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Forest rights & implementation issues

It is an Act that drives wildlife conservationists to tears and land rights activists to despair. In Maharashtra, of the 2.66 lakh claims submitted under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Rights) Act, only 1,512 have received final approval. Cases challenging the Act passed in 2006 are pending in the Supreme Court and Adivasis are still on the road, demanding that the Act be implemented.

Villagers of Pathali in the Adivasi-dominated Nandurbar district of Maharashtra had to come all the way to Mumbai to demand a village-level committee as a first step to decide the issue of forest rights. Pathali has been in the centre of a storm with villagers of neighbouring Goramba attacking them repeatedly, resulting in the death of a woman. There are about 350 families in Pathali. People like Madya Vadvi have lived by cultivating the nearby forestland since 1971-72. The fight between the two villages is not new, though it has intensified after the Act was passed. The rivals are staking claim to their land, Vadvi points out.

These are some of the sticky issues that have come to the fore after the passage of the Act. Maharashtra has 13,822 village level committees. Compared to other States, the implementation on the Act is slow.

According to data on the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry’s website, till June 30, 2009 Andhra Pradesh had distributed 67,855 title deeds, Chhattisgarh 1,02,800; Gujarat 1,997; Madhya Pradesh 24,571; Orissa 30,794; Rajasthan 1,778; Tripura 66,573; and West Bengal 5,249. Maharashtra lagged behind with 15 title deeds distributed and 1,384 ready for distribution.

The Centre is according priority to it. In her joint address to Parliament in June, President Pratibha Patil indicated that the new government would monitor the implementation of the Act and ensure that all title deeds were distributed by the end of 2009.

According to official figures, of the 2,66,441 claims in Maharashtra, 34, 924 have reached the sub-divisional level, which is the second stage, and 3,348 are at the final District Collector-level committee stage. A.K. Jha, Commissioner, Tribal Research and Training Institute (TRTI), which is the nodal agency for the implementation of the Act, defends the work done in the State. “We are providing the link between the people in the villages and the government with inputs that ensure smooth and accurate processing of cases. We are giving the funding, training and a robust system of implementing the Act and support for capacity-building and creating awareness,” says Mr. Jha, who is an Indian Forest Service officer.

The high number of claim applications shows that people are aware of the Act, he says. Although it was passed in 2006, it was implemented from December 31, 2007 and the rules were framed in 2008. He says it takes time to mobilise people in more than 13,000 villages spread across the State’s forest areas. Over 50 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) had been associated with the process. According to him, the village-level committee is independent.

“The land will remain as forest land and its status is not going to change to revenue land just because forest rights are recognised. The mandate of the Act is to recognise forest rights, and after it is done the entry in the record of rights is going to be the mandate of the Collector and the Revenue Department as per the provisions of the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code,” he clarifies.

According to Mr. Jha, the Act goes beyond recognising individual forest rights to forest land. It also intends to empower the community and grants the right to protect forests, wildlife and biodiversity. “That I feel is the real purpose and ultimate mandate of the Act.”

However, there are complaints of growing interference by the Forest Department. Pradip Prabhu of the Campaign for Survival and Dignity says the law clearly talks about ownership and it is not a usufruct right (which is the right to enjoy the use and advantages of another’s property short of destruction or wastage of its substance). There are efforts to resist the grant of actual rights under the Act. Activists feel that Maharashtra could well have the worst record of implementing the Act. Since 2002, forest-dwellers have not been evicted in any part of the country except here, Mr. Prabhu says.

Apart from conservation groups, retired forest officials have opposed the Act in some States. Conservationists like Kishore Rithe are dismayed that such an Act should have been enacted in the first place. Mr. Rithe, who is based in Amravati and has worked extensively in the forests of Melghat, has been observing the gradual destruction of the area. After the passage of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, the diversion of forest land for non-forest use had become difficult. However, the new Act reverses that. “Encroachments have increased tremendously after 2005 and people are just grabbing land,” he said. “Initially, in January 2009, there were only 10,000 claims in Maharashtra and 357 had gone up to the district-level committees. This number has shot up now, and this is because people have made false claims,” he points out.

“The country has lost its best forests in central India because of this Act, and once people clear forest land and start cultivating, we can’t bring those forests back. As a conservationist, I feel this country should admit that by introducing this law we have made a mistake. Forests need to be protected — that’s the basic issue,” he explains.

However, leaders of mass movements in Nandurbar, like Kishore Dhamale of the Satyashodhak Communist Party, are firm that the first right should go to the people who have cultivated the land for years.

“Instead of giving the Adivasis their rights, the government has given forest land to private companies to build wind farms,” he says. He is sceptical about claims that title deeds have been handed over to people in the State. He said in this feudal structure, people were not interested in Adivasis getting land rights since that would mean empowering a major chunk of the labour force.

The government too admits that in villages where there are both Adivasis and non-Adivasis, local leaders are not too keen to hold meetings or set up committees. According to P.S. Meena, Secretary, Maharashtra government, tribal development, the main bottleneck was that gram sabha sessions were not being held on time. The department, therefore, had given specific directions for special meetings. There was a three-tier process to complete the allocation of rights, and about 300 Global Positioning System (GPS) sets had been provided to map the land. He dismisses the complaints against the Forest Department and says the NGOs should act as facilitators and not oppose every step.

Mr. Meena estimates that about 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh hectares would be distributed eventually. He has on the anvil an Integrated Forest Development Project for landless Adivasis, with Rs. 20 crore allotted for it. The idea is to come up with proposals involving 1,000 ha or more of forest land which need to be regenerated, and dovetail programmes under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme with forest development activity.

While the TRTI and the government are trying to aid conservation measures through the Act, the primary issue is one of rights. The antagonism between conservationists and those getting land rights has to be addressed, too, and the misconception that this is a free-for-all land distribution programme must be cleared. It is nobody’s argument that forests must be destroyed. It is incumbent on the government to protect them — while ensuring that the people get their rightful entitlements.

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