Workshop on Forest Rights Act in West Bengal

A workshop on Forest Rights Act (FRA) focussing on Jangal Mahal region of West Bengal was organized by Bharat Rural Livelihoods Foundation (BRLF) in collaboration with ATREE from 17th – 19th February, 2026. A total of 35 staff members of BRLF, Centre for People’s Forestry (CPF) and DISHA organizations, including village community members participated in the workshop.
On the first day of the workshop field visit to two villages, Banksol (Jhargram district) and Jamdoha (Bankura district), was conducted to understand the Community Forest Resource (CFR) rights and Individual Forest Rights (IFR) claim making processes in the villages and issues faced by the villagers.
On the second day, Dr. Sharachchandra Lele led the sessions on FRA, its main provisions, significance of these rights in West Bengal and the main challenges. These were followed by sessions on understanding ‘forest land’, its mapping, concepts of community rights (CR) and CFR rights, and examples of successful CFR management led by Dr. Shruti Mokashi.
The CFR claim making process was explained to the participants in detail, in addition to IFR process, evidence required and mapping using mobile based applications.
The final day was focussed on discussions of state wide strategy for FRA implementation, composition of Sub-Divisional Level Committee (SDLC) and District Level Committee (DLC), need for research on Joint Forest Management (JFM) effectiveness, Non-timber forests products (NTFP) markets etc.