Author- Harshit Raj, Lovely Professional University, Punjab
Introduction
Forest Rights Act 2006 also known as the Scheduled Tribes And Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition Of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 has been a landmark legislation specifically to ensure the welfare of those who have been living in the forest area for generations, generally known as the forest dwellers. If we look at the history of India, we can see that many people who have lived in the forest are tribal and some of them are even nontribal, but they are also living in the forest for many years. But the unfortunate part is that they don’t have any official ownership records or documents, which is sad. As a result, these individuals who have been residing in the forest for such a long period are always subject to forced removal from their possession. The government authorities can come or, some other corporate company will come and they will remove those people forcefully out of these lands. They can claim that because of people living there cannot prove that it is their land. The issue is that despite spending so much time in the forested region, they had no evidence of ownership. The Forest Rights Act seeks to give them ownership rights. In simple terms, it will give ownership written in an official paper, that he/she is the owner of this land so that tomorrow if someone comes or wants to forcefully remove them out of there area then they can claim that it is their land and complain it to the police and the authorities. It gives a right to ownership and, not just gives ownership of the land but this law also gives a right to use forest resources. Some of the forest resources are minor forest produce and can be used by forest dwellers communities. The Gram Sabha of the village will decide whether or not the ownership will be given to the person or whether this family has been living in the forest for a long time or not.
History of the Forest Rights Act
During the British era, we had different types of forest acts or forest rights in India. Forest is the hub of resources for any government as the government takes timber, wood, and vegetation resources and more importantly, they extract minerals from the forest land for generating power. So, for any government throughout the decades, forests have been like a coal mine from where they can extract as many minerals as possible. Government can give that land to the corporate sector to set up their factories and industries, and in return, they earn revenue from the industrialist. The 2006 Act, for the first time talks about the people, who are living in that area who has lived there for a very long time. The earlier laws that were passed at the time of the Britishers were mainly about how the resources of the forest is to be utilized, and how exactly it is possible for the best use of the forest resources of that land to give corporate and earn money in return. The land in these forests is being given to the companies to come and extract coal. This is what the Forest Rights Act is now trying to improve.
Limit of Ownership
People who have lived in the forest for a very long time are granted land ownership under the Forest Rights Act. However, the family is entitled to only receive the ownership of the land up to a certain limit. This law also says forest dwellers to be given ownership subjected to a maximum of 4 hectares. Also, this is given in a system of one land per family where they have been living for a long time. No new land will be given to them.
Relevancy of this Act
The Forest Rights Act seeks to redress the injustices of government policies towards communities who live in forests, whose claims to their resources were denied during the 1850s in both colonial and independent India.
The statute has the ability to give tribes a means of subsistence while also protecting forests in a sustainable manner through conventional means. According to Section 3(1)(h) of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act of 2006, all forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers have the right to settle and transform any areas of forest villages, old habitations, unsurveyed villages, and other villages in the forest, whether recorded, notified, or not, into revenue villages.
It broadens the scope of the Fifth and Sixth Schedules of the Constitution, which safeguard indigenous populations who claims the forest areas as their houses.
Conclusion
The statute enables scheduled tribes and other traditional forest residents to be recognized as individuals having forest rights. It acknowledges that the communities have the right to use forest resources for subsistence. Additionally, it also provides the rights of forest residents who were forcibly removed from their native places. To oversee the act’s execution, the act also calls for the creation of National Authorities, State Authorities, and District Level Committees. These organizations are in charge of making sure that conservation efforts are successfully implemented and the forest inhabitants’ rights are upheld.