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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Ten years of Forest Rights Act: Maharashtra tops in implementation-but credit goes to one district -Mridula Chari

Ten years of Forest Rights Act: Maharashtra tops in implementation-but credit goes to one district -Mridula Chari

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published Published on Jul 11, 2017   modified Modified on Jul 11, 2017
-Scroll.in

Gadchiroli has recognised community forest rights in 66% of eligible land, compared to the state’s figure of 15%.

Ten years after the Centre passed a law granting Adivasis and other forest dwellers rights to manage resources in forest lands, Maharashtra has emerged as the front-runner among states in implementing the provisions of this legislation, followed closely by Kerala.

A new report by Community Forest Rights Learning and Advocacy – a collective that brings together community members and their organisations, civil society groups, researchers and academics – showed that Maharashtra’s success came on the back of record recognition of community forest rights in Gadchiroli, an eastern district of the state. “If Gadchiroli is taken out of the picture, Maharashtra’s average performance of CFR [community forest resource rights] implementation as compared to the minimum potential [of forest land eligible for these rights] would be approximately 10%,” the report noted.

It went on to say that Maharashtra had granted villages community forest resource rights in 15% of land with the potential for these rights to be recognised. However, this was only because it had recognised these rights in 66% of the potential land in Gadchiroli. In the rest of the state, there was no implementation at all in 21 districts, between 0% and 33% implementation in nine districts, and between 33% and 66% in two districts.

The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, passed in December 2006, was a historic law that gave back to traditional forest dwellers their rights to access, manage and govern forest lands and resources within village boundaries, which had been controlled by the forest department since colonial times.

Under the law, forest dwellers can apply to state governments for either individual or community forest rights – which means they can take ownership of the process of protecting and conserving forests in their areas. They can also gather and sell minor forest produce such as tendu leaves or bamboo, which was an illegal activity before the law was enacted.

However, states have not been particularly proactive about implementing these rights. As the report noted, only seven states have recognised community forest rights at all. Maharashtra has granted community forest rights in 15% of the 1.2 crore acres of potential forest land that could be eligible under these rules, benefitting 5,741 communities. Kerala is a close second at 14%, followed by Gujarat at 9% and Odisha at 5%. Across India, states have recognised only 3% of potential community forest rights.

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Scroll.in, 9 July, 2017, https://scroll.in/article/843046/ten-years-of-forest-rights-act-maharashtra-tops-in-implementation-but-credit-goes-to-one-district


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