Animal and Environment Leaal Defence Fund v Union of India- Tribal com
munies
who inhabited around the area which was declared as the Pench National Park were shifted
to another area. The tribal communities claimed that one of their traditional sources of
livelihood was fishing in the National Park and that due to relocation, they would lose this
right and livelihood. In this case, the Supreme Court recognised that there was a need to
harmonize wildlife forest and tribal life
Possible Conflicts: The government has been empowered to declare wildlife sanctuaries and
parks in protected areas for conservation of wildlife. However, the construction of parks and
sanctuaries in protected areas also occupied by tribal population can affect the rights or tribal
people over their land. Similarly, the wildlife protection act prohibits hunting of wild animals
without carving out an exception for tribal communities: this can substantially limit the right
of tribal people to carry out traditional activities
The exceotions carved in S.38VS) assume that all tribal peoole's capacitv to apolv for
recognition of their forest land. In 2019. the Supreme Court in Wildlife First & ors v. Ministrv
of Forest and Environment ordered the eviction of one million forest dwellers and multiole
affidavits were submitted to the court. The court's reasoning was that for those forest
dwellers whose claims to forest land have been rejected can be evicted.
There have been recent amendments which have diluted the strong protection afforded to
forest dwellers under the FRA. For instance, the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Rules in
2014 notified that consent from Gram Sabha is not necessary and only the District
Magistrate's consent is sufficient to legitimize an order for clearing out forests. This weakens
the importance of tribal peoole's participation in the democratic process and their rights
under the FRA.
In conclusion, the FRA, the Wildlife Protection Act and the Forest Conservation Act attempt
to harmonize tribal rights and conservation and have enacted strong provisions regarding the
same, the law on paper fails to give effect to these rights because of loopholes present both
in the legislations and recent government notifications and amendments
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