Lok Sabha Question No. 105 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-02-03
Subject: Awareness among Tribals
Ministry: TRIBAL AFFAIRS
Asked by: Ashok Mahadeorao Nete

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA (MINISTRY OF TRIBAL AFFAIRS)

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. † 105

TO BE ANSWERED ON 03.02.2020

## AWARENESS AMONG TRIBALS

- (a) whether the Government has taken any steps to raise awareness among tribals regarding their rights

†105. SHRI ASHOK MAHADEORAO NETE: Will the Minister of TRIBAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state: under the Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers Act, 2006; (b) if so, the details thereof; and (c) the details of the achievements of the said Act as on date, State-wise?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE FOR TRIBAL AFFIAR (SMT. RENUKA SINGH SARUTA)

- (a)  to  (b)    Right  from  the  time  of  promulgation  of  the  Scheduled  Tribes  and  Other  Traditional  Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Rights) Act, 2006 and Rules thereunder,  Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) has been  providing  support  to  States  and  UTs  for  effective  implementation  of  the  Act  including  creating awareness besides guiding them and hand holding and monitoring its implementation. A brief account of

such steps taken by MoTA is furnished in Annexure - I. (c)        As  per  Forest  Rights  Act,  2006  and  the  rules  made  thereunder,  the  State  Governments  are responsible of the Act.   As per information received from the State Governments, the overall and State

- wise status of implementation of Forest Rights Act, 2006 is given at Annexure-II.

Reply to part (a to b) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 105 for 03/02/2029 asked by Shri Ashok MahadeoRao Nete regarding Awareness among Tribals,

## Steps taken by Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) for effective implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (in short FRA, 2006)

## 1.      Support provided by MoTA to State Governments

## A.       Capacity Building.

- i. To increase awareness and efficiency, States requested to undertake extensive training programmes for officials and members of institutions, responsible for the implementation of FRA and to use the Geo- referenced database for processing claims towards vesting of rights and maps;
- ii. To  support  the  public  awareness  programmes,  the  Ministry  has  published  Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) ( both in English and in Hindi) and the same shared with all the State  Governmentsand  UTs  with  the  request  that  thismay  be  got  translated  into  locally understood and spoken language and distributed at the Gram Sabha level in the States.
- iii. Translation of Act, Rules and clarification into local languages and publication of training modules on FRA for training and guidance;
- iv. Issuance of guidelines, observations, clarifications and direction under Section 12 of FRA, 2006 on various aspects of FRA, 2006;
- v. A dedicated website < http://www.forestrights.nic.in> has been launched. This site besides containing all documents like Act, Rules and Guidelines etc. also has a self-learning and self-test module.

## B.        Financial Support for the implementation of the FRA, 2006

Release of funds, from time to time, under TSP (now TSS) and grants under Article 275 (1) for undertaking FRA related activities such as capacity building, training and support for post recognition of rights. (TSP: Tribal Sub Plan, TSS: Tribal Sub-Scheme)

## 2.     Follow-up with and directions to State Governments

## A.  Mechanisms  laid  down  by  Government  of  India  for  monitoring  the  progress  of implementation of the Act

- i. States/UTs are submitting Monthly Progress Reports and Quarterly Progress Reports as per amended Rules to the Ministry;
- ii. Ministry  also  reviews  the  progress  by  convening  meetings  of  State  Secretaries  / Commissioners of Tribal Welfare / Development    Departments.
- iii. Visits by Ministers and senior officers of the Ministry to States for reviewing the progress of implementation of the Act.
- iv. Organisation of Regional Workshops in order to explain and discuss the amendments in the Forest Right Rules and the guidelines to the officials of the key State Government Departments.
- v. A  series  of  Review-cum-Consultation  meetings  with  States  held  in  which  besides reviewing  the  progress,  various  issues  in  its  implementation  were  also  discussed  and clarification on a number of points given.
- vi. As  per  FR  Amendment  Rules,  2012  Government  notified,  on  6.9.2012,  State  Level Monitoring Committee is required to meet at least once in three months to monitor the process of recognition, verification and vesting of rights, consider and address the field level problems.

## B.        Thrust areas redefined

- i. States have been urged to concentrate on Community Rights claims.
- ii. Directions issued to States to suo moto review the rejected claims
- iii. Conversion of Forest Villages into Revenue Villages stressed upon and States asked to submit periodic reports to the Ministry.
- iv. States  have  been  requested  to  provide  post-recognition  of  rights  support  to  the  title holders.
- v. States have been requested to ensure that Gram Sabhas are convened in all villages as per Forest Rights Act definitions and Forest Rights Committees formed.

## C.       Sensitization on new emerging areas

- i. The States sensitized about issues of Critical Wildlife Habitats, CAMPA funds and land banks. (CAMPA:  Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management  and Planning Authority)
- ii. States directed to take necessary steps for reflecting the rights recognized/pattas given under FRA in the records of the revenue department.
- iii. Letters written on 27.7.2015 to States with high rates of rejection of claims, following which they have started reviewing and re-examining the rejected claims.
- iv. On  21.9.2017,  letter  sent  to  States  to  use  space  technology  for  creation  of  georeferenced database on vesting of rights/ correction of record of rights, for convening Gram Sabhas meeting, suo-motto review of rejected claims and early disposal of all pending claims.

