This document summarizes the Ministry of Tribal Affairs' implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006, as of July 24, 2025. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs, the nodal ministry for administering the Act, issues guidelines to ensure its proper implementation. State Governments and UT Administrations are responsible for implementation in 20 States and 1 UT.
Key data points reported by States and collated until May 31, 2025, indicate that a total of 2,511,375 titles have been recognized, comprising 2,389,670 individual and 121,705 community titles, covering 23,273,947.39 acres of forest land. State-wise details are available in Annexure I.
The document also addresses the allocation and expenditure for the Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP) by States/UTs, monitored based on Planning Commission guidelines from 2014, with details available at statetsp.tribal.gov.in. It notes the role of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in enhancing livelihood security for Scheduled Tribe households in forest areas by providing guaranteed wage employment, with provisions for additional employment days.
Furthermore, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) monitors vacancies in posts reserved for Scheduled Tribes candidates in the Union Government. Ministries/Departments have been directed to fill vacant posts in a time-bound manner, with each designating a Liaison Officer to ensure compliance with reservation orders. As of January 1, 2025, over 465,000 backlog vacancies have been filled since 2016, including over 115,000 ST vacancies. The representation of ST in the total employee strength is reported as 8.8%.
According to the Public Enterprises Survey 2023-24 (as of March 31, 2024), out of 812,000 employees in operating Central Public Sector Enterprises, 88,000 (10.85%) were from Scheduled Tribes. The document also includes details in Annexure II regarding the number of tribal students benefited from pre-matric and post-matric scholarship schemes over the last three academic years (2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25).
Key Entities Referenced
Ministry of Tribal Affairs: The nodal ministry responsible for administering the legislative matters of Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers Recognition of Forest Rights Act, 2006.
Forest Rights Act, 2006: Also known as the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. A law that grants legal recognition to the rights of traditional forest dwelling communities.
Lok Sabha: The lower house of the Parliament of India, where the Union Minister for Tribal Affairs laid a statement.
State Governments: Respective state governments are responsible for implementation of various provisions of the Forest Rights Act (FRA).
Union Territories Administrations: UT Administrations are responsible for implementation of various provisions of the Forest Rights Act (FRA).
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme: A demand-driven wage employment scheme aimed at enhancing livelihood security for households in rural areas.
Department of Personnel and Training: Monitors the progress of vacancies in posts reserved for Scheduled Tribes candidates in the Union Government.
Planning Commission: Issued the State Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP) Guidelines in 2014.
Ministry of Tribal Affairs
Implementation of Forest Rights Act, 2006
Posted On: 24 JUL 2025 5:15PM by PIB Delhi
Replying to the question of Shri Benny Behanan and Shri K Radhakrishnan the Union Minister for Tribal
Affairs Shri Jual Oram today laid a statement in Lok Sabha stating that the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, being
the Nodal Ministry for administering the legislative matters of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional
Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 and Rules made thereunder, by exercising power
under Section 12 of the Act, has been issuing directions and guidelines from time to time on various aspects to
ensure proper implementation of the Act. As per FRA and rules made thereunder, respective State
Governments/ UT Administrations are responsible for implementation of various provisions of the FR Act
and are being implemented in 20 States and 1 UT.
Ministry of Tribal Affairs seeks a Monthly Progress Report from the States/UTs, as per the latest information
reported by States and collated under MPR till 31st May, 2025, a total of 25,11,375 titles have been
recognised, comprising 23,89,670 individual and 1,21,705 community titles over the extent of 2,32,73,947.39
acres of forest land. The state wise details are enclosed at Annexure I.
The details of allocation and expenditure for TSP by States/UTs, out of their own funds, are available at
https://statetsp.tribal.gov.in Monitoring of TSP is done based on the State TSP Guidelines issued by the
Planning Commission in 2014.
