MINISTER OF TRIBAL AFFAIRS
(SHRI JUAL ORAM)
(a) to (e) A statement is laid on the Table of the House.
Statement referred to in reply to parts (a) to (e) of Lok Sabha Starred Question No.*33 for answer on 18.12.2017 tabled by SHRI RABINDRA KUMAR JENA and SHRI VIJAY KUMAR HANSDAK regarding ‘Claims on Forest Land Titles’.
(a) As per the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) 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 31.08.2017 the State-wise details of number of claims filed (individual and community), titles granted, number of claims rejected, total number of claims disposed off and percentage of claims disposed off with respect to claims received under FRA is at Annexure-1. The State-wise information on total claims received and annual rate of rejection during the last three years is at Annexure-2.
(b) For effective implementation of FRA, various steps have been taken which inter-alia includes Translation of Act, Rules and guidelines into local languages through the Tribal Research Institutes (TRIs), conducting awareness camps, Regional Consultations/Workshops, appointment of nodal officer, constitution of Forest Rights Committees and Training of Officials of the State Governments who are responsible for implementing the Act at the ground level etc.
(c) As per provision of Section 4 (7) of the FRA, the forest rights shall be conferred free of all encumbrances and procedural requirements, including clearance under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, requirement of paying the ''net present value'' and ''compensatory afforestation'' for diversion of forest land, except those specified in this Act.
Further, Section 5 (c) empowers the forest right holders, Gram Sabha and village level institutions in areas where there are holders of any forest right to ensure that the habitat of forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers is preserved from any form of destructive practices affecting their cultural and natural heritage;
Thus, the forest land on which titles are recognized under FRA cannot be used for the purpose of Compensatory Afforestation.
(d) No such instance has come to the notice of this Ministry.
(e) The responsibility for implementing the provisions of the Forest Rights Act lies with the State Governments. 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 the process of examining the law. Manipur, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh have informed during various meetings that the Act is not so relevant in the context of their States because of the prevalent customary community ownership of forest land. Sikkim Government has informed 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.
Annexure-1
Statement in reply to part (a) of Lok Sabha Starred Question No. *33 for 18.12.2017 tabled by SHRI RABINDRA KUMAR JENA and SHRI. VIJAY KUMAR HANSDAK regarding ‘Claims on Forest Land Titles’
S. No. States No. of Claims received upto 31.08.2017 No. of Titles Distributed upto 31.08.2017 No. of Claims Rejected Total No. of Claims Disposed off % Claims disposed off with respect to claims received
Individual Community Total Individual Community Total
1 Andhra Pradesh 1,69,153 4,726 1,73,879 87,861 1,428 89,289 55,397 1,44,686 83.21%
2 Assam 1,48,965 6,046 1,55,011 57,325 1,477 58,802 0 58,802 37.93%
3 Bihar 8,022 0 8,022 121 0 121 4,215 4,336 54.05%
4 Chhattisgarh 8,43,539 25,977 8,69,516 3,73,718 12,714 3,86,432 4,74,113 8,60,545 98.97%
