The traditional forest dweller has had very few entitlements down centuries. Guardian of the forest, he has been regarded as encroacher by the State. All that is changing now as the Forest Rights Act of 2006 is being implemented across the country since January this year. Down To Earth tracks the progress of the new law.

Walking in a single file, through wooded paths, they all headed towards the panchayat office in Premnagar block of Chhattisgarh’s Sarguja district. They came in large numbers—men and women, old and young. They came from villages far and near. They were mostly Gond tribals.

 And they all had one question on their mind: What was this Forest Rights Act they had been hearing so much about since January this year?

The government in Delhi, they were being told, had passed a new law to grant them legal ownership of their forest dwelling. Their homestead in the forest, where they had been living for generations, was never legally theirs.

The new law now said they were to be given land deeds. But that was easier said than done; it involved a long procedure, which they understood little of.

That is why Sarguja’s district administration called this meeting on April 2 at Premnagar’s panchayat office. The officials were going to explain the state’s guidelines on FRA, acronym for Forest Rights Act, 2006. A junior-level officer, called the chief executive officer, first read out the guidelines. Not all of those present at the meeting had copies; someone was sent to fetch a few more.

“How will our land be verified?” Pradip Singh could not wait to ask, voicing the concern of all fellow villagers. Ramdev Yadav, another resident, wanted to know what proofs needed to be submitted to claim their land as theirs. The questions kept tumbling. Who would issue scheduled tribe certificates? Could land rights be claimed for both revenue and forestland? How to apply for community rights? The officer, while attempting to answer these questions, realized that some pages were missing from the copy of guidelines he was carrying. Without the guidelines the officer was out of his depths. Though he had undergone training on FRA, he was yet to grasp the nitty-gritty of the Act. “We will discuss all that later,” he told the crowd.

What about forms? “Will someone help us fill the forms,” asked a villager. fra, among other measures, calls for issuing forms to scheduled tribes, other traditional forest dwellers and communities (see box: What is FRA?). When the villagers wanted to see the forms, yellow for scheduled tribes and pink for other traditional forest dwellers (specific only to Chhattisgarh), photocopied forms, in black and white, were passed around. “Collect the forms after the meeting” the officer told villagers. “But this will not work,” explained Mehdi Lal, an activist, “because each form had a serial number, meant for identification.”

Hopes were raised when the subdivisional magistrate (sdm) came. He said that patta (land deeds) would be given for both forest and revenue land. Well-informed activists were quick to shout: “That’s not how it is, Saheb.” The sdm quickly directed all other questions to his junior officer.

Restive villagers now demanded to see the forms for community rights. Since there were no such forms with the officer, he gave up midway and the meeting ended abruptly. There were more questions than answers. Like the beneficiaries, the administration too is trying to figure out what this new Act is all about.

Savvy Soumya Misra at Premnagar in Sarguja district, Chhattisgarh, on April 2

What is FRA
Also called The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, FRA recognizes “the rights of tribals and other traditional forest dwellers, who have been residing in forests for generations but whose rights could not be recorded”. It aims at giving them “responsibility and authority for sustainable use, conservation of biodiversity and maintenance of ecological balance … strengthening the conservation regime … while ensuring food security”.

Parliament passed the Act in December 2006 and notified it on December 31, 2007. FRA will ensure that tribal communities and other traditional forest dwellers will have the legal right to own, collect, use and dispose of minor forest produce such as tendu leaves, herbs and medicinal plants. Timber is excluded from the list.

The Act is expected to “undo the historical injustice” done to scheduled tribes and other traditional forest-dwellers through previous laws such the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, which overnight made encroachers of people who have been dwelling in the forests for centuries.

The Act applies to those residing on forestland and forest villages or old habitation, un-surveyed villages and other villages in forests, including those not recorded and notified. All these will be converted to revenue villages under the provisions of the FRA.

