Despite the Forest Rights Act (FRA) granting autonomy to tribal communities over minor forest produce (MFP) and community forest resources (CFR), the ground reality across many states reveals continued exploitation and bureaucratic control. Tribal gatherers, often unaware of their legal entitlements, remain trapped in cycles of economic dependence, selling valuable produce like tamarind for as little as Rs 30 per kilogram to local middlemen, far below its real value.
In Odisha’s Koraput district, the situation is even more stark. Gram Sabhas that hold CFR titles legally recognising their right to collect and sell high-value forest products such as kendu leaves are systematically denied the ability to exercise those rights. The state forest department continues to dominate the lucrative kendu leaf trade by issuing transit permits to its own contractors, sidelining the communities that the law was meant to empower.
Similar patterns persist in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, where forest department monopolies on transit permits directly contradict the FRA’s intent and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs’ (MoTA) clear directions. The result is that many Gram Sabhas hold titles that mean little in practice, as the economic and administrative systems continue to operate against them.
The Ministry’s letters urging states to strengthen implementation and digital monitoring are necessary steps, but they remain insufficient without real political will. Experts argue that reform must go beyond paperwork, addressing systemic issues of governance and awareness that prevent communities from claiming what is legally theirs.
The way forward requires a coordinated and politically committed approach. Political accountability must be built into how states are evaluated not just by the number of FRA titles distributed, but also by the number of rejections overturned, CFR rights recognised, and illegal displacements prevented. Gram Sabhas need legal literacy and capacity-building initiatives to assert their rights over forest produce and governance. Bureaucratic reforms are essential to ensure that committees reviewing claims are not dominated by officials resistant to the law’s intent.
Convergence programmes like DA-JGUA must also be actively used to support post-recognition initiatives from creating storage and processing units to enabling fair market access so that legal rights translate into economic empowerment.
The Forest Rights Act remains one of India’s most transformative pieces of legislation, built on the belief that the best protectors of forests are the communities who live in and depend on them. But as long as control remains concentrated in state departments and middlemen, the FRA’s promise will remain unfulfilled — a right recognised on paper, but denied in practice.