Welcome To Society of Promotion of Himalayan Indigenous Activities- Dehradun Uttarakhand

Forest Rights Act - 2006

Prior to the enactment of the 2006 Forest Rights Act (FRA), India’s forest legislation empowered the government to notify areas as reserved either for the protection of wildlife or for corporate use. In this process forest dwellers were rendered as encroachers in the forests they occupy and their use of the forests as illegal. These legislations afforded the forest guards the power to harass, bribe and assault forest dwellers. However, the FRA offers a stepping-stone towards the empowerment of forest peoples.

The FRA applies to those who primarily reside in the forest and depend upon it for their survival; these being scheduled tribes and traditional forest dwellers. Traditional forest dwellers are those who have either resided in or used the forest for 75 years or more.

The FRA primarily enables claimants to legally:

Live within the forest.
Sustainably use minor forest produce.
Cultivate within the forest.
Graze livestock.
Partake in the management of the forest.
Implement the regeneration of the forest.
Create rules to regulate others’ use of the forest in order to protect biodiversity and their resources.
To reside in the forest in accordance to one’s livelihood activities and socio-cultural, religious practices.