MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF TRIBAL AFFAIRS
(SHRI JASWANTSINH BHABHOR)
(a) Yes Madam. As per the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Right) Act, 2006 (In short FRA) and rules thereunder, responsibility for implementation of the Act lies with the States/UTs. As per the information received from State Governments, till 30th November, 2016, a total of 17,30,729 titles (16,82,537 individual and 48,192 community claims) have been distributed.
(b) The information is at Annexure-1.
(c) The Community Forest Rights claims are also considered under FRA. Section 3 (I) of FRA, 2006 inter-alia, provides for the following forest right, which secure individual or community tenure or both, of forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers on all forest lands namely:-
(i) rights to hold and live in the forest land under the individual or common occupation for habitation or for self-cultivation for livelihood by a member or members of a forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes or other traditional forest dwellers;
(ii) community rights such as nistar, by whatsoever name called, including those used in erstwhile Princely States, Zamindari or such intermediary regimes;
(iii) right of ownership, access to collect, use, and dispose of minor forest produce which has been traditionally collected within or outside village boundaries;
(iv) other community rights of uses or entitlements such as fish and other products of water bodies, grazing (both settled or transhumant) and traditional seasonal resource access of nomadic or pastoralist communities;
The information of number of community forest rights claims received during the last three years is at Annexure-II
(d) As already stated in the reply to part (a) above, the responsibility for implementing the provisions of the Forest Rights Act lies with the State Governments. In fact, different states are at different stages of implementation of the Act. As far as North-East States are concerned, Mizoram has notified its adoption in the entire State in 2010. Nagaland is in process of examining the law. Manipur, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh feel that the FRA is not so relevant because of the prevalent customary community ownership of forest land. In Sikkim there are no forest dwelling STs and Other Forest Dwellers in the true sense of the term and most of STs of Sikkim hold revenue land in their own name and they are not solely dependent on the forests for their livelihood.
(e) Details of implementation status of FRA are at Annexure-1, as already mentioned in reply to part (b) above. The information regarding steps taken for effective implementations of FRA is at Annexure-III.
Annexure-I
Annexure referred to in reply to part (b) of Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 689 for 06.02.2017 regarding Forest Right Titles asked by Sh. Jugal Kishore, M.P.
State-wise Status of Implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 as on 30.11.2016
S. No. States No. of Claims received upto 30.11.2016 No. of Titles Distributed upto 30.11.2016 No. of Claims Rejected No. of Claims Pending % Claims disposed off with respect to claims received
Individual Community Total Individual Community Total
1 Andhra Pradesh 1,50,345 4,493 1,54,838 83,874 1,319 85,193 55,282 14,363 90.72%
2 Assam 1,48,965 6,046 1,55,011 57,325 1,477 58,802 37,669 58,540 62.23%
3 Bihar 8,022 8,022 222 222 4,102 3,698 53.90%
4 Chhattisgarh 8,60,364 8,60,364 3,47,789 3,47,789 5,07,907 4,668 99.46%
5 Goa 9,372 361 9,733 0 3 3 23 9,707 0.27%
6 Gujarat 1,82,869 7,229 1,90,098 73,163 3,875 77,038 0 1,13,060 40.53%
7 Himachal Pradesh 5,409 283 5,692 238 108 346 2,162 3,184 44.06%
8 Jharkhand 1,03,625 3,403 1,07,028 52,573 1,850 54,423 25,791 26,814 74.95%
9 Karnataka 3,66,040 6,208 3,72,248 8,159 144 8,303 1,88,943 1,75,002 52.99%
10 Kerala 36,140 1,395 37,535 24,599 24,599 7,889 5,047 86.55%
11 Madhya Pradesh 5,74,795 42,156 6,16,951 2,06,960 27,252 2,34,212 3,74,718 8,021 98.70%
12 Maharashtra 3,46,653 8,953 3,55,606 1,06,063 4,187 1,10,250 2,30,732 14,624 95.89%
13 Odisha 6,18,384 13,433 6,31,817 3,99,996 5,513 4,05,509 1,50,133 76,175 87.94%
14 Rajasthan 70,582 685 71,267 36,038 36,038 35,139 90 99.87%
15 Tamil Nadu 18,420 3,361 21,781 0 0 0 0 21,781 0.00%
16 Telangana 2,11,973 3,769 2,15,742 99,486 761 1,00,247 99,377 16,118 92.53%
17 Tripura 1,93,751 277 1,94,028 1,24,541 55 1,24,596 65,902 3,530 98.18%
18 Uttar Pradesh 92,520 1,124 93,644 17,712 843 18,555 74,945 144 99.85%
9 Uttarakhand 182 182 0 1 181 0.55%
20 West Bengal 1,31,962 10,119 1,42,081 43,799 805 44,604 97,415 62 99.96%
TOTAL 41,30,373 1,13,295 42,43,668 16,82,537 48,192 17,30,729 19,58,130 5,54,809 86.93%
Annexure-II
State Name Claims Received
Upto 2014 Upto 2015 Upto Nov, 2016
Andhra Pradesh* 10,959 10,959 4,493
Assam 5,193 5,193 6,046
Bihar # # #
Chhattisgarh # # #
Gujarat 7,182 7,228 361
Himachal Pradesh 283 283 7,229
Jharkhand # 2,734 283
Karnataka 4,575 6,208 3,403
Kerala 1,395 1,395 6,208
Madhya Pradesh 40,352 40,913 1,395
Maharashtra 6,074 7,152 42,156
Odisha 12,480 12,866 8,953
Rajasthan 652 654 13,433
Tamil Nadu 3,361 3,361 685
Telangana* 0 3,672 3,361
Tripura 277 277 3,769
Uttar Pradesh 1,123 1,124 277
Uttarakhand # # 1,124
West Bengal 3,241 10,119 10,119
TOTAL 97,147 1,14,138 1,13,295
Annexure referred to in reply to part (c) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 689 for 06.02.2017 asked by Shri Jugal Kishor, M.P. regarding "Forest Right Titles”
State-wise details of Community Forest Right Claims received during last three years
# The bifurcated data regarding Individual and Community Claims/Titles has not been received from the State/UT Governments.
