“Implementation of the scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers (recognition of forest rights) act, 2006”: a ground reality in the ‘additions’ of Kaziranga National Park in enforcing Mati Patta Aain.”

Student name: Ms Priyanka D Sangma
Guide: Dr Gaurav
Year of completion: 2018

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Abstract: The British colonial period in India brought tremendous changes to the governance of forest, and the forest resources of the country was primarily used for commercial activities. Apart from the loss of forest cover in the country, the series of forest legislations passed by the imperial rulers also curtailed the rights of the forest-dwelling communities whose livelihoods were dependent on the forest lands. Assam was not an exception to the British law and policies. “The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (FRA, 2006), was passed to address such ‘historical injustice’ to the forest-dwellers.” However, this ‘landmark legislation’ have raised many concerns regarding its successful implementation in various parts of the country.

This paper aims to study the implementation of the FRA, 2006 in the ‘additions’ of Kaziranga National Park (KNP) in Assam because the situation at KNP provides a complex study in examining the evolution of the peasant communities i.e. the forest-dwellers of Assam, and most importantly the area of KNP has been constantly expanded, redefined and subjected to new regulations thus evicting the forest dwelling communities from their habitats by labelling them as encroachers.

The research questions of this study has been answered under three chapters. The first research question i.e., what are the challenges faced by the State Government in the implementation of the FRA, 2006 in Assam, has been answered under Chapter 2 of this paper. While doing so, it is of utmost importance to understand the history of Assam’s forest governance which has been described under Chapter 1 of this paper. The first chapter describes the history of forest law and policies in Assam which describes the influx of people belonging to different ethnic, economic and cultural background into the region has been mainly due to migration. Such communities settled inside the forest lands can not be termed as ‘traditional forest dwellers.’ Therefore, the second research question i.e., whether the application of FRA, 2006 in Assam is relevant or not has also been addressed in this paper. The third and final research question pertains to why the implementation of the Act in the ‘additions’ of KNP is complex in nature is answered under Chapter 3 of this paper which narrates the involvement of many actors associated with the KNP. That each one of them have their own agenda towards protection, conservation and promotion of the national park. The study concludes with few observations and the possible steps the Government could have taken before outrightly implementing the Act in the State, and also suggests few measures like State specific amendments to the FRA, 2006.