Studies on Implementation of The Forest Right Act 2006 in Madhya Pradesh

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1 Studies on Implementation of The Forest Right Act 2006 in Madhya Pradesh ABSTRACT: Prakash Unhale, IFS Additional Resident Commissioner Government of Madhya Pradesh New Delhi The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 popularly known as Forests Rights Act was enacted in 13 December 2007 through the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to correct the historic injustice done to the forest dwelling communities. These communities were cultivating or occupying the forest land and using forest produce since ages. The tribals and forest dwellers don t have tenurial security. The Act recognises and vests individual forest dwellers with forest rights to live in and cultivate forest land that was occupied before 13 th December 2005 and insists the State Governments to grant community forest rights to manage protect and regenerate the forest to own use and dispose non timber forest produce from forests where they had traditional access. The Government of India after independence introduced different policies and laws that paved the way to recognise the rights of tribals and forest dwellers over the ancestral land, including the right to earn their livelihood from the forest and maintained the cultural identity traditionally linked to the tribals and forest dwelling communities. The FRA is the landmark in the evolution of government s attitude towards the tribal people and their rights. KEY WORDS: FRA (Forest Right s Act, 2006), OTFD (Other Traditional Forest Dwellers), Madhya Pradesh Forest Department, JFMC (Joint Forest Management Committee), CFR (Community Forest Resources), National Parks, Sanctuaries, Nistar, SLMC (State Level Monitoring Committee), DLMC (District Level Monitoring Committee), MoEF (Ministry of Environment and Forests), MoTA (Ministry of Tribal Affairs), GPS (Global Positioning System), PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), DM (District Magistrate), DFO (Divisional Forest Officer), NTFP (Non-Timber Forest Produce), JFM (Joint Forest Management) INTRODUCTION: The tribal communities and other forest dwellers living for generations in and around forest, provides for a frame work for recording the rights to recognize and vests with respect 1

2 to forest rights. The scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers had a history of conservation and sustainable use of forest as a resource base from times immemorial. With the advent of British, the main focal point shifted from the forest, used as a resource base, for sustainable livelihood of local communities to a state resource for commercial interests and development of land for agriculture. And then the Indian Forest Acts of 1865 and 1927 stopped the centuries old traditional usufructs rights of the local communities and consolidated the governments control over all types of forests. Post independence, the National Forest Policy of 1952, the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 did little to wipe out the problems of the forest dependent communities. Further the village communities have been separated from their age old symbiotic relationship with forest which further branded these tribal communities as encroachers or illegal occupants. During the last two decades the socio-political awareness asserted several people s movement against the rights deprivations and marginalization of forest dwelling communities. Finally the civil protests realized the Union Government to recognize the rights of scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwelling communities and henceforth enacted the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, which came into force in January, This Act aspires to give justice to these deprived communities by recognizing and vesting the rights to use, manage and conserve forest resources for their livelihood. Moreover by recognizing communities rights over forest resources it actually attempts to ensure livelihood and food security by empowering them to use resources and conserve and maintain the ecological balance. These crucial provisions are viewed in a manner to create a potential change from centralised governance of forest management towards greater decentralisation and site specific management of forest to provide collective livelihood security to forest dwelling communities. With these objectives Government of Madhya Pradesh took up Forest Rights Act, 2006 in a mission mode with an allocation of Rs 11 crores from the state budget and Rs 5.5 crores central assistance. The implementation is being done in about 30 Gram Sabhas of the state. The use of GPS enabled survey methods (with PDAs) and computerised databases of the beneficiaries were novel features. This study aims at consolidating information on implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Reorganization of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 and the issues pertaining to the implementation of the Act in Madhya Pradesh. The information 2

3 was collected from groups and organisations working in the state and different literatures submitted from time to time to the Central Government by the state government in order to understand the ground level situation regarding the implementation of the FRA, 2006 and to provide an assessment base on the information collected by the above said groups are presented as below. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study used a combination of different research approaches and sources such as Document that received the Prime Ministers Award of Excellence in e-governance during Review of secondary sources like Ministry of Tribal Affair s website, Joint MoEF-MoTA committee Report 2010, NAC s Working Group on Tribal Development Report 2012, Collection of regional information from different forest divisions of Madhya Pradesh. Field visits and interviews of people of Dindori, Khandwa, Burhanpur and Harda districts by concerned Forest Department. Inputs provided by Shri M. Kalidurai, IFS who has earlier worked in the Burhanpur Forest Division during the implementation of the Forest Right s Act, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The results presented in the table No (1) summates that in the state of Madhya Pradesh a total of 4,63,075 individuals claims and 16,242 Community claims for community forest rights have appealed. In that the entire applications were forwarded to the SDLC (Sub Divisional Level Committee) and all the applications were forwarded to DLMC (District Level Monitor Committee). At the DLMC level out of 1,84,095 claims approved, 1,65,920 individual claims and 9,373 community rights claims were decided to legalize and hectares of land was distributed. About 27,92,779 applications were rejected. The reasons were discussed in a detail manner ahead. 3

