Social Welfare Minister louis Marandi today said that the involvement and cooperation of villagers and Gram Sabha was very important to ensure success of the Forest Rights Act implementation in State. While speaking at a consultation programme on status of implementation of FRA, Marandi said that all stakeholders need to work in order to reap the benefit of the act.
“Cooperation and support of everyone, from local people to Gram Sabhas to officials and committees is necessary to properly implement the act. We received 1,30,154 applications and distributed 64,467 ‘Pattas’. Other people haven’t got it because they probably don’t fulfill the criteria,” she said.
“Government must follow certain rules and conditions enshrined in the Act to protect the people under FRA. Only those who are living there, doing agriculture or having the custody of the land for the last 75 years and whose livelihood depends completely on it are eligible to claim the land. If officials have made mistakes in the distribution, we can have meetings in those areas and solve the problem through Committees and Gram Sabhas,” she added.
To discuss about the ground realities that are posing challenges for community and Gram Sabhas to realise the benefits of Forest Right Act in Jharkhand, Oxfam India in association with its partner organisation Naya Savera Vikas Kendra, organised a ‘State level consultation on status of implementation of Forest Right Act, 2006’ on Wednesday at Dr. Ram Dayal Munda Tribal Welfare Research Institute.
The event was also attended by representatives from different government departments, political parties, civil society organizations, NGOs, CBOs, academia and representatives from Gram Sabha and Forest Right Committee.