Chattisgarh: Kamar Tribe accorded Habitat Forest Rights, know of these rights

The Kamar Tribe of Chhattisgarh recently became the first Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in the state to be accorded Habitat Forest Rights under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006. As per a report by the United Nations Development Programme, 22 villages of Kamar Tribe families located in the Magarlod block of the Dhamtari district are likely to benefit from the decision. The announcements were made on August 9 on International Day of the World's Indigenous People, as reported by Times of India.

In 2015, the Baiga community of Madhya Pradesh became the first among the PVTGs in the country to be granted specific rights. It is essential to highlight that out of the 75 PVTGs eligible for habitat rights under the (FRA) since its enactment in 2006, Baiga and Kamar are the only two to have received these rights.

What are PVTGs?

As per the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, 75 tribal communities in the country- spread across 18 states and one union territory- have been officially recognised as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs). This distinction was based on the recommendations of the Dhebar Commission (1960-61) and other studies conducted during the Fourth Five-Year Plan. The Dhebar Commission pointed towards significant inequality in the rate of development within various tribal groups. Consequently, PVTGs were placed in a special category within Scheduled Tribes. The identification and categorisation of such groups were based on characteristics such as:

1. Preservation of pre-agricultural practices

2. Hunting and gathering practices

3. Decreasing or stagnant population growth

4. Relatively low levels of literacy in contrast to other tribal groups. 

In Chhattisgarh, seven tribal communities have been placed in the PVTG category. These include - Abujhmadia, Baiga, Birhor, Kamars, Pahadi Korwas, Bhunjia and Pandos communities.

Habitat Forest Rights

Section 3(1)(e) of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, stipulates explicitly the recognition of "habitat rights" for Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs). 

The term "habitat" is defined under Section 2 (h) of the FRA as the areas traditionally inhabited by primitive tribal groups and pre-agricultural communities. It includes their customary habitat and other such habitats of community rights in reserved, protected, and other types of forests. Furthermore, to clarify the term "habitation," the Ministry of Tribal Affairs issued a directive in 2015 which said that the right to community tenure to habitat and habitation may be recognised over customary territories used by the PVTG for habitation, livelihood, social, economic, spiritual, sacred, religious and other purposes.

In simpler terms, the habitat rights for PVTGs acknowledge the traditional and customary rights of these communities over their homes, lands, and way of life. These rights extend to various aspects such as their culture, economy, livelihoods, and even their knowledge of the environment and biodiversity.

Accordance of Habitat rights to the Kamars

According to the 2011 Census, the population of the Kamar tribe is 26,630 individuals. This community predominantly resides in the districts of Gariyaband, Mahasamund, Dhamtari, and Kanker in Chhattisgarh.

As per the UNDP report, the decision to implement habitat rights in Chhattisgarh was undertaken through a pilot project initiated in a State-Level Monitoring Committee meeting chaired by the state's Chief Secretary in 2021. After that, based on the draft guidelines issued by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, the community of Kamar PVTG, residing in the district of Dhamtari, was selected to initiate the process of habitat rights. This was followed by a comprehensive study to establish a common understanding of the concept of "habitat" for the Kamar tribe. This included an extensive mapping exercise accompanied by documentation of evidence. The respective Gram Sabhas were engaged thoroughly to verify and approve various claims.

Benefits 

Subrat Kumar Nayak in his paper ‘Habitat’: Territorial Rights of A Community notes how alienation from forests and resources is pushing PVTG communities towards further vulnerability. He argues that the determination of their habitat rights would not only involve understanding their past and present practices and systems but also reconstructing their habitat. This will stop further alienation and deprivation and provide these communities with an opportunity to set their own way of development. Nayak further asserts that the process will also restore many of PVTGs’ social, cultural, livelihood and religious rights, which form the essence of the Forest Rights Act of undoing ‘historical injustice'.

Conclusion

Notably, only two of the 75 PVTGs have been allocated Habitat Forest Rights to date. Albeit the process of recognising habitat rights is complex, factors such as the absence of comprehensive socioeconomic information about the communities only add to the complexity. As reported by Alok Prakash Putul in Scroll, what exacerbates this problem is the lack of awareness among these communities concerning the existence and significance of these rights. Political will to fasten the process of diseminating these rights is the need for the hour.

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