## Annexure-II

## Statement in reply to part (c) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 105 for 03/02/2029 asked by Shri Ashok MahadeoRao Nete regarding Awareness among Tribals,

| S. No.   | States           | No. of Claims received upto 30.09.2019   | No. of Claims received upto 30.09.2019   | No. of Claims received upto 30.09.2019   | No. of Titles Distributed upto 30.09.2019   | No. of Titles Distributed upto 30.09.2019   | No. of Titles Distributed upto 30.09.2019   | Extent of Forest land for which titles distributed (in acres)   | Extent of Forest land for which titles distributed (in acres)   | Extent of Forest land for which titles distributed (in acres)   |
|----------|------------------|------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| S. No.   | States           | Individual                               | Community                                | Total                                    | Individual                                  | Community                                   | Total                                       | Individual                                                      | Community                                                       | Total                                                           |
|          |                  | 1                                        | 2                                        | 3                                        | 4                                           | 5                                           | 6                                           | 8                                                               | 9                                                               | 10                                                              |
| 1        | Andhra Pradesh   | 1,77,446                                 | 4,062                                    | 1,81,508                                 | 96,675                                      | 1,374                                       | 98,049                                      | 2,39,554                                                        | 453,384                                                         | 6,92,938.00                                                     |
| 2        | Assam            | 1,48,965                                 | 6,046                                    | 1,55,011                                 | 57,325                                      | 1,477                                       | 58,802                                      | NA/NR                                                           | NA/NR                                                           | NA/NR                                                           |
| 3        | Bihar            | 8,022                                    | NA/NR                                    | 8,022                                    | 121                                         | 0                                           | 121                                         | NA/NR                                                           | NA/NR                                                           | NA/NR                                                           |
| 4        | Chhattisgarh     | 8,58,682                                 | 31,558                                   | 8,90,240                                 | 4,01,251                                    | 21,967                                      | 4,23,218                                    | 8,43,100.69                                                     | 20,38,146.15                                                    | 28,81,246.84                                                    |
| 5        | Goa              | 9,758                                    | 378                                      | 10,136                                   | 17                                          | 8                                           | 25                                          | 76.60                                                           | 10.25                                                           | 86.86                                                           |
| 6        | Gujarat          | 1,82,869                                 | 7,187                                    | 1,90,056                                 | 88,226                                      | 3,516                                       | 91,742                                      | 1,39,776.25                                                     | 11,61,351.00                                                    | 13,01,127.25                                                    |
| 7        | Himachal Pradesh | 2,071                                    | 170                                      | 2,241                                    | 129                                         | 7                                           | 136                                         | 5.96                                                            | 4,670.56                                                        | 4,676.52                                                        |
| 8        | Jharkhand        | 1,07,032                                 | 3,724                                    | 1,10,756                                 | 59,866                                      | 2,104                                       | 61,970                                      | 1,53,395.86                                                     | 1,03,758.97                                                     | 2,57,154.83                                                     |
| 9        | Karnataka        | 2,75,446                                 | 5,903                                    | 2,81,349                                 | 14,667                                      | 1,406                                       | 16,073                                      | 20,813.51                                                       | 28,155.75                                                       | 48,969.26                                                       |
| 10       | Kerala           | 36,140                                   | 1,395                                    | 37,535                                   | 24,599                                      | NA                                          | 24,599                                      | 33,018.12                                                       | NA                                                              | 33,018.12                                                       |
| 11       | Madhya Pradesh   | 5,85,200                                 | 42,056                                   | 6,27,256                                 | 2,27,191                                    | 27,970                                      | 2,55,161                                    | 8,13,671.92                                                     | 14,65,058.49                                                    | 22,78,730.41                                                    |
| 12       | Maharashtra      | 3,62,679                                 | 12,037                                   | 3,74,716                                 | 1,65,032                                    | 7,084                                       | 1,72,116                                    | 3,92,928.73                                                     | 27,36,660.68                                                    | 31,29,589.41                                                    |
| 13       | Odisha           | 6,17,935                                 | 13,826                                   | 6,31,761                                 | 4,30,212                                    | 6,564                                       | 4,36,776                                    | 6,42,542.12                                                     | 2,35,205.91                                                     | 8,77,748.02                                                     |
| 14       | Rajasthan        | 74,414                                   | 1,441                                    | 75,855                                   | 38,007                                      | 103                                         | 38,110                                      | 57,730.26                                                       | 2,993.64                                                        | 60,723.90                                                       |
| 15       | Tamil Nadu       | 32,983                                   | 1,005                                    | 33,988                                   | 6,111                                       | 276                                         | 6,387                                       | 8,607.26                                                        | NA/NR                                                           | 8,607.26                                                        |
| 16       | Telangana        | 1,83,252                                 | 3,427                                    | 1,86,679                                 | 93,639                                      | 721                                         | 94,360                                      | 3,00,284.00                                                     | 4,54,055.00                                                     | 7,54,339.00                                                     |
| 17       | Tripura          | 2,00,358                                 | 277                                      | 2,00,635                                 | 1,27,931                                    | 55                                          | 1,27,986                                    | 4,60,182.41                                                     | 91.16                                                           | 4,60,273.57                                                     |
| 18       | Uttar Pradesh    | 92,520                                   | 1,124                                    | 93,644                                   | 17,712                                      | 843                                         | 18,555                                      | 18,854.00                                                       | 1,20,802.06                                                     | 1,39,656.06                                                     |
| 19       | Uttarakhand      | 3,574                                    | 3,091                                    | 6,665                                    | 144                                         | 1                                           | 145                                         | 0.00                                                            | 0.00                                                            | 0.00                                                            |
| 20       | West Bengal      | 1,31,962                                 | 10,119                                   | 1,42,081                                 | 44,444                                      | 686                                         | 45,130                                      | 21,014.27                                                       | 572.03                                                          | 21,586.29                                                       |
| TOTAL    | TOTAL            | 40,91,308                                | 1,48,826                                 | 42,40,134                                | 1,893,299                                   | 76,162                                      | 19,69,461                                   | 4,145,556                                                       | 88,04,916                                                       | 1,29,50,471.59                                                  |