BJP represents 103 Lok Sabha seats where forest rights is key issue, shows analysis

New Delhi: BJP MPs represent 103 of the 153 Lok Sabha seats in the country where the implementation of the Forest Rights Act 2006 is a major issue, according to a recent report.

The Congress, which enacted the FRA, and the Biju Janata Dal represent 11 seats each, Shiv Sena 6, Telangana Rashtra Samithi and YSRCP 5 each, and the National Congress Party 4, the analysis by independent organisation Vasundhara found.

Considered a milestone in redressing the historical injustice done to Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers, the Forest Rights Act 2006 aims to recognise forest rights of such communities living in forests for generations.

According to the analysis, there are 86 Lok Sabha seats where people demanding forest rights account for over 30 per cent of the electorate.

Similarly, there are 45 seats where FRA eligible voters comprise over 40 per cent of the electorate. These include the Khunti Lok Sabha seat where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has repeated Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda as its candidate.

Out of the 153 core FRA constituencies, the BJP and the Congress ran directly against each other in 74 constituencies in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, of which the Congress won only 5.

There are 47 ST reserved seats in India, out of which 42 are core FRA constituencies. The BJP won 31 ST seats in 2019 and the Congress only 3.

According to government data, the FRA claim disposal rate in the last five years has come down from 87.72 per cent to 84.44 per cent.

While 7,88,948 new claims were filed in the last five years, 5,21,143 titles were distributed, and 5,827 claims were rejected during this period.

A total of 50,26,801 claims (48,36,013 individual) have been filed until February 29, 2024. Of this, 24,85,191 titles (49.44 per cent), including 23,70,011 individual titles, have been distributed, the official data showed.

Five years ago, the total number of claims filed stood at 42,37,853 (40,89,035 individual), and the number of titles that had been already distributed stood at 19,64,048 (18,87,894 individual).

While officials say the Covid-19 pandemic hampered the implementation of the Forest Rights Act 2006, which recognises rights of forest-dwelling scheduled tribes and other traditional communities, in 2020 and 2021, experts said lack of political will and corruption is the primary obstacle.

Over 50 per cent of the claims filed so far in eight states and Union territories, including Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan, have been rejected, according to the official data.

At 97.23 per cent, the claim rejection rate is the highest in Uttarakhand, where a total of 6,678 claims have been filed so far but only 185 titles distributed.

Chhattisgarh has rejected the highest number of claims — 4,00,649 out of the total 9,41,977 received so far.

Karnataka has rejected 2,53,269 or 86.01 per cent of the 2,94,489 claims filed so far.

A Delhi-based organisation which studied the implementation of FRA in five states in the country recently said even where individual forest rights have been recognised in Karnataka, the actual land allocated on average is 0.8 acres – which is too small an area to eke out a livelihood.