective in respect of the tribal population. This paper advocates the idea that tribal development is acceptable and realistic only when it is inclusive. Development can’t be imposed, but promoted. The paper further presents various examples and case studies from the Pauri Bhuinyan community of Odisha in order to support this viewpoint. The paper then tests the effectiveness of the legislation in ensuring tribal development in the real sense. As a concluding remark, this paper suggests various improvements for a better law in future that may be built upon the existing framework of the present Act by way of amendments and aiding rules.
An analysis of the impact of the Forest Rights Act (2006) in three states of India
This paper looks at the different arrangements around Forest Management in India and what this has meant a) for the rights of indigenous people and forest dwelling communities b) for the management of forests. Focussing on the FRA, the paper looks at whether it has really been revolutionary in ensuring livelihood security while at the same time enabling the management and conservation of forests. The study was based on literature reviews, a baseline study conducted by Oxfam India which the author was given access to and the opinions of an expert group working on community forest management. This paper is part of the author's MPhil thesis (completed in the year 2014) at the University of Cambridge.
Field visit Report, 2012
The report is based on the joint field visit of CSD, Odisha, and Odisha Jungle Manch on dated 26th August 2012 to the forest village/unsurveyed village Dutelguda. Much updated information has also been collected from the villagers over the phone. This village represents the thousands of displaced villages over the periods by the Govt. of Odisha due to developmental projects and where community people were settled by themselves mostly in different reserved forest areas. This village also represents the thousands of forest villages/unsurveyed human habitations of which the Govt. of Odisha does not have clear information. This village also represents the thousands of recorded and unrecorded hamlets in the scheduled 5th areas, which were regarded as independent village under the Central PESA Act 3 1996 and again by the historic forest rights act, 2006 which not only revived the provisions of the Central PESA Act but also extended the provisions of the PESA Act even to the non-scheduled areas of the State recognizing them as separate villages. Both these two pro-community legislations strongly advocate for the “Authority” of the Gram Sabha toward the realization of a true Democracy. These acts not only emphasized Gram Sabha's ownership rights over its resources but also had enough faith in its competency to use these resources sustainably for the next generations and to make independent decisions for their life and livelihoods.