The Forest Rights
Act,2006
Background
• Across India’s forest areas, people are fighting for
democracy, livelihood and dignity.
• The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest
Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006,
is one instrument in that struggle.
Need for this law?
• Definition of ‘forest’ under Indian Forest Act, 1927
• Declaration of government forest without any
survey or enquiry on resettlement of rights.
• As the Tiger Task Force of the Government of
India put it, “in the name of conservation, what has
been carried out is a completely illegal and
unconstitutional land acquisition programme.”
Condition in Forest
• millions of people are subject to harassment, evictions, etc,
on the pretext of being encroachers in their own homes.
• Torture, bonded labour, extortion of money and sexual
assault are all extremely common.
• In the latest national eviction drive from 2002 onwards,
more than 3,00,000 families were driven into destitution
and starvation.
• In Madhya Pradesh alone, more than 125 villages have
been burned to the ground.
• The situation is so bad that the then Commissioner
for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, in his
29th Report, said that “The criminalisation of the
entire communities in the tribal areas is the darkest
blot on the liberal tradition of our country.”
Massive failure of IFA, 1927
•The Indian Forest Act, 1927, had nothing to do with conservation.
• was created to serve the British need for timber.
•It sought to override customary rights and forest management systems
by declaring forests state property and exploiting their timber.
•The law says that, at the time a “forest” is declared, a single official (the
Forest Settlement Officer) is to enquire into and “settle” the land and
forest rights people had in that area.
•These all-powerful officials unsurprisingly either did nothing or
recorded only the rights of powerful communities.
•The same model was subsequently built into the Wild Life Protection
Act, passed in 1972, with similar consequences
AIM and Objectives of FRA,
2006
• An Act to recognize and vest the forest rights and
occupation in the forest land in Forest dwelling
Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers
who have been residing in such forest of generations
but whose rights could not have been recorded.
• To provide a framework for recoding the forest rights
so vested and the nature of evidence required for such
recognition and vesting in respect of forest land.
What does the Forest Rights Act
do?
The Act basically does two things:
• Grants legal recognition to the rights of traditional
forest dwelling communities, partially correcting
the injustice caused by the forest laws.
• Makes a beginning towards giving communities
and the public a voice in forest and wildlife
conservation.
Who is a forest dweller under this law, and who gets rights?
• There are two stages to be eligible under this Act.
First, everyone has to satisfy two conditions:
• Primarily residing in forests or forest lands;
• Depends on forests and forest land for a livelihood
(namely “bona fide livelihood needs”)
Second, you have to prove:
• That the above conditions have been true for 75 years, in
which case you are an Other Traditional Forest Dweller (s.
2(o));
OR
• That you are a member of a Scheduled Tribe (s. 2(c)); and
• That you are residing in the area where they are Scheduled
(s. 4(1)).
• In the latter case you are a Forest Dwelling Scheduled Tribe.
Kind of Rights
• Section 3
• Land Rights
• Use Rights
• Right to Protect and Conserve
• Right to hold and live in forest land under individual or
common occupation for habitation or for self cultivation for
livelihood.
• Community rights such as nistar, by whatever name they are
called.
• Right to ownership, access to collect, use and dispose of minor
forest produce.
• Other community rights of uses or entitlements such as fish
and other products of water bodies, grazing, traditional
seasonal resource
• Rights including community tenures of habitat and
habitation for primitive tribal groups.
• Rights in and over disputed lands.
• Rights for conversion of pattas to titles.
• Rights of resettlement and conversion of all forest
villages.
• Right to protect, regenerate and conserve or manage
any community forest resource
• Right of access to biodiversity and community
right to intellectual property and traditional
knowledge related to bio-diversity.
• Any other traditional rights customarily enjoyed by
forest dwelling tribes.
• Right to in situ rehabilitation including alternative
land when evicted.
LAND RIGHTS
• No one gets rights to any land that they have not been
cultivating prior to December 13, 2005 (see section 4(3)) and
that they are not cultivating right now.
• Those who are cultivating land but don’t have document can
claim up to 4 hectares, as long as they are cultivating the land
themselves for a livelihood (section 3(1) (a) and 4(6)).
• Those who have a patta or a government lease, but whose land
has been illegally taken by the Forest Department or whose land
is the subject of a dispute between Forest and Revenue
Departments, can claim those lands (see section 3(1)(f) and (g)).
• There is no question of granting 4 hectares of land
to every family.
• The land cannot be sold or transferred to anyone
except by inheritance (see section 4(4)).
Use Rights
• The law secondly provides for rights to use and/or collect
the following:
• a. Minor forest produce things like tendu patta, herbs,
medicinal plants etc “that has been traditionally collected
(see section 3(1) (c)). This does not include timber.
• b. Grazing grounds and water bodies (sections 3
• c. Traditional areas of use by nomadic or pastoralist
communities i.e. communities that move with their herds,
as opposed to practicing settled agriculture.
Right to Protect and Conserve
• Section 3(1) (i) provide a right and a power to
conserve community forest resources, while section 5
gives the community a general power to protect
wildlife, forests, etc.
• This is vital for the thousands of village communities
who are protecting their forests and wildlife against
threats from forest mafias, industries and land
grabbers, most of whom operate in connivance with
the Forest Department.
How are rights recognised?
• Section 6 provides a transparent three step
procedure for deciding on who gets rights.
• First, the gram sabha (full village assembly, NOT
the gram panchayat) makes a recommendation – i.e
who has been cultivating land for how long, which
minor forest produce is collected, etc.
• The gram sabha’s recommendation goes through
two stages of screening committees at the taluka
and district levels.
• The district level committee makes the final
decision (see section 6(6)).
• The Committees have six members – three
government officers and three elected persons.
• At both the taluka and the district levels, any
person who believes a claim is false can appeal to
the Committees, and if they prove their case the
right is denied (sections 6(2) and 6(4)).
• Finally, land recognized under this Act cannot be
sold or transferred. Inheritable but no alienation.
See S.4(4)
Cases
• Ishwar Chandra Gupta v. State of U.P. and others
2011 (1)FLT 442
• Fatesang Gimba Vasava v. State of Gujarat AIR
1987 GUJ 9
