1. lq'kkl u School of Good Governance And Policy Analysis National Workshop on Disseminating Information on Good Practices in Public Service Delivery June 5, 2009 Implementation of "The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006" in Madhya Pradesh -Shri O.P. Rawat, Principal Secretary, Department of Schedule Tribe and Schedule Caste Welfare, Government of Madhya Pradesh

2. Promulgation of Act Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Right) Act 2006 : effective from 31 st December 2007. Rules there under effective from1st January 2008.

3. Objectives of the Act To undo the historical injustice in favour of those who are the rightful claimants of forest land and its resources. Recognizes the claims of the Tribals who are occupants of forest lands and before 13 th day of December 2005. Other Traditional Forest Dwellers who are occupants of forest lands at least from three generations prior to the 13 th day of December 2005. Community rights also to be recognized.

4. M.P. Initiative-Head Start Right on receipt of the copy of the Act and the Draft Rules we identified 17 sensitive districts to take precautionary measures. Simultaneously Gram Sabhas were enlightened about the law and draft rules in these districts where no. of likely claims were very large. Implementation machinery including the TAC were also involved facilitating future action.

5. Before the enforcement of Act, training of Master Trainers started in the state during September 2007. Nodal Officers (trained by Master Trainers) apprised the members of Gram Sabha about the provisions of the Act. Members of the Gram Sabha were explained in detail as to what rights are going to be recognized and what are going to be their responsibilities. They were also explained their role in preventing new settlers in their vicinity. Head Start

6. Head Start (Contd…) The Act was enforced from 31 st December 2007 and Rules became effective from 1 st January 2008. On the same day a meeting was organized by Principal Secretary TW involving PS Forest, PS Revenue, PS Finance and Rural Development to prepare a strategy for effective implementation of the Act. Hon’le Chief Minister convened the first meeting on 2 nd Jan. 2008 for effective implementation of the Act in the state. On 5 th Jan. 2008 Chief Secretary addressed all the collectors to sensitize the state machinery for timely implementation of the Act.

7. M.P. Initiative  Starting 26 th Jan. 2008 Gram Sabha “Forest Right Committees” were Constituted / elected.  On 1 st February 2008 “State Level Monitoring Committee” was constituted under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary.  “Sub Divisional” and “District level Committees” were constituted and notified in the Gazetteer of 24 April 2008.  However, training at all the three levels organized for the proposed members, pending final notification (January- May 2008)  Another phase of training in June- July 2008.

10. M.P. Initiative (Contd…)  Gram Sabha/Van Adhikar Samiti being the first level of adjudication, Act and rules were translated in different tribal dialects (Korku, Bhili,Gondi).  Translated Act / Rules distributed directly to Gram Sabhs through hostel inmates and through ‘Nukkad Natak’ troupes.  Awareness level of tribals became better and their task became easier.

12. Incentive & Quorum Rs. 100 per claim-Rs. 10 for assisting in filing claims, Rs.10 for each piece of evidence (x2) and Rs. 70 for participation in verification process/ Gram Sabha meeting. Flexible timing for Gram Sabha meeting. Inviting whole village for Gram Sabha and providing food to all out of Rs.70 per claim. Ensured large participation- fulfillment of Quorum of 2/3 rd members as against reduction from 20% to 10% in normal Gram Sabha.

13. Gram Sabha

14. Gram Sabha of Bhil Community

15. Gram Sabha

16. Food to Participants During Gram Sabha

17. Magnitude of Work More than 3.43 lacs claims in the state. Forty districts, 150 Sub-Divisions, 30,000 Gram Sabhas, 1.05 crore people involved in major part of exercise. Low population density, tough terrain, no communication channels, Jungle roads, and largely illiterate population. Mostly wage-labour economy, difficult to persuade them to forego a day’s wage-labour and participate in verification process / Gram Sabha meeting. Women most hard pressed-cooking, child rearing, wage labour and then Gram Sabha.

18. Facilitating the Poor Tribals Claims of tribals were entertained even without caste certificates. Claims on disputed lands between Revenue/Forest resolved at “District Level Committee”. Compulsion of attaching documentary evidence was relaxed at the time of submission of claims.

