India, Aug. 22 -- The tribal communities must be involved in the initiatives concerning forests conservation and tribal welfare. Their absence in implementation of these schemes could harm forest health, environmental sustainability and impact ecological future of the whole country

Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) admittedly administers the Forest Rights Act 2006 (FRA) legislated with the laudable objectives of recognition and vesting of Forest Rights in Forest Dwelling Scheduled Tribes (FDSTs) & Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFDs) and their communities, their empowerment, and sustainable management and utilisation of forests and forest resources.

While recognition of individual forest rights commonly called as grant of 'patta' b...