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Indian Forest Act Amendment and its Impact on Adivasis in India

Medha Kolanu

On March 20th, 2019,the Government of India proposed an overhaul of the Indian Forest Act 1927 which was framed and used by the erstwhile British colonizers primarily to produce and extract timber, while curtailing the rights of millions of tribals who shared a symbiotic relationship with forest land and its resources traditionally held control over it. While the Government claims that the purported intent of the new Act is to increase forest cover by addressing the contemporary challenges faced by the Indian forests, the draft bill which has been sent to the State Governments to be reviewed by them before June 7th has been accused of being repressive and dismissive of the rights accorded to socially marginalized tribal groups over traditionally held forest resources by Article 244, schedule 5 and schedule 6 of the Indian Constitution. The draft bill, by centralizing power over forest territory in the hands of the Central and State governments, also seemingly undermines the provisions of the Forest Rights Act 2006.