Paper short abstract:

This paper asks whether the Forest Rights Act (FRA) passed by the Government of India in 2006 could provide effective access and ownership rights to land and forests for the adivasi communities of Wayand thereby leading to an enhancement of their entitlements and livelihood security.

Paper long abstract:

This paper asks the question whether the Forest Rights Act (FRA) passed by the Government of India in 2006 could provide effective access and ownership rights to land and forests for the adivasi communities of Wayand thereby leading to an enhancement of their entitlements and livelihood security. The FRA , it would seem, provided an easy escape route for the Government of Kerala, which was grappling with the stalemate in the implementation of its own laws vis-à-vis adivasi land rights, due to organized resistance from the non-adivasi workers employed in the plantations that were meant toprovide employment for adivasis, as well as the settler farmers. While granting nominal possession rights to the dwelling sites of a small community of adivasis (Kattunaicker, who are traditional forest dwellers), the FRA has failed to provide them with substantive access and ownership rights to land and forests. The paper argues that the FRA has a constraining rather than an enabling effect on the ongoing emancipatory struggles of the adivasis of Kerala.