Update land records to include FRA titles allotted, MoEF&CC directs states

Subject: Environment

Context-

The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has written a letter to states across the country, directing them to record settlement rights in revenue and forest records within a period of three months.

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Digital information on the record of rights (RoR) under The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 or FRA will also be integrated with the PARIVESH portal and other web GIS platforms of central and state government departments.
Geo-referencing of RoR under FRA will be beneficial for the people of the states as the forest and tribal welfare departments will be able to initiate specific projects and schemes for improving the livelihoods of the FRA title holders.

Parivesh (Pro-Active and Responsive facilitation by Interactive, Virtuous and Environmental Single-window Hub)-

It is an environmental single-window hub for Environment, Forest, Wildlife and CRZ clearances.
This Single-Window Integrated Environmental Management System has been developed in pursuance of the spirit of ‘Digital India’ initiated by the Prime Minister and capturing the essence of Minimum Government and Maximum Governance.

Key features:

“PARIVESH” is a workflow-based application, based on the concept of web architecture. It has been rolled out for online submission, monitoring and management of proposals submitted by Project Proponents to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC), as well as to the State Level Environmental Impact Assessment Authorities (SEIAA).
It seeks to give various types of clearances (e.g. Environment, Forest, Wildlife and Coastal Regulation Zone Clearances) from Central, State and district-level authorities.
The system has been designed, developed and hosted by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, with technical support from National Informatics Centre, (NIC).
It provides single registration and single sign-in for all types of clearances (i.e. Environment, Forest, Wildlife and CRZ), unique-ID for all types of clearances required for a particular project and a single Window interface for the proponent to submit applications for getting all types of clearances (i.e. Environment, Forests, Wildlife and CRZ clearances).

Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 or FRA

FRA enacted in 2006 recognises the rights of forest-dwelling tribal communities and other traditional forest dwellers to forest resources on which these communities were dependent for a variety of needs, including livelihood, habitation and other socio-cultural needs.
It recognizes and vests the forest rights and occupation in Forest land in Forest Dwelling Scheduled Tribes (FDST) and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFD) who have been residing in such forests for generations.
It strengthens the conservation regime of the forests while ensuring the livelihood and food security of the FDST and OTFD.
The Gram Sabha is the authority to initiate the process for determining the nature and extent of Individual Forest Rights (IFR) or Community Forest Rights (CFR) or both that may be given to FDST and OTFD.

Rights Under the Forest Rights Act:

Title rights:
- It gives FDST and OTFD the right to ownership to land farmed by tribals or forest dwellers subject to a maximum of 4 hectares.
- Ownership is only for land that is actually being cultivated by the concerned family and no new lands will be granted.
Use rights:
- The rights of the dwellers extend to extracting Minor Forest Produce, grazing areas
Relief and development rights:
- To rehabilitate in case of illegal eviction or forced displacement and to basic amenities, subject to restrictions for forest protection.
Forest management rights:
- It includes the right to protect, regenerate or conserve or manage any community forest resource which they have been traditionally protecting and conserving for sustainable use.