 "Tribals collect dry leaves at a forest in Bastar")
The number of tribal and other forest-dwelling families who can be potentially impacted by the Supreme Court’s order on eviction from forests could go up as high as 1.89 million households countrywide. This is the total number of claims to forestlands that have been rejected under the Forest Rights Act across all 35 states and union territories, according to the latest data from Union ministry for tribal affairs.
On February 20, the Supreme Court ordered time-bound eviction of all those families whose claims under the Forest Rights Act had been rejected by the authorities. The court order gave reference to rejections from 16 states which had by then filed data in their affidavits. But, all states are required to comply
