Context of the Forest Rights Act
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RReeccooggnniittiioonn ooff CCoommmmuunniittyy RRiigghhttss uunnddeerr FFoorreesstt RRiigghhtt AAcctt iinn MMaaddhhyyaa PPrraaddeesshh aanndd CChhhhaattttiissggaarrhh Challenges and Ways Forward Final Report DDeecceemmbbeerr 22001100 Submitted to: UNDP - Bhopal Prepared by: SAMARTHAN - Centre for Development Support Table of contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. i Abbreviations ..................................................................................................................... iii Chapter 1: The context of the Forest Rights Act .............................................................. 1 1.1. The context ................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Government initiatives prior to enacting the FRA .......................................................... 3 1.3 Provisions for community rights in the FRA .................................................................. 4 1.4 Some other important FRA provisions .......................................................................... 5 1.5 Process and procedures for implementing the FRA...................................................... 6 1.6 Timeline for implementing the FRA in both states ................................................. 7 1.7 Key orders issued by the Government of Madhya Pradesh ................................... 8 1.8 Achievements of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in implementing the FRA and verifying community claims .............................................................................................. 10 1.8.1 District-wise status of community claims .......................................................... 11 Chapter 2 – Literature review and study methodology .................................................. 14 2.1.1 Review of literature on the FRA ............................................................................... 14 2.1.3 Shortcomings of the FRA ................................................................................. 18 2.1.4 Steps for improvement ..................................................................................... 21 2.2. Objectives of the study .............................................................................................. 22 2.3 Methodology .............................................................................................................. 22 2.5 Limitations of the study ............................................................................................... 27 Chapter 3: Community claims on forest resources –ground realities .......................... 28 3.1. Types of forest resources used by the community ..................................................... 28 3.2 Community claims on forest resources in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh ............ 29 3.3 Community claims in national parks and wildlife sanctuaries ...................................... 30 3.4. Claims made in villages with PTGs ........................................................................... 33 3.5. Claims under Section 3 (2) - diversion of forest land ................................................. 34 3.6. Community perceptions about utility of claimed assets .............................................. 36 3.7. Unclaimed community rights other than Section 3(2) ................................................. 38 3.8. Low user perceptions about community rights claims ................................................ 42 3.9. Conclusions .............................................................................................................. 43 Chapter 4: Effectiveness of structures for efficient delivery of forest rights ............... 44 4.1. Structure of various committees of the FRA .............................................................. 44 4.2 Role envisaged for various committees ...................................................................... 44 4.2.1 Defined roles of the DLC, SDLC, FRC and Gram Sabha ................................. 44 4.3. Analysis of the roles performed by the committees as compared to the rules ............ 46 4.3.1 Awareness generation in the Gram Sabha ....................................................... 46 4.3.2 Availability of documents and forms at the village level .................................... 47 4.3.3 Preparation of applications and gathering evidence ......................................... 48 4.3.4 Examining and verifying claims by the FRC and DLC ...................................... 49 4.3.5 Hearing and adjudicating disputes ................................................................... 51 4.3.6 Coordination between sub-divisions and districts for common claims .............. 51 4.3.7 Final processing of documents ......................................................................... 53 4.4. Conclusions .............................................................................................................. 54 Chapter 5: Processes and outcomes in implementing the FRA ................................... 56 5.1. IEC for popularizing the provisions of the FRA .......................................................... 56 5.2. Capacity building initiatives ....................................................................................... 57 5.3. Civil society in promoting the FRA ............................................................................. 59 5.4. Processing of claims at the village level .................................................................... 63 5.4.1 First orientation of the Gram Sabha ................................................................. 63 5.4.2 Engagement of nodal officers in promoting the FRA ........................................ 65 5.4.3 Formation of FRCs with Gram Sabha engagement .......................................... 68 5.5. Budgetary provisions for implementing the FRA ........................................................ 70 5.6. Inter-departmental coordination ................................................................................. 72 5.7Conclusions ................................................................................................................ 73 Chapter 6 - Key conclusions ............................................................................................ 74 Chapter 7: Key recommendations ................................................................................... 77 Annexures ......................................................................................................................... 82 Biblography ..................................................................................................................... 101 Acknowledgements The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, commonly referred to as the Forest Right Act (FRA), is considered a pathbreaking legislation that acknowledges the historical injustice meted out to India‟s forest dwellers, particularly tribals. The legislation was promulgated to “recognise and vest forest rights and occupation in forest land in forest dwelling” to tribals and other traditional forest dwellers “who have been residing in forests for generations but whose rights could not be recorded”. Taken up as a priority agenda by the Government of India, Its implementation was launched with much fanfare and many tribal-dominated states also began to address the challenge of designing ways to promote individual as well as community rights of forest dwellers to forest resources and assets. But it soon became evident that the status of tribals and other traditional forest dwellers and their distance from the mainstream were crucial factors retarding the effective and efficient implementation of the FRA. Although tribal communities had customary and historical claims to dependence on forests for their livelihoods, an insignificant number of community claims for user rights were being registered in most states compared to individual claims. Samarthan initiated a study with the support of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to understand the status of community claims and identify best practices as well as bottlenecks in implementing the FRA in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The study, conducted in 120 villages across 10 districts of the two states, sought to distinguish community claims from non-claims and also review the processes and mechanisms of delivering claims and justice to applicants. Its findings are useful in providing direction for mid-course corrections in settling claims, using the existing strengths of the state-level delivery mechanism and using the learning of this intensive assessment to strengthen the implementation of the Act. We wish to thank the tribals and citizens having potential claims under the FRA for helping us understand the various issues involved in implementing the legislation in practice. We also thank members of the Forest Rights Committee (FRC), sub-divisional level committee (SDLC) and district level committee ((DLC) as well as the district administration for providing the relevant information and giving their perspective on the issues involved. We are grateful to members of the Advisory Committee for sharing their time and wisdom and providing unconditional and invaluable guidance and support. We wish to thank Dr N.C. Saxena, member, National Advisory