On 13 February 2019 Supreme Court, hearing a decade-old petition challenging the constitutional validity of the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006, issued an order stating “claimants whose claims have been rejected and have attained finality should be evicted”. This would have meant eviction of nearly 18.92 lakh forest dwelling families; communities would be stripped off their rights over the forests that are their only source of livelihood.
However, owing to pressure from the centre and the states, SC stayed the order and required the states to submit responses within four months. The SC will hear the case on July 24.
Historic injustice will be repeated if forestdwellers are evicted from their homes without examining the reasons for the rejections of claims. The Act does not have any provision for eviction of rejected claimants rather Section 4(5) specifically prohibits eviction until the process of implementation is fully complete in an area.
The fate of individuals and communities hangs in balance. One such village is Arjuni in Dhamtari in Chhattisgarh.
Village: Arjuni, Block Nagri, District Dhamtari
Population: 200
Scheduled Tribe Households: 28
Other Traditional Forest Dweller Households: 10
No of household: 38
CFR claim filed: 7 October 2014
Area Claimed: 881 hectares
Area received: 137.36 hectares
Area granted for: Firewood and Grazing
NTFP collected traditionally by community:
Water Bodies: There are four ponds, one river and few streams
Biodiversity (Flora/Fauna): Sal, tendu, bamboo, amla, sajja, harra, brehera,
CFR Claim Process:
Rights Claimed
Rights Recognised:
Area Recognised: 137.36 hectares were recognised in total. It was demarcated by forest department based on their compartments (demarcation that forest department uses). They have not yet received the compartment map from forest department. There were no reasons given on non-recognition of more than 700 ha.
Gross Violation of FRA:
In the CFR title document, the state government imposed conditions over the CFR holders claiming to be under Section 5 of FRA.
What Sec 5 actually does:
Section 5 of FRA empowers the Gram Sabha to do the following:
(a) protect the wildlife, forest and biodiversity;
(b) ensure that adjoining catchments area, water sources and other ecological sensitive areas are adequately protected;
(c) ensure that the habitat of forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers is preserved from any form of destructive practices affecting their cultural and natural heritage;
(d) ensure that the decisions taken in the Gram Sabha to regulate access to community forest resources and stop any activity which adversely affects the wild animals, forest and the biodiversity are complied with.
Appeal filed: The Gram sabha appealed against the decision of non- recognition of the complete traditional boundary. There has been no response to appeal till date.
How Arjuni Conserves and Protects its Forest: Though the area recognised was lesser that what was claimed, the community still continue to access and protect the forest as per the traditional boundary. So far, they have not faced any harassment from any authority.
In Arjuni village the community carries out regular patrolling of the forest to check for fire, encroachments and poaching. Three to four people go in shifts every day to the forest for patrolling. They even carry out night patrolling as well. Fire is one of the biggest threats to the forest. Bidi and cigarette buds are major cause for fire.
With the monsoon set to start soon, the villagers are ready with seed balls to be dispersed in the empty patches of the forest. These are torei (mahua seeds), char, sarei (sal), bahera, kusum etc. These are species that are indigenous to the forest of this region and these are the trees that shape the existence of the community. Many seeds are used for producing oil, both medicinal and edible.
The young Gram Sabha president, Dinesh Yadav, says “We want full claim over our forest. We want the support of authority to build check dams in the rivers and streams within our traditional boundary so that we can conserve soil and moisture and use water for irrigation.”
It is difficult for them to imagine that they do not have complete access to the forest which has been a part of their and their ancestors lives. “It is our forest, and we should have complete ownership right over it. We will protect it and demand what is rightfully ours.”
- Akoijam Sunita
(Inputs: Sreetama Gupta Bhaya & Savvy Soumya Misra)
We work towards fair sharing of natural resources and ensuring better livelihoods for forest-dependent communities
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