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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Implementation of forest rights Act terrible: Panel by Padmaparna Ghosh

Implementation of forest rights Act terrible: Panel by Padmaparna Ghosh

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published Published on Jan 3, 2011   modified Modified on Jan 3, 2011

The implementation of a landmark forest rights Act, which in 2006 overturned several colonial-era laws in India that denied forest dwellers entitlements to land and other resources, has been “terrible”, an official panel has said.
 
The national committee, established in April last year by the tribal affairs and environment and forests ministries, visited 17 states in seven months and released its report on Monday.

“Our site visits show the implementation has been terrible and monitoring has not been good enough,” said N.C. Saxena, who heads the committee and is also a member of the national advisory council. “Many states are yet to start the implementation.”

The council, chaired by Congress party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, sets the social agenda of the United Progressive Alliance government.

The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act of 2006 was notified on 1 January 2008.

Implementation of the law is yet to begin in 11 states, the committee said, adding that its enforcement regarding community rights has been particularly poor.

“The failure to recognize community rights is the biggest (lack) though 11 lakh individual rights have been recognized,” environment and forests minister Jairam Ramesh said. “We have to redouble our efforts in acknowledging community rights.”

“The vision has to be changed dramatically,” the minister added. “We cannot continue with the government-owned forest management model.”

About 30-40 million ha should have been handed over under community rights, but only 20,000 ha have actually been given out.  Against about three million claims filed by 31 October 2010, around 2.9 million (98%) were individual forest right claims, the report said.

“About 83% of these claims have been disposed of and 35% (about one million) claims have been approved, with titles issued for most of them. The overall progress is clearly significant,” the report said.

“But some states (such as Jharkhand) have lagged behind in terms of both getting a plausible number of claims and in processing the received claims. The number of claims processed is very low in Gujarat, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu.”

Saxena said a big hurdle in implementation has been the way so-called “other traditional forest dwellers” have been defined in the law.

The definition says a traditional forest dweller is one “who has for at least three generations prior to the 13th day of December 2005, primarily resided in and who depends on the forest or forests land for bona fide livelihood needs”.

“The definition is not adequate and needs to be clarified,” Saxena said. “Many claims are being erroneously rejected on this basis.”

Many states have been interpreting the definition as occupation of land rather that residence.
 
Ramesh also said the Indian Forest Act of 1927 would be suitably amended to reduce harassment of tribals and forest dwellers.

“The suggestions are at present with the law ministry and could be introduced in the next (parliamentary) session,” he said


Live Mint, 4 January, 2011, http://www.livemint.com/2011/01/04010814/Implementation-of-forest-right.html?atype=tp


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