As informed by Ministry of Rural Development, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee
Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS) is a demand - driven wage employment Scheme. It provides for the
enhancement of livelihood security of the households in rural areas of the country by providing at least one
hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every household whose adult
members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. It also mandates an extra 50 days of wage employment for
Scheduled Tribe households in forest areas and provides for an additional 50 days of wage employment in
drought or natural calamity-affected rural areas. State Governments may allocate additional days of
employment beyond the guaranteed period using their funds. Implementation of the scheme is the
responsibility of the State and several provisions for proper implementation have been provided in the
Mahatma Gandhi NREGS.
Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) monitors the progress of vacancies in posts reserved for
Scheduled Tribes candidates in the Union Government. As informed by DoPT, “Occurrence and filling of
vacancies, along with backlog reserved vacancies, is a continuous process. Instructions have been issued to all
Ministries/Departments of the Central Government to constitute an In-House Committee for identification of
backlog reserved vacancies, to study the root cause of such vacancies, to initiate measures to remove the
factors causing such vacancies and to fill them up through Special Recruitment Drives. The details of
vacancies are maintained by the respective Ministry/ Department. Ministries/Departments of the Central
Government have been directed, from time to time, to fill up the vacant posts in a time bound manner. Each
Ministry/Department of the Central Government is required to designate an officer of the rank of Deputy
Secretary and above, as Liaison Officer, to ensure due compliance of the orders and instructions pertaining to
reservation. Further, each Ministry/Department is required to set up a Special Reservation Cell under the
direct control of the Liaison Officer to assist her/him in discharge of duties. However, it is informed that as
per the data furnished by the Ministries/ Departments as on 1.1.2025, more than 4.65 lakh backlog vacancies
have been filled since 2016, including more than 1.15 lakh ST vacancies. Further, the representation of ST in
the total employee strength reported by Ministries/ Departments to DoPT is 8.8%.”
In addition to the above, the Department of Public Enterprises has been informed that- “As per information
available in Public Enterprises Survey 2023-24 (as on 31.3.2024), out of the 8.12 lakh total employees in
operating Central Public Sector Enterprises, 0.88 lakh (10.85%) were from Scheduled Tribes”.The number of tribal students benefited from pre-matric and post-matric scholarship schemes during the last 3
years is enclosed at Annexure-II.
Annexure-I
State wise details of claims received, titles distributed and the extent of forest land for which titles distributed
(individual and community), as on 31.05.2025, is indicated below:
No. of Titles Distributed Extent of Forest land for which titles
distributed (in acres)
S. No. States/ UT
Individua Communi Individua Commun
Total Total
l ty l ity
981,160.0
1 Andhra Pradesh 226,651 1,822 228,473 454,706 526,454
0
2 Assam 57,325 1,477 58,802 NA/NR NA/NR NA/NR
3 Bihar 191 0 191 53.03 0.00 53
949,770.8 9,102,957 10,052,72
4 Chhattisgarh 481,432 52,636 534,068
9 .49 8.38
5 Goa 856 15 871 1,506.45 18.66 1,525.11
168,448.8 1,240,680 1,409,128
6 Gujarat 98,732 4,792 103,524
3 .15 .99
H i m a c h a l
7 662 146 808 126.65 62,677.24 62,803.89
Pradesh
153,395.8 103,758.9 257,154.8
8 Jharkhand 59,866 2,104 61,970
6 7 3
9 Karnataka 14,981 1,345 16,326 20,077.30 36,340.52 56,417.82
788,651.2 827,461.8
10 Kerala 29,422 282 29,704 38,810.58
5 3
M a d h y a 903,533.0 1,463,614 2,367,147
11 266,901 27,976 294,877
Pradesh 6 .46 .52
461,491.2 3,371,497 3,832,988
12 Maharashtra 199,667 8,668 208,335
5 .43 .68
674,775.3 743,193.3 1,417,968
13 Odisha 462,067 8,832 470,899
3 9 .72
239,763.9 310,151.1
14 Rajasthan 49,215 2,551 51,766 70,387.18
5 3
15 Tamil Nadu 15,442 1,066 16,508 22,104.80 60,468.77 82,573.57
669,689.1 457,663.1 1,127,352
16 Telangana 230,735 721 231,456
4 7 .32
465,192.8 465,745.2
17 Tripura 127,931 101 128,032 552.40
8 8
18 Uttar Pradesh 22,537 893 23,430 NA/NR NA/NR NA/NR
19 Uttarakhand 184 1 185 0.00 0.00 0.00
20 West Bengal 44,444 686 45,130 21,014.27 572.03 21,586.29
J a m m u &
21 429 5,591 6,020 NA/NR NA/NR NA/NR
Kashmir2,511,37 5075083. 18198863 23273947
TOTAL 2,389,670 121,705
5 51 .89 .39
NA/NR-Related figure is either not available or not reported.
