🗞️ Why in News The Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) convened the Second Regional Review Conference on implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (FRA) at Kolkata on 9 October 2026, with officials of eight States. For context, the keynote by the Joint Secretary, MoTA, gave the national position as on 31 August 2026: over 54 lakh claims received, about 25 lakh titles distributed, about 11 lakh claims pending and over 18 lakh rejected. The conference set its priorities as clearing pending claims, reviewing rejected ones, and speeding up Community Forest Resource (CFR) rights and habitat rights for Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs).
The Kolkata meeting is the second in a regional series that began in Bengaluru, where the First Regional Review Conference was held on 10 September 2026 for the Southern States. For a recent State-level twist on the same law, see how Madhya Pradesh put a forest rights directive in abeyance (2 October 2026).
The Kolkata Review at a Glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Convened by | Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA), Government of India |
| Date and place | 9 October 2026, Kolkata, West Bengal |
| Series | Second Regional Review Conference; the first was in Bengaluru on 10 September 2026 for the Southern States |
| States reviewed | West Bengal, Assam, Tripura, Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh |
| Invited to share practice | Andhra Pradesh: digitisation, integration of FRA titles into government records, convergence of livelihood schemes, credit for right holders |
| Who attended | Tribal Welfare, Revenue and Forest Departments and Tribal Research Institutes of the eight States; Collectors, Sub Collectors and project officers from districts with a large pendency of claims |
| Data cut-off | as on 31 August 2026 (keynote of the Joint Secretary, MoTA) |
Where the Claims Stand
| Measure, nationally, as on 31 August 2026 | As the keynote put it |
|---|---|
| Claims received | over 54 lakh |
| Titles distributed | about 25 lakh |
| Claims pending at different stages | about 11 lakh |
| Claims rejected | over 18 lakh |
Read these as the Ministry gave them: rounded figures from a keynote address, not a State-wise table. Roughly, fewer than half the claims received have ended in a title, and about one claim in three has been rejected. The Joint Secretary added that Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Assam “account for substantial pendency concentrated in particular districts”. Collectors and Sub Collectors from districts with a large pendency of claims also attended the conference.
How a Claim Becomes a Title
How a forest rights claim becomes a title
The tiers under section 6 of the FRA, and where the claims stood nationally as on 31 August 2026.
The FRA puts the village assembly, not the forest department, at the start of the process. Under section 6, the Gram Sabha “shall be the authority to initiate the process for determining the nature and extent of individual or community forest rights or both”. It receives claims, consolidates and verifies them, prepares a map of each recommended claim and passes a resolution, which goes up to the next tier.
| Tier | What it does | Appeal or effect |
|---|---|---|
| Gram Sabha, with its Forest Rights Committee (Rule 3(1): 10 to 15 members, at least two-thirds STs, at least one-third women) | receives, verifies and maps claims; passes a resolution | a person aggrieved by the resolution may petition the SDLC within sixty days |
| Sub-Divisional Level Committee (SDLC) | examines the resolution, prepares the record of forest rights and forwards it to the DLC | a person aggrieved by its decision may petition the DLC within sixty days |
| District Level Committee (DLC) | considers and finally approves the record of forest rights | its decision on the record of forest rights is “final and binding” |
| State Level Monitoring Committee (SLMC) | monitors recognition and vesting of rights; sends returns and reports to the nodal agency | a monitoring body, not an approving tier |
The SDLC, DLC and SLMC consist of officers of the State’s Revenue, Forest and Tribal Affairs departments and three members of Panchayati Raj Institutions, of whom two are Scheduled Tribe members and at least one a woman. The Forest Rights Rules (short title “Rules, 2007”; notified as G.S.R. 1(E), dated 1 January 2008) were “substantially amended” in 2012 (G.S.R. 669(E), 6 September 2012); one change raised the ST share in the Forest Rights Committee from at least one-third to at least two-thirds.
The safeguards against careless rejection
The Rules (Rule 12A) build several checks around a rejection, which is why the conference spoke of reviewing rejected claims “in accordance with the Act and Rules”:
- A rejection must be communicated in person to the claimant, who then has sixty days to petition, extendable by thirty days (Rule 12A(3)).
- If a Gram Sabha resolution is incomplete, the SDLC or DLC must remand it to the Gram Sabha “instead of modifying or rejecting the same” (Rule 12A(6)).