*Andhra Pradesh has been sending the figures for both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana combined till June, 2016, which they have corrected now.
Annexure-III
Annexure referred to in reply to part (e) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 689 for 06.02.2017 asked by Sh. Jugal Kishore, M.P regarding ‘Forest Right Titles’
After lapse of more than four years of implementation of the Act the Ministry had observed that the flow of intended benefits of this welfare legislation to the eligible forest dwellers had remained constrained and that several problems were impeding the implementation of the Act in letter and spirit. In order to overcome those lacunae and strengthen the existing FR Rules, 2008, the Ministry notified the Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Amendment Rules, 2012 in the Gazette of India on 6.9.2012.
The Ministry has issued comprehensive guidelines to the State/UT Governments on 12.7.2012 for better implementation of the Act. The guidelines relate to the process of recognition of rights, minor forest produce, community rights, community forest resource rights, protection against eviction, diversion of forest lands and forced relocation, and awareness raising, monitoring and grievance redressal.
After issue of said amendments and said guidelines, a number of Regional Consultations/Workshops were organized Nation-wide on Implementation of FRA.
A training module was also published, which is useful for Government functionaries on FRA, for frontline staff in the implementation of the Act.
Further, a booklet of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) has also been brought out, which seeks to addresses some of the questions raised during the Regional Consultations related to the process of recognition of rights, evidence requirements, ownership over minor forest produce, rights over community forest resource, protection against eviction, definition of OTFDs, convening of Gram Sabha at hamlet/habitation level, recognition of habitat rights of PTGs etc.
Translation of Act, Rules and clarifications into local language through TRIs.
Guidelines on conservation of forest villages into revenue villages issued on 8.11.2013.
A letter dated 3.3.2014 was issued to all the States where the States were asked to issue the Records of Rights under FRA along with the name of caste/tribe so that in future people do not have difficulty in obtaining caste certificate and Rights holders under FRA have to be issued Records of Rights under Revenue code/law so as to mainstream them and treat them at par with other land holders.
States where there were high rates of rejection of claims, Ministry of Tribal Affairs have written several letters expressing concern over non acceptance of evidence and State Government’s insistence of particular type of evidence such as satellite imagery etc. States have now started reviewing the rejected claims and many of the wrongly rejected claims are being examined.
Directions to State Governments to expedite recognition of Community Rights have been issued.
Close Monitoring through Monthly Progress Reports, visits and Video Conferencing are done.
In order to take up FRA on a campaign mode, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs has taken following steps:
• Ministry of Tribal Affairs has written to the Chief Secretaries of the State Governments where the FRA implementation progress is low. Ministry has also drawn up a suggestive road map and shared it with the States so that they can draw up action plan in a time bound manner.
• Ministry has also written to the other States where implementation is going on well to address certain specific issues pending in those States.
• Joint review meetings with Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Tribal Affairs were undertaken with Principal Secretaries/Secretaries of States of the 35 worst affected LWE district on FRA implementation. The issue of high rate of rejection was reviewed with them and the States were directed to review the wrongly rejected claims.
• A consultation was organized under the chairmanship of Secretary Tribal Affairs where the nine low performing states participated to take up FRA on a campaign mode and implement the Act in a time bound manner.
• A video conference was organized with other States where some steps have been taken on implementation to expedite the pending work.
• All the State have been advised to take support of geo referenced images and technology to support other evidences for claims and also for re-examination of reject claims.
• The Ministry is constantly monitoring the progress of implementation by the States and is persistently writing to the State Governments giving clarifications and suggestions for better implementation of the Act.
• National Resource Centre at TRI Campus, Odisha has been set up by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to augment capacity of States for effective implementation of Forest Right Act. National Resource Centre has been entrusted with the job of preparing training materials, modules and conduct training programmes to train master trainers on FRA not only for Odisha but also for other States who are implementing FRA.
• Sufficient guidance has already been given to the States from time to time on various issues on FRA by holding as many Regional Consultations including two National Level Consultations.
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