The lowest percentage of titles distributed are in the states of Goa (1.47 per cent of the claims), Bihar (1.5 per cent) and Uttarakhand (2.7 per cent). (Representational/File)Gujarat, which ranks seventh among states in distributing forest land titles to Scheduled Tribes (STs) and traditional forest dwellers, according to data tabled in the Lok Sabha in the recently concluded monsoon session, has begun review of rejected or pending claims with the help of satellite data dating back to 2005, government officials said.
The Gujarat government has distributed 96,200 titles or 50 per cent of the total claims made till March 31, states the figures tabled in the Lower House earlier this month. “The cases that are pending are those that got rejected. They are up for reconsideration after 90,000 odd cases went to the court that asked the government to review,” said S Murali Krishna, secretary tribal development, in the Gujarat government, told The Indian Express.
Andhra Pradesh tops the list of states that have addressed the highest number of claims made till March 31, according to data tabled in the Lok Sabha in the recently concluded monsoon session. While Andhra has given 2.12 lakh titles, or 77 per cent of the claims made in the state, others such as Odisha, Tripura, Kerala, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan also have awarded a high number of land titles (see table ).
“Under the provisions of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, rights are recognised and vested to eligible individuals and community among the Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers to use the forest land and resources for their livelihood through the respective state governments. As per information received from the state governments, a total of 44.29 lakh claims have been filed and 22.34 lakh titles (including 21.32 lakh individual and 1.02 lakh community claims) have been distributed,” states Bishweshwar Tudu, Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs, in a written reply.
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The lowest percentage of titles distributed are in the states of Goa (1.47 per cent of the claims), Bihar (1.5 per cent) and Uttarakhand (2.7 per cent).
The Gujarat government received 1.90 lakh claims (1.82 lakh individual and 7,187 community) so far, and distributed 96,283 land titles, while 93,773 claims are still pending. The titles have been distributed for a total of 13.93 lakh acres of forest land of which 1.56 lakh acres are for claims made by individuals and 12.36 lakh acres are those made by the community. The Forest Rights Act of 2006 encompasses rights of self-cultivation and habitation, which are regarded as individual rights, while grazing, fishing, access to water bodies in forest, access to traditional seasonal resources, etc are considered as community rights.
Usage of satellite data to review claims
“Now, we are trying to review these cases in a scientific manner. We have taken the GEER (Gujarat Ecological Education and Research) Foundation on board. We will first conduct a field survey using GPS coordinates and we will pass this data to the GEER Foundation that will use 2005-06 satellite imagery from the remote sensing agency and superimpose it on data from the field survey. This way, we will know if the land claimed was under cultivation or under any other use,” the official added.
The IAS official said the earlier claims were largely decided based on receipts or notices of penalty for encroachment of forest land. “The work of reviewing the cases has already started in the 14 districts that have predominantly tribal populations,” he added.