4 Table (1): Status of Forest Right Deeds distributed to forest tribals and dwellers in State of MP (as on ) No of claims filed Claims recomme Claims recomme Claims approved Titles distributed Forest land distributed Claims rejected Individual Community nded by nded ended by DLC Individual Community in acres Gram Sabha by SDLC 4,63,075 16,242 4,76,750 4,67,804 1,84,095 1,65,920 9,373 6,45,738 27,92,77,779 (ST-44.6%, OTFD 98.41%) Madhya Pradesh is one of the most important states for the implementation of the FRA, About 22,600 villages in MP are considered forest dependent, whereas about two crore STs are dwelling in these villages, which covers 95,000 square km of forest area. When we go back to the history, there was always conflict existing between tribals and bureaucracy over forest rights. MP has a range of unsettled areas so called orange areas and unclassified forest areas which has in its periphery - several hundred villages. Result shows that 4,63,075 cases have claimed for individual rights and 16,242 cases were claimed for community forest rights. It is known to the nation that MP has a large number of protected areas (9 National Parks and 25 wild life sanctuaries). The forest dwellers have suffered a lot under relocation and rehabilitation from National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries and displacements under various hydro and power projects. Even the primitive tribal groups of MP have suffered a lot. State Government has made significant efforts in implementation of the FRA, 2006 in a mission mode, with an internal target of completing the process in a prescribed dead line. It also started awareness building activities and launched implementation immediately after the FRA, 2006 came into force, i.e., January Immediately without knowing the objective of the FRA 2006, people (tribals and non-tribals) filed more than 4,00,000 claims by June The Govt of MP constituted various committees, i.e., at Gram Sabha levels, Sub-Divisional level and State level in a war footing way. The Forest Department used GPS technology 4

5 through Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) for mapping the boundaries by forest and for uploading the data, so collected, to the state digital database. The approved claims and rejected claims, along with photographs were maintained in the state database. And only approved claimed deeds were distributed to the eligible applicant. For this, district tribal officers were appointed as nodal officers under the guidance of DM and DFO. The rejected applicants were not communicated to the people and right to appeal has not been explained to the tribals and forest dwellers by the local officers so that the rejections have not been given a chance to re-examine the claims. In spite of the best efforts taken by the Government, there were initial shortfalls and bottlenecks in the implementation of the FRA, On the other hand the FRA, 2006 is implemented to change the process of forest governance. So the outcome and the process aspect were struggling. Initially the claims filed by the villagers are not found in the Government records even though the villagers had receipts for submission of their claims. In villages of districts Harda, Alirajpur, Khandwa and Burhanpur, the application received by the Gram Panchayats is not recorded, even though the villagers have acknowledgements in greater numbers than in the Government list. Finally the state government has taken swift actions and reviewed throughout the state of MP and proper instructions have been issued to all district implementation agencies to concentrate on this matter. Frequent checking of records by subdivision level officers was carried out. It is also found that in some districts the claim date has considered different dates. For example, the 1993 list of encroachers prepared by the Forest Department as the list of legitimate claimants under the FRA, 2006 even though Government of India has given instructions that the right of the rehabilitation includes, the forest dwellers residing in the forest areas prior to the The illegally evicted and displaced tribals before 2005 claims were also rejected. Out of 4,79,317 claims, 2,77,974 claims were rejected. In the total rejections, certain claims were rejected on clear valid grounds (such as people claiming rights on the lands which is not actually being cultivated/residing). Some people claimed land in two districts. For example in Burhanpur districts out of 25,000 applicants nearly 10,000 applicants were already applied in Khargone district. The applicants have given a hearing to decide disputed cases claimed in more than one districts. The main reason behind this is lack of awareness as many agents operating in Madhya Pradesh were trying to mislead the common man that forest land has been distributed to 5

