Categorisation in Forest Areas: A Study of the ‘OTFDs’ in the Forest Rights Act

Abstract

There are certain demarcated tribal areas in our country where the Scheduled Tribes (STs) have special community rights to live their lives according to their customs and maintain control over local natural resource management. The Sixth Schedule and Fifth Schedule are examples of such areas, and after the enactment of the Forest Rights Act, (FRA), 2006, there are crucial preferential provisions for the STs in forest areas of the whole country too. This article probes the historical development of categorisations in India, particularly in the context of forest-dwelling communities, and attempts to examine constitutional provisions and the provisions of different laws passed by the Parliament to evaluate the situation of other minority communities, particularly dalits, living in ‘forest areas’. In this context, the article primarily focuses on the genesis and practice of the Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFDs) category. Based on the field study of the Taungya village, the article shows the problem of categorisation in forest areas and marginalisation of dalits due to this process and emphasises the need for a more dialogical and democratic process of categorisation in India.

Keywords

Scheduled tribes adivasis dalits OTFDs FRA

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