Forests in India house over 250 million people whose
home, hearth and livelihood comes from their forest dwellings for generations.
However, forest dwellers in India are among the most marginalized and neglected
sections of the society comprising primarily of tribal and Dalit communities
whose livelihood depends on the forest produce of the land that they have used
for centuries.
The abolition of the Zamindari system exacerbated the
situation as more common lands were nationalized and converted into protected
forests. This was later amended and the traditional occupants were given titles
based on the length of occupancy. This, however, gave disproportionate power to
the Patwaris (keeper of land records), and given the non-existence of ownership
records corruption became rampant. The FRA sought to rectify this by providing
a clear, transparent and environmentally friendly procedure for the
resettlement of the people and displaced wildlife.
However, the act is not serving the purpose with which
it was enacted. Where is the implementation lagging behind? Would the current
government keep up the Centre’s commitment of equality in land ownership
notwithstanding the differences political ideology with the previous UPA
government? What exactly is the FRA? These are some of the issues examined in
this essay.
The
Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest
Rights) Act, 2006
The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest
Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (FRA) was enacted in 2006 to
address the sever shortcomings of the 1927 act. The IFA resulted in the
alienation of tribals and other forest dwellers. It is an act which protects
the land ownership titles in the tribal belt of India and had been demanded for
long to safeguard the interests of the most marginalized people of the country.
However, the implementation record (including guaranteed land holdings under
the act) has been poor.
Discrepancies in tribal forest land allocation and
redistribution has also been at the centre of India’s Left Wing insurgency in
what is called the Red Corridor. Therefore, he 2006 act’s importance multiplies
in not only addressing the injustice done to the traditional forest dwellers
over centuries, but also as a means to combat what has been called India’s
worst national security crisis.
The 2006 act was radically democratic in many ways as
it acknowledged the historical injustices done to the forest dwelling
communities and set a forward-looking path to correct those. There are twelve
types of rights enlisted in the 2006 act to undo the damage that has already
been done and these include rights to land occupation, forest produce, both
timber and non-timber, management of community forests and home and hearth. It
also empowers and makes accountable the traditional forest dwellers to protect
the biodiversity, water resources and other resources of the forest as well as
catchment areas and seeks to establish a community based forest administration
in the country with the Gram Sabhas at the helm of affairs. The land ownership
titles will be ascertained to the maximum limit of 4 ha per person by a
committee comprising the District Collector, the Divisional Forest Officer and
the Superintendent of Police.
There are many misconceptions surrounding the act for
which it has come under criticism. Many people believe that the FRA is meant to
redistribute land up to a maximum ceiling of 4 hectares per person. However,
the truth is that this act is not a land redistribution act and does not
empower anyone to do so. On the issue of land, the FRA requires the state and
central government to legally recognise the lands as revenue lands on which
forest dwellers have been carrying out farming prior to 13 December 2005.
For non-Scheduled Tribes (STs), this recognition comes
after proving that they have been farming on the land in question for the past
75 years. As per the FRA, the traditional forest dwellers and STs will only
receive rights to ‘land under their occupation’ and no more, for the time
specified up to a maximum of 4 hectares per person. Any claims over the
stipulated 4 hectares will not be entertained. No new land distribution will
take place and the titles given as per the act cannot be sold or transferred,
except through family hierarchy. It is not a welfare scheme and deals with
defining the forest land and its occupation.
In 2012, then Minister for Tribal Affairs, Mr. Kishore
Chand Deo had written a letter to the CM’s of states, urging them to implement the
act properly. However, despite all the efforts by the previous government and
civil society activists, the implementation record of the act has remained
poor. Moreover, widespread corruption which still exists in the process of
implementation has hindered the powers of the act substantially.
Critics of the FRA say it was enacted by the
government for privatizing natural resources and making vote banks out of the
forest dwellers. But the basic principles of the act were largely
misinterpreted and contorted based on state-wise implementation record.
Conclusion
The enactment of the
2006 FRA is an example of inclusive, democratic and enabling legislation which
came in a favorable pro-poor political environment. However, the implementation
rests with local authorities and state governments where the failure is stark.
According to Ministry of Tribal Affairs’ report
from January 2014, 36, 54,420 claims have
been filed and 14, 18,078 titles have
been distributed. Further, 15,864 titles were ready for distribution. A total of 31, 06,690 claims
have been disposed of (85.01%). Unfortunately, there are no records of details
of the amount of land under each title. Whether these gains for the forest
dwellers are consolidated in forms of actual substantive rights and access remains an open question.
There is also no readily available record of uses for such land. Various
non-government report states that this number is grossly inflated and titles to
a full authorized 4 ha per person are rare in all the states.
There are also several
cases on encroachment still pending in the courts of different states wherein,
lack of proof of occupation has led to a traditional forest dweller to be
incarcerated as a squatter.
The role of Gram Sabhas
has also not been exemplified under the act yet on ground. Moreover, mining
activities on traditional forest land in some of the states by corporate houses
is still going unnoticed.
In spirit, this act is
phenomenal but the leakages in implementation reduce it to the status of just
another act which is supposed to work but isn’t.
The current government
needs to look beyond political differences and keenly push for a better
implementation of the FRA under due process. This is one of the landmark
legislations which follow the democratic principles enshrined by our founding
fathers in our constitution.
Medha Chaturvedi
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