Apparently, the Forest Rights Act is empowering the right people in at least some places:
–Mendha, Gadchiroli district, Maharasthtra
Mendha becomes the first village to gain rights to harvest and sell bamboo, as a consequence of reclassifying bamboo as a grass and not a tree (and therefore not frees it from the Forest Department): http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-01-21/science/28368155_1_indian-forest-act-tribal-communities-upa-government,
–Maharashtra, Thane District, Murbad Tehsil, Murbad: “The project contractor has already felled thousands of trees near the site without permission from the Forest Department. After repeated agitations by Shramik Mukti Sangathana, the local forest officials confiscated one dumper and 178 stumps of timber.”….”MMRDA commissioner Rahul Asthana, brushed off responsibility saying, “We are simply funding the project, not executing it. All the responsibility for execution is with the KIDC.” KIDC chief Dr SS Magar said, “Sometimes when you want to reach some where fast you have to jump a few signals.”
–Manipur: Committee on Protection of Tribal Areas (CoPTAM, how we love acronyms) protesting the Proposed Manipur (Village Authority in Hill Areas), 2nd Amendment Act, 2011, which “…simply empowers the state government to control tribal land and natural resources” … at the cost of “our land, custom, culture and tradition”
–Orissa: “Though Orissa claims itself to be the number one state in implementing forest rights act, 2006, but there are more than lakhs of cases to be disposed. So, a worried state govt. has ordered the Revenue Divisional Commissioners to monitor implementation of this act in Orissa.”
–Uttarakhand: Target communities remain ignorant in Uttarakhand