Forest Legislation, Tribal Marginalisation, And The Struggle For Land Rights: The Case Of PVTGS In The Nilgiris
- IJLLR Journal
- Feb 20
- 1 min read
Sarthak Mishra & Smriti Mishra, Maharashtra National Law University, Nagpur
ABSTRACT
From historical times, tribal communities have been the indigenous inhabitants of forest land and custodians of resources. However, with the migration and urbanisation, the land and resources of the tribal's began to be encroached upon by the governments and big corporations, which undermined the rights of the tribes
By employing a doctrinal research approach, the study explores the history of the tribal land and resource rights of PVTGs in the Nilgiris and how the challenges began to arise when their rights to their ancestral lands and resources were encroached upon and undermined by British colonial forest policies, which continued after India’s independence through laws such as the National Forest Policy of 1952 and the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. However, despite the enactment of protective frameworks, these tribal groups are still face obstacles in reclaiming and using their land and resources in forests because of a lack of awareness about the laws, bureaucratic inefficiencies, and ongoing state- and corporate-backed encroachment on their land.
By studying forest governance from colonial times to post-independence, this study argues that the marginalisation of PVTGs in the Nilgiris is due to legislative and structural impediments. Even though statutes make a transformative legal shift for the tribes, their implementation remains fraught with bureaucratic delays, legal obstacles and inadequate accountability. What is needed is to ensure transparent implementation of Statutes such as the Forest Rights Act, 2006, community participation with Gram Sabha, legal literacy amount PVTGs and ethical engagement by civil society organisations.