- A decision that modifies or rejects a claim must give detailed reasons, and no rejection “shall be merely on any technical or procedural grounds” (Rule 12A(10)).
- The committees “shall not insist upon any particular form of documentary evidence” (Rule 12A(11)).
- Once titles are issued, the rights must be entered in revenue and forest records within the period under State law or three months, whichever is earlier (Rule 12A(9)).
What the Act Recognises
| Provision | What it says |
|---|---|
| Forest dwelling STs, s.2(c) | members or community of STs who “primarily reside in” and depend on forests “for bona fide livelihood needs”, including ST pastoralist communities |
| Other traditional forest dwellers, s.2 | residence “for at least three generations prior to the 13th day of December, 2005”; a generation is twenty-five years |
| Cut-off, s.4(3) | forest land occupied before 13 December 2005 |
| Land for habitation or self-cultivation, s.3(1)(a) read with s.4(6) | limited to the area under actual occupation and “in no case” more than four hectares |
| Habitat rights, s.3(1)(e) | “community tenures of habitat and habitation for primitive tribal groups and preagricultural communities” |
| CFR right, s.3(1)(i) | to “protect, regenerate or conserve or manage” a community forest resource traditionally protected “for sustainable use” |
| CFR defined, s.2(a) | customary common forest land within the village’s traditional boundaries, including reserved and protected forests and protected areas such as Sanctuaries and National Parks |
| Nature of the right, s.4(4) | “heritable but not alienable or transferable”; registered jointly in the names of both spouses for married persons |
| Protection, s.4(5) | no eviction “till the recognition and verification procedure is complete” |
The Act is Act No. 2 of 2007; it received the President’s assent on 29 December 2006, and under s.1(3) it comes into force on the date the Centre notifies. Under the Rules, the District Level Committee must “ensure that all Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups receive habitat rights”, in consultation with their traditional institutions (Rule 12B(1)).
The Conference’s Priorities
The keynote set out the priorities; the Secretary, MoTA, and the Director, FRA, MoTA, added detail.
- Pending and rejected claims. “timely disposal of pending claims and review of rejected claims in accordance with the Act and Rules”.
- Clean data. Reconcile FRA data and digitise case records; States were asked “to reconcile data discrepancies and delays in Monthly Progress Reports”.
- Records. Enter recognised rights into revenue and forest records; the Director, FRA, set this in the context of the Ministry’s advisory of 24 June 2026. The Secretary stressed that this must be done “with accurate maps”.
- CFR rights. The Secretary said recognition of CFR rights “must be matched by the capacity to exercise them”. Gram Sabhas need support to prepare and implement CFR management plans, and States should operationalise the joint advisory of MoTA and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). That advisory lets these plans be integrated with forest departments’ working and management plans “while keeping the authority of the Gram Sabha central”. Assistance for this capacity building is available under DA-JGUA.
- Habitat rights of PVTGs. The Director, FRA, set these in the context of the Ministry’s guidelines of 5 January 2026. The Secretary called for PVTG-wise roadmaps, prepared with traditional institutions and the Gram Sabhas of all villages concerned.
- Digital tools. The Deputy Secretary (TRI and IT) demonstrated the National-level FRA Portal and the FRA mobile app, and urged States to integrate their FRA records through an Application Programming Interface (API).
- Action plans. States “have been directed to prepare an action plan for strengthening Gram Sabhas to create awareness of FRA rights, post Claims support, and for preparation of the CFR management plan on priority.”
The Secretary credited Odisha and Chhattisgarh with pioneering the recognition of PVTG habitat rights and the recognition of the highest number of IFR claims, and Andhra Pradesh with digitisation and records that help title holders get post-claim support.
The joint advisory follows a line already in the Rules. Rule 4(1)(f) asks the Gram Sabha to monitor and control the committee that prepares a conservation and management plan for community forest resources; the same committee is to integrate that plan “with the micro plans or working plans or management plans of the forest department”.
Why Rejections Matter: The 2019 Eviction Order
The stress on reviewing rejected claims has a history. In Wildlife First and Others v. Ministry of Forest and Environment and Others, the Supreme Court on 13 February 2019 ordered States to evict all individuals whose claims had been rejected. On 28 February 2019 the Court stayed its own order, and directed States to report whether due process had been followed in rejecting the claims. The Kolkata conference did not refer to the case; it is background to why a rejection must follow the Act and the Rules.
