News: Tribal representative body complains that the Andaman and Nicobar administration gave a ‘false’ report stating that tribal people’s rights under FRA were identified and settled.
About Forest Rights Act, 2006
- The Forest Rights Act, 2006 is also known as the Schedule Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers Act, 2006.
- It is a key legislation in India that legally recognizes the rights of forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFDs) over land and forest resources they have been dependent on for generations.
- Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Tribal Affairs
- Aim: To recognize and vest forest rights in forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes (FDSTs) and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFDs).
- Objectives:
- Redress historical mistakes to tribal and traditional forest dwellers.
- Ensure their rights to livelihood, habitation, and access to forest resources.
- Promote ecological sustainability by enlisting these communities in protection, conservation, and management of forests.
- Key features:
- Recognition of rights: The Act recognizes and vests forest rights and occupation over forest land in Forest Dwelling Scheduled Tribes (FDST) and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFD) who have been residing in such forests for generations but were not officially acknowledged due to colonial forest policies.
- Types of rights granted:
- Title rights: Right to ownership of forest land being cultivated by tribals or forest dwellers, up to a maximum of 4 hectares (no new lands given).
- Use rights: Right to use and collect minor forest produce (eg. fodder, fuel, bamboo), grazing areas, fish, and water bodies.
- Relief and development rights: Protection against eviction and rights to rehabilitation and basic amenities.
- Community and management rights: Right to protect, regenerate, or manage any community forest resource and to safeguard their traditions and habitat.
- Gram Sabha’s role: The Gram Sabha (village assembly) is the nodal agency to initiate, receive, and verify claims, and its decisions move up through committees at the sub-division and district level.
- Community empowerment: The law empowers forest dwellers to access, use, and manage forest resources and protects them from unlawful eviction.
- It allows for basic infrastructure facilities in forest areas as recommended by Gram Sabhas.