19. Taking Media on Board Copies of the Act and Rules, report on progress made and arrangements in place were made available to them. They felt involved / important and lent a helping hand every where in implementation. Workshops to sensitize the media organized at all Divisional headquarters in Indore, Bhopal, Gwalior, Sagar, Rewa, Jabalpur and Ujjain.

20. Taking Media on Board (contd..) Advertisements in Print and Electronic media. Radio Jingles. Programme telecast on every Monday at 7.30 pm in “Naye-Dwar”. District level media workshops & “Press Tour” also organized.

21. Taking Media on Board (contd..)

23. Mass Publicity of Act Through Print Media (Contd…)

25. Taking NGOs on Board  NGOs’ workshops held in Bhopal, Jhabua and Jabalpur. encouraged the tribals and other concerned sections to take full advantage of the Act.  NGOs encouraged the tribals and other concerned sections to take full advantage of the Act.  They became eyes and ears of the state administration in the field and pointed out micro level problems for corrective action.

26. NGO Workshop

28. Bhumi Adhikar Sammelan by “Ekta Parishad”, Bhopal

30. Street Play In tribal areas Cultural troupes were sent for awareness development through songs and street plays. Wide publicity of the Act was given through pamphlets, banners, hoardings, handbills, etc.

31. Street Plays

33. Introduction of latest technology  A great challenge to verify and Carry out survey of such a large number of claims.  Various methodologies were considered for survey like manual, traditional, TSM and through PDA.  Finally PDA method found to be more accurate, economic and fast.

34. Benefits of PDA Method of Survey - I oA portable, handy, time saving and user friendly device. oA very accurate method for survey. oGPS enabled device. oRepresents exact position of beneficiary’s land on the Forest Map. oGives exact area of beneficiary’s land both in Hect. and Acre with longitudinal and latitudinal position

35. Benefits of PDA Method of Survey- II  Snaps the photographs of the beneficiary on the spot.  The entire data of beneficiary’s land can be transferred from PC to PDA for field survey.  After field survey the survey data can be transferred back to PC for generation of Title Deed for lamination and final distribution.

36. PDA

37. PDA Survey

39. Title Deed through PDA

40. M.P. pattern followed by other states The delegations of Gujarat, Maharashtra, AP and UP visited the state to study implementation work. They adopted our designs of record keeping method and training modules. Our PDA based survey system was appreciated and adopted by many states. GOI has also appreciated our endeavors and practices.

44. Litigation Stay by TN High Court, AP High Court and Orissa High Court. In M.P. High Court refused stay and thus M.P. became the first state to start distribution of title deeds on 8 th August 2008 (Mandla). MOTA sought M.P.’s assistance in presenting the case before Hon. Supreme Court.

45. First Distribution of Title Deed

47. Return Equipments of Forest Dwellers with full honour by Hon’ble CM

49. Progress  Total Claims…………………….. 3.43 lacs  Verification by FRC…………….. 3.16 lacs  Resolution by Gram Sabha…… 2.98 lacs  Decision by SDLC……………… 2.07 lacs  Final decision by DLC………….. 1.52 lacs

51. Constraints Provision of 60 days time for petition against Gram Sabha/ SDLC resolution requiring a waiting period for higher level decision. General election to State Legislature- Election Commission stopped the progress till the last day of polling. General election to Lok Sabha- Similar deferment.

52. Progress of other StatesS.No.State Total Claims Finally Decided by DLC 1.Madhya Pradesh3,43,1481,52,322 2.Chhattisgarh4,00,0001,09,000 3.A.P.3,28,0001,28,000 4.Orissa2,91,10729,816 5.Gujarat1,48,0003,181 6.Rajasthan34,5351,778 Assam, H.P., Jharkhand, Karnatka- FRCs being constituded. Some claims recd.in Karnatka, Jharkhand and Bihar. Arunachal Pradesh- No action taken.

53. Summary  Action before enforcement of Act.  On the day of enforcement.  Cascading method and outsourcing of training.  Simultaneous constitution of committees and their training.  Introduction of state of the art technology-PDA.  Facilitation.  Media/NGO management.