Context:
Forest Rights under FRA, 2006 approved to tribes in Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR).
Anamalai Tiger Reserve:
- A protected area located in the Anamalai Hills of Tamil Nadu.
- Lies south of the Palakkad gap in the Southern Western Ghats.
- Surrounded by the Parambikkulam Tiger Reserve on the east, Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, and Eravikulam National Park on the southwestern side.
- Declared a tiger reserve in the year 2007.
- Habitat – Supports diverse habitat types, viz. Wet evergreen forests, semi-evergreen forests, moist deciduous, dry deciduous, dry thorn, and shola forests.
Forest Rights Act, 2006 (FRA 2006):
- Stands for Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.
- Objective – To recognize and vest the forest rights in forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers who have been residing in such forests for generations
- Nodal Agency – Ministry of Tribal Affairs is the nodal agency for the implementation of the FRA.
Key Provisions:
- Recognition of Rights –
- Individual Rights: Rights to hold and live in the forest land under individual or common occupation for habitation or self-cultivation for livelihood.
- Community Rights: Rights to own, access, use, and dispose of minor forest produce and rights to protect, regenerate, conserve, or manage any community forest resource.
- Habitat Rights: Rights for primitive tribal groups and pre-agricultural communities to their habitat and habitation.
- Eligibility Criteria – The member or community must have been residing in the forest for at least 3 generations (75 years) prior to 13th December 2005.
- Critical wildlife habitats – The act provides that critical wildlife habitats of National Parks & Sanctuaries must remain inviolate for wildlife conservation
- Process of Recognition of rights –
- Gram Sabha: The Gram Sabha (village assembly) initiates the process by receiving claims, verifying them, and passing a resolution. It also determines the nature & extent of individual/community forest rights.
- Sub-Divisional Level Committee (SDLC): The SDLC examines the Gram Sabha’s resolution and forwards it to the District Level Committee (DLC).
- District Level Committee (DLC): The DLC makes the final decision on the claims and issues titles for the recognized rights.
Source: The Hindu
Previous Year Question
Consider the following statements:
1. As per recent amendment to the Indian Forest Act, 1927, forest dwellers have the right to fell the bamboos grown on forest areas.
2. As per the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, bamboo is a minor forest produce.
3. The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 allows ownership of minor forest produce to forest dwellers.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2019 Prelims]
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer: (b)
Explanation:
Statement 1 is not correct:
The Indian Forest (Amendment) Bill 2018 permits felling and transit of bamboo grown in non-forest areas. However, bamboo grown on forest lands would continue to be classified as a tree and would be guided by the existing legal restrictions.