The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006

(1) This Act may be called the Scheduled Tribes andOther Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. (2) It extends to the whole of India 1***. (3) It shall come into force on such date2as the Central Government may, by notification in theOfficial Gazette, appoint.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-- (a) ''community forest resource'' means customary common forest land within the traditional orcustomary boundaries of the village or seasonal use of landscape in the case of pastoral communities,including reserved forests, protected forests and protected areas such as Sanctuaries and NationalParks to which the community had traditional access; (b) ''critical wildlife habitat'' means such areas of National Parks and Sanctuaries where it hasbeen specifically and clearly established, case by case, on the basis of scientific and objective criteria,that such areas are required to be kept as inviolate for the purposes of wildlife conservation as may bedetermined and notified by the Central Government in the Ministry of Environment and Forests afteropen process of consultation by an Expert Committee, which includes experts from the localityappointed by that Government wherein a representative of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs shall also beincluded, in determining such areas according to the procedural requirements arising from subsections(1) and (2) of section 4; (c) ''forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes'' means the members or community of the ScheduledTribes who primarily reside in and who depend on the forests or forest lands for bona fide livelihoodneeds and includes the Scheduled Tribe pastoralist communities; (d) ''forest land'' means land of any description falling within any forest area and includesunclassified forests, undemarcated forests, existing or deemed forests, protected forests, reservedforests, Sanctuaries and National Parks; (e) ''forest rights'' means the forest rights referred to in section 3; (f) ''forest villages'' means the settlements which have been established inside the forests by theforest department of any State Government for forestry operations or which were converted intoforest villages through the forest reservation process and includes forest settlement villages, fixeddemand holdings, all types of taungya settlements, by whatever name called, for such villages andincludes lands for cultivation and other uses permitted by the Government; (g) ''Gram Sabha'' means a village assembly which shall consist of all adult members of a villageand in case of States having no Panchayats, Padas, Tolas and other traditional village institutions andelected village committees, with full and unrestricted participation of women; (h) ''habitat'' includes the area comprising the customary habitat and such other habitats inreserved forests and protected forests of primitive tribal groups and pre-agricultural communities andother forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes; (i) ''minor forest produce'' includes all non-timber forest produce of plant origin includingbamboo, brush wood, stumps, cane, tussar, cocoons, honey, wax, lac, tendu or kendu leaves,medicinal plants and herbs, roots, tubers and the like; (j) ''nodal agency'' means the nodal agency specified in section 11; (k) ''notification'' means a notification published in the Official Gazette; (l) ''prescribed'' means prescribed by rules made under this Act; (m) ''Scheduled Areas'' means the Scheduled Areas referred to in clause (1) of article 244 of theConstitution; (n) ''sustainable use'' shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in clause (o) of section 2 ofthe Biological Diversity Act, 2002 (18 of 2003); (o) ''other traditional forest dweller'' means any member or community who has for at least threegenerations prior to the 13th day of December, 2005 primarily resided in and who depend on theforest or forests land for bona fide livelihood needs. Explanation.--For the purpose of this clause, ''''generation'''' means a period comprising oftwenty-five years; (p) ''village'' means-- (i) a village referred to in clause (b) of section 4 of the Provisions of the Panchayats(Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (40 of 1996); or (ii) any area referred to as a village in any State law relating to Panchayats other than theScheduled Areas; or (iii) forest villages, old habitation or settlements and unsurveyed villages, whether notified asvillage or not; or (iv) in the case of States where there are no Panchayats, the traditional village, by whatevername called; (q) ''wild animal'' means any species of animal specified in Schedules I to IV of the Wild Life(Protection) Act, 1972 (53 of 1972) and found wild in nature.

(1) Forthe purposes of this Act, the following rights, which secure individual or community tenure or both, shallbe the forest rights of forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers on all forestlands, namely:-- (a) right to hold and live in the forest land under the individual or common occupation forhabitation or for self-cultivation for livelihood by a member or members of a forest dwellingScheduled Tribe or other traditional forest dwellers; (b) community rights such as nistar, by whatever name called, including those used in erstwhilePrincely States, Zamindari or such intermediary regimes; (c) right of ownership, access to collect, use, and dispose of minor forest produce which has beentraditionally collected within or outside village boundaries; (d) other community rights of uses or entitlements such as fish and other products of waterbodies, grazing (both settled or transhumant) and traditional seasonal resource access of nomadic orpastoralist communities; (e) rights including community tenures of habitat and habitation for primitive tribal groups andpre-agricultural communities; (f) rights in or over disputed lands under any nomenclature in any State where claims aredisputed; (g) rights for conversion of Pattas or leases or grants issued by any local authority or any StateGovernment on forest lands to titles; (h) rights of settlement and conversion of all forest villages, old habitation, unsurveyed villagesand other villages in forests, whether recorded, notified or not into revenue villages; (i) right to protect, regenerate or conserve or manage any community forest resource which theyhave been traditionally protecting and conserving for sustainable use; (j) rights which are recognised under any State law or laws of any Autonomous District Councilor Autonomous Regional Council or which are accepted as rights of tribals under any traditional orcustomary law of the concerned tribes of any State; (k) right of access to biodiversity and community right to intellectual property and traditionalknowledge related to biodiversity and cultural diversity; (l) any other traditional right customarily enjoyed by the forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes orother traditional forest dwellers, as the case may be, which are not mentioned in clauses (a) to (k) butexcluding the traditional right of hunting or trapping or extracting a part of the body of any species ofwild animal; (m) right to in situ rehabilitation including alternative land in cases where the Scheduled Tribesand other traditional forest dwellers have been illegally evicted or displaced from forest land of anydescription without receiving their legal entitlement to rehabilitation prior to the 13th day ofDecember, 2005. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 (69 of 1980), theCentral Government shall provide for diversion of forest land for the following facilities managed by theGovernment which involve felling of trees not exceeding seventy-five trees per hectare, nemely:-- (a) schools; (b) dispensary or hospital; (c) anganwadis; (d) fair price shops; (e) electric and telecommunication lines; (f) tanks and other minor water bodies; (g) drinking water supply and water pipelines; (h) water or rain water harvesting structures; (i) minor irrigation canals; (j) non-conventional source of energy; (k) skill upgradation or vocational training centres; (l) roads; and (m) community centres: Provided that such diversion of forest land shall be allowed only if,-- (i) the forest land to be diverted for the purposes mentioned in this sub-section is less thanone hectare in each case; and (ii) the clearance of such developmental projects shall be subject to the condition that thesame is recommended by the Gram Sabha.

