3 months ago
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Over the past six months, the Odisha authorities has been shutting down Forest Rights Act (FRA) Cells that were acceptable up nether State and Central schemes to accelerate the implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006.
The instrumentality is meant to recognise the humanities rights of the Scheduled Tribes and different wood dwellers to the wood lands they person utilized arsenic situation and for livelihoods for generations.
The closure of the cells and the sacking of the enactment unit without immoderate nationalist mentation successful a State known for being among the apical performers successful implementing the FRA has drawn the attraction of the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs. Officials accidental the Centre has started making inquiries regarding the directives issued by Odisha’s ST & SC Development, Minorities & Backward Classes Welfare Department.
On Tuesday, the section issued instructions for the dissolution of “all FRA Cells functioning astatine the 50 sub-divisional levels nether the DA-JGUA (Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan) scheme” by the extremity of March. It added that each wood rights claims pending disposal astatine this level indispensable beryllium cleared by then.
DA-JGUA is simply a Central strategy launched successful 2024, 1 of whose cardinal thrusts is to assistance States with further quality resources successful forming FRA Cells to expedite processing of wood rights, helping with record-keeping and digitising existing wood rights titles.
The Odisha authorities had months earlier discontinued the services of FRA Cell unit moving astatine the territory and tehsil levels nether the State’s Mo Jungle Jami Yojana, contempt requests and representations to sorb the employees successful the FRA Cells that were to beryllium acceptable up nether the DA-JGUA.
An authoritative from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs told The Hindu that “inquiries are being made into these decisions”, adding that “support unit for the FRA Cells volition beryllium ensured astatine each levels, adjacent if the operation mightiness beryllium nether discussion”, without clarifying what this would entail. When reached for comment, the Odisha authorities did not respond.
Mixed results
Odisha has issued the second-highest fig of wood rights titles aft Chhattisgarh.
However, latest reports from December 2025 showed that it besides has the sixth-highest pendency complaint — with 20% of the 7.69 lakh FRA claims filed pending disposal. Internal reports connected the pendency of FRA claims successful the State noted that arsenic of August 2025, determination were implicit 1.22 lakh pending idiosyncratic wood rights claims, 13,667 pending assemblage rights claims and 12,934 pending assemblage wood rights claims.
