Tribal woman and empowerment through forest rights act – 2006 in Rajasthan

Author: 
Durgesh Kumar

The preamble of the Forest Rights Act 2006 itself acknowledges the injustice done to the communities of Schedule Tribes and other people staying in the forests by stating that there has been an historical injustice done to the Schedule Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers. The Bill was passed by the parliament in the year 2006 for the recognition of the rights of the tribal and other communities who have been staying in the forest for centuries for their main livelihood. It mainly recognises ones community rights over the land they have been sustaining for their livelihood but also the women’s rights who are also part of the family as a main unit. It entitles the ownership of land in the name of both men and women in a house hold thus trying to empower the women who are historically discriminated by the men. The present research paper tries to find out the impact it has done so far to women in Southern Rajasthan who got an equal share in availing the land rights same with the man whom she got married to. Upon collecting the data and through our observations in the field, we found that the Tribal women indeed got a say in the politics of development that men used to dominate, through the help of some of the community organisations present in the villages.

Paper No: 
2650