Baiga Chak

Baiga Chak is a region in Dindori District, Madhya Pradesh, distinguished for being the homeland for the Baiga community.  The Baiga community identified as ‘Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups’ (PVTGs) were historically settled as bonded labour engaged for forestry operations in the region, and these settlements were called ‘Forest Villages’ administered by the Forest Department. 

ATREE began working in the forest villages of Samnapur, Bajag, and Karanjia blocks in 2021. The work in Baiga Chak has been specifically focused on;

Training: Workshops of village representatives, representatives of the district and forest administration on understanding the legal peculiarities of ‘Forest Villages’, and on Community Forest Resource Rights.

Geospatial Tech: Engaging and giving assistance to villagers using the Aamcho CFR App and the WebGIS Platform in the community-led mapping process.

Action: Assisting villagers in mapping IFR and CFRR areas, hand-holding in claim-making for IFR and CFRR. The focus has been to set up actionable models in a few target villages, leading to improved training for others. 

Policy Outreach: Engaging with state and district-level administration on the bottlenecks related to recognition of Individual and Community Forest Resource Rights claims in Forest Villages  

Research: Developing methodologies for wall-to-wall mapping of lands claimed under Individual Forest Rights through use of hand-held mobile applications and WebGIS.