Awareness Rally in Bhatkal Calls for Scrapping ‘Three-Generation’ Document Requirement for Forest Rights
Protesters say strict documentation rules violate the spirit of the Forest Rights Act and threaten long-settled families with eviction.
Bhatkal: A large crowd of activists marched from the Circuit House to the Mini Vidhana Soudha on Monday under the banner of the Forest Land Rights Struggle Committee. The rally aimed to highlight the concerns of families who have lived on forest land for decades and now fear eviction due to strict documentation requirements.
At the Mini Vidhana Soudha, the committee’s state president, Ravindra Naik, submitted a detailed memorandum to Tahsildar Nagendra. He said that imposing stringent proof requirements under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) for recognising the residence and cultivation rights of traditional forest dwellers goes against the very spirit of the law. According to him, the “three-generation” rule introduced through the 2012 amendment is not only unnecessary but also legally questionable.
Citing legal precedents, Naik pointed out that several courts—including the Gujarat High Court—have criticised such practices. He added that the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs has issued written guidelines stating that applications should not be rejected solely for lack of documents, as it is often impossible for families settled for generations to maintain extensive records.
Presenting data, he said the impact of the policy has been alarming: 88.90% of claims across the state and 83.50% of claims in Bhatkal have been rejected. He called these figures “deeply concerning.”
Speaking to the media after the rally, Naik announced that awareness programmes would be organised across all 132 gram panchayats in the district to educate forest dwellers about their legal rights and the documents required for filing claims. As part of this campaign, three lakh pamphlets will be distributed, outlining nine key documents and their legal importance.
