Recently, the habitat rights were formally provided to Odisha’s Mankidia community on September 22 under “The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, popularly known as the Forest Rights Act, 2006.
Key points
- The Mankidia is the second PVTG to get the habitat rights in Odisha, while the district level committees (DLCs) have approved for other four communities.
- Mankidia community is an Austro-Asiatic community that ekes out a living mainly from the forests.
- With these, Odisha has given approval to the habitat rights of six PVTGs — the maximum in the country.
- Paudi Bhuyan of Deogarh district was the first PVTG to receive habitat rights title in Odisha on March 7, 2024.
- So far, Paudi Bhuyans, Juangs, Chuktia Bhunjia, Saora and Dongria Kondh were the five PVTGs that have been given approval for getting habitat rights under FRA.
- The habitat rights claims of some other PVTGs are in different stages of approval at the DLC level.
- Odisha is home to a maximum of 13 PVTGs — the highest among all states and Union Territories.
- Chhattisgarh has provided habitat rights to Kamar and Baiga tribal communities, Madhya Pradesh has provided such rights to Baiga and Maharashtra has provided habitat rights to Maria Gond community.
- The FRA vests a number of rights over forestlands to forest-dependent communities, including individual rights over forest lands, community rights, the rights to protect and manage the Community Forest Resources (CFR) within the customary boundaries of the village.
- The most significant and critical rights mentioned under this Act are the rights over community tenures of habitat and habitation for PVTGs and pre-agricultural communities under section- 3.1 (e) of the Act.
(Source: Down To Earth)
