Empower communities to fix forest governance

“With 12,000 plus villages having received CFRRs, the question of post-rights governance is pressing. The recent push by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, including a series of orders relating to post-rights issues and discussions on a funding programme for rights-holding gram sabhas (GSs) as part of the first 100-day initiatives of the new government, must be seen in this light….

…correcting historical wrongs – which the FRA sets out to do – requires more than just restoring rights. It requires a more fundamental reform to the apparatus of forest governance. But the FRA’s spirit, and every so often, its letter, is waylaid by the wider legislative and institutional frameworks.”