Why In News?

• The Odisha government announced the launch of state forest rights scheme to strengthen forest rights among tribals and forest dwellers across the state’s districts.

About the Scheme:

=> To function Parallel to FRA:  The Mo Jungle Jami Yojana is aimed to function parallely with The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 or FRA. It is entirely funded by the state government.

=> To bridge gaps in FRA: The scheme is conceived to bridge the gaps and address critical issues not targeted in the central scheme (FRA) for the past 15 years since its implementation.

=> Revenue Villages: Under the scheme, all unsurveyed, forest and zero area villages will be converted into revenue villages thus enabling all households access to water supplies, road connectivity, schools and healthcare.

=> Digitising records: The scheme would also include digitising records of title holders who can then access them online. The state will thereby have data of all the claimants and the number of benefits received by the title holders under the different programmes of the scheme

=> Providing land titles: The implementation of the scheme will provide ownership of land and access to forest resources to the beneficiaries according to their entitlement and join them with mainstream development programmes of the government.

• According to the notification, all eligible claimants — mainly single women and PVTGs — will receive land titles and record corrections will be made for all title holders.

=> If implemented, Odisha would become the first in India to recognise community forest rights along with individual rights offered by the Centre.

State Data on Tribes:

=> Odisha has 32,562 FRA potential villages and 7.35 potential Scheduled Tribe families which are targeted to be benefitted.

=> The state is home to 62 different tribes of which 13 are recognised as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG).

=> The tribal population is estimated at 9,590,756 which amounts to 22.85 percent of the overall population.

Forest Rights Act, 2006:

=> About:

• The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006- popularly known as Forest Rights Act (FRA) recognises the rights of forest dwellers and the importance of their participation in the forest management processes. It also marks a shift from the colonial era view of forest dwelling communities being isolated entities which prey on forests. The act is based more on the principle that the communities are a part of forest ecosystems. ‘Gram Sabha’ is an important entity within the act’s tools to achieve its objective.

=> Objectives:

• To undo the historical injustice occurred to the forest dwelling communities To ensure land tenure, livelihood and food security of the forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers To strengthen the conservation regime of the forests by including the responsibilities and authority of Forest Rights holders for sustainable use, conservation of biodiversity and maintenance of ecological balance.