Recognition of Forest Rights for Tribal’s

2025-07-31 Information

In Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State (MoS) for Tribal Affairs Shri Durgadas Uikey replying today to an un-starred question of Shri Sudama Prasad, Shri Amra Ram and Shri Kodikunnil Suresh informed that as per the provisions of “Scheduled Tribes And Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006” and Rules made thereunder, the State Governments are responsible for implementation of various provisions of the FRA, which is being implemented in 20 States and 1 UT. Ministry of Tribal Affairs monitors Monthly Progress Reports submitted by the States/UTs. As reported by States/UTs, cumulatively till 31st May 2025, a total of 51,23,104 claims have been filed at Gram Sabha Level, comprising 49,11,495 individual and 2,11,609 community claims. Out of which a total of 25,11,375 (49.02%) titles were distributed, comprising 23,89,670 individual and 1,21,705 community titles. A total of 18,62,056 (36.35%) claims have been rejected and 749,673 (14.63%) claims have been pending for disposal. The State wise details are at Annexure. However, , The State/UT wise details in the form of Monthly Progress Report for the last 5 years are available on this Ministry’s website – https://tribal.nic.in/FRA.aspx.

As per the directions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in 2019 in Writ Petition 108/2008 to Chief Secretaries, all States have to complete the exercise of review of rejection of claims in a time-bound manner. MoTA has asked states in various review meetings and through letters to inter alia have the meetings of the State Level Monitoring Committee (SLMC), to be chaired by Chief Secretary, at least once in three months, to monitor the implementation process of FRA and also to review the rejected claims as per extant procedures. MoTA has been exhorting all State Governments to abide by the provisions contained in FRA and ensure that all eligible claimants are provided the rights which are due to them.

FRA provides safeguards against forced eviction. Section 4(5) of FRA provides that Save as otherwise provided, no member of a forest dwelling Scheduled Tribe or other traditional forest dwellers shall be evicted or removed from the forest land under his occupation till the recognition and verification procedure is complete. There is a provision of petition by aggrieved persons to SDLC and DLC [Section 6(2) and 6(4) of FRA]. The grievances /representations received in the Ministry regarding violation of FRA (including eviction) are forwarded to the State / UTs concerned, to ensure that legitimate claimants are not denied their forest rights. Further to resolve field level issues with the Forest department, the MoTA has also issued two joint advisories with the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change dated 14.03.2024 and 06.07.2021.

As informed by the State Government of Kerala, a total of 29,422 beneficiaries have been given Individual Forest Rights to 38,794.10 Acres of land.

State Government of Kerala has informed that there are no legal disputes, administrative delays, or other bottlenecks related to the implementation of the Forest Rights Act in Kerala.

In order to accelerate benefit of various schemes to the forest right holders in full measure, Ministry under scheme of Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan (DA-JGUA), has inter alia taken several initiatives like Mapping of Potential Area under FRA, digitization of legacy data and claim process, support to Gram Sabha for preparation and execution of Community Forest Resource Rights (CFR) Management Plans and setting up dedicated FRA cells at the State and district/subdivision levels, for a period of two years to facilitate the settlement claim process under FRA. Under DA-JGUA, Ministry also supports FRA patta holders through convergence with several schemes of Department of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries where the respective scheme guidelines have been modified to limit the beneficiary contribution, to only 10 % wherever needed.

For the state Government of Kerala, MoTA has approved an amount of Rs. 129.89 Lakhs for setting up FRA Cells at State and at 12 districts level, as per the proposal received from Kerala. Further, State Government of Kerala has informed that District Collectors have been directed to convert the Scheduled Tribe areas which have been granted individual forest rights under the Forest Rights Act, into revenue villages. Livelihood schemes are being implemented through the schemes of the Central Government, PM-JANMAN and DA-JGUA, and other schemes of the State Government, in collaboration with other state departments or independently.

Annexure

Statement of Claims and Distribution of title deeds, Details of claims disposed of, rejected claims and pending claims under “The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006” reported by States/UT as on 31.05.2025:

S. No.

States

No. of Claims received

upto 31.05.2025

No. of Titles Distributed

upto 31.05.2025

No. of Claims Rejected

Total No. of Claims Disposed off

% Claims disposed off with respect to claims received

Total No. of Claims Pending

Individual

Community

Total

Individual

Community

Total

Andhra Pradesh

285,098

3,294

288,392

226,651

1,822

228,473

58,410

286,883

99.48%

1,509

Assam

148,965

6,046

155,011

57,325

1,477

58,802

NA/NR

58,802

37.93%

96,209

Bihar

4,696

191

4,496

4,687

99.81%

Chhattisgarh

890,220

57,259

947,479

481,432

52,636

534,068

406,787

940,855

99.30%

6,624

Goa

9,757

379

10,136

856

871

447

1,318

13.00%

8,818

Gujarat

183,055

7,187

190,242

98,732

4,792

103,524

2,331

105,855

55.64%

84,387

Himachal Pradesh

4,883

683

5,566

662

146

808

862

15.49%

4,704

Jharkhand

107,032

3,724

110,756

59,866

2,104

61,970

28,107

90,077

81.33%

20,679

Karnataka

288,549

5,940

294,489

14,981

1,345

16,326

253,269

269,595

91.55%

24,894

Kerala

44,455

1,014

45,469

29,422

282

29,704

12,835

42,539

93.56%

2,930

Madhya Pradesh

585,326

42,187

627,513

266,901

27,976

294,877

322,407

617,284

98.37%

10,229

Maharashtra

397,897

11,259

409,156

199,667

8,668

208,335

172,631

380,966

93.11%

28,190

Odisha

701,148

35,024

736,172

462,067

8,832

470,899

144,636

615,535

83.61%

120,637

Rajasthan

113,162

5,213

118,375

49,215

2,551

51,766

65,921

117,687

99.42%

688

Tamil Nadu

33,119

1,548

34,667

15,442

1,066

16,508

12,711

29,219

84.28%

5,448

Telangana

651,822

3,427

655,249

230,735

721

231,456

94,426

325,882

49.73%

329,367

Tripura

200,557

164

200,721

127,931

101

128,032

68,848

196,880

98.09%

3,841

Uttar Pradesh

92,972

1,194

94,166

22,537

893

23,430

70,736

94,166

100.00%

Uttarakhand

3,587

3,091

6,678

184

185

6,493

6,678

100.00%

West Bengal

131,962

10,119

142,081

44,444

686

45,130

96,587

141,717

99.74%

364

Jammu & Kashmir

33,233

12,857

46,090

429

5,591

6,020

39,924

45,944

99.68%

146

TOTAL

4,911,495

211,609

5,123,104

2,389,670

121,705

2,511,375

1,862,056

4,373,431

85.37%

749,673