Project on FRA ACT 2006: The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006

Abstract

From the inception of human civilisation, man was in a nomadic stage depending upon the nature and forest for his livelihood. Gradually he started to learn about the development. Day by day his demand goes on fulfiing. But inspite of globalization and modernisation, there are many people who are staying in forest and are dependent upon nature. These people came to be known as tribal people all over the world. The existing relationship between the tribal people and the forest exist from the time immemorial and is symbolic in nature and creates a customary right over the forest produce. But these rights has not been recognised and recorded since colonial period. In the name of industries, mining, roads, railways in forest land, the tribal people are forced to evict from their forest land without any adequate compensation and they were treated as encroachers in their own ancestral land.

However, the Parliament has enacted the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers( Recognition of Forest rights) Act 2006 to correct the historical injustices suffered by the tribal communities.

This paper presents the analysis of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006 which is now known as FRA (Forest Right Act). The paper has been divided into four parts. Part I has already been dealt with introduction. Part II deals with the origin and development of FRA.

Keywords: mining, forest dwellers, rights

JEL Classification: Z00