Contesting the future of forest governance, Pg7

Key Highlights:

• The Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006 recognises gram sabhas as the legal authority for managing community forest resources (CFRs).
• Chhattisgarh forest department issued a letter in 2025 declaring itself as the nodal agency for CFRR implementation — a move contrary to FRA provisions.
• The letter enforced a model plan from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) and barred NGOs and other departments from aiding gram sabhas — violating decentralised rights.
• Due to grassroots mobilisation, the letter was withdrawn, but it reflects an ongoing institutional conflict between state forest departments and local communities.

Critical Issues Raised:

• Colonial legacy of forest management continues through state forest departments, prioritising timber extraction under the garb of “scientific forestry”.
• Working Plans remain the dominant tool, excluding ecological diversity and livelihood needs of forest dwellers.
• Only ~1,000 out of 10,000 CFRR-holding gram sabhas have prepared CFR management plans — largely due to lack of departmental cooperation.
• Forest departments obstruct CFR implementation by rejecting claims, withholding funds, and delegitimising gram sabhas.
• MoTA has vacillated in its policy stand — initially supportive in 2015 but later aligned with the Environment Ministry to insist on NWPC compliance, diluting the FRA’s intent.

Way Forward:

• MoTA must reaffirm gram sabha autonomy and formally disallow NWPC imposition on CFR plans.
• The Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan offers a flexible and iterative planning framework that can be adapted by gram sabhas.
• Forest departments must: Stop obstructing CFR claims and provide technical support and funding.
• Encourage local innovations, recognise lived forest knowledge, and institutionalise co-governance models between communities and the state.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Forest Rights Act (2006): Recognises the historical rights of forest-dwelling communities; empowers gram sabhas to manage forests.
• Community Forest Resource Rights (CFRR): Rights to protect, regenerate, conserve, or manage community forest resources under Section 3(1)(i) of the FRA.
• National Working Plan Code (NWPC): A guideline for preparing working plans, largely oriented towards timber-centric and data-heavy forest management.
• Scientific Forestry: A colonial paradigm aimed at maximising timber yield, often ignoring ecological diversity and indigenous practices.