Lok Sabha Question No. 5548 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-07-26
Subject: Eviction of Tribal and Forest Dwellers
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: D.K. Suresh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 5548

TO BE ANSWERED ON 26.07.2019

## Eviction of Tribal and Forest Dwellers

## 5548. SHRI D. K. SURESH:

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

- (a) whether the Government is aware that there is a threat of forced mass eviction of tribal and forest dwellers from their traditional forestlands and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether it is true that several thousands claims to forestland under the  Forest Rights Act, 2006 are still pending for disposal;
- (c) if  so,  the  details of the  number of such claims pending for the last five years, Statewise and year-wise;
- (d) whether  the  Government  has  taken  any  measures  to  address  the  concern  of  the claimants; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof and the response of the Government thereon?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) The Hon'ble Supreme Court vide order dated 13.02.2019, in the matter of W.P. (C)109/2008 & 50/2008 ordered to evict the claimants from forests whose claims have  been  rejected  under  the  Scheduled  Tribes  and  Other  Traditional  Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs filed an application, in Hon'ble Supreme Court on 26.02.2019,  for  modification  of  order  dated  13.02.2019  passed  by  them.  The Hon'ble  Supreme  Court  admitted  the  application  filed  by  Ministry  of  Tribal Affairs and vide their Order dated 28.02.2019 stayed the eviction order which was given in their earlier order dated 13.02.2019.

- (b) Yes, Sir.
- (c) Details of the number of such claims pending for the last five years, State-wise, are given in Annexure.
- (d) & (e) As per the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of  Forest  Rights)  Act,  2006  (in  short  Forest  Right  Act,  2006)  and  Rules thereunder, responsibility for implementation of the Act lies with the States/UTs. Ministry of Tribal Affairs  has been issuing various instructions/advisories to the State  Governments  from  time  to  time  for  effective  implementation  of  the  Act emphasizing  that  prescribed  procedure,  as  contained  in  the  Act  and  Rules

thereunder  for  vesting  forest  rights  in  forest  dwelling  communities,  should  be followed to ensure that claims of eligible persons are not rejected.   States have been  requested  by  Ministry  of  Tribal  Affairs  from  time  to  time  to  review  all rejected claims to preclude the wrongful rejection of eligible claims.

***

Annexure  referred  to  in  reply  of  Lok  Sabha  Unstarred  Question  No.  5548  due  for answer  on  26.07.2019  asked  by  Shri  D.K.  Suresh  regarding  'eviction  of  Tribal  and Forest dwellers .

State wise details of total number of pending claims under FRA, 2006 during last five years

|   SN | States           | March 2014   | March 2015   |   March 2016 | March 2017   |   March 2018 | March 2019   |
|------|------------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|
|    1 | Andhra Pradesh   | 76176        | 76176        |        76176 | 23,911       |        12013 | 7,532        |
|    2 | Assam            | 57975        | 57975        |        57975 | 96,209       |        96209 | 96,209       |
|    3 | Bihar            | 1258         | 1258         |         3698 | 3,686        |         3686 | 3,686        |
|    4 | Chhattisgarh     | 42028        | 26904        |            0 | 8,971        |        17337 | 5,432        |
|    5 | Goa              | NA           | NA           |            0 | 9,707        |         9794 | 10,064       |
|    6 | Gujarat          | 130446       | 111821       |       106569 | 106,494      |        37497 | 38,072       |
|    7 | Himachal Pradesh | 3186         | 3184         |         3184 | 652          |         2080 | 2,105        |
|    8 | Jharkhand        | 9749         | 12781        |        14386 | 18,677       |        18677 | 20,679       |
|    9 | Karnataka        | 88634        | 183159       |       175002 | 119,895      |        84320 | 84,320       |
|   10 | Kerala           | 5047         | 5047         |         5047 | 5,047        |         5047 | 5,047        |
|   11 | Madhya Pradesh   | 45583        | 40654        |         3299 | 11,276       |         4209 | 9,866        |
|   12 | Maharashtra      | 8713         | 12326*       |        14083 | 19,856       |        19856 | 157,075      |
|   13 | Odisha           | 93245        | 104046       |        66691 | 65,089       |        50503 | 48,236       |
|   14 | Rajasthan        | 2113         | 3261         |          714 | 718          |          838 | 1,446        |
|   15 | Tamil Nadu       | 21781        | 18058        |        18058 | 21,781       |        22222 | 15,859       |
|   16 | Telangana        | NA           | 40760        |        13772 | 11,429       |         8562 | 8,562        |
|   17 | Tripura          | 40760        | 44849        |         3170 | 7,661        |         5074 | 4,039        |
|   18 | Uttar Pradesh    | 1700         | 321          |          144 | 144          |          144 | 144          |
|   19 | Uttarakhand      | 181          | 181          |          181 | 181          |          212 | 1,564        |
|   20 | West Bengal      | 76056        | 105064       |         1752 | 364          |          364 | 364          |