TRIBAL PEOPLE
Tribal communities in Jammu and Kashmir will soon get the access to get the minor forest produce under the Forest Rights Act being implemented in Jammu and Kashmir . Recently a workshop was held by the Forest Department for its implementation in which Secretary Tribal Affairs was also present . Speaking on the occasion , Secretary Tribal Affairs department explained that the FRA , 2006 will bring change in the livelihood of Forest Dwelling Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers and help building of community infrastructure by utilizing the funds under CAPEX- Plan as well as from Ministry of Tribal Affairs , Gol . He said the Act apart from recognizing the rights also gives various kinds of duties to holders of forest rights to protect the wildlife , forest and biodiversity of the area . In order to improve the process rate of the claims , he stated that Tribal Research Institute is planning a training module for various stakeholders which is likely to start shortly . PCCF ( HOFF , ) J & K Forest Department , gave a detailed account of status of implementation of Forest Rights Act in J & K , dissemination of claim forms , formats for processing of claims and providing of forest records and maps as well as GPS ( technical support ) to the frontline staff of the Forest Department . He said that the Act was extended to J & K from 31st October 2019 and implementation started from 1st December 2020. Besides the right to live and hold forest land , the Act provides for ownership rights on minor forest products which have been traditionally collected by the Forest Dwelling Scheduled Tribes and OTFDs as well as rights to grazing and access to traditional seasonal resources . Some of the districts like Rajouri , Poonch , Budgam and Kupwara have received a maximum number of claims , so far , which are in different stages of verification and a large number of claims have already been decided .