The Gaps the Review Points To
- Pendency is concentrated. Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Assam account for substantial pendency, in particular districts.
- Data is uneven. States were asked to fix discrepancies and delays in Monthly Progress Reports.
- Rights on paper versus rights in use. A CFR title means little without a Gram Sabha able to plan and manage the forest.
- Records lag titles. Rights must reach revenue and forest records, with accurate maps.
- Life after the title. The Secretary said convergence with programmes for productive land use, housing and livelihoods “must become a regular part of implementation”.
Way Forward
- District drives to dispose of pending claims and review rejected ones under the Act and Rules, with reasons recorded and remand preferred to rejection.
- Gram Sabha capacity for CFR management plans, integrated with forest working plans under the joint advisory, without diluting the Gram Sabha’s authority.
- PVTG-wise roadmaps for habitat rights, made with traditional institutions.
- One data spine: digitised, mapped records linked to the national FRA Portal through APIs, and reconciled monthly reports.
- Convergence of housing, livelihood and credit support for title holders, as in Andhra Pradesh’s practice.
UPSC Relevance
GS Paper 2. Laws and mechanisms for the protection of vulnerable sections (Scheduled Tribes); Gram Sabhas and local self-government; statutory committees; e-governance in rights delivery. GS Paper 3. Conservation and forest governance; community management of natural resources. Prelims. FRA sections, the 13 December 2005 cut-off, the four-hectare cap, the claim tiers, the CFR definition and the background status figures as on 31 August 2026. Mains. Recognition versus exercise of forest rights; rejections and due process; the Gram Sabha and the forest department.
📌 Facts Corner, Knowledgepedia
Prelims, statement-ready facts:
- FRA, 2006: Act No. 2 of 2007; President’s assent 29 December 2006; commencement by notification (s.1(3)).
- As on 31 August 2026: over 54 lakh claims, about 25 lakh titles, about 11 lakh pending, over 18 lakh rejected.
- Cut-off: forest land occupied before 13 December 2005 (s.4(3)); a “generation” is 25 years.
- Land right for habitation or self-cultivation: never more than four hectares (s.4(6)).
- Gram Sabha initiates (s.6); DLC decision on the record of rights is final and binding; appeals within sixty days.
- CFR land can include reserved and protected forests and Sanctuaries and National Parks (s.2(a)).
Prelims, the traps:
- The Gram Sabha, not the forest department, starts the process; the SLMC monitors, it does not approve titles.
- The three-generation (25 years each) test is in the definition of other traditional forest dwellers, not in that of forest dwelling STs (s.2(c)).
- A forest right is heritable but not alienable or transferable (s.4(4)).
- Andhra Pradesh was invited to share practice; it was not one of the eight States reviewed at Kolkata.
- The s.3(1)(e) habitat right names “primitive tribal groups and preagricultural communities”; under Rule 12B(1) the DLC must ensure all PVTGs receive habitat rights.
Mains, arguments and keywords:
- Recognition versus exercise: CFR rights “must be matched by the capacity to exercise them”; keywords: Gram Sabha authority, CFR management plan, post-claim support.
- Over 18 lakh rejections put due process at the centre: reasons, remand before rejection, no rejection on technical grounds (Rule 12A).
- Records and data: rights must enter revenue and forest records with accurate maps; uneven monthly reports weaken monitoring.
Interview, be ready for:
- As Collector of a high-pendency district, how would you clear FRA claims quickly without unfair rejections?
- Can a forest department’s working plan and a Gram Sabha’s CFR plan coexist while the Gram Sabha’s authority stays central?
Revision Flowchart
Forest Rights Act: The Kolkata Review of Pending and Rejected Claims
Covers the terms, Prelims pointers and traps, Mains pointers, the way forward and a practice question.
Sources: PIB, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Second Regional Review Conference on FRA at Kolkata, 10 October 2026; Ministry of Tribal Affairs, FRA: Act, Rules and Guidelines; SC Observer, eviction of forest dwellers case page; LiveLaw, SC stays order directing States to evict forest dwellers, 28 February 2019.
Source: Forest Rights Act Review: About 11 Lakh Claims Still Pending — Ujiyari.com | Free UPSC & State PCS Current Affairs
