Lok Sabha Question No. 3911 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-03-19
Subject: Tribal Population in Reserved Forests
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Manoj Kishorbhai Kotak, Kapil Moreshwar Patil

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3911 TO BE ANSWERED ON 19.03.2021

## Tribal Population in Reserved Forests

## 3911. SHRI MANOJ KOTAK: SHRI KAPIL MORESHWAR PATIL:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

- (a) the details  of the  tribal population in reserved and protected forests of the States and Union Territories including Maharashtra, State/UT-wise;
- (b) whether  the  Union  Government  has  received  any  proposals  from  the  State Government of Maharashtra and other State Governments regarding land settlement of these tribal families;
- (c)       if so, the details thereof and the action taken by the Government thereon?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO)

- (a) to(c) The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (Forest Rights Act, 2006) vests various forest rights on forest lands in the forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest  dwellers.  The  Act  provides  right  to  hold  and  live  in  the  forest  land under  the  individual  or  common  occupation  for  habitation  or  for  selfcultivation  for  livelihood  by  a  member  or  members  of  a  forest  dwelling Scheduled Tribe or other traditional forest dwellers. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs  is  the  nodal  Ministry  for  the  Act  and  the  State  Governments  are responsible for implementation of various provisions of the Act.

As per information received from the State Governments, a total of 19,20,507 individual titles over an extent of 4,182,274 acres (1.69 million ha) of forest land in the country, including Maharashtra, have  been distributed till 31.12.2020  to  the  Scheduled  Tribes  and  other  traditional  forest  dwellers. State-wise details of number of such title holders are given in Annexure.

As per the Forest Rights Act, 2006, Gram Sabha is the authority to initiate the process for determining the nature and extent of individual forest rights in the forest dwelling scheduled tribes. Thereafter, Sub-Divisional Level Committee after  examining  the  resolution  passed  by  Gram  Sabha  forward  it  to  the District  Level  Committee  for  a  final  decision.  The  decision  of  the  District Level  Committee  on  the  record  of  forest  rights  are  final  and  binding.  The State Level Monitoring Committee constituted by the State Government is the authority to monitor the process of recognition and vesting of forest rights and to  submit  to  the  nodal  Ministry.  Thus,  the  cases  are  finally  decided  by  the above respective authorities.

***

ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  OF  PART  (a)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3911 DUE FOR ANSWER ON 19.03.2021 ASKED BY SHRI  MANOJ  KOTAK  AND  SHRI  KAPIL  MORESHWAR  PATIL  REGARDING TRIBAL POPULATION IN RESERVED FORESTS

State wise details of claims received, titles distributed and the extent of forest land for which titles distributed (individual), as on 31.12.2020

|   S.No. | State/Union Territory   | No of claims received up to 31.12.2020   | No o f titles distributed up to 31.12.2020   | Extent of forest land for which titles distributed (in acres)   |
|---------|-------------------------|------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
|       1 | Andhra Pradesh          | 177,466                                  | 96,675                                       | 239,554                                                         |
|       2 | Assam                   | 148,965                                  | 57,325                                       | Not available/ Not reported                                     |
|       3 | Bihar                   | 8,022                                    | 121                                          | Not available/ Not reported                                     |
|       4 | Chhattisgarh            | 858,869                                  | 401,251                                      | 843,100.69                                                      |
|       5 | Goa                     | 9,758                                    | 35                                           | 76.60                                                           |
|       6 | Gujarat                 | 182,869                                  | 91,102                                       | 150,545.43                                                      |
|       7 | Himachal Pradesh        | 2,642                                    | 129                                          | 5.96                                                            |
|       8 | Jharkhand               | 107,032                                  | 59,866                                       | 153,395.86                                                      |
|       9 | Karnataka               | 275,446                                  | 14,667                                       | 20,813.51                                                       |
|      10 | Kerala                  | 43,331                                   | 26,398                                       | 34,750.38                                                       |
|      11 | Madhya Pradesh          | 585,266                                  | 230,028                                      | 817,582.75                                                      |
|      12 | Maharashtra             | 362,679                                  | 165,032                                      | 392,928.73                                                      |
|      13 | Odisha                  | 623,252                                  | 441,529                                      | 657,872.95                                                      |
|      14 | Rajasthan               | 77,906                                   | 44,071                                       | 61,690.16                                                       |
|      15 | Tamil Nadu              | 33,755                                   | 8,144                                        | 9,626.44                                                        |
|      16 | Telangana               | 183,252                                  | 93,639                                       | 300,284.00                                                      |
|      17 | Tripura                 | 200,696                                  | 127,931                                      | 460,182.41                                                      |
|      18 | Uttar Pradesh           | 92,570                                   | 17,964                                       | 18,850.28                                                       |
|      19 | Uttarakhand             | 3,574                                    | 156                                          | 0.00                                                            |
|      20 | West Bengal             | 131,962                                  | 44,444                                       | 21,014.27                                                       |
|      21 | Total                   | 41,09,105                                | 19,20,507                                    | 41,82,274                                                       |