Politicisation Of Rights

What impedes the Forest Rights Act, 2006, from being implemented in the Sundarban Biosphere Reserve in West Bengal?

- Amrita Sen

THE FOREST Rights Act, 2006 (FRA), has been an iconic forest law in India. It aims to recognise the long-drawn historical injustice done to the forestdependent communities and grants two kinds of forest rights: individual and community. Though FRA is a significant departure from the centralised forest governance policies, its implementation is infested with ambiguities, in terms of transfer of powers to local bodies.

Take the case of the two districts of North and South 24 Parganas of West Bengal, where FRA has not yet been implemented. Sundarban Biosphere Reserve (SBR) is located in parts of these two districts. SBR is partially inhabited and partially forested. The inhabited areas of SBR fall within North and South 24 Parganas and accommodates a large number of forest-dependent communities, especially in the lower island villages bordering the forests.

These people—called forest workers—catch fish from the river creeks interspersed within the forest areas and collect honey from mangrove trees. However, forest-based occupations are practiced by travelling inside the forests since no village or human habitation exist inside the forest areas of Sundarbans.