Amendments to Forest Rights Act 1927

The proposed amendments to the Indian Forest Act (IFA), 1927 have triggered a lot of discontent among the tribal communities. Many see the amendments as a retrograde step which will erode the positive steps taken through the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act (or FRA), 2006.

Changes brought in through FRA 2006

Forest Rights Act 2006 was a watershed in recognising the rights of forest-dwelling communities. The act provided for:

• Tenurial Security and access rights to forest dwellers.
• Right to hold and live in forest land under individual or common occupation for habitation or common occupation for habitation or for the self-cultivation for livelihood.
• Right of ownership access to collect, use and dispose of minor forest produce that has been traditionally collected within or outside the village boundaries.
• Other community rights such as on fish and water bodies.
• Rights of settlement and conversion of forest villages into revenue villages.
• The act provided a pivotal role for Gram Sabha in ensuring the rights of the forest dwellers, decision making, planning and management for Joint Forest Management.

Amendments Proposed and Resentments

• The amendments propose to bestow higher management powers to forest officers beyond what is provided in the Forest Rights Act, 2006.
• The amendments also provide greater immunity to forest officers using firearms to prevent offences. Activists blame these greater powers and immunity are akin to immunity granted in conflict zones.
• The amendment bill also empowers state governments to take away the rights of forest dwellers if it feels it is not in line with conservation of the proposed reserved forest by offering some arbitrary amount of cash compensation.
• The amendment bill also provides for denying entry for the whole of the community for offences committed by individual members.
• It proposes to allow the government to open any patch of the forest it deems fit for commercial plantations and also allows it to assign forests to non-state entities, but not on the lease.
• Creation of national and state forest funds aided by private companies and the promotion of production forests through active involvement of private companies.

The Forest Rights Act 2006 had introduced a new paradigm of forest governance, by giving the gram sabhas the right to govern, manage and use community forest resources. But the proposed amendment bill may take away those rights from communities and hand them over to forest bureaucracy and private sector.