Seven States in the country have failed to implement the Forest Rights Act (FRA) effectively, as per the progress report of States on FRA implementation. There are a lot of rejections — majority of them being wrongful — based on invalid and flimsy grounds, as per a report of the Union Tribal Ministry. Further, these States have been irregular and sluggish in sending their reports.
These States include Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand. The Tribal Ministry has asked these States to effectively implement the Forest Rights Act - 2006, which seeks to restore the rights of traditional habitat and livelihood of communities living in forests before the cutoff date of December 13, 2005.
The move comes in the wake of directions by the Prime Minister’s Office, which called for the implementation of Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act in ‘campaign mode’ in the respective States.
As per the progress report, Uttar Pradesh reported the highest rejection rate of 81 per cent as it contested 74,945 land right claims out of 93,644 claims. Also, out of 92,520 individual claims, the state gave away titles to 17,712. Out of 1,124 community claims, 843 tribals were given titles in the state.
Amongst the other states, West Bengal recorded 68 per cent rejection as the government rejected 97,415 claims out of a total 1,42,081 claims followed by Maharastra, where the rejection rate was 64 per cent with 2,30,732 out of 3,55,606 claims rejected. Madhya Pradesh reported rejection of around 61 per cent with 3,74,718 claims rejected out of 6,16,951 claims.
Sources in Tribal Ministry said the number of rejections are indeed high and majority of are unjustified. They are based on invalid and flimsy grounds. Besides, these seven states have been irregular and sluggish in sending their reports, they said. They informed the monthly progress reports in this regard are sent to PMO where they are reviewed.
The sources further pointed out that the Ministry has organised consultations with the respective state governments to create awareness for timely disposal of claims of land rights. The states have also been asked to take all steps for expeditious implementation of the Act. Despite all efforts, these states have not improved their performances and rejection rates are high, they said. They further pointed out that there is lack of awareness on the implementation of FRA not just among beneficiaries, but also those who are to implement it at the state level.