{"id":53587,"date":"2025-07-06T13:39:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-06T08:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=53587"},"modified":"2025-07-07T17:43:55","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T12:13:55","slug":"controversy-over-isfr-2023-forest-rights-act-fra-blamed-for-forest-cover-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/controversy-over-isfr-2023-forest-rights-act-fra-blamed-for-forest-cover-loss\/","title":{"rendered":"Controversy Over ISFR 2023 &#8211; Forest Rights Act (FRA) Blamed for Forest Cover Loss"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Forest Rights Act (FRA) and ISFR 2023 Report Controversy Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The India State of Forest Report (<\/span><b>ISFR<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) 2023 attributed the \u201c<\/span><b>negative<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d <\/span><b>change in forest and tree cover<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> partly to the implementation of the Forest Rights Act (<\/span><b>FRA<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">), 2006.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This has sparked a strong rebuttal from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, which has questioned the <\/span><b>scientific validity of this claim<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and expressed concerns about its implications for the implementation of FRA.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Findings of the ISFR 2023<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>18th <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">biennial assessment of India\u2019s forests, ISFR 2023, by the Forest Survey of India, reveals <\/span><b>a major drop in the country\u2019s dense natural forests<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Within the<\/b> <b>Recorded Forest Area (RFA)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the country lost over 1,200 sq km of Mid-Dense Forest (MDF) and an equal area of Open Forest (OF). However, it has added over 2,400 sq km of Very Dense Forest.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Outside the recorded forest area<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, India lost around 64 sq km of Dense Forest and over 416 sq km of Mid-Dense Forest.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The report attributes the negative changes in forest coverage in RFA and non-RFA areas to &#8211;<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Human encroachments,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Natural calamities like storms, floods and landslides,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Harvesting of short rotation plantations or other forms of logging, and\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Finally, titles given to beneficiaries under the <\/span><b>Forest Rights Act 2006<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>The Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Official title:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition Of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Objective:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The act acknowledges and grants forest Dwelling Scheduled Tribes (<\/span><b>FDST<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (<\/span><b>OTFD<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">), who have lived in these forests for generations, the right to occupy and use the forest.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is <\/span><b>to undo historical injustice<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that occurred to forest dwelling communities, ensuring their livelihood.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Eligibility:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Rights can be claimed by any member or community that has for at least three generations (75 years) before the 13th day of December 2005 lived in the forest.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Critical wildlife habitats:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> It provides that critical wildlife habitats of national parks and sanctuaries must remain inviolate for wildlife conservation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Authorities for vesting forest rights:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Gram sabha:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Initiate process for determining nature and extent of individual or community forest rights.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Sub-divisional level committee:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Constituted by state government for examining resolutions passed by gram sabha.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>District level committee: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Final approval of forest rights. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: 35px; font-style: inherit;\">Major Points of Contention<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>FRA blamed for forest cover loss:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> This is the first time FRA has been explicitly cited in this context in any ISFR.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Tribal Affairs Ministry\u2019s rebuttal:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The charge was contested by the Ministry, which said that &#8211;\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The ISFR 2023 lacks scientific evidence and \u201cground truthing.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Such claims may reinforce administrative bias against FRA implementation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">FRA acknowledges pre-existing rights of forest dwellers; it does not legalise encroachments.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It does not introduce new rights that may damage ecological balance.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Reaction from Civil Society and Official Clarifications<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Activist and civil society mobilisation:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Over 150 organisations wrote to the Union government condemning the claim.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They criticised the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) for delegitimising FRA through unverified conclusions.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Environment Ministry\u2019s clarification: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ISFR 2023 showed substantial increase in forest cover, indicating community-led conservation. It called civil society\u2019s inferences \u201cdevoid of merit.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: 35px; font-style: inherit;\">Conclusion<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The controversy reflects the <\/span><b>delicate balance between environmental conservation and tribal rights.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The demand for <\/span><b>scientific backing before policy implications<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is crucial to protect the credibility of forest governance mechanisms and the integrity of tribal rights under FRA.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This debate underlines the importance of <\/span><b>evidence-based policymaking<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>inter-ministerial coordination<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in managing India\u2019s forests sustainably.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/prove-that-forest-rights-act-is-responsible-for-negative-change-to-forest-cover-tribal-affairs-ministry-tells-environment-ministry\/article69776587.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">TH<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ISFR 2023 links the decline in forest and tree cover partly to the implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":53709,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[1359,60,22,59],"class_list":{"0":"post-53587","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"tag-forest-rights-act-fra-and-isfr-2023-report-controversy","9":"tag-mains-articles","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs-tag","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}