‘About half of forest rights claims distributed’: MoEFCC in Lok Sabha

ALabialise 2.389 billion single(a) timberland rights claims and 1.21 lakh community of interests titles have been distributed so far under the Forest Rights Act, 2006, the Union environment ministry (MoEFCC ) informed the Lok Sabha on Monday.While around 5.123 million claims were filed in total, over 1.86 million individual and 7.49 lakh community claims were rejected since the Act came into effect.“As per the provisions of ‘The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006’ and Rules there under, the state governments are responsible for implementation of various provisions of the Act. The ministry of tribal affairs is the nodal ministry for monitoring the implementation of the Act,” Kirti Vardhan Singh, minister of state for environment, said in the Lok SabhaCongress MP Adv. Gowaal Kagada Padavi had raised questions on: 1. Whether the Government maintains updated records of individual and community forest rights claims under Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006; 2. The number of pending claims along with the reasons for delay in approval, State-wise; 3. Whether tribal Gram Sabhas are empowered to make final decisions on claims; 4. The steps taken to prevent eviction of traditional forest dwellers without due process; 5. Whether any States have been found violating FRA provisions among others.In response, the MoEFCC said, “As stipulated in Section 6(6) of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, the final decision on claims lies with the District Level Committee.”Further, the MoEFCC also informed that no forest dweller can be evicted before recognition of forest rights.“As per provisions of Section 4(5) of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, no member of a forest dwelling Scheduled Tribe or other traditional forest dwellers shall be evicted or removed from the forest land under occupation till the recognition and verification procedure is complete,” the minister said.Since state/UTs are responsible for the implementation of the Act, the grievances and representations received in the tribal affairs ministry are forwarded to the concerned state/UTs. Further, the ministry has been urging all state governments to abide by the provisions of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 and ensure timely disposal of the claims, Singh informed.“The tribal affairs ministry has been advising states, district administrations and state forest departments to conduct awareness campaigns among all stakeholders on the implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006,” he added.A United Nations Development Programme report on ‘Securing Rights, Enabling Futures: Policy Lessons & Pathways from FRA for Accelerating Tribal Development’ released earlier this month recommended a National Tribal Policy/National Acceleration Plan for tribal development for next five years may be framed, integrating tribal governance and sustainable development as interconnected outcomes.Forest rights holders may be recognised as a category across all social protection and livelihood programmes. Policies and schemes related to forests, land, and natural resource governance must be designed to facilitate the actualization of these rights, the report stated.HT reported on July 6 that the tribal affairs ministry had asked for scientific evidence from the environment ministry to substantiate claims that granting forest rights to tribal communities causes forest degradation, escalating a tussle over a landmark 2006 legislation that recognises traditional forest rights of tribal communities in protected areas.