Annexure -II
Details of Beneficiaries to State Governments/UT Administrations thereof under
the Scheme of Post-Matric Scholarship for ST students
Name of the
Sl.No. A.Y. 2022-23 A.Y. 2023-24 A.Y. 2024-25
State/UT
1 A.& N. Islands 386 193 311
2 Andhra Pradesh 129032 79780 67888
A r u n a c h a l
3 46330 42417 45125
Pradesh
4 Assam 62140 58774 77350
5 Bihar 3768 1444 3428
6 Chhattisgarh 34184 40552 34022
7 DNH DD 2208 1053 1627
8 Goa 4439 3274 3163
9 Gujarat 262538 226456 233161
H i m a c h a l
10 4303 4390 4937
Pradesh
J a m m u &
11 10430 7319 15309
Kashmir
12 Jharkhand 147633 148676 65104
13 Karnataka 131968 123707 125823
14 Kerala 17652 12721 13072
15 Ladakh 8619 9413 8969
M a d h y a
16 391317 353486 326410
Pradesh
17 Maharashtra 106817 130359 33432
18 Manipur 42572 33542 32275
19 Meghalaya 61360 76755 73902
20 Mizoram 38784 31685 28471
21 Nagaland 40638 42485 41793
22 Odisha 204172 213957 230366
23 Puducherry 18 11 10
24 Rajasthan 236628 168516 *
25 Sikkim 2650 1849 2411
26 Tamil Nadu 23529 25216 2827327 Telangana 114911 131505 131032
28 Tripura 37380 33678 33506
29 Uttar Pradesh 9655 9676 10427
30 Uttarakhand 3534 3972 4766
31 West Bengal 63208 37760 29528
Total 2242803 2054621 1705891
*- beneficiary data not reported by State/UT
Details of Beneficiaries to State Governments/UT Administrations thereof under the Scheme of Pre-
Matric Scholarship for ST students
Name of the
Sl.No. A.Y. 2022-23 A.Y. 2023-24 A.Y. 2024-25
State/UT
A n d a m a n &
1 260 173 281
Nicobar
2 Andhra Pradesh 40465 0 0
3 Arunachal Pradesh 5178 2852 2831
4 Assam 5688 4353 8075
5 Bihar 26450 8451 15139
6 Chhattisgarh 28642 44837 27171
7 DNH & DD 2017 1273 1162
10 Goa 2108 1670 1698
11 Gujarat 157553 121083 124886
12 Himachal Pradesh 2479 2616 3260
13 Jammu & Kashmir 4689 2548 8371
14 Jharkhand 129269 114519 129142
15 Karnataka 98705 97191 104211
16 Kerala 7604 7323 10312
17 Ladakh 760 2228 2029
18 Madhya Pradesh 255944 259997 212347
19 Manipur 1836 3470 3916
20 Meghalaya 1588 5590 6149
21 Mizoram 10312 8911 8807
22 Nagaland * * *
23 Odisha 79252 106691 122029
24 Puducherry 21 11 14
25 Rajasthan 73816 76272 57037
26 Sikkim 49 62 377
27 Tamil Nadu 15325 17557 1917828 Telangana 9255 2460 *
29 Tripura 15017 11601 12597
30 Uttar Pradesh 1579 2329 3211
31 Uttarakhand 1464 902 *
32 West Bengal 23979 21789 24333
Total 1001304 928759 908563
*- beneficiary data not reported by State/UT
*****
RN
(Release ID: 2147815)