development
are
just
bogus.
During
a
National
Convention
on
Community
Forest
Rights
held
in
Delhi
on
December
16th
2014
various
forest
dwelling
communities
strongly
claimed
that
the
Forest
Rights
Act
was
passed
by
the
Legislature
for
the
recognition
of
rights
of
the
tribals
and
the
forest
dwellers.
It
was
their
argument
that
first
the
rights
have
to
be
recognized
and
then
a
process
be
worked
out
by
industries,
using
forest
land
for
non-‐forest
purposes,
with
the
communities
to
hand
over
the
forest
land
after
compensating
the
holders
of
the
right
and
obtaining
their
consent.
This
argument
was
raised
as
there
was
and
there
is
still
a
concern
that
the
tribal
communities
will
face
the
same
‘historical
injustice’
it
had
faced
before
the
Act
came
into
force.
Importance
of
the
Forest
Rights
Act:
The
Forest
Rights
Act
was
legislated
to
curb
the
‘historical
injustice’
of
the
tribal
communities
and
the
traditional
forest
dwellers.
The
‘historical
injustice’
refers
to
the
non
recognition
of
forest
rights
of
the
tribal
communities
and
other
traditional
dwellers
in
the
forests
for
a
very
long
time.
As
has
been
mentioned
earlier
in
this
article
the
legislations,
policies
and
judgments
of
the
Supreme
Court
did
not
make
substantial
reference
to
forest
rights
of
the
tribal
communities.
The
coming
of
the
Forest
Rights
Act
showed
some
hope
and
promise
but
later
could
not
meet
up
to
the
expectations.
But
this
is
not
because
the
Act
is
weak
or
bad
but
this
was
and
is
mainly
because
there
was
only
a
lukewarm
effort
on
the
part
of
the
Government
to
implement
the
Act.
The
tribal
communities
and
the
traditional
dwellers
have
been
prevalent
in
India
for
a
very
long
time,
some
even
for
many
centuries.
It
is
very
important
that
their
rights
are
recognised
as
the