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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Forest Rights Act: A decade old but implementation remains incomplete -Mayank Aggarwal

Forest Rights Act: A decade old but implementation remains incomplete -Mayank Aggarwal

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published Published on Dec 17, 2018   modified Modified on Dec 17, 2018
-Mongabay.com

* Indian government enacted the Forest Rights Act in 2006 to correct the historic injustice done to tribal people and forest dwellers but the implementation of the landmark legislation has been far from satisfactory.

* A recent study reveals a large variation in the outcomes of claims submitted under the FRA Act across states. It found that states with more forest cover have higher claim distribution rates, while states with presence of left-wing extremism are associated with higher claim rejection rates.

* Experts working on the issue on the ground believe the biggest hurdles in proper implementation of the FRA Act are the forest bureaucracy and corporate interests.

Since its enactment in 2006, the Forest Rights Act (FRA) has been hailed as a step to correct the historic injustice meted out to tribal people and forest dwellers in India, but even over a decade later, its implementation “has been uneven since its inception and remains incomplete,” finds a recent study.

In the study,  Jocelyn I. Lee and Steven A. Wolf of the United States-based Cornell University conducted a critical assessment of the implementation of the Forest Rights Act of India and revealed that “there is a large variation in the outcomes of claims submitted under the Act across states.”

The study analyses the implementation of the FRA 2006 across India for the period 2008-2017 by examining the rates of formal distribution of rights claims at the level of individual states. It aims to explain variance across states through reliance on political, economic and ecological considerations.

It emphasises that a “greater extent of forest cover is associated with higher claim distribution rates, while the presence of left-wing extremism is associated with higher claim rejection rates.”

The study highlights “important governance tensions underlying prospects for environmental conservation through decentralisation of forest management authority”. It indicates that the “local political climate and interests, along with existing ecological conditions, may mediate implementation of forest policy reforms in an important way.”

“Sweeping institutional change to socioecological relations and property rights may be difficult to achieve in a country where political relationships and controls over access to resources differ across local contexts,” said the study published in the Land Use Policy journal.

The study highlights that there are several trends in the processing of FRA claims with major ones like high variation among state in the number of claims received and titles distributed.

For instance, the analysis reveals, that the “cumulative state distribution rates range from zero percent to approximately 66 percent with Kerala and Odisha both having issued titles for about 66 percent of all claims received within their states.”

“The distribution rate of zero belongs to the state of Tamil Nadu where a high court ban on the issuance of titles was in place until early 2016. The next lowest distribution rate (1.5 percent) occurs in Bihar, which has some of the lowest total numbers of claims received, distributed, and rejected,” it said.

High potential, poor implementation of FRA Act

Passed in 2006, the FRA Act seeks to make amends to India’s tribal community and other forest dwellers. The Act makes provisions for recognising and giving the forest rights to forest-dwelling scheduled tribes and other traditional communities residing in such forests for generations but whose rights could not be recorded.

It also aims to strengthen the conservation regime by recognising forest dwellers’ right to sustainably use and manage forests.

According to Indian government’s Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) data, which is the nodal department for the implementation of the FRA Act, till September 2018 end, a total of 4,219,741 claims (individual and community claims) have been filed and 1,889, 835 titles (individual and community claims) amounting to 17,848,733 acres of forest lands have been distributed. But this also means that a total of 1,934,345 claims were rejected by the government which is more than the approved claims.

Sanghamitra Dubey of the Community Forest Rights – Learning and Advocacy (CFR-LA) Process, a group of experts who are working on the issue of community forest rights across India, said, the “FRA sought to democratise forest governance in India by securing rights of adivasis and forest dwellers and by empowering gram sabhas to govern community forest resources.”

Please click here to read more.

Mongabay.com, 13 December, 2018, https://india.mongabay.com/2018/12/13/forest-rights-act-a-decade-old-but-implementation-remains-incomplete/


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