Lok Sabha Question No. 3519 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-08-08
Subject: Forest Village
Ministry: TRIBAL AFFAIRS
Asked by: Sarmistha Sethi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF TRIBAL AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO- 3519

TO BE ANSWERED ON- 08/08/2022

## FOREST VILLAGE

## 3519. SHRIMATI SARMISTHA SETHI:

Will the Minister of TRIBAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a) the status of conversion of forest villages to revenue villages; and
- (b) the number of forest villages identified and at different stages of conversion?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR TRIBAL AFFAIRS (SHRI BISHWESWAR TUDU)

(a)  &  (b): Under  the  provisions  of  'the  Scheduled  Tribes  and  Other  Traditional  Forest Dwellers  (Recognition  of  Forest  Rights)  Act,  2006  (in  short  FRA)  rights  are,  inter  alia, recognized  and  vested  to  the  eligible  individuals  and  community  from  amongst  Scheduled Tribes  and  Other  Traditional  Forest  Dwellers  to  use  forest  land  and  resources  for  their livelihood as also conversion of forest villages, old habitations, unsurveyed villages and other villages  in  forest,  whether  recorded,  notified  or  not  into  revenue  villages.   Respective  State Governments / UT administrations are responsible for implementation of the provisions of the Act.

Apart from Rule 2A of Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of  Forest  Rights)  Rules,  this  Ministry  has  issued  guidelines  in  2013  which  delineates  the procedure for conversion of forest villages into revenue villages by the States / UTs.

The State wise information with regard to the number of forest villages as per Census 2011 is at Annexure 1 . The status of conversion of forest villages to revenue villages as per relevant section of FRA is at Annexure 2 .

Annexure 1 Annexure 1 referred to in reply to parts (a) and (b) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 3519 for 08/08/2022 regarding 'Forest Village'.

| S.No.   | State Name               |   No. of Forest Villages |
|---------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
| 1       | Jammu &Kashmir           |                       41 |
| 2       | Uttarakhand              |                      421 |
| 3       | Uttar Pradesh            |                       89 |
| 4       | Sikkim                   |                       51 |
| 5       | Assam                    |                      897 |
| 6       | Jharkhand                |                       14 |
| 7       | Odisha                   |                       47 |
| 8       | Chhattisgarh             |                      658 |
| 9       | Madhya Pradesh           |                     1165 |
| 10      | Gujarat                  |                      162 |
| 11      | Maharashtra              |                       73 |
| 12      | Andhra Pradesh           |                        3 |
| 13      | Tamil Nadu               |                      736 |
| 14      | Andaman &Nicobar Islands |                      169 |
|         | INDIA                    |                     4526 |

(Source: Census 2011)

Annexure 2 Annexure 2 referred to in reply to parts (a) and (b) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 3519 for 08/08/2022 regarding 'Forest Village '.

|   S.No | Name of the State   | Forest village to Revenue village (based on information received from State Governments upto 04.08.2022)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
|--------|---------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|      1 | Madhya Pradesh      | Out of 925 Forest Villages, 827 forest villages has been decided to convert into revenue villages by State Govt. vide their letter No. F- 23-2/2021/25-3/384 dated 22.04.2022. In compliance of said decision, Madhya Pradesh Tribal Affairs Department, Revenue Department and Forest Department has jointly issued procedure and guidelines for conversion of Forest Villages into Revenue villages vide letter dated 23-2/2021/25-3/484 dated 26.05.2022. |
|      2 | Maharashtra         | All Forest villages are in the process of conversion into revenue villages                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
|      3 | Chhattisgarh        | 421 Forest villages converted to Revenue villages                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
|      4 | West Bengal         | 86 Forest villages converted to Revenue villages                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
|      5 | Odisha              | 458 nos. of forest /surveyed villages/habitation/ forest villages etc. have been identified by the respective district authorities. Out of which 14 villages have been converted into revenue villages till the end of June, 2022. Conversion process of 209 villages/habitations is under process and 62 have been approved at the DLC levels.                                                                                                              |
|      6 | Gujarat             | 196 forest settlement villages have been identified in the State. All villages, except 14 villages in protected areas have been declared as revenue villages.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |
|      7 | Uttar Pradesh       | Procedure for conversion of 42 forest villages into revenue villages in 7 Districts have been completed.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
|      8 | Karnataka           | State Govt. of Karnataka has informed that District Level Committee on Forest Right Act, Davengere district has received 8 forest villages application for conversion of forest villages into revenue village which are under process.                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |

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