Odisha tops the list in implementation of the Forest Rights Act

Bhubaneswar: 1/9/17:  Odisha tops the list in implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006 while it has emerged as a pioneering state in adoption of the convergence of FRA with other poverty alleviation schemes.

Review by Prime Minister Narendra Modi over a video conferencing from Delhi in which Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi participated from the conference hall of the State secretariat has brought under focus the state’s satisfying performance in implementation of FRA and pro-poor scheme

Secretary Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Development Surendra Kumar joined the Chief Secretary in this conference.

Review revealed that Odisha topped the list at national level both in terms of the number of title rights distributed and the percentage of titles distributed over the number of claims raised. The State also pioneered in convergence of various poverty eradication schemes with FRA for enhancing livelihood options of the FRA beneficiaries. These beneficiaries were also brought under social security and food security net.

Secretary Surendra Kumar appraised that till end of June, 2017 about 4,06,745 individual family titles and 5,942 community rights involving an area of about 6,09,553 acres and 3,27,171 acres respectively were distributed under the Act.  This included 18,402 individual title certificates distributed to the particularly vulnerable trial group ( PVTG) families involving area of around 31,233 acres. These PVTG families are presently residing in 17 micro project areas of the State under which they have been also covered under various schemes.