Forest Rights Act, 2006

The Forest Rights Act, 2006 corrects the historical denial of rights to communities whose lives and livelihoods depend on forests. It recognises individual and community forest rights of eligible forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers, while assigning authority and responsibility for conservation and sustainable use.

Eligibility and recognition process

• Forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes must primarily reside in and depend on forests or forest land for bona fide livelihood needs.
• Other Traditional Forest Dwellers must establish such residence and dependence for at least three generations, meaning 75 years, before 13 December 2005.
• The Gram Sabha initiates claim determination, and no forest dweller may be evicted until recognition and verification are complete.

Categories of recognised rights

The Act recognises livelihood, tenure and customary rights held individually or collectively.

• Individual forest rights cover occupied land for habitation or self-cultivation. They are limited to actual occupation and cannot exceed 4 hectares.
• Community rights include ownership, access to collect, use and dispose of minor forest produce, along with grazing, fishing, water bodies and seasonal resource access.
• Communities may protect, regenerate, conserve or manage a community forest resource that they have traditionally protected and conserved for sustainable use.
• The Act recognises habitat rights of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups and pre-agricultural communities, and access to biodiversity and community rights over related traditional knowledge.
• Other recognised rights include conversion of forest villages into revenue villages, eligible pattas and leases, rights over disputed lands, and in situ rehabilitation of eligible displaced persons.
• Rights are heritable but not transferable or alienable; married persons ordinarily receive joint titles. Customary rights exclude hunting, trapping or extracting body parts of wild animals.

Conservation and development functions

• Rights holders, Gram Sabhas and village institutions are empowered to protect wildlife, forests and biodiversity, conserve catchments and water sources, and prevent ecologically destructive practices.
• The Act permits limited diversion of forest land for specified government-managed basic facilities, subject to statutory limits and the recommendation of the Gram Sabha.

Relocation from critical wildlife habitats

Forest rights in a critical wildlife habitat within a national park or sanctuary may be modified or resettled only through the exceptional, case-specific procedure in Section 4(2).

• Rights recognition must first be completed. The State must establish that the presence or activities of rights holders cause irreversible damage threatening wildlife and that reasonable coexistence options are unavailable.
• A resettlement or alternatives package providing a secure livelihood must be prepared and communicated according to applicable law and policy.
• The free and informed written consent of the Gram Sabhas concerned must be obtained.
• Relocation cannot occur until promised facilities and land allocation at the resettlement site are complete.
• A critical wildlife habitat must be scientifically identified and notified by the Central Government after an open consultation process involving an expert committee, including local experts.