Kumar Bahukhandi
Principal secretary Sonmoni Borah addressing the workshop on Forest Rights Act-2006 on Monday January 6, 2025
Raipur: A one day workshop on the better implementation of Forest Rights Act 2006 of Dharti Aaba-Janjati Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan was held in the capital Raipur on Monday January 6, 2025 .
While addressing the workshop, Principal Secretary of Tribal, Scheduled Caste, Backward Class and Minority Development Department, Sonmoni Borah said that Chhattisgarh is a leading state in the country in better implementation of Forest Rights Act 2006.
Today’s workshop is a beginning to remove the problems being faced at the ground level in the implementation of Forest Rights Act-2006 . He said that a proposal to form a task force for better implementation of Forest Rights Act and Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA) is under consideration, through which the provisions of the Act can be implemented in a better manner.
Principal Secretary Borah informed that as of now 4 lakh 79 thousand 502 individual forest rights certificates and 4377 community forest resource rights certificates have been distributed in the state. Besides action is being taken to form a Community Forest Resource Management Committee for the management of community forest resources in the Gram Sabhas where community forest resource rights are recognised. So far, 2081 Community Forest Resource Management Committees have been formed, Borah added.
He further said that due to the efforts made by the state government, the transfer of land in the name of heirs and other processes have been simplified after the death of individual forest rights card holders. So far, 881 applications related to transfer, demarcation and error correction have been resolved. This has helped in removing the difficulty in transferring forest land by inheritance. Principal Secretary gave many suggestions and many points were discussed in the workshop regarding better implementation of forest rights, which mainly include digitisation and online processing of forest rights, role of Forest Rights Act ( FRA) cell in the implementation of Forest Rights Act, implementation of community forest resource management system and role of stakeholders, livelihood promotion of forest rights card holders through convergence, empowerment through capacity development of gram sabhas and committees, etc. With the suggestions received from the discussion on these important points , this workshop will prove to be a milestone in better implementation of Forest Rights Act.
Principal Secretary Borah said that the continuous participation of the concerned government departments and non-government organisations is very important for better implementation of the entire work under the Forest Rights Act, such as recognition of forest rights, management and conservation of forests and livelihood promotion through convergence. He said that proper implementation of the Forest Rights Act will be an important step in the resolution of Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make India a developed country by 2047.
Addressing the workshop, Commissioner of Tribal Affairs Department, P.S. Elma emphasized on resolving problems by establishing mutual coordination between the Revenue, Forest, Tribal and Panchayat and Rural Development Department for better implementation of the Forest Rights Act.
Gangaram Paikra of Chaupal Sanstha suggested removing errors in community forest resource claims and recognising experienced NGOs in the FRA field. Sharad Lele from Ashoka Trust For Research In Ecology And The Environment ( ATREE) Sanstha said that Chhattisgarh has become the leading state in the country in giving community forest resource rights. But only giving Community Forest Resource Rights (CFRR) claims is not enough, now we need to work on its next phase.
Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Sunil Mishra stressed the need for all the concerned departments to work together to achieve the real goals of FRA. Indu Netam of Adivasi Samta Manch suggested to overcome the practical problems being faced in obtaining individual and community forest rights certificates. Chief Conservator of Forests Nabid, while referring to the broad rights given to the Gram Sabhas in the new Forest Rights Act, emphasised on the Forest, Revenue and Tribal Departments working together. For this, he called upon the Revenue Department, Forest Department, Tribal Department, Panchayat and Rural Development Department and other related departments to work together.
Lets us inform you that the Dharti Aba Janjati Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan has been launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 2, 2024. Under this campaign, 25 schemes of the Government of India are to be implemented in a coherent manner with the cooperation of 17 ministries, in which the process of recognition of forest rights is to be completed mainly within a fixed time period under the effective implementation of the Forest Rights Act.
This workshop was organised under the aegis of the Tribal, Scheduled Caste and Backward Classes and Minority Development Department. TRTI, FES (Foundation for Ecological Security) and ATREE (Ashoka Trust for Ecology and Environment) participated as partner organizations . Technical support was provided by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Additional Director of the state Sanjay Gaur along with Assistant Commissioners posted in the districts, District Project Coordinators, representatives of NGOs and Community Forest Management Committee were present in the workshop.
