Chhattisgarh leads in recognising individual and community forest rights, says state govt

Raipur (Chhattisgarh) [India], October 6 : Chhattisgarh has emerged as a leading state in the country in recognising individual and community forest rights, said the state government on Tuesday.
According to a statement issued by the state government, till now, more than 4.41 lakh individuals and more than 46,000 community forest rights have been distributed to the Scheduled Tribes community and other traditional forest dwellers.
"Chhattisgarh has emerged as a leading state in terms of recognition of individual and community forest rights across the nation under the leadership and guidance of the Chief Minister Mr Bhupesh Baghel," stated a release from the state government.
"In this manner, 51.06 lakh acres of individual and community forest rights have been distributed to local communities in the state. About 1 hectare of forest land has been recognised for forest rights holders on an average, which is comparatively better than the rest of the nation," it added.
About 4.41 lakh individual forest rights papers have been distributed in the state which account for more than 9,41,800 acres, according to the release. "Similarly, an area of more than 46,000 community forest rights papers accounts for more than 41,64,700 acres. For the first time in the state, the state government has provided consent and recognition to the Gram Sabhas, regarding the management of 26,000 hectares of forest land, under 23 cases of community forest resource rights after January 2019," the state government added.
According to the statement, the recognised beneficiaries are handed over the forest rights letter along with facilities like irrigation, manure-seeds, agricultural inputs and close to 1,49,762 beneficiaries in the state have benefited from land levelling and fencing.
"Levelling and fencing work was done on more than 58,000 hectares. Manure, seeds and agricultural inputs have also been provided to them. Government-run schemes have been integrated with the recognised forest lands," the state government said.
Irrigation facility has been provided on more than 11,000 hectares of land, accounting for over 41,000 beneficiaries in the state.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, more than 95,000 villagers have received housing facilities, and more than 2 lakh beneficiaries have been provided with Kisan Samman Nidhi. "Irrigation facilities have been provided in order to increase the crop production capacity of their land and raising their income leading to stable livelihood. Fruit and forest produce plants are being planted on the rims of the fields," according to the release.
Under the Forest Rights Act 2006, about 1158 hectares of forest land has been provided to various departments for conducting 2,309 projects.