The Union Tribal Affairs Ministry has mandated that relocation of forest-dwelling communities from tiger reserves must be an “exceptional, voluntary and evidence-based measure”. The ministry’s new policy framework also explains the mechanisms to allow communities to continue living in forests and the procedures to be followed in obtaining their consent to relocate.
The policy calls for a National Framework for Community Focused Conservation and Resettlement (NFCCR) through which the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs can jointly set procedural standards, timelines and accountability. It also proposes a National Conservation and Community Interface (NDCCI) database to record and track relocation, compensation and post-relocation status. Recommends annual independent audits of relocation projects by empaneled agencies to assess compliance with the Forest Rights Act, Nature Conservation Act and human rights standards.
Communities can choose to continue living in “traditional forest habitats” while exercising their individual forest rights or community forest rights under the FRA, the policy says, stressing that this must be an option for villages located on reserves. In such cases, authorities must ensure in-situ development of basic infrastructure, involve Gram Sabha members in Tiger Conservation Foundations and Eco Development Committees and “generate evidence of sustainable coexistence models for wider replication”, the policy adds.
Against NTCA Relocation Directive
The report, titled “Reconciling Conservation and Community Rights: A Policy Framework for Translocation and Coexistence in India’s Tiger Reserves,” was sent to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change last week from the office of the Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs noted that it had received several representations from state governments and Gram Sabhas raising “serious concerns” over the non-implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006.
Last year, the National Tiger Conservation Authority’s directive to states asking them to prioritize the relocation of villages in key areas of tiger reserves drew protests from several Gram Sabhas and forest rights activists. This also led to representations to the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the Ministry of Environment seeking the repeal of the directive. According to NTCA, there were 591 villages and 64,801 families in the core areas of tiger reserves.
In August this year, the Environment Ministry told Parliament that a total of 5,166 families from 56 villages had been relocated from tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, West Bengal and Rajasthan since January 2022. It claimed that all relocations from core/critical tiger habitats were voluntary in nature as already required by the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 read with the Forest Rights Act, 2006.
Collaborative approach
In a letter to the environment ministry, tribal affairs secretary Vibhu Nayar said there was an “urgent need to examine the substantive issues” with the relocations and that a “collaborative approach” was needed to ensure that “relocations, if carried out, are voluntary, scientifically sound, rights-based and based on equality and dignity”.
This policy framework, he said, “seeks to ensure that any relocation of forest-dwelling communities is based on constitutional, legal, ethical and scientific principles”. He added that the issues discussed in the framework were of “critical importance” and called for it to be disseminated among the state forest and tribal welfare departments and taken to the district levels as well.
“The state has an affirmative constitutional duty to protect these rights (of the forest dweller) and may not abridge them except for demonstrable ecological necessity,” the policy states, adding that the completion of the FRA rights recognition process must be “verifiable at the household and Gram Sabha levels”.
Free, informed, prior consent
Consent for relocation must be obtained before any administrative notification and should not be instigated or coerced, which can be ensured by an independent empowered civil society organisation, the brief said, adding that information on all aspects must be provided to villagers in “local language and culturally appropriate formats”.
It also urges him to monitor compliance with the provisions of the Forest Rights Act and the Wildlife Protection Act in every tiger reserve. It suggests a three-tier grievance redressal mechanism (district-state-national) and adds that SC/ST (Prevention of Atricities) Act can be invoked in cases of illegal expropriation or procedural lapses.
Published – 28 Oct 2025 21:03 IST
