Looking beyond the Forest Rights Act

Forest Rights Act (FRA) Has been in existence for 15 years. As of April 30, 2020, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs had received 42,50,602 claims (individual and community), of which 46% of the titles were distributed to applicants. If the opinion of the Forest Department is to be considered, then the process of implementation is more or less over. But supporters of tribal rights allege that the department is ignoring the legitimate claims of tribals. Despite the Ministry being the implementing agency, the role of the Forest Department in conferring ownership is significant as the claimed land is under its jurisdiction. While both the sides are in extreme condition, the situation on the ground presents a mixed picture.

issues in implementation

The journey of implementation of FRA has never been smoother. The Act provides for democratic principles in the implementation process. In the first phase, the formation of a Forest Rights Committee involving members from within the village is required by holding a Gram Sabha with two-thirds of the members present at the meeting. In many places the procedure was not followed. These committees were mostly constituted by the panchayat secretaries on the instructions received from the district magistrates at short notice. Nominations of members of taluk-level and district-level committees were also not transparent. The contribution of women to the forest economy is well known. The FRA provides equal rights for women in the titles issued under the Act. They have an equal role at every stage of decision making. However, women were rarely seen in this matter on the ground.

It was disappointing that in the initial stages of implementation, satellite images were emphasized as evidence, while other accepted evidence was ignored, as was the case in Gujarat. This resulted in the massive rejection of claims by the authorities. It is a different matter that a writ petition filed by civil society groups in 2011 forced the authorities to look into the matter afresh in the state.

In some villages around Bastar, Chhattisgarh, the plots claimed and the documents confirming the award did not match. Further, the extent of land granted was much less than the land claimed within the limits. The claimants did not protest anticipating that whatever they got could be taken back by the authorities. Further, the various welfare and developmental schemes of the rural department were not extended universally to the tribal people who had received land possession documents under the FRA despite the directions issued by the ministry.

Overall, the poor level of awareness among the tribal people proved to be a deterrent, especially in the Scheduled Areas which are located far away. In order to present claims effectively, a proper understanding of the Act and the procedure for its implementation is essential. Some NGOs, such as those in the Dang district of Gujarat, made a difference by holding the hands of the beneficiaries at every step. However, the involvement of NGOs was missing in some of the interior areas in states like Chhattisgarh where extremism was affecting the lives of the people. Evidence suggests that implementation was better in areas that were close enough to urban settings or where access was easier. Most of the central and state government schemes and programs in these places like Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana, Janani Shishu Suraksha Programme, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, National Food Security Act, National Health Mission; Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana; And the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana was implemented, giving people the right to assert their position.

declining yield, livelihood

Many tribal areas are witnessing a decline in the quality of forest products around them, forcing them to look for other sources of livelihood. In Chhattisgarh, in many villages, earnings from activities such as collecting tendu leaves for local cigar rolling were affected when there was an influx of laborers from Bihar who were willing to work for low wages. The poor market and exploitation of local traders/middlemen were no less demoralizing.

The recognition given to their land under the FRA gave a psychological boost to the tribal people. However, they have land (including land recognized under FRA) which is small, of poor quality (especially land situated on hill slopes) and not very fertile. The lack of irrigation facilities forces them to depend only on rainfall. To increase their income, they migrate to work as construction or road laying labourers. In his opinion, this would continue until the wages earned through any source in the villages matched the wages in the urban areas.

Representatives of NGOs working in tribal areas believe that the livelihood of the local people will improve if horticulture practices are promoted in addition to bamboo and aloe vera plantations with assured market. A popular recommendation is medical and eco-tourism, along the lines of the Kerala model. On the other hand, given the quality of education received by the youth in remote districts, the chances of getting meaningful employment are less. People accustomed to urban culture do not feel like going back to their villages. Therefore, civil society groups believe that providing skill-based education with assured jobs in large scale proportionate to the demand will do wonders in these sectors.

Majority of the tribal communities in India are poor and landless. They practice small-scale farming, pastoralism, and nomadic animal husbandry. On the Human Development Index, states with tribal populations always rank below the national average. Not long ago, a sad news article was published about a tribal man walking 12 km in Odisha, carrying his dead wife on his shoulder all night. A tribal from Chhattisgarh, who marched members of his village to Delhi in 2004 demanding forest rights, told this researcher that the lives of tribal people are insignificant to our leaders. He said that in the 1970s the central government generously welcomed refugees from Bangladesh into the jungles and provided them with a house and land for farming, while the natives were still being denied it.

way forward

FRA was never going to be a panacea to solve all the issues of the tribal people, but it is important. In order to improve the condition of the tribal people, especially those living in remote areas, there is a need to emphasize on every possible aspect of their socio-economic life. This can be achieved if the already prepared schemes and programs for the tribal people are implemented in letter and spirit throughout the country. With protective laws like the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, it is only a matter of will. One way forward could be to involve people sensitive to tribal people in the decision-making process at every level.

Madhusudan Bandi is a faculty member with the Gujarat Institute of Development Research, Ahmedabad. Email: madhusudan_bandi@gidr.ac.in