Various Issues Around Community Forest Rights

In India, there are several communities dependent upon forests for their life and livelihood. These include the traditional forest dwellers, some Scheduled Tribes and some villages across different states. But with the advent to economic and industrial development, there is always a conflict between the rights of indigenous people over the forests and the industrialist’s or state’s need to utilize the forest areas for development. The game is more tilted towards the latter which has at times resulted in the exploitation of the former. As a result of this, several of the community forest rights are lost.

History of Exploitation

The systematic denial of rights over the forest to the indigenous communities began during the British rule, when the entry of the people belonging to these communities in the forest areas was restricted and the all the forest lands were encroached upon either for their own industrial development or for growing of cash crops to suit their industries. They sought to consolidate the state forests for the purpose of administration, causing the traditional community to be ousted from these areas.

The situation remained unchanged after independence when the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and Forest Conservation Act, 1980 were enacted. These enactments, in order to protect the environment, targeted the forest activities of indigenous communities and carried on with the centralization of forest governance and deprivation of forest rights. This was further aggravated at the time of economic liberalization in 1990s when an increase in resource and extraction and land grabbing development projects accelerated to a level where deprivation of forest rights was inevitable.

The Forest Rights Act

When the exploitation continued in an unhindered manner, the need arose for a legislation that would recognize and vest forest related rights on the scheduled tribes and the traditional forest dwelling communities. In response to this need the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 was enacted. The salient features of the Act are:

Recognition of rights

It gave legal recognition to the rights of traditional forest dwelling communities and scheduled tribes. Some of the rights recognized are:

• Right to title-It gives rights of ownership to the tribals and forest dwellers over the land that they have been cultivating for generations in family. But a cap of maximum 4 hectares of land has been fixed and new lands are not granted.
• Right to use-They have been given the right to use minor forest produce, the grazing areas, the pastoralist routes etc.
• Right to forest management-These indigenous communities have been given the right to protect forest and wildlife which they have been using for generations.
• Relief and Development rights-They have a right against illegal eviction or to forced displacement and the basic amenities that they get from the forest. However it is subject to protection of the forests.

Eligibility under the Act

In order to be qualified for the enforcement of the rights under this Act, a community must ‘primarily reside in forests’, depend on the forests and forest lands for their livelihood. The two criteria are:

• The claimant must belong to a Scheduled Tribe who resides in that area; or
• A traditional community that has resided in the forest areas for not less than 75 years.

Procedure

The Act empowers the gram sabha to pass a resolution containing the recommendation as to whose rights and to which resources should be recognized. The verification is then made by the sub-division or taluka and then at the district level. A screening committee is formed which comprises of three government officials from the Forest, Revenue and Tribal Welfare Departments and three elected members from the local body. The committees also act as appellate bodies.

Lacunae in the Act

Despite taking so much care under the Act, the rights of the traditional community over forest resources have still not been enforced to a satisfactory level. This is due to some flaws in the implementation of the Act which are as follows:

Inadequacy of the implementing agencies

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs which has been entrusted with the implementation of the provisions of the Act, has a serious issue of understaffing and lack of other resources. There is only one secretary who is assisted by two joint secretaries, one deputy director general and an economic advisor. They have to bear the burden of all responsibilities other than the implementation of the Act. So, there is a natural shifting of priorities towards other more important issues. A similar situation is with the budget of the Ministry. The state level agencies suffer from the same problems. Most of the staffs do not have the adequate training for implementation of the Act and there is also a lack of resources with them. A similar situation also exists in the state level monitoring committees which do not function as per the statutory provisions, like irregular meetings. The district and sub divisional levels are also not properly equipped to deal with these issues. This leads to a large number of pending claims as the officers in these levels are dependent on the forest department for clarifying the claims of the gram sabha.

Obstruction from state forest departments and forest officers

The implementation of Community Forest Rights was not taken up as a positive move by the state forest departments and the forest officers as it results in change in the pattern of forest governance from a bureaucratic structure to a decentralized control by gram sabha. These officers are unwilling to leave out their positions and implement the Act.

Conflict with Village Forest Rules

The Village Forest Rules that are enacted by several states like the one in Maharashtra in 2014, has put the control of forest rights in the hands of the forest department. This is a violation of the Act and is assumed by many as a strategy to maintain the bureaucratic control over the forests.

Challenges posed by non-state actors

The non-state actors like the wildlife conservation groups, mining and power plant industries, forest product contractors etc. have always opposed this move as a threat to forest conservation. The companies have actively violated compliances to the gram sabha and used the forest produce.

Suggestions

The major solution lies in a strong political will to ensure right to livelihood of the indigenous communities. First, the government should correct the bureaucracy and brush away their claims for implementation of the rights. Second, the nodal tribal departments have to be properly equipped for implementation and clear instruction need to be given to state and district administrations.