Orientation on Forest Rights Act (FRA) in Rehti, MP

ATREE organised a day-long training and orientation on the Forest Rights Act (FRA) for community leaders of Rehti Jagriti Mahila Sansthan (RJMS) on 16 March 2026 in Rehti, Sehore district. Satyam Shrivastava from ATREE’s CFR Central India Initiative conducted the training. 

Rehti Jagriti Mahila Sansthan is a women-led, community-based organisation working across 40 villages in Nasrullaganj and Budni blocks, with a network of 265 Self-Help Groups (SHGs) covering approximately 6,000 women. Among these, 10 villages-Amirganj, Aamjhiri, Khapa, Pat Talai, Palaspani, Bilpathi, Dhaba, Amando, and Surai are forest villages with nearly 100% tribal population, predominantly from the Gond community. These villages have strong potential for claiming Community Forest Resource Rights (CFRRs).
The training was attended by around 30 women leaders and 6 staff members from RJMS. The session was facilitated by Satyam Shrivastava, who covered key aspects of the Forest Rights Act, including:

• Historical injustices faced by forest-dependent communities before and after independence
• The background, rationale, and timeline of FRA
• Key provisions of the Act, particularly rights over forest and natural resources
• Processes through which communities can claim rights and establish ownership

The facilitator also shared successful case examples such as Mendha Lekha, Panchgaon, and Payvihir (Maharashtra) to illustrate how communities have effectively claimed and managed their forest rights.

The training was highly participatory, with women leaders actively engaging in discussions and relating the content to their own lived experiences. The sessions helped build a clearer understanding of FRA and its relevance to their context. Participants expressed motivation to initiate the process of claiming their rights, and RJMS team members showed strong interest in taking leadership on this issue moving forward.