In a first since the Forest Rights Act (FRA) came into being in 2006, the Union government has started funding structural mechanisms to “facilitate” the implementation of the law meant to give forest rights to Scheduled Tribes and forest-dwelling communities. Implementation of the FRA, for the last 19 years, has been solely the domain of State and union territory governments.
Under the Dharti Aba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyaan (DAJGUA), a Central scheme, the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs has so far sanctioned the setting up of 324 district-level FRA cells across 18 States and union territories implementing the forest rights law. In addition, State-level FRA cells have been sanctioned for 17 of these States and union territories.
Community rights and forest conservation | Explained
The rules governing the operation of these cells flow from the DAJGUA programme and not the principal legislation of the FRA - The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. This law mandates the State government to set up the structure for processing forest rights claims, which includes Gram Sabha Forest Rights Committees (FRCs), Sub-Divisional Level Committees (SDLCs), District Level Committees (DLCs), and State Monitoring Committees.
