People and the Forest Act(India)

Estimation is never a matter of chance when at the top of the green-land hovering satellites are instructed to do the digital data collection. . These collected data define a forest land as an area more than 1 hectare extent covered with tree canopy content of 10 percent and above. But how well is this definition justified in our country?

In the year 2006 the government came up with the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, well known as the "Forest Rights Act", the "Tribal Rights Act", the "Tribal Bill", and the "Tribal Land Act. This one emphasized on the protection of the forest dwellers regarding their settlement process and their sustenance.

The forest habitants had been the victims of the atrocities caused due to the former forest law which majorly constituted of the “protected area” concept. They were forced to vacate their lands and weren’t even handed the compensation amount. Kanu Sayal of Madhya Pradesh is one such example who had to loose his wife as he had no money to treat her and no home to live. Many areas in Orissa were declared to be protected without any survey and the residents were forced to flee. Negligence of the dwellers brought in numerous ill-fated consequences in many states of the country.

We are even seeing protest against the new law. Populace has come up with the point that the law will result in massive forest destruction. The dwellers will use the resources without a sustainable flick in their minds or the other way round.

Implementation is again a matter of chance, as the same people sit at the grassroot level who used to be there years ago. The act is on the paper but it again needs time to be jolted away sincerely. The unanswered questions are dependent only on the speedy accomplishment of the law’s norms.