Synopsis
by Dr. Mehar Singh*
The Scheduled
Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights)
Act, 2006 is a watershed event in the hard-fought and prolonged struggle
of adivasis and other forest dwellers of India. It has also been called the Forest Rights Act, the Tribal Rights Act, the Tribal Bill, and the Tribal Land Act.The forest rights on
ancestral lands and their habitat were not adequately recognised in the
consolidation of State forests during the colonial period as well as in
independent India resulting in historical injustice to the forest dwelling
Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers who are integral to the
very survival and sustainability of the forest ecosystem. Thus it had become
necessary to address the long standing insecurity of tenurial and access rights
of forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers
including those who were forced to relocate their dwelling due to State
development interventions.
The law concerns the rights of
forest-dwelling communities to land and other resources, denied to them over
decades as a result of the continuance of colonial forest laws in India.The law
attempts not only to right the historic injustice but also give the forest
communities role primacy in forest management.
Act recognizes and vests the
forest rights and occupation in forest land in forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes
and other traditional forest dwellers who have been residing in such forests
for generations but whose rights could not be recorded. It provides provide for a framework for
recording the forest rights so vested and the nature of evidence required for
such recognition and vesting in respect of forest land.
The presentation will dwell on
salient features, types and nature of rights, recognition and vesting of rights
in protected areas, responsibilities and duties, authorities and procedures and
implications for tribal and effects on forests and wildlife management. Issues
regarding provisions and implementation will also be discussed.
*Dr. Mehar
Singh is a member of Indian Forest Service and presently pursuing LLB on
sabbatical at Campus Law Centre, Faculty of Law,Delhi University
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