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The Roots of Injustice: Unveiling the Struggles for Forest Rights in India

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By Abhinav Prakash Pandey



8.9% of India’s total population consists of tribals. History reveals that gross injustice has been done to their rights over forests, and incremental steps since independence towards such recognition has resulted in enactment of several laws and acts, finally culminating into the enactment of Forest Rights Act in 2006, which recognizes right to forest resources. However, its provisions have been a source of conflict between Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) and Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change (MoEFCC), causing implementation to often falter.


I thus examine the evolution of forest rights, the Act’s current status, and its challenges, divided into the sections below:

 

History of Forest Rights in India












Since the forest department’s inception in 1870, a constant battle for control over forest lands has ensued. The passing of laws like the Schedule District Act (1874), and Articles 371A & 371G for Nagaland and Mizoram, respectively, became early examples.

Key highlights include:

  • National Forest Policy (1952) sought to declare 33% of the land area as forest cover and focused on wildlife conservation rather than tribal rights.

  • Indian Forest Act (1927)  deems forests ‘government forests’ therefore completely disregarding forest dwellers.

  • Wild Life (Protection) Act (1972) empowers the government to declare any forest land as a ‘Protected Area’ and has criminalized any breach of rules in these areas including activities central to tribal livelihood.

  • The 42nd Amendment made forests a concurrent subject, which centralized law making powers. 

  • Forest Conservation Act (1980) mandated the central government’s approval when any forest land needs to be diverted, seemingly protecting tribal interests.

  • Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (1996), read with the Fifth Schedule, gave Gram Sabhas the power to govern forested land according to tribal customary law, but faced challenges due to state machinery.

  • Notifications and guidelines issued by the MoEFCC between the early 90s and 2000s further limited STs’ & OTFDs’ rights, leading to Campaign for Survival and Dignity’s (CSD)’s formation in 2003. After the conflicting guidelines were withdrawn, a new law protecting their rights came about in 2006.    

 

What is the current status of the Act?

A report titled 15 years of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006 revealed FRA s potential to restore tribal forest rights across 100 million acres in 170,000 villages but noted it has only managed to reach 15% of this target. 

The gap between claims filed and recognized has only increased after 2014. A 2023 Lok Sabha Report revealed that although 1.68 billion acres of land titles were distributed (with more than 80% given to those claiming Community Forest Rights), only 22 states & UTs’ data was provided, and no data was given on the number of potential villages where FRA was being implemented.

 

Problems and Challenges 

  1. Weakened authority: Multiple instructions have rendered Gram Sabha toothless, going against the intent of the Act (Bijoy, 2017).

  2. Deportation due to Tiger Reserves: The increased number of tiger reserves has led to more land claims being rejected and forced relocations.            

  3. Administrative Conflicts:

  4. The MoEFCC issued instructions under ‘The Government of India (Transaction of Business) Rules, 1961’ that limit its implementation. 

  5. The Odisha Mining Corporation case (2013) is an example of this conflict playing out in the legal arena. Despite MoEFCC recommending an arbitrary approval for bauxite mining at Niyamgiri range, the judgement directed Odisha’s government to take the villagers’ consent for the project keeping in mind their worship and land rights[1], thus establishing the principle of inseparable relations between forest dwellers and forests, ensuring the protection of their right to livelihood—and thus to life & liberty—under Article 21[2]

  6. Overlap in responsibilities of both departments has resulted in STs & OTFDs’ rights being caught in the middle. Three such instances are MoEFCC calling for an amendment to IFA but failing to mention forest rights[3], a notification that changed the 2003 FCA rules to allow states to take over Gram Sabha’s responsibilities and completely remove FRA compliance, and the signing of “Joint Communication” between both ministries in 2021, whereby they could take a collective decision on related matters. However, all this did was allow centralization of power[4],  thus making democracy in the forest redundant. 

     



Conclusion

Forest rights have been continuously ignored by the authorities, and laws designed to protect them are systematically being dismantled—all in the name of economic growth and development, an example of which is the Polavaram Dam.  

Until NFP (1988), forest management systems hovered primarily on protecting & conserving forests and wildlife. Even with more laws being designed in the same vein afterwards, forest bureaucracy is still obsessed with regulation of the forest. If this is allowed to go on for much longer, it is both land that is being given away to private players and our right to oxygen, for forests act as a carbon sink. By extension, that has implications for us as consumers: the more land the richest own, the more control they have over the market, meaning that they can set prices for any related products as they wish, which could lead to most things becoming unaffordable. If then, we wish to protect our right to life, we must protect theirs.  



About the Author

Abhinav Prakash Pandey is a second year Master's in Public Policy student at the Jindal School of Government & Public Policy. A passionate researcher, he is particularly interested in public health, sustainable urban development, and social impact. He is particularly focused on utilizing data driven approaches to mitigate social and environmental challenges, such as waste management and environmental conservation.



Footnotes/Bibliography

[1] Under the law, habitat of any tribal communities must be protected against any destructive practices that could harm their cultural & natural heritage. It also provides for a customary right for tribal groups to worship at their sacred places as they see fit, something the government wholly ignored.

[2] Article 21 comes under Part III of the Constitution and states “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to a procedure established by law.”

[3] The government called for Expressions of Interests from consulting companies for doing so, thereby outsourcing it

[4] Frontline forest staff and Joint Forest Management Committees were to integrate Gram Sabha’s plans with working plans of the state, thus taking control over local bodies, which reduces Gram Sabhas’ autonomy


  • Bijoy, C. R. (2017). Forest Rights Struggle: The Making Of The Law And The Decade After. Law, Environment and Development Journal (LEAD Journal), 13(2), 75-97.

  • C. Ramachandraiah, A. V. (2011). Dispossessing Tribals and the Poor from Lands: Land Laws and Administration in Andhra Pradesh, India. Hyderabad: Center for Social and Economic Studies.

  • Gupta, S. D. (2016). From Rebellion To Litigation: Chotanagpur Tenancy Act (1908) And The Hos Of Kolhan Government Estate. Irish Journal of Anthropology, 19(2), 31-45.

  • Manshi Asher, N. A. (2007). Recognizing The Historic Injustice: Campaign for the Forest Rights Act, 2006. 1-44.

 

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