It has been fifteen years since the Forests Rights Act (FRA) has been passed in Parliament. However, the Schedule Tribes and forest dwellers of Himachal Pradesh are still awaiting implementation of the law with many still running from pillar to post to get their land rights recognised.

The rights of communities dependent on land classified as ‘forest land’ were to be recognised after decades of being labeled as ‘encroachers’ but no action has been taken so far and these were living under constant threat of eviction by the state.

Manshi Asher, a green activist said despite having one of the highest percentages of total geographical area legally termed as ‘forest land’, Himachal has the worst record in the implementation of this Act with a mere 164 titles issued to date.

“In the last 5 years, community voices from Kangra, Chamba, Kinnaur, Lahaul-Spiti, Sirmaur, and Mandi have been raising the demand for the implementation of this law in the state.  It was after this that the state government was forced to announce that it would implement the Forest Rights Act in a mission mode in the state in 2018. The Tribal department also worked on training and making educational material on the act, however, these are yet to be properly distributed at the village level. FRCs have submitted both individual and community claims under the FRA, 2006, some as early as the year 2014 but still, no final decision has been taken on these claims,” Asher told The Statesman.

She stated that during the ongoing Vidhan Sabha winter session, a joint delegation of representatives of organisations from these districts briefed MLAs of opposition parties on this issue.

Apart from the individual rights for land under private occupation (farming and habitation), the FRA also provides for the recognition of community rights over forest land used for livelihood purposes as fodder, collection of medicinal plants. Besides, pastoral communities like Gaddis, Gujjars, and other tribal and rural people stand to gain from this right which is granted to villages as a whole.

While these usages are well recorded in the forest settlement, the FRA recognises these as legal rights rather than mere ‘privileges and concessions’.

This makes the right holders eligible for compensation in case of loss of rights on forest land due to forest land diversion for development projects, she added.