Only 46% of forest rights claims settled so far

NEW DELHI: Over a decade after enactment of Forest Right Act to give tribals right to their land, less than half the community forest rights claims before state governments have been recognised.

Statistics provided by ministry of tribal affairs, the nodal ministry for implementation of Forest Rights Act 2006, reveal that so far 46% of community forest rights titles have been distributed.

Tamil Nadu, Goa and West Bengal have been the worst performing states. While Tamil Nadu has not distributed a single community forest rights title, Goa has distributed 2.15% and West Bengal 6.78%. Uttar Pradesh leads the list having distributed 75% of the titles to tribal communities recognising their right to ancestral land. Other top performing states are Madhya Pradesh (69.19% titles distributed) and Jharkhand (52.43%).


With polls in three crucial tribal-dominated Schedule V states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan slated for November this year and parliamentary elections next year, the Centre is taking remedial steps.

Tribal affairs minister Jual Oram said, “The ministry has written to all states, especially laggard states, to settle the claims at the earliest. There are states like Kerala which have not sent us segregated data of individual and community forest rights claim. So we do not even know what is the progress.”