15 years of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006

This report was published on December 18, 2021, by the School of Habitat Studies at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. It was released to mark 15 years of the passing of Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 – popularly known as Forest Rights Act (FRA). The report examines the patterns and trends in the implementation of FRA across the country. It has been written by Lekshmi M, Anup Kumar Samal, Geetanjoy Sahu, affiliated to the School of Habitat Studies at TISS. Overall, the report finds low rate of FRA implementation marked with significant regional differences. It recognises that political process is crucial in the implementation of FRA. To emphasise this, the report studies the shifts in forest rights recognition between the previous UPA and present NDA governments in the country. The report also analyses state-wise implementation of Individual Forest Rights (IFR) and Community Forest Rights (CFR) and notes key challenges in recognising forest rights claims in the country. The report has been prepared with the help of data on the status of forest rights claims and recognition brought out by Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India, in their Monthly Progress Report. The data set from 2008 – when the FRA came into force – to August 2021 has been used.This 32-page document is divided into eight sections: Introduction & Methodology (Section 1); Minimum Potential Forest Areas for Recognition under the Forest Rights Act (Section 2); Trends in the recognition of Forest Rights Claims in India (Section 3); Year-wise Trend and Status of Forest Rights Claims for the Period of 2008-2021(Section 4); Implementation of the Forest Rights Act: UPA versus NDA (Section 5); State-wise Current Status of FRA titles in India (Section 6); Enforcement Challenges (Section 7); Key Recommendations (Section 8).