GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

RAJYA SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 2437

TO BE ANSWERED ON 21.12.2015

Land title to tribals and other forest dwellers

2437. SHRI MADHUSUDAN MISTRY:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHNAGE be pleased to state:

(a) the total area under forests, State-wise;

(b) the land title given to tribals and other forest dwellers under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Right) Act, 2006;

(c) the number of applications received from tribals and other forest dwellers by the forest departments, State-wise under the Act and the land titles given; and

(d) whether the forest department of the States stopped taking application from tribals and other forest dwellers for availing the forest land titles?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

(SHRI PRAKASH JAVADEKAR)

(b) to (d) / The State/ UT wise details of forest area are given in Annexure-I.
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs is the Nodal Ministry for implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 also known as Forest Rights Act,2006. As per the information provided by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, a total of 4,405,395 claims have been filed and 1,708,973 titles have been distributed as on 31st October, 2015. The State/ UT wise details of number of claims received and title distributed are given in Annexure-II.
As per the provisions of Forest Rights Act, 2006, the Gram Sabha is authorized to accept forest land claims and District Level Committee is authorized to grant forest land titles. Therefore, the question of Forest Department of the States taking or not taking application from tribals and other forest dwellers for availing the forest land titles does not arise.

***

Annexure-I

Statement referred to in reply to the part (a) to the Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2437 due for answer on 21.12.2015 asked by SHRI MADHUSUDAN MISTRY regarding Land title to tribals and other forest dwellers

State and UT wise total recorded forest area and forest cover as per India State of Forest Report, 2015

(Area in square kilometer)

States/UTs / Geographical Area / Recorded Forest Area as per ISFR 2015 / Total Forest cover as per ISFR 2015
Andhra Pradesh / 160204 / 37258 / 24424
Arunachal Pradesh / 83743 / 51407 / 67248
Assam / 78438 / 26832 / 27623
Bihar / 94163 / 6493 / 7288
Chhattisgarh / 135191 / 59772 / 55586
Delhi / 1483 / 102 / 188.77
Goa / 3702 / 1225 / 2224
Gujarat / 196022 / 21647 / 14660
Haryana / 44212 / 1559 / 1584
Himachal Pradesh / 55673 / 37033 / 14696
Jammu & Kashmir / 222236 / 20230 / 22988
Jharkhand / 79714 / 23605 / 23478
Karnataka / 191791 / 38284 / 36421
Kerala / 38863 / 11309 / 19239
Madhya Pradesh / 308245 / 94689 / 77462
Maharashtra / 307713 / 61579 / 50628
Manipur / 22327 / 17418 / 16994
Meghalaya / 22429 / 9496 / 17217
Mizoram / 21081 / 5641 / 18748
Nagaland / 16579 / 9222 / 12966
Odisha / 155707 / 58136 / 50354
Punjab / 50362 / 3084 / 1771
Rajasthan / 342239 / 32737 / 16171
Sikkim / 7096 / 5841 / 3357
Tamil Nadu / 130058 / 22877 / 26345
Telangana / 114865 / 26904 / 21591
Tripura / 10486 / 6294 / 7811
Uttar Pradesh / 240928 / 16582 / 14461
Uttarakhand / 53483 / 38000 / 24240
West Bengal / 88752 / 11879 / 16828
Andaman & Nicobar Islands / 8249 / 7171 / 6751
Chandigarh / 114 / 35 / 22.03
Dadra & Nagar Haveli / 491 / 204 / 206
Daman & Diu / 112 / 8 / 19.61
Lakshadweep / 32 / 0 / 27.06
Puducherry / 480 / 13 / 55.38
Grand Total / 3287263 / 764566 / 701673
Annexure - II
Statement referred to in reply to the part (b) and (c) to the Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2437 due for answer on 21.12.2015 asked by SHRI MADHUSUDAN MISTRY regarding Land title to tribals and other forest dwellers
Statement showing number of claims received and titles distributed State/UT wise as on 31.10.2015
S. No. / States/UTs / No. of claims received / No. of titles distributed
1 / Andhra Pradesh / 411,012 / 169,370
2 / Arunachal Pradesh / 0 / 0
3 / Assam / 131,911 / 36,267
4 / Bihar / 8,022 / 222
5 / Chhattisgarh / 860,364 / 347,789
6 / Goa / 0 / 0
7 / Gujarat / 190,097 / 76,845
8 / Himachal Pradesh / 5,692 / 346
9 / Jharkhand / 83,553 / 43,125
10 / Karnataka / 372,248 / 8,303
11 / Kerala / 37,535 / 24,599
12 / Madhya Pradesh / 602,501 / 216,142
13 / Maharashtra / 353,169 / 109,292
14 / Manipur / 0 / 0
15 / Meghalaya / 0 / 0
16 / Mizoram / 0 / 0
17 / Nagaland / 0 / 0
18 / Odisha / 614,805 / 354,100
19 / Rajasthan / 69,775 / 35,025
20 / Sikkim / 0 / 0
21 / Tamil Nadu / 21,781 / 3,723
22 / Telangana / 215,370 / 100,230
23 / Tripura / 191,653 / 122,583
24 / Uttar Pradesh / 93,644 / 18,555
25 / Uttarakhand / 182 / 0
26 / West Bengal / 142,081 / 42,457
27 / A & N Islands / 0 / 0
28 / Daman & Diu / 0 / 0
29 / Dadar & Nagar Haveli / 0 / 0
Total / 4,405,395 / 1,708,973