Forest Rights and PESA

Creating Equitable Spaces

The Forest Right Act of 2006 and the Panchayat Extension to the Scheduled Areas Act of 1996 are important legislations guaranteeing the tribal and other communities dependent on the forest as traditional dwellers or as benefactors of forest land & NTFP and tribal self governance in the Scheduled Areas where tribal are predominant in numbers. ECONET has remained active in the trajectory of evolution of the policies and laws related to forests and tribal self governance. So it came naturally to the organisation designing a process of capacity building of activists, NGOs, local tribal and gram sabha members on the Forest Rights Act and the PESA. Close bonding with the community and established linkages with the administration helped ECONET in taking efforts towards efficient and effective implementation of these two laws and schemes, programmes and connected subordinate legislations.

ECONET from its inception has a symbiotic relation with forests, tribal and natural resources. Forest dependent communities such as nomad, DNTs, PVTG and/or tribal living in the remotest sites across Maharashtra have over the period of time become core constituency of the organisation. Historically the organisation had been actively involved in the trajectory of legislative development leading the nation to the Forest Rights Act of 2006, and previously the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act of 1996. These two legislations are very significant for the forest dwellers and forest dependent communities. Both encourages participation of local people in the governance and strengthens their agency to secure their entitlements as guaranteed in the Constitution, various laws and government programmes & schemes. ECONET closely works with the tribal in the Scheduled V areas where PESA is implemented and ensures that capacity building, collectivization and engagement with the government & other institutions enables the tribal in the local self governance through gram sabhas and control over & ownership and management of the forest resources and other natural resources. This is primarily done through three strategies – namely.

Strengthening Gram Sabhas

Gram Sabhas are key institution from the perspective of village development. All the villagers are equally recognised and their voice is heard in the meetings of gram sabhas. Alike the panchayat institutions in the non tribal or non Schedule V areas, gram sabhas are the key of decentralised democracy envisioned by the PESA. And hence the gram sabhas and the villagers are aware of their potentials and their powers, as well as their duties and accountabilities in implementing the legislative design. ECONET for two decades has been building capacities of and providing the practical application skills to – gram sabha members and the members of different committees. A Five Module Course is designed by the organisation for the gram sabhas. With over 30 gram sabhas empowered through ECONET’ capacity building, handholding and resource generation across Maharashtra, today the organisation has pitched its engagement with the gram sabhas one bar higher up, through its Gram Sabha Buddy programme.

Support towards claiming forest rights

ECONET build capacities of the local tribal communities towards their livelihoods and habitat, using the Forest Rights Act of 2006 as a vehicle for social change. The primary target group for this intervention is the tribal and PVTG residing in the Scheduled Areas and in & around the forest department controlled areas. Towards this ECONET has developed an awareness building and capacity building module, which enables the village panchayat members, gram sabha members, youth, women and active citizens of the villages thorough knowledge, perspective and skills; using which the villagers would secure their livelihood and habitat rights in the forests. Forest department and its officials as well as revenue and district level government administration are the key machineries that ECONET engages with. Ground level team members provide the tribal families and community / hamlet in the systematic legal process of recognition of their forest rights. The larger goal has always been conservation & protection of forests and promoting environment sustainability. Today the organisation has successfully developed village development plan in 20 plus villages where the community secured forest rights with the support of ECONET. In extending the support to the tribal in this, ECONET promotes engagement with all related departments and institutional stakeholders within & outside of government. It promotes convergence within the government implemented schemes & programmes as well as implementation of initiatives by the different departments.

Supplementing livelihoods (NTFP)

ECONET believes that the livelihood security for the traditional forest dwellers and tribal in the areas surrounded by forests, is best achieved by conservation and protection of non timber forest produce (NTFP) resources within these forests. There is a tremendous potential in generating employment and sustainable economic security to the local tribal through forest resources – wild fruits, wild roots, medicinal plants, bio mass, wild flowers, bamboo, and so on. The local NTFP committee is the key institution the organisation engaged with in this context. There are different schemes and programmes launched by tribal development, forest, rural development and women & child development departments to promote livelihood options and opportunities based on the locally available resources. Youth and women are two categories that ECONET is working with through their mobilisation, collectivisation and skill building. Seeking partnership and collaborations outside of the government has also been one of the strategies adopted widely by the organisation. NTFP based livelihood complements the regular earning source of tribal through agriculture. ECONET has developed various models of entrepreneurship linking NTFP, agriculture and climate resilient practices. Women leadership has emerged at the forefront through these enabling and community centric initiatives.

Creating Equitable Spaces

Creating Equitable Spaces