Approximately 275 million people involved in the Minor Forest Produce (MFP) economy (World Bank 2005), a significant portion of which is tribal population, struggle with this every day. Collection, processing, and sale of MFP comprises the backbone of the forest sector. The government estimates the collection potential of MFP is INR 1900 crores and the production potential of INR 4000 crores (TRIFED n.d.). But what holds the sector back is a regulatory conflict at the Union and state-level
In 2006, Parliament passed the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act (FRA) with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) as the nodal agency for its implementation. The FRA aimed to grant forest-dwelling communities ownership rights over the forest land they have lived on for generations. This was a part of the MoTA mandate to foster economic development for indigenous communities in the country. At the Union level, this is in competition with the interests of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) to conserve the environment. The MoEF&CC continues to implement the Indian Forest Act 1927, a colonial law that regulates forests for commercial purposes; such interests that seize control over forest land from original inhabitants do not lie fully aligned with the goals of conservation.
At the state level, most states follow archaic laws that legitimise practices such as permission to move produce out of forests or state monopoly over trade of MFP, directly contravening community rights outlined in the FRA (Kukreti 2017; Kukreti 2018). For instance, in Gujarat, the government fully controls the trade of certain MFP, including the prices at which they are to be sold.
There are two issues at play here: (i) conflict of interest between MoEF&CC and MoTA; and (ii) existing state laws that exert government monopoly over forest produce. In this brief, we examine FRA’s approach to trade in minor forest produce and how state-level laws come into conflict with its provisions. In particular, we focus on the condition of a Transit Permit for moving produce out of the forest and state monopoly over certain MFP.