Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha Raises Serious Concerns at Press Conference
Ranchi: jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha, during a press conference held today at the Press Club, alleged that the Forest Rights Act in Jharkhand has been reduced to a mere formality on paper. The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006—commonly known as the Forest Rights Act—was enacted to recognize the historical rights of forest-dependent communities. The objective of the law was to restore those traditional rights that had been taken away from Adivasi and other forest-dependent communities during the colonial period and through various policies after Independence.
However, even after more than 17 years since the enactment of the law, its real benefits are still not visible on the ground in Jharkhand.
One of the most significant rights recognized under the Forest Rights Act is provided under Section 3(1)(i), which grants communities the right to protect, conserve, and manage forests. This provision was meant to ensure that Gram Sabhas gain control over Community Forest Resources (CFRs). However, due to persistent opposition from the Forest Department and administrative apathy, not a single Community Forest Resource title has been issued in Jharkhand to date.
The situation is such that even in community forest rights titles related to forest use, several rights are illegally curtailed. In many cases, the area of recognized rights is arbitrarily reduced, which is a clear violation of the provisions of the Act. Similarly, individual forest rights related to livelihood and forest land use are being curtailed or cancelled on a large scale, pushing forest-dependent families into a severe livelihood crisis.
Under the Forest Rights Act, the Gram Sabha is recognized as the most important authority in the implementation process. The law provides for a three-tier mechanism—Gram Sabha, Sub-Divisional Level Committee, and District Level Committee—for vesting forest rights. However, in practice, Gram Sabhas are not being recognized as competent authorities. The administrative machinery is continuously undermining the role of Gram Sabhas and retaining most powers within itself.
The Act does not grant any authority to the Forest Department or the Divisional Forest Officer to conduct physical verification of claims. Despite this, at the ground level, the Forest Department continues to control the verification process. District Level Committees often treat the opinion of the Divisional Forest Officer as final and reject thousands of claims, thereby undermining the very spirit of the law.
The Forest Rights Rules, 2012, lay down a transparent and democratic process for physical verification of claims. According to these rules, this authority lies exclusively with the Gram Sabha and its Forest Rights Committee (FRC). During verification, claimants must be present, and the Forest and Revenue Departments must be informed in advance and included in the process. However, in practice, concerned departments either do not participate or submit reports without signatures or dates, which is a clear violation of the rules.
Moreover, after claims are submitted to the Sub-Divisional Office, Forest Department officials often take the records to conduct fresh verification at their own level and submit adverse reports against the claims, despite having no legal authority to do so. Decisions by Sub-Divisional and District Level Committees based on such reports are entirely illegal.
The process of vesting forest rights is a quasi-judicial one, in which both the claimant and the objecting party are required to present evidence. Despite this, committees routinely accept oral or written statements from the Forest Department without any supporting evidence and reject or limit claims accordingly.
Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha recalled that the Jharkhand government had promised during elections that the Forest Rights Act would be implemented honestly and that both individual and community forest rights titles would be distributed. However, even after more than a year since the formation of the government, the situation on the ground remains extremely disappointing.
Forest rights activists and social organizations have demanded that the Jharkhand government fulfill its electoral promises, decide on all pending claims within a fixed time frame, stop illegal interference by the Forest Department, and issue Community Forest Resource titles to all villages under Section 3(1)(i) of the Act. They also demanded that the rights of Gram Sabhas be respected and that Sub-Divisional and District Level Committees be directed to strictly follow the provisions of the law.
Forest-dependent communities stated that unless the Forest Rights Act is implemented in its true spirit, Adivasis and other traditional forest dwellers will continue to be deprived of their constitutional and historical rights.
Those present at the press conference included Sanjay Basu Mallik, Nandkishore Ganjhu, Chandan Das, Chunnilal Soren, Awadh Singh, Riya Tulika Pingua, Alina Horo, George Monippalli, Manikchand Korwa, James Herenz, Gulab Chandra, and Rameshwar Oraon, among others.
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