6 public, whoever claims. It is also found that whatever rejections were made, were not communicated to the people and right to appeal under the Act has not been explained. Even certain rejections have not been re-examined at different levels of the different committees. The FRA, 2006 process up to certain time has not been initiated in and around National Park even though the Act states that critical wildlife habitats of National Parks and Sanctuaries may subsequently be modified or resettled, provided that no forest rights holders shall be resettled or have their rights in any manner affected for the purposes of creating wildlife conservation in the process of recognising and vesting of rights of the tribals. The results of our study shows that although 1.33 lac claims were submitted by other traditional forest dwellers, only 1,868 claims had been approved and rest were rejected. It was found that among 55 districts of MP only in four districts i.e., Bhopal, Burhanpur, Seoni and Dindori the claims of other traditional forest dwellers claims were approved even though they did not need 75 year criteria. The study further indicates that in some districts even thirty years of claims were given OTFD claim deeds. The reason for approval is not explained. In Burhanpur the DFO summates that due to certain political reasons the claims deeds were distributed even though the claimants could not prove 75 years residence and cultivation. COMMUNITY FOREST RESOURCE SCENERIO IN MADHYA PRADESH According to the MoEF MoTA joint committee on Madhya Pradesh, FRA 2006, there are a lot of confusions in the minds of the implementing agencies between development rights and CFRs. There is a lack of awareness about the community right provisions among the local communities. As a result out of 1,84,095 approved claims only 8,802 community titles were approved. Before implementing the FRA, 2006, the state government should have given primary emphasis on community right claims, by creating mass awareness among the tribals and other traditional forest dwellers. Moreover, civil society groups were not involved in the claims process to make the more process transparent. When we go back to the history, the forest dwellers in most parts of MP have Nistari system in the form of community forest rights where the tribals and OTFD use to receive small timber like Bamboo, Balli and other forest produce at concessional rates times immemorial the villagers have been allotted grazing land up to 100 hectares where they go for rotational grazing, where other parts of the forest eco-system were undisturbed. Among community forest rights in 8802 community forest rights throughout the state of Madhya Pradesh this Nistari claims were reclaimed by the community in 1300 revenue 6

7 villages of Betul, Khandwa, Madla, Dindori, Khargone, Chhindwara and Seoni districts. The Gram Sabhas held periodic meetings and resolutions stating their rights dating back to preindependence era and these resolutions were recorded in the Gram Sabha registers and JFM Samiti registers. It is also found that some villagers in MP have guided by certain civil societies in some tribal villagers of Mandla and Dindori district. The forest department, the civil society and villagers framed certain rules. The rules included ban on felling trees, regular patrolling of the forest areas, and prevention of forest fire incidents and impose conditions on NTFP collection. They also mapped the forest areas asserting the boundaries of forests. As a village developmental activities the villagers constructed the village dams, village tanks (Nistar Talab) as a result of which there has been a rise in the availability of water and control the number of grazing animals according to the carrying capacity of the grazing areas allotted to the villagers. In Dindori district the community forest rights have been distributed on February Mobilisation on community forest rights has taken place in all parts of Madhya Pradesh. Although the tribals and traditional forest dwellers continues to ignore the CFR and shown interest in the individual forest rights claims. The villagers claim that they already enjoy the benefits of community rights. So they felt that claiming CFR is of no meaning. Moreover, in most of the areas of Madhya Pradesh the demarcation of forest land for grazing has not been done by the forest department. The villagers are unable to claim CFR for pasture. There were no claims filed in the protected areas especially in the National Parks but the communities have filed individual claims in the Sanctuaries in which they have traditionally demanded rights over land under cultivation as well as for extraction of Tendu Patta and other NTFP. At present the degraded forest existing in MP cannot provide tribals and OTFD with their livelihood. As a result large number of families usually immigrate to the cities like Indore, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Gwalior, Satna and Rewa for wage labour, migrant labour. In MP large chunk of forest areas (12 % of the total area) is either low density or degraded forest. Every year large forest area has been diverted for non forest purpose under various developmental projects. The changing land use pattern has alienated communities form their forest resources. After implementation of JFM for last 10 years, there has been a process of community mobilisation in areas where the JFM committees are active. A certain level of awareness has been generated over the forest eco system towards Protection, management and conservation of forest by involving of the local people. This has led to a 7

