Destroying a Way of Life: the Forest Rights Act of India and Land Dispossession of Indigenous Peoples

Control of land is a source of contention among indigenous peoples, governments, conservationists and extractive industries.  Forests are crucial to the existence and survival of tribal and pastoralist populations in India. The competition for control of land, coupled with a historical lack of rights of indigenous peoples, has resulted in land dispossession and impoverishment. To address this, the Indian Government passed the Forest Rights Act in 2006. Using empirical evidence from India, I critically examine, from a socio-legal perspective, the challenges of implementing the Forest Rights Act. The Act itself, while pushing the new ‘inclusion’ paradigm within conservation thinking, has been a shock to bureaucratic structures in India such as the Forest Department, which sees its role as fighting the ‘encroachment’ of tribal communities, and whose attitudes towards the community ranges from apathetic to openly hostile. In violation of human rights, state and central governments are ignoring participatory and democratic requirements of the Act, such as informed consent and the right to self-determination, while handing over huge tracts of forest lands to private entities. I also examine the failure of governance, reflected in the implementation of the Act, ranging from infringing on usufruct rights to illegal evictions. This begs the question of whether the new Act increases the vulnerability of mobile indigenous peoples rather than serving as a powerful tool for them to protect and manage their own forests and advocate for their rights.