Bhubaneswar: Odisha has become a leading State in the country to accord habitat rights to Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) under Forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006. Juangs of Jajpur district have become the fifth PVTG in the country and second in the state to get habitat rights under FRA.
With this, Odisha has become a forerunner with three Habitat Rights recognized for the PVTGs, the maximum in India. On August 6, the habitat rights of Juang community of Jajpur were approved by the District Level Committee (DLC). Earlier on March 7, Paudi Bhuyan of Deogarh district was the first PVTG community in the State to receive Habitat Rights title.
While Habitat Rights of Paudi Bhuyan has been recognised over 32 villages under Barkote block, Habitat Rights of Juangs in Jajpur district has been recognised covering 13 villages under Sukinda block and Habitat Rights for Juangs in Keonjhar district has been recognized covering 134 villages across four blocks.
The Juangs of Keonjhar will become the sixth such title awarded in India under the category along with the Juangs of Jajpur, Paudi Bhuyans of Deogarh in Odisha and Bharia PVTG in Madhya Pradesh and Kamar PVTG and Baiga PVTG in Chhattisgarh, having legal title and rights over their forest habitats.
Expressing happiness over the development, Minister ST & SC Development, Minorities & Backward Classes Welfare Nityananda Gond said, “Our pro-people government is always there to see overall development of the tribal communities and especially the PVTGs and with habitat rights recognition, this will be more defined and concrete.”
Odisha houses 13 PVTGs – highest among all the States and Union Territories of India. The PVTGs inhabit in 1,683 villages/settlements distributed in 285 gram panchayats (GPs) under 42 blocks and 14 districts of Odisha. There are as many as 1,79,742 households with total population of 7,73,092. All the 13 PVTGs have different socio-cultural and socio-political significances, different habitat aspects.
SC, ST Research and Training Institute (SCSTRTI), Bhubaneswar has undertaken the study on determination and mapping of habitat rights of PVTGs under FRA across Odisha. Under the guidance of SCSTRTI and with the support of partner NGO Vasundhara, the process of habitat rights determination and claim making was done by the traditional institutions of each of the PVTGs.
Out of the 13 PVTGs, the Habitat Rights claims for 9 PVTGs across 14 micro projects have been submitted at Sub-Division Level Committees (SDLC) and are at various stages of approval at SDLC and DLC.
Commissioner-cum-Secretary of the department Roopa Roshan Sahoo said, “The habitat rights for PVTG communities is a remarkable achievement and we would be planning for more as a major chunk of our State’s population (around 23 pc) are tribals. Our efforts will be more focused on the welfare of these communities and especially for the PVTGs, across the State.”