Matching of Habitat Rights (Habitat Rights) of Baga Tribe in Chhattisgarh, what does it mean?

Baga Tribe has been specially placed in the category of the Pichhauri tribe. That means these people are still considered backward socio-economically.

It has been found that remnants of Ukraine also live in these coastal forests. But when elections come, at least the mention of these temples comes up.

One such interesting case has been seen in Chhattisgarh. Where the Baiga tribe (Baiga tribe) has got housing rights in the state before the assembly elections to be held next month.

On Monday, October 9, especially the Partial Tribal Group (PVTG) got habitat rights in the state. After which Kamar became the second group after PVTG to get housing rights in the state.

This privilege covers a total of 19 Bagas of this community and around 2,085 families live in the area, population is 6,483.

A special program has been organized by the Gaurela-Pendra-Margahi (GPM) district administration in these areas of Gaurela block.

The Baga community mainly resides in Rajnandgaon, Kawardha, Mungeli, Gaurela-Pendra-Margi (GPM), Manendra-Bharatpur-Chirmiri, and Bilaspur in the state. Baga Community Cosmetics also exists in Madhya Pradesh ( मध्य प्रदेश में बैगा समुदाय).

What is housing right?

Habitat provides rights to communities in their traditional areas of residence, socio-cultural ideology, economic and academic expertise, biodiversity and backward knowledge, traditional knowledge of the use of natural structures as well as the protection and conservation of their natural and cultural heritage. Has been done

This right is granted to the PVTG under the Right to Habitat 2006 under Section 3 (1) (e) of the Rocket Tribe and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act. This right is also called FRA i.e. Forest Rights Act.

Additionally, as per Section 2(h) of the FRA, the habitat includes primitive tribal communities in old forests and protected forests and pre-agricultural communities and other forests.

Habitat rights are protecting and promoting traditional and cultural knowledge passed down from the ashram. They are helping the PTG network to unite various government initiatives and various joint initiatives to develop its housing.

States to assign housing rights

Of the 75 PVTGs in India, only three groups have habitat rights. Bharia PVTG got this right first in Madhya Pradesh. After this, the Kamar tribe of Chhattisgarh and now the Baga tribe (छत्तीसगढ़ में बैगा जनजाति) have been included in this list.

There are seven VTGs in Chhattisgarh. Who live in 17 out of 33 states. The names of all of them are Kamar, Baga, Pahari Korba, Jhumkedia, Birhor, Pando, and Bhujia.
According to the survey, the total population of electricity corporations in Chhattisgarh in 2015-2016 is 2.50 lakh. Whereas according to 2011, the percentage of population in Chhattisgarh is 78.22 lakh.

Government Habitat Workshop Process

Bibhor Kumar Dev, Legislative Head, UNDP, United Nations Development Programme, is providing technical assistance to the administration to implement the Right to Habitat Act.

He said that this process is based on the details given for this purpose in Principles 2014.

Along with this, he said that based on MoTA, traditional tribal leaders of the tribe are consulted about the extent of their culture, industry, and business and the same is confirmed by the government. After this, it has again been declared a habitat.

Along with this, there are four state-level departments (four state-level departments), which include Forest, Revenue, Public Department, and Tribal Raj. All these departments are collaborating with the UNDP team to identify what can be called a place of residence.

When did the process of giving housing rights to PVTG start in Chhattisgarh?

According to official sources, the first counseling to grant these rights started in December 2021. The government started with Kamar Restaurant as a pilot project. It is a long and tedious process.

However, after the pilot project, this process can become faster. PVG is introverted and okra. Building relationships and getting feedback is hard work. They live in their own world and are very happy adopting positions of authority.

The population of Komarar in Char Coconut is 26 thousand 622. Till now, 22 hamlets of the Magarlod sub-region of the Magarlod development block of the Dhamtari district with a population of about 2500 people have received housing rights. Also, out of 88 thousand 317 Baga, 6 thousand 483 have got it.

Will there be any impact on the right to secure habitat?

Shomona Khanna, a lawyer in the Supreme Court of India and former legal advisor to the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs said that what matters is that housing rights will help PVTGs get relief from commercial development ties for their housing. Because it is good that the temple does not have rights over the land, but if anything is built on the land then the Gram Sabha’s land will also be leased.

Along with this, he also said that forest rights have been kept under legal protection under the Forest Conservation Act, Land Acquisition Act of 2013, and even the SCD/ST Atrocities and Harassment Act.