The Ministry of Tribal Affairs instructed the Lok Sabha on March 13, 2023, that titles weren’t distributed for over 50% of the claims made beneath the Forest Rights Act, 2006. Image for representational function solely.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
Over 38% of all claims over land made beneath the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006 till November 30, 2022, have been rejected, knowledge tabled by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs within the Lok Sabha on March 13 confirmed.
The knowledge confirmed that titles had been distributed for just a little over 50% of the claims made beneath the FRA till the required time, with the remainder of the claims pending.
Responding to a query from Dean Kuriakose, Mohammad Javed and A. Chellakumar of the Congress, and Arjun Lal Meena of the BJP, the Ministry mentioned that as reported by State governments, “general reasons” for rejection included “non-occupation of forest land prior to 13.12.2005, claim being made on land other than forest land, multiple claims, lack of sufficient documentary evidence etc.”.
The knowledge confirmed that 39.29% of Individual Forest Rights (IFR) claims had been rejected on this time interval in contrast with 24.42% rejection in Community Forest Rights (CFR) claims. However, the federal government couldn’t present the variety of CFR rejections for Bihar, Goa and Himachal Pradesh, saying they had been both ‘Not Applicable’ or ‘Not Reported’. It mentioned the identical for the unavailability of all rejection knowledge for Assam.
The Supreme Court is at the moment seized by a batch of petitions, wherein it has sought detailed rejection studies beneath the FRA from all States/Union Territories, after noting that in a number of instances, rejection discover may not have been served to claimants and that there was no readability over whether or not they got an opportunity to show their claims.
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In response to a separate query within the Lok Sabha about safeguarding the rights of tribespeople and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFDs), the Tribal Affairs Ministry mentioned that legal guidelines just like the FRA, the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 and the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, already present for robust safeguarding of the rights of tribespeople and OTFDs, together with offering for social affect evaluation.
In addition, the federal government mentioned that the constitutional provisions beneath Schedule-V together with Acts and Regulations within the Ninth Schedule additionally present for acceptable safeguards.
This reply comes at a time when the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) is within the center of a row with the Union Government over the Environment Ministry’s new Forest Conservation Rules (FCR), 2022, which got here into impact in 2022.
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The NCST had taken challenge with the FCR, noting that it might invariably find yourself affecting land rights of Scheduled Castes and OTFDs beneath the FRA. It famous that the FCR, 2022 had carried out away with a clause requiring obligatory consent of locals by the Gram Sabha, earlier than continuing for Stage 1 clearance for a mission involving diversion of forest land for non-forest functions.
Flagging this, the NCST had written to Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav asking that the FCR, 2022 be placed on maintain. However, Mr. Yadav wrote again to the NCST, dismissing the fee’s considerations and insisting that the FCR, 2022 wouldn’t have an effect on FRA claims.
Following this, the NCST had, in a primary, instantly approached the Supreme Court, and requisitioned all paperwork and FRA studies filed by States and Union Territories within the matter earlier than it.
