Kerala government sits on forest rights act

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With CPM leading the farmers' rally in Maharashtra demanding the implementation of Forest Rights Act, pressure is mounting on the LDF government here for full enforcement of the act in state. While more than a decade has gone by since the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006, its only 16 to 17 per cent of the total rights have been granted to tribal people in the state. The government sources claim that of the 38,164 applications received till July 2017, as many as 25,081 have been given Individual Forest Rights (IFR) while of the 1395 applications received for Community Forest Rights (CFR), 164 have been granted the rights.

The officials say under the IFR, 25,081 families have been given 33,778 acres land.  Under the Forest Act, each individual family is to get 10 to 15 acres of land. As per 2011 census one lakh nine hundred and sixty five families are residing in 4762 settlements in the state. Of this 28,794 families are residing inside forest areas across 780 settlements. Going by these figures, each individual family would have got less than two acres of land. Activists contest the government claims on granting Forest Rights to tribal people. While they admit that title deeds were given to families which were cleared by grama sabhas and district level committees, they are using the land only for residing there. They have not been able to enjoy the rights granted under the act including collection of forest resources, cultivation of land, selling the collected forest resources. Nothing is allowed without the permission of the forest department and district administration. So they are not able to get the maximum benefit from the land given to them.

The activists allege that the government was trying to portray the title deed distribution as granting forest rights.. Under the CR, the entire area for which the mapping has been carried out, will be under the community. They can cultivate, collect all forest resources and market them as well. According to activists, only 16 to 17 per cent have been granted the rights. As per the CR, mapping was done for 3000 to 4000 hectares for different Oorus. This means the communities residing there can exercise their rights in the vast expanse of forest land. But even under CR, only two to thirty acres of land has been granted. At the moment the tribal people have been given the right to live on the land but the government should implement the act and grant the actual powers to the community.