According to the 2006 Forest Rights Act, more than 5 percent of the India’s population were expected to benefit from it. However, only 3 percent of the forest rights have been granted because of lack of political will and funds. The Law was passed 10 years ago with an aim to protect indigenous people but eventually failed to do so.
Neema Pathak Broome, a researcher with the rights group Kalpavriksh, said in a daily report, “The law has the potential to conserve forests and biodiversity and improve local livelihoods. Unfortunately, due to a lack of political will and intentional efforts to undermine the law, this vast potential for democratic forest governance remains unrealised.”
In the past decade, several other rights have been introduced that run counter to the 2006 Forest Rights Act. Neema gave an example of the new federal law introduced in July, ignores the requirements of the Forest Rights Act. The report said, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs is understaffed and under-resourced while the state forest departments are truculent in implementing the 2006 Forest Rights Act.
The law has the power to secure livelihoods and promote women’s right but the government needs to deploy political support and funds to implement and strengthen the Tribal Affairs Ministry and state agencies.
States that are lagging behind include Assam, Bihar, Goa, Himachal Pradesh and Uttrakhand. Tushar Dash, from advocacy group Vasundhara, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, “The biggest stumbling block is that there’s very limited understanding of the Forest Rights Act, even within the government. They believe granting forest rights obstructs development, and are instead giving forest lands for industrial use. But it’s been established that protecting forest rights encourages development and helps conservation efforts far more.”
The implementation of the Forest Rights Act need to be express, to help secure the livelihood of the indigenous tribes who have been residing in such forests for generations and are waiting for their rights to be recorded.