8 considerable number of CFR claims from some districts even though it is not achieved as per to the expectation of the government. CONCLUSION It is therefore concluded that initially there has been no attempts by the state government to prove 75 years of. Finally DFO Burhanpur proved it from old settlement records of the Division and interpreted the clause residing in and dependent upon forest land. During our discussion with Shri M Kalidurai IFS, It was felt that requirement of provision of 75 years of residence or 75 years of cultivation of forest land as provided in the FRA is not fair because non tribal but poor communities (Scheduled Caste) were worst affected and they appealed to re-examine the criteria fixed for the OTFD. During our study it was found that in the Burhanpur district the forest villagers given pattas according to 1993 forest settlements. During the process of approval of forest right claims all the villagers who have patta did not receive title deeds. After review by DFO and DM, it was instructed to the tribal department to consider all the patta holders for the title deeds. During the study it was observed that mutation of the land records in the Burhanpur districts is not being completed fully so that the lands for which patta have been issued during 1993 forest settlement are remaining as Forest Land in the forest division records. During the feeding of data base of the land records and survey settlement DFO observed these lacunae and instructed to carry out mutation of the lands to which patta have been distributed. Moreover in some areas of the Burhanpur district boundaries between forest and revenue department are not settled so the land records have not been digitised and geo-referenced. The PDA survey of these disputed lands has limited the achievements of the full benefits of the FRA process. So during DLC meeting DFO and DM of Burhanpur District on policy basis came forward to solve the problem so that the PDA derived sketches are not somehow linked to land records. During our study we observed that the forest offence cases which constituted an important potential piece of evidence for cultivation or occupation by the tribals and OTFD, but several claimants who have lost their evidences. They requested forest department to search for their names in the forest department records One of the most difficult elements of the implementation of the FRA process is the dealing of forest department with post 2005 encroachers. The Act clearly envisages that no rights shall be given to those who encroached upon forest land after (STs). The Act specifies that no person shall be evicted until verification procedure shall be completed. 8

9 It not clear that the completion has to be carried out at village level or block level or District level. So the confusion of problem made the officials inactive as the implementation of FRA, 2006 was in progress fresh encroachment problems started throughout the state of MP. The forest officials were authorised to prevent fresh encroachments. The people who have been evicted before December 2005 have started occupying the forest land and they claimed according to FRA. The forest department consider them as a fresh encroacher and they started evicting. Meanwhile evicted people started making allegations of false cases, of illegal eviction or prevention of cultivation by those in occupation of the forest land for several years Politicians complaint to Hon ble Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh during his visit to Burhanpur district about the highhandedness of the Forest Department, which according to them was very serious. The Hon ble CM requested the senior forest official to look into the matters seriously and give justice to the poor people according to the rules of FRA AT the same time a new danger encountered that even actual occurrence of fresh encroachment started taking place. The tribal communities of Khargone, Badwani and Jhabua who entered in large numbers into the forest of Burhanpur were directed were influenced by Newadia Patels (Newadia Patels are local politicians cum encroachment commission agent who organised the encroachment process in a mass way a process which are not supported by the local tribals of Burhanpur district). These tribals also have land in their own districts. During the enquiry many tribals have admitted that their landlords came to Burhanpur from different villages of other districts and have recently joined the group led by one of Nevadia Patel of Nepanagar area. So the DFO and DM decided to appoint an impartial monitoring and grievance redressal committee at all levels (sub division and district level). The Government also came forward to put in place an impartial monitoring and grievance redressal cell at state level. The civil society groups were also involved at all levels to make the process more transparent. The Govt instructed all the DMs of the state to appoint FRA Adalats on a monthly basis in all district headquarters where public hearing will be carried out at various places of the district that would provide quick identification of the grievances beyond reports by the live agencies. References: (1) The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act,

10 (2) The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Rules, 2008 (3) The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Rules (Amended), 2012 (4) Document that received the Prime Ministers Award of Excellence in e-governance during (5) Review of secondary sources like Ministry of Tribal Affair s website, Joint MoEF- MoTA Committee Report 2010, NAC working group on Tribal Development Report 2012, (6) Collection of regional information from different Forest Divisions of Madhya Pradesh. 10

No.158-C of 2005 THE SCHEDULED TRIBES AND OTHER TRADITIONAL FOREST DWELLERS (RECOGNITION OF FOREST RIGHTS) BILL, 2006 BILL

Bill AS PASSED BY LOK SABHA ON 15 TH DECEMBER 2006 No.158-C of 2005 THE SCHEDULED TRIBES AND OTHER TRADITIONAL FOREST DWELLERS (RECOGNITION OF FOREST RIGHTS) BILL, 2006 Short title and commencement. A