It is felt that from times immemorial, a combination of historical injustice, cultural exclusion and insensitivity has prevented the tribal people from sharing equally
in the journey of progress. A central factor for this has been limited access to and control over natural resources, both land and forest. Alongside concerns about
survival and livelihood of tribal people, is the concern about India's declining and degrading forest cover and consequent threat to wild life and environment. For a
long time the Forest Acts, inherited from the British Forest Act 1927, have been seen as contributing to this marginalization of the tribals. In this background the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006 has become embroiled in controversy. The Forest Rights Act is a key piece of forest legislation passed by the Parliament on December 18, 2006. The Act was notified into force on December 31, 2007 with Notification of Rules issued on January 1, 2008.
While the Act is a major milestone for tribal and forest dwelling communities, it has stirred the emotions of the proponents and opponents alike. Proponents of the Bill argue that the legislation only seeks to recognise and regularise ground reality by granting legal entitlement to those millions of families who are today seen as encroachers and it basically aims to empower and improve livelihood chances of a historically marginalised people. Those in opposition, particularly the environmentalists and wild life conservationists, question both the presuppositions and details of the provisions in the Act. Activists also point out that the Act fails to meet the specific needs of tribal women.

This issue of Yojana seeks to examine the issue of Forest Rights in its various dimensions. You would find articles detailing the basics of the 2006 Act as also bring you diverse perspectives on the Act. We have contribution from the Minister for Panchayati Raj specifying the role of Gram Sabha for Effective Implementation of the Forest Rights Act. Also included are articles from wildlife conservationists from Orissa and Karnataka, and field-expert Shankar Gopalakrishnan of Campaign for Survival and Dignity and Sanjay Upadhayay, a Supreme Court Lawyer. The specific experiences of State level activities in this regard are included with respect to Madhya Pradesh along with the regular columns of 'Best Practices', 'J&K Window' and 'In The News'. Yojana as always looks forward to contributions from its Readers.