The Gujarat government has denied over 40 per cent of tribal claims submitted under the Forest Rights Act (FRA). This significant figure was revealed in Rajya Sabha during the ongoing Budget Session.
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has released detailed statistics on the approved and rejected FRA claims nationwide in response to Rajya Sabha MP P Wilson’s query regarding the specifics of individual and community title claims made and approved under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) for Scheduled Tribe communities and other traditional forest dwellers over the past five years.
Land claims under the FRA have been submitted by 7,187 communities and 182,869 individuals as of June 30. Still, a significant number of applications have been turned down by the government, which has only awarded property to 4,791 communities and 97,690 individuals. This data highlights a significant problem with the FRA’s implementation.
“In Gujarat, of the 182,869 tribal land claims filed under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 85,179 have been denied by various administrations. Additionally, only 4,791 received approval of the 7,187 communities that requested land under the FRA. Overall, out of a total of 190,056 individual and community FRA claims, 87,575 have been rejected and 102,481 have been approved,” said the data presented.
Reacting to the figures, Gujarat Congress MLA and tribal leader Anant Patel said, “General reasons for rejections reported by state governments include non-occupation of forest land before December 13, 2005, multiple claims, and insufficient documentary evidence.”
“How can the government reject a claim if the gram sabha and the forest committee approve it?” The government argues that the land is not being cultivated, but if villagers provide written proof of cultivation, it’s unclear why the claims are still denied, he said, alleging that the government is intentionally harassing tribals,” he questioned.
Gujarat has been utilising 16,070.58 hectares of land for different development projects under compensatory afforestation for the past 15 years, according to data given in the Lok Sabha on August 7 of last year. 10,832.3 hectares of land were granted under the terms of Compensatory Afforestation between 2008 and 2023.
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