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Reality check
The Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs’ website talks of states making a lot of progress on implementation of the Act but the ground reality is quite different. Many states have just about started the process of forming committees. Some have even flouted the Act’s provisions .



Three-tier structure
Under the Forest Rights Act 2006 (FRA), the gram sabha has the authority to initiate the process of determining the nature and extent of individual and community forest rights (see box: High points).

The tiers involved in the process are the forest rights committee (FRC), which is a body of the gram sabha, the sub-divisional level committee (SDLC) and the district level committee (DLC). First, the gram sabha selects an FRC, which receives claims from people. It then consolidates, verifies and prepares a map delineating the area of each recommended claim. The FRC then passes a resolution to that effect and forwards a copy to the SDLC. The SDLC hears and adjudicates disputes between gram sabhas on the nature and extent of any forest rights, petitions from persons, including state agencies, aggrieved by resolution of gram sabhas and prepares block- or tehsil-wise draft record of proposed forest rights after reconciliation of government records. It then sends the resolution to the DLC for further scrutiny, which approves the claims and records of forest rights and ensures that a certified copy of the record of forest rights is given to the claimant and the gram sabha. A state-level monitoring committee with the chief secretary as the chairperson looks into the proceedings at all stages. If an applicant is not satisfied, there is provision for him/her to file a petition in the next higher committee within 60 days. The decision of the DLC is final and binding on the petitioner. The petitioner cannot move the court for such cases.s.

High points • A forest dweller belonging to the scheduled tribe can apply for land that s/he has occupied before December 13, 2005. For other traditional forest dwellers, patta will be given for land that they have occupied for three generations, or 75 years, before December 13, 2005 • Two separate forms, for individual rights and community rights, exist, for which two documents of occupancy proof are required. Documents could range from ration card, voter’s identity card, caste certificate to a challan by the forest department prior to December 13, 2005. A statement of an elderly in the village can also be taken as proof • Those who have land and are cultivating it themselves for a livelihood but do not have any document, can also claim land. Those with patta or a government lease, but whose land has been taken illegally by the forest department or is in a dispute between forest and revenue department, can claim such land • Community rights include nistar, traditional grazing grounds, irrigation systems, sources of water for human or livestock use, medicinal plant collection territories, remnants of structures built by the local community, sacred trees, groves and ponds or riverine areas, and burial or cremation grounds

 
Out of form
“The state is supposed to issue forms and the numbers on the forms were meant to prevent people from making money by printing and distributing it. But that is not happening. Forms are being sold at very high rates,” says forest rights activist Madhu Sarin.

Since the FRA says that applications can be sent in any manner, voluntary groups and NGOs have started distributing forms themselves. But FRCs in many places would not accept them because these did not have a serial number. In blocks such as Mainpur in Raipur district, officials unknowingly distributed photocopied forms to villagers.

The trend, however, is changing in “very few places”. “We have pressured block level officers and the sub divisional officers to accept forms on plain paper,” says Rajat Choudhury of the NGO, Church’s Auxilliary for Social Action. The other major issue is that the state has not issued forms for community claims. Basic issues such as the nature of applicants are unclear. M K Rout, secretary tribal affairs, Chhattisgarh, said that only those residing on forestland would get deeds and those residing on revenue land and dependent on the forest for livelihood would be excluded. But in the meeting in Premnagar, the sub divisional magistrate said that deeds would be given to both.

According to the FRA, the term ‘forest dwelling scheduled tribes’ means the members or community of scheduled tribes who primarily reside in and who depend on the forests or forestland for bona fide livelihood needs, and includes the scheduled tribes pastoralists. Bonafide livelihood needs, the FRA says, means fulfilment of sustenance needs of self and family through production or sale of produce resulting from self-cultivation of forestland. Other traditional forest dwellers are any members or community (other than members of the scheduled tribes) who have for at least three generations, or 75 years, prior to December 13, 2005, resided in, and are dependent on, the forests or forestland for bonafide livelihood needs.