NEW DELHI (TrustLaw) - It was hailed as a landmark law that would improve the lives of India's poor indigenous tribes by finally recognising their right to inhabit the forests where their forefathers settled centuries before.
But two years on, activists say the Forest Rights Act has been poorly implemented, deliberately unenforced and blatantly violated -- either in the name of economic growth or due to officials unwilling to yield their monopoly over forest land.
"India’s indigenous people have been living in the forest areas for generations, but they have been exploited, abused and forced off their land as they had no legal right to stay there," said Shivani Chaudhry from the Housing and Land Rights Network.
"The Forest Rights Act was supposed to rectify all these wrongs and protect vulnerable tribal villagers from being displaced and harassed, but that has not happened."
India's tribal communities form over 8 percent of the country's 1.2 billion population -- with over 80 million tribals and non-tribal people dependent on the country's resource-rich forests, which make up 65 million hectares, or just over 20 percent of India's land.
Inhabiting remote areas, the way of life of many tribes and other forest dwellers has barely changed over the years, with communities eking out a living from simple farming, cattle rearing and harvesting what they can from the forests such as fruit and leaves.
Activists say India’s economic boom over the last decade has bypassed these impoverished communities -- partly due to neglect by authorities and partly to a Maoist insurgency in central India which has left forest-dwellers caught in the cross-fire and hampered development efforts.
As a result, it is estimated that more than half of India’s estimated 84 million indigenous people live below the poverty line -- deprived of basic infrastructure and services such as roads, power, schools and hospitals.
TRIBAL PLIGHT
Social indicators of tribal communities and other forest-dwellers are amongst the worst in the country, where health problems related to child malnutrition, malaria and diarrhoea are widespread and literacy rates fall well below the national average.
But for generations, these impoverished communities have had to deal with a much bigger threat -- the threat of losing their homes and livelihoods.
Forest-dwellers say for years they have been treated as criminals -- often beaten, forcefully evicted or jailed for refusing to leave the land their forefathers cultivated -- by forestry officials, who deny the claims, as well as illegal mining and logging firms.
After years of struggling for their land rights, the government finally passed the Recognition of Forest Rights Act in 2006 and notified into force in 2008 -- aimed at ensuring security of tenure and access to minor forest produce such bamboo, honey, wax, medicinal plants and fish.
But more than two years later, the landmark legislation -- which overturned centuries-old colonial legislation made by the British to exploit India’s rich forest resources -- has not shown the results hoped for.
The ministry of tribal affairs' 2009/10 annual report shows only about 25 percent of the 2.6 million claims made for recognition of land rights have been awarded title deeds.
This has not only concerned civil society groups working with tribal communities, but has also prompted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to address the issue.
“While some states have achieved remarkable progress in the distribution of titles, others are lagging behind. In a few states, even the process of receiving claims is yet to commence,” Singh said at a conference on tribal affairs in November last year.
“This cannot be considered as an acceptable situation.”
CONSERVATION?
Land rights activists say poor implementation is down to a number of issues -- a lack of awareness, difficulties in proving entitlement and illegal interference by forest department officials to prevent claims being awarded.
Activists accuse forest officials of “deliberately sabotaging” claims for land by destroying the evidence and creating hurdles for claimants.
“The forest department officials are the strongest opponents to the law as they have had wielded absolute authority over forests for years,” said Shankar Gopalakrishnan of the Campaign for Survival and Dignity, a union of forest community groups.
“They are harassing, evicting and extorting bribes from tribals by claiming their presence is illegal and receiving kick-backs from companies like logging firms who are illegally operating in the forests.”
But forest officials deny the allegations, saying their only interest is in the conservation of the forests, particularly those that fall in the purview of protected wildlife sanctuaries where endangered species such as tigers are at risk.
“I haven’t heard of any instances of forest officials being involved in hampering claims to land,” said an official from the ministry of environment and forests.
“Our only concern over the law has been it could lead to the degradation of our forests and important wildlife and eco-systems and our job is to ensure we protect these areas.”
INDUSTRY
Accusations of violations of the law itself by state authorities are also widespread, with forest-dwellers complaining that they are being evicted which, under the legislation, can only be done with their agreement.
Land acquisitions made for mining companies in the mineral-rich, tribal-dominated states of Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand are threatening tens of thousands of people with displacement.
Huge deposits of iron ore, bauxite, copper and the coal that fuels about 60 percent of India's power output, if exploited, will develop these impoverished areas and lift many tribal communities out of poverty, authorities and corporates say. Extracting minerals such as coal will be crucial for India if it has to keep growing at about 10 percent in the medium term, they add.
But the diversion of forest land for industry has sparked protests across the country which, in some cases, turned violent.
For example, hundreds of forest villagers in the eastern state of Orissa have been protesting for the last five years against plans to set up an iron mining project by South Korean steel giant Posco.
The steelmaker needs 1,600 hectares (4,000 acres) of land for the steel plant and a large portion of the proposed site is forest land.
Violence between police and villagers has flared on several occasions and injuries, arrests and deaths have been reported, prompting Amnesty International to call on authorities to stop using excessive force on villagers.
Activists say project clearance by the ministry of environment and forests was given in clear violation of the Forest Rights Act, despite the federal government stating that all people living in the area must be consulted before the project can go ahead.
Experts say more needs to be done to ensure the rights of tribal communities and forest conservation goes hand-in-hand.
“There has always been resistance to the Forest Rights Act by certain sections of society,” said Sunita Narain, director of the Centre for Science and Environment. “It is important for the environment minister to make sure he incorporates the Forest Rights Act into his green programme for India.”
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