Tribals get forest land rights

The UPA government notified the long-stalled Forest Rights Act, which gives tribals legal rights over forest land, a key promise of the ruling alliance.

The notification of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, popularly called the Forests Rights Act, initiates the laborious process of identifying the beneficiaries of the measure across 17 states.

The government believes about 10 million forest dwellers, mainly tribals, will be benefited by the law, which will apply to all those who have occupied forest lands till December 13, 2005.

The government also issued a notification identifying the 28 tiger reserves that will be excluded from the purview of the Act and lead to eviction of one million people from these reserves in the country.

The Act, passed by Parliament in December 2006, had a tumultuous history with forest conservationists and tribal rights activists running high-pitched campaigns against each other. The Act had to get nod from a Joint Parliamentary Committee and later a Group of Ministers before it was introduced in Parliament.

The legislation split the government and political parties with the forests department and conservationists on one side and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and tribal activists on the other.

However, today both the ministries were addressing the media calling it a historic day and promising to work together to make the law work in favour of the tribals. "The notification of the Forest Rights Act is a reconciliation between our ministry and the ministries of environment and Panchayati Raj," Tribal Affairs Minister PR Kyndia said.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests also tried to assuage fears of displacement following the notification of tiger reserves.

Said Minister of State for Environment and Forests Namo Narayan Meena: "No one will be forcibly evicted. An expert committee will examine if people have to be evicted. The eviction would be done only if required."

The law was not notified even after the rules were drafted by September as the government took time to identify the tiger reserves where humans would not be allowed to live.

This measure was a part of a compromise struck with wildlife conservationists. These habitats are spread over 31,940 sq km across 11 states. The forest dwellers in these areas would have to be evicted to save the almost extinct tigers.

However, sources say eviction of such a large number of people will be a difficult task. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has agreed to give compensation to the evicted.

However, Jharkhand and Orissa have not been able to demarcate the tiger reserves. The state governments will now be expected to set up committees to verify tribals' claims on forest land so that they can be given land titles.