{"id":274312,"date":"2023-12-18T20:07:37","date_gmt":"2023-12-18T14:37:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=274312"},"modified":"2023-12-18T20:07:37","modified_gmt":"2023-12-18T14:37:37","slug":"an-uphill-struggle-to-grow-the-forest-rights-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/an-uphill-struggle-to-grow-the-forest-rights-act\/","title":{"rendered":"An uphill struggle to grow the Forest Rights Act"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source<\/strong>: This post has been created on the article\u00a0\u201c<\/strong>An uphill struggle to grow the Forest Rights Act\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0published in\u00a0\u201cThe Hindu<\/strong>\u201d\u00a0on 18th<\/sup> December 2023.<\/p>\n

UPSC Syllabus Topic:<\/strong>\u00a0GS Paper 2 \u2013 Governance \u2013 Government Policies and Interventions for Development in various sectors and Issues arising out of their Design and Implementation.<\/p>\n

News<\/strong>:\u00a0The Forest Rights Act (FRA)<\/strong> was enacted in 2006 to resolve conflicts over forest encroachments, addressing historical injustices against forest-dwelling communities, and establish democratic forest governance.<\/p>\n

However, even after 17 years, the Act’s promise of justice and democratization remains largely unfulfilled.<\/p>\n

What have been historical injustices done to the forest dwellers?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

During the Colonial Period:<\/strong> The Indian Forest Act, 1878<\/strong> gave the British ownership of all Indian forests.\u00a0The Imperial Forest Department maximized revenue<\/strong> for the British and treated forests as state property.<\/p>\n

This resulted in banning shifting cultivation, biased land surveys, forced labor for forest communities and restricting their access to forest resources.<\/p>\n

Post-Independence<\/strong><\/p>\n

Inclusion of Princely states and Zamindari estates:<\/strong> This led the forest areas being declared state property.<\/p>\n

Land leases:<\/strong> Forest lands were leased for “Grow More Food” and other initiatives<\/strong> to meet the needs of a growing population, leaving communities in vulnerable situations.<\/p>\n

Construction of Dams:<\/strong> Communities were displaced and were forced to encroach on other forest areas.<\/p>\n

The Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 and Forest (Conservation) Act 1980:<\/strong>\u00a0Both the Acts followed the colonial nature of state ownership. The creation of sanctuaries and national parks led to the forced resettlement of communities.<\/p>\n

Developmental Projects:<\/strong> Forest lands were diverted for the developmental project without the consent of local communities.<\/p>\n

How did the Forest Rights Act address these historical injustices?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Encroachments:<\/strong> It recognized Individual Forest Rights (IFRs)<\/strong> for habitation and cultivation. Forest villages are converted to revenue villages with full rights recognition.<\/p>\n

Access and Control:<\/strong> It granted access and control by giving the rights to utilize forests, own and sell minor forest produce, and manage forests within their boundaries.\u00a0These rights extended to sanctuaries and national parks.<\/p>\n

Balanced Wildlife Conservation and Community Rights:<\/strong> It created a democratic process creating a balance between conservation goals and community needs.<\/p>\n

Supreme Court Judgment:<\/strong> The SC in the Niyamgiri case<\/strong>, empowered forest communities by stating that they enjoy veto power over any proposals to divert that forest for other purposes.<\/p>\n

However, despite attempts by the Forest Conservation Rules 2022<\/strong><\/a> and FCA Amendment 2023<\/strong><\/a> to bypass this right, states can still establish consent mechanisms.<\/p>\n

What have been the challenges over the implementation of the Forest Rights Act?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Politicization:<\/strong> Many states focused solely on individual rights, framing the FRA as an “encroachment regularization” scheme, encouraging illegal cultivation in some areas.<\/p>\n

They often view forest dwellers as recipients of state benefits, rather than recognizing their rights over forest.<\/p>\n

Bureaucratic Obstacles:<\/strong> The recognition of Individual Forest Rights (IFRs) was affected by Forest Department resistance and technology misuse.<\/p>\n

There was a hindrance in recognizing Community Forest Rights (CFRs)<\/strong> as it would lead to loss of bureaucratic power and control over forests.<\/p>\n

Claiming Processes:<\/strong> Claimants faced difficulties in filing claims, encountering rejections due to faulty processes and arbitrary decisions.<\/p>\n

The digital processes, like the VanMitra software in Madhya Pradesh, continued the injustice in areas with poor connectivity and literacy.<\/p>\n

Read More: <\/strong>The Conflict Between Forest Rights and Forest Conservation – Explained<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

How has the implementation of the Forest Rights Act been carried out in<\/strong> some of the states?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Maharashtra, Odisha, and Chhattisgarh have made progress in recognizing Community Forest Rights (CFRs).<\/p>\n

Maharashtra has actively implemented by de-nationalizing minor forest produce<\/strong> in Scheduled Areas, empowering villages to manage their own forests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: This post has been created on the article\u00a0\u201cAn uphill struggle to grow the Forest Rights Act\u201d\u00a0published in\u00a0\u201cThe Hindu\u201d\u00a0on 18th December 2023. UPSC Syllabus Topic:\u00a0GS Paper 2 \u2013 Governance \u2013 Government Policies and Interventions for Development in various sectors and Issues arising out of their Design and Implementation. News:\u00a0The Forest Rights Act (FRA) was enacted… Continue reading An uphill struggle to grow the Forest Rights Act<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,162,9],"tags":[300,212,10498],"class_list":["post-274312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-polity-governance","category-public","tag-governance","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":21,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1702943868},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274312\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}