Operationalisation of Forest Rights Act

Abstract

"Common land and the resources derived from it is the primary source of survival for the resource poor communities in India. After independence, the access of poor communities to common lands was legally denied by the state through different policies. The forest dwelling communities who live in the forests are the worst affected. Therefore, the right to access land is the key determinant both for the deprived and the ecology. The recently declared Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, is a step aimed to compensate the historical injustice meted out to forest dwellers, scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dependent communities whose forest rights on ancestral lands and their habitat were not adequately recognized in the consolidation of state forest during colonial period as well as in independent India. Soon after the Act was promulgated, rules were enacted which were notified in the gazette on 19th June, 2007."