The forest departement and forest richts act India

Indian forests are predominantly (98.46%) owned and managed under command and control system by State through State Forest Departments (SFD) since 1865. Numerous legislations enacted by the States since 1865, has alienated people from forests, and curtailed their forest related rights severely. However, owing to acute dependence on forest for habitation and livelihood needs, tribal and other forest dependent people continue to stay and use forests unauthorisedly, facing stiff resistance of SFD‟s. Their prolonged struggle for recognition of their forest related rights has led the Government of India to enact “Forest Rights Act” (FRA) in the year 2006, which confers host of forest use and habitation rights to the forest dependent communities. It also empowers them to protect and manage the State owned forests. Such empowerment places them on equal footing with SFD in management of State owned forests and lead to existence of two parallel power structures at village level. Therefore, the FRA is considered as an important piece of legislation in decentralisation of forest governance to grass root level in India and expected to affect the working pattern and resilience of SFD‟s. Thereby, the implementation of FRA is likely to result in conflict between SFD and forest dependent communities due to their differing interest in forest management. Despite of enactment in the year 2006, the FRA has not yet implemented in many States in India. Among various reasons cited for poor progress, non-cooperation from SFD is also considered as a major factor. Contrary to the accusation, the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department (MPFD) in India is actively involved in implementation of FRA and the State of Madhya Pradesh leads other States in FRA works in India. Thereby, the MPFD provides scope to assess the effect of FRA on Forest Department working and its resilience. To assess these issues, a perception study was conducted among the forest officers of Madhya Pradesh, working at State, district, and village levels on how they view the effect and changes caused by FRA and their perceived position in the changed environment