5 Goa 9,372 361 9,733 0 3 3 23 26 0.27%
6 Gujarat 1,82,869 7,187 1,90,056 81,178 3,516 84,694 0 84,694 44.56%
7 Himachal Pradesh 591 68 659 53 7 60 0 60 9.10%
8 Jharkhand 99,224 3,286 1,02,510 54,458 1,723 56,181 27,652 83,833 81.78%
9 Karnataka 2,98,795 5,741 3,04,536 12,421 628 13,049 1,71,592 1,84,641 60.63%
10 Kerala 36,140 1,395 37,535 24,599 NA 24,599 7,889 32,488 86.55%
11 Madhya Pradesh 5,75,639 39,828 6,15,467 2,17,245 27,510 2,44,755 3,64,166 6,08,921 98.94%
12 Maharashtra 3,52,950 11,408 3,64,358 1,06,898 5,748 1,12,646 2,31,856 3,44,502 94.55%
13 Odisha 6,14,863 13,483 6,28,346 4,06,919 5,952 4,12,871 1,49,962 5,62,833 89.57%
14 Rajasthan 73,122 705 73,827 36,877 88 36,965 34,231 71,196 96.44%
15 Tamil Nadu 18,420 3,361 21,781 0 0 0 0 0 0.00%
16 Telangana 1,83,107 3,427 1,86,534 93,494 721 94,215 82,572 1,76,787 94.77%
17 Tripura 1,98,238 277 1,98,515 1,25,020 55 1,25,075 65,779 1,90,854 96.14%
18 Uttar Pradesh 92,520 1,124 93,644 17,712 843 18,555 74,945 93,500 99.85%
19 Uttarakhand 182 0 182 0 0 0 1 1 0.55%
20 West Bengal 1,31,962 10,119 1,42,081 44,444 686 45,130 96,587 1,41,717 99.74%
TOTAL 40,37,673 1,38,519 41,76,192 17,40,343 63,099 18,03,442 18,40,980 36,44,422 87.27%
Annexure -2
Statement in reply to part (a) of Lok Sabha Starred Question No. *33 for 18.12.2017 tabled by SHRI RABINDRA KUMAR JENA and SHRI. VIJAY KUMAR HANSDAK regarding ‘Claims on Forest Land Titles’
Annual rate of rejection of claims on Forest Land titles during last three years (information on 31st December of the year)
S.No. States 2014 2015 2016
Total no. of claims received Total no. of claims rejected % of total claims rejected Total no. of cliams received Total no. of claims rejected % of total claims rejected Total no. of claims received Total no. of claims rejected % of total claims rejected
1 Andhra Pradesh 411012 165466 40.26 411012 165466 40.26 1,73,570 62,208 35.84
2 Assam 131911 37669 28.56 131911 37669 28.56 1,55,011 0 0.00
3 Bihar 2930 1644 56.11 8022 4102 51.13 8,022 4,215 52.54
4 Chhattisgarh 817809 460023 56.25 860364 507907 59.03 8,60,364 5,07,907 59.03
5 Goa 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 9,733 23 0.24
6 Gujarat 190051 3556 1.87 190097 3556 1.87 1,89,867 0 0.00
7 Himachal Pradesh 5692 2160 37.95 5692 2162 37.98 659 0 0.00
8 Jharkhand 42003 16958 40.37 83553 25446 30.45 1,07,028 25,791 24.10
9 Karnataka 260679 173539 66.57 372248 188943 50.76 3,04,536 1,71,592 56.35
10 Kerala 37535 7889 21.02 37535 7889 21.02 37,535 7,889 21.02
11 Madhya Pradesh 592221 296261 50.03 609501 372125 61.05 6,14,704 3,64,624 59.32
12 Maharashtra 349543 273345 78.20 353169 229794 65.07 3,64,358 2,31,856 63.63
13 Odisha 609334 145526 23.88 616137 149575 24.28 6,35,055 1,50,133 23.64
14 Rajasthan 69775 33515 48.03 69775 33926 48.62 71,270 35,139 49.30
15 Tamil Nadu 21781 0 0.00 21781 0 0.00 21,781 0 0.00
16 Telangana 0 0 0.00 215370 101368 47.07 1,86,534 80,890 43.36
17 Tripura 182617 21384 11.71 191653 65900 34.39 1,94,028 65,902 33.97
18 Uttar Pradesh 93635 74583 79.65 93644 74945 80.03 93,644 74,945 80.03
19 Uttarakhand 182 1 0.55 182 1 0.55 182 1 0.55
20 West Bengal 140309 * * 142081 93762 65.99 1,42,081 97,415 68.56
Total 3959019 1713519 43.28 4413727 2064536 46.78 41,69,962 18,80,530 45.10
* not reported
Note: Disaggregated data on number of claims rejected (individual and community claims) is not provided by the State Governments.
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