Gaping holes

The Forest Rights Act (FRA) recognizes the rights of forest-dwellers over land they have been cultivating or residing on prior to December 2005, as also rights to use, manage, and protect forest resources. Promulgated in 2006 and operationalised with a set of Rules in January 2008, the FRA has only just begun to reach its intended beneficiaries. However, the systemic faults identified by a Committee are serious enough to bedevil implementation for years to come, unless corrective action is taken.
An eight-month investigation across 17 states by a committee set up jointly by the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, has pointed out gaping holes in implementation of the Forest Rights Act. The problems start with the central government. The FRA’s nodal agency, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA), has taken only a lackadaisical interest in it.
Against about three million claims filed by 31 October 2010, around 2.9 million (98%) were individual forest right claims, the report said. About 30-40 million ha should have been handed over under community rights, but only 20,000 ha have actually been given out.
It is a fact that many Acts are in place especially for uplift of poor and deprived people in our country. But there is no proper monitoring mechanism to ensure proper implementation of these Acts. Only involvement of civil society at all level with strong mechanism will make a real difference in implementation of such important Acts like FRA.