Tribal rights groups accuse MoTA of undermining Gram Sabha authority in forest governance

By A Representative

A coalition of over 150 tribal rights organizations, people’s movements, researchers, and activists has submitted a strongly worded representation to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) accusing it of undermining the constitutional and statutory framework of the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006. In a joint statement dated August 21, 2025, the groups alleged that MoTA has been systematically subverting the democratic authority of Gram Sabhas in the governance and conservation of community forest resources (CFRs) by issuing new guidelines and joint advisories that hand over powers to bureaucratic structures, particularly the forest department.

The collective submission cites the 2023 MoTA guidelines on conservation and management of community forest resources, which replaced the statutory 2015 guidelines that had recognized the Gram Sabha’s primacy in forest governance. The new framework, the groups argue, reduces CFR management to a state-controlled scheme, with the Panchayat Secretary convening Gram Sabha meetings, the forest department integrating plans, and district-level committees overseeing financial and administrative decisions. The representation describes this as “a re-designing of JFMC structures” that strips Gram Sabhas of their statutory autonomy under FRA.

Equally contentious is the joint advisory issued by MoTA and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) on March 14, 2024, which mandates that model scientific CFR management plans be developed in line with the Working Plan Code 2023, with forest officials serving as trainers and advisors to Gram Sabhas. The signatories argue that MoTA has abdicated its sole legal mandate under the FRA by sharing responsibility with MoEFCC, a ministry they accuse of historically displacing and evicting forest dwellers, obstructing rights recognition, and prioritizing conservation projects over community rights. “By declaring and adopting the principle of joint responsibility on matters of FRA, MoTA, in effect, abdicated its responsibility in violation of the law,” the representation states.

The organizations further point to the “PM-JUGA” and “DA-JGUA” missions launched in 2024, under which FRA implementation has been transformed into a technocratic, beneficiary-style scheme. They contend that digitization, technical expertise, and civil society partnerships are being privileged over the Gram Sabha, turning community forest governance into a bureaucratic exercise rather than a democratic one. The groups warn that such frameworks will “enhance injustices that FRA aims to rectify” and entrench the dominance of the forest department, which they describe as “the biggest anti-FRA and anti-forest dweller force.”

Specific instances of conflict on the ground are also highlighted, including a May 2025 letter by the Chhattisgarh Forest Department claiming itself to be the nodal agency for CFR implementation, citing MoTA-MoEFCC guidelines. Though later stayed after protests, the letter created confusion among communities and underscored how the forest bureaucracy has been emboldened by the joint advisories.

The signatories demand that MoTA immediately withdraw its September 2023 guidelines and the March 2024 joint advisory with MoEFCC, reinstate the 2015 guidelines that placed Gram Sabhas at the center of CFR governance, and assert its sole statutory authority under the FRA. They also call for strict directions to state governments that Gram Sabhas are the only legally recognized authority for forest resource governance, and for accountability to be fixed on MoEFCC and its institutions for continued violations of FRA.

Among the signatories are the Campaign for Survival and Dignity, All India Forum of Forest Movements, Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch, Gondwana Ganatantra Party, Bharat Jan Andolan, and numerous regional and grassroots tribal organizations across Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Gujarat, and other states. Individual researchers, academics, filmmakers, and human rights defenders have also endorsed the statement.

The memorandum concludes that the ongoing interventions represent a “historic reversal” of the FRA’s intent to remedy injustices faced by Adivasi and other forest-dwelling communities. It warns that unless MoTA reasserts its statutory role and revokes the contested guidelines, the very foundation of democratic, community-led forest governance envisaged under FRA will be dismantled.

Comments

Plastic burning in homes threatens food, water and air across Global South: Study

By Jag Jivan In a groundbreaking study spanning 26 countries across the Global South , researchers have uncovered the widespread and concerning practice of households burning plastic waste as a fuel for cooking, heating, and other domestic needs. The research, published in Nature Communications , reveals that this hazardous method of managing both waste and energy poverty is driven by systemic failures in municipal services and the unaffordability of clean alternatives, posing severe risks to human health and the environment.

From protest to proof: Why civil society must rethink environmental resistance

By Shankar Sharma* As concerned environmentalists and informed citizens, many of us share deep unease about the way environmental governance in our country is being managed—or mismanaged. Our complaints range across sectors and regions, and most of them are legitimate. Yet a hard question confronts us: are complaints, by themselves, effective? Experience suggests they are not.

Economic superpower’s social failure? Inequality, malnutrition and crisis of India's democracy

By Vikas Meshram India may be celebrated as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a closer look at who benefits from that growth tells a starkly different story. The recently released World Inequality Report 2026 lays bare a country sharply divided by wealth, privilege and power. According to the report, nearly 65 percent of India’s total wealth is owned by the richest 10 percent of its population, while the bottom half of the country controls barely 6.4 percent. The top one percent—around 14 million people—holds more than 40 percent, the highest concentration since 1961. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation rate is a dismal 15.7 percent.

Kolkata event marks 100 years since first Communist conference in India

By Harsh Thakor* A public assembly was held in Kolkata on December 24, 2025, to mark the centenary of the First Communist Conference in India , originally convened in Kanpur from December 26 to 28, 1925. The programme was organised by CPI (ML) New Democracy at Subodh Mallik Square on Lenin Sarani. According to the organisers, around 2,000 people attended the assembly.

From colonial mercantilism to Hindutva: New book on the making of power in Gujarat

By Rajiv Shah Professor Ghanshyam Shah ’s latest book, “ Caste-Class Hegemony and State Power: A Study of Gujarat Politics ”, published by Routledge , is penned by one of Gujarat ’s most respected chroniclers, drawing on decades of fieldwork in the state. It seeks to dissect how caste and class factors overlap to perpetuate the hegemony of upper strata in an ostensibly democratic polity. The book probes the dominance of two main political parties in Gujarat—the Indian National Congress and the BJP—arguing that both have sustained capitalist growth while reinforcing Brahmanic hierarchies.

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

The greatest threat to our food system: The aggressive push for GM crops

By Bharat Dogra Thanks to the courageous resistance of several leading scientists who continue to speak the truth despite increasing pressures from the powerful GM crop and GM food lobby , the many-sided and in some contexts irreversible environmental and health impacts of GM foods and crops, as well as the highly disruptive effects of this technology on farmers, are widely known today.

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu. He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

Transgender Bill testimony of Govt of India's ‘contempt’ for marginalized community

Counterview Desk India’s civil society network, National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM)* has said that the controversial transgender Bill, passed in the Rajya Sabha on November 26, which happened to be the 70th anniversary of the Indian Constitution, is a reflection on the way the Government of India looks at the marginalized community with utter contempt.

Search This Blog