BJP represents 103 Lok Sabha seats where forests rights is key issue, shows analysis

BJP MPs represent 103 out of the 153 Lok Sabha seats in the country where the implementation of the Forest Rights Act 2006 FRA is a major issue, according to a recent report. Candidates in ST-reserved seats have a lot to gain using the implementation of the FRA and land tenure rights as a core issue in election campaigning, Tushar Das of Vasundhara said.

BJP MPs represent 103 out of the 153 Lok Sabha seats in the country where the implementation of the Forest Rights Act 2006 (FRA) is a major issue, according to a recent report. Experts say there have been a number of ''discouraging'' forest rights-related developments after 2019 which have heightened concerns of tribals and other forest-dwelling communities and therefore, it will be interesting to see how these issues reflect in the elections. The Congress, which enacted the FRA, and the Biju Janata Dal represent 11 seats each, Shiv Sena 6, Telangana Rashtra Samithi and YSRCP 5 each, and the National Congress Party 4, the analysis by independent organisation Vasundhara found. Considered a milestone in redressing the historical injustice done to Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers, the Forest Rights Act 2006 aims to recognise forest rights of such communities living in forests for generations.

According to the analysis, there are 86 Lok Sabha seats where people demanding forest rights account for over 30 per cent of the electorate. Similarly, there are 45 seats where FRA eligible voters comprise over 40 per cent of the electorate. These include the Khunti Lok Sabha seat where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has repeated Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda as its candidate.

Out of the 153 core FRA constituencies, the BJP and the Congress ran directly against each other in 74 constituencies in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, of which the Congress won only 5. There are 47 ST reserved seats in India, out of which 42 are core FRA constituencies. The BJP won 31 ST seats in 2019 and the Congress only 3. In the ST-reserved seats, tribal rights become central in election campaigns for candidates of the ruling parties and the opposition. Pre-electoral periods have, therefore, been an opportunity for people's movements to highlight and advance these issues, the report said. Candidates in ST-reserved seats have a lot to gain using the implementation of the FRA and land tenure rights as a core issue in election campaigning, Tushar Das of Vasundhara said. The key issues in these 153 seats would be the effective implementation of FRA, especially community forest resource rights and empowerment of gram sabhas, remedying mass rejection of forest rights claims and the threat of eviction from forest land, implementation of PESA, withdrawal of forest cases, and effective price for minor forest produces. Besides, the series of legislative and policy changes that affect FRA and the rights of communities such as Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, the Draft National Forest Policy 2018, changes in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act (LARR 2013) and the amendments made to Forest Conservation Act in 2023 are major concerns raised by forest rights advocacy groups. Das said concerns of tribals and other forest-dwelling communities have increased following a number of forest rights-related developments after 2019.

In 2019, the Supreme Court ordered the eviction of more than 20 lakh tribals and other forest-dwelling households from forestlands after the government failed to defend the validity of the Forest Rights Act, though the apex court modified the order later. The amendments made to the FCRA render a number of community forests unprotected. The Forest Conservation Rules, 2022 diluted the requirement of mandatory Gram Sabha consent before diverting forest land for non-forestry purposes, Das claimed. ''Therefore, the threat of eviction and forest going away have increased. It will be interesting to see how these issues reflect in these constituencies in the elections,'' he said. According to government data, the FRA claim disposal rate in the last five years has come down from 87.72 per cent to 84.44 per cent. While 7,88,948 new claims were filed in the last five years, 5,21,143 titles were distributed, and 5,827 claims were rejected during this period. A total of 50,26,801 claims have been filed until February 29, 2024. Of this, 24,85,191 titles (49.44 percent) have been distributed, the official data showed. Five years ago, the total number of claims filed stood at 42,37,853, and the number of titles that had been already distributed stood at 19,64,048. While officials say the Covid-19 pandemic hampered the implementation of the Forest Rights Act 2006, which recognizes rights of forest-dwelling scheduled tribes and other traditional communities, in 2020 and 2021, experts said lack of political will and corruption is the primary obstacle. Over 50 percent of the claims filed so far in eight states and Union territories, including Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan, have been rejected, according to the official data. At 97.23 percent, the claim rejection rate is the highest in Uttarakhand, where a total of 6,678 claims have been filed so far but only 185 titles distributed. Chhattisgarh has rejected the highest number of claims -- 4,00,649 out of the total 9,41,977 received so far. Karnataka has rejected 2,53,269 or 86.01 percent of the 2,94,489 claims filed so far. According to Brajesh Kumar Dubey, general manager of the Gujarat-based non-profit Foundation For Ecological Security, lack of clarity among both claimants and officials about the procedures, evidence requirements, and documentation standards is a major reason for the rejection of claims. Other reasons for rejections are insufficient understanding and capacity among Forest Rights Committees on proper documentation and failure on the part of sub-district and district-level committees to inform FRCs about the rejected claims. These sometimes lead to the submission of fresh claims on non-forest lands, Dubey said. There have also been rejections based on grounds such as claimants already owning sufficient land or being employed, he added.

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