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time beingin force, and subject to the provisions of this Act, the Central Government hereby recognises and vestsforest rights in-- (a) the forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes in States or areas in States where they are declared asScheduled Tribes in respect of all forest rights mentioned in section 3; (b) the other traditional forest dwellers in respect of all forest rights mentioned in section 3. (2) The forest rights recognised under this Act in critical wildlife habitats of National Parks andSanctuaries may subsequently be modified or resettled, provided that no forest rights holders shall beresettled or have their rights in any manner affected for the purposes of creating inviolate areas forwildlife conservation except in case all the following conditions are satisfied, namely:-- (a) the process of recognition and vesting of rights as specified in section 6 is complete in all theareas under consideration; (b) it has been established by the concerned agencies of the State Government, in exercise of theirpowers under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 (53 of 1972) that the activities or impact of thepresence of holders of rights upon wild animals is sufficient to cause irreversible damage and threatenthe existence of said species and their habitat; (c) the State Government has concluded that other reasonable options, such as, co-existence arenot available; (d) a resettlement or alternatives package has been prepared and communicated that provides asecure livelihood for the affected individuals and communities and fulfils the requirements of suchaffected individuals and communities given in the relevant laws and the policy of the CentralGovernment; (e) the free informed consent of the Gram Sabhas in the areas concerned to the proposedresettlement and to the package has been obtained in writing; (f) no resettlement shall take place until facilities and land allocation at the resettlement locationare complete as per the promised package: Provided that the critical wildlife habitats from which rights holders are thus relocated for purposes ofwildlife conservation shall not be subsequently diverted by the State Government or the CentralGovernment or any other entity for other uses. (3) The recognition and vesting of forest rights under this Act to the forest dwelling Scheduled Tribesand to other traditional forest dwellers in relation to any State or Union territory in respect of forest landand their habitat shall be subject to the condition that such Scheduled Tribes or tribal communities orother traditional forest dwellers had occupied forest land before the 13th day of December, 2005. (4) A right conferred by sub-section (1) shall be heritable but not alienable or transferable and shall beregistered jointly in the name of both the spouses in case of married persons and in the name of the singlehead in the case of a household headed by a single person and in the absence of a direct heir, the heritableright shall pass on to the next-of-kin. (5) Save as otherwise provided, no member of a forest dwelling Scheduled Tribe or other traditionalforest dweller shall be evicted or removed from forest land under his occupation till the recognition andverification procedure is complete. (6) Where the forest rights recognised and vested by sub-section (1) are in respect of land mentionedin clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 3 such land shall be under the occupation of an individual orfamily or community on the date of commencement of this Act and shall be restricted to the area underactual occupation and shall in no case exceed an area of four hectares. (7) The forest rights shall be conferred free of all encumbrances and procedural requirements,including clearance under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 (69 of 1980), requirement of paying the'net present value' and 'compensatory afforestation' for diversion of forest land, except those specified inthis Act. (8) The forest rights recognised and vested under this Act shall include the right of land to forestdwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers who can establish that they were displacedfrom their dwelling and cultivation without land compensation due to State development interventions,and where the land has not been used for the purpose for which it was acquired within five years of thesaid acquisition.

The holders of any forest right, Gram Sabha and village levelinstitutions in areas where there are holders of any forest right under this Act are empowered to-- (a) protect the wild life, forest and biodiversity; (b) ensure that adjoining catchments area, water sources and other ecological sensitive areas areadequately protected; (c) ensure that the habitat of forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellersis preserved from any form of destructive practices affecting their cultural and natural heritage; (d) ensure that the decisions taken in the Gram Sabha to regulate access to community forestresources and stop any activity which adversely affects the wild animals, forest and the biodiversityare complied with.