Habitat Rights of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG)

• Context (IE): Baiga community, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), became the second PVTG to get habitat rights in Chhattisgarh, after the Kamar tribal group.

Chhattisgarh has seven PVTGs: Kamar, Baiga, Pahadi Korba, Abujhmadiya, Birhor, Pando, and Bhujia.

Habitat Rights

• Habitat rights recognition grants communities the right to their traditional territory, socio-cultural practices, livelihoods, ecological and traditional knowledge, and the protection of their natural and cultural heritage. (Habitat rights don’t grant ownership to property).
• Habitat rights are given to PVTGs under section 3(1) (e) of The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 or Forest Rights Act (FRA).
• According to FRA, “Habitat comprises the customary habitat and such other habitats in reserved forests and protected forests of primitive tribal groups and pre-agricultural communities and other forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes.”

How the Government Fixes a Habitat

• The procedure is based on guidelines from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) in 2014.
• The tribal leaders are consulted about the extent of their culture, traditions, and occupation.
• The government corroborates it, and then a habitat is declared.
• The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) provides technical assistance to the administration to implement the habitat rights law.
• Four state-level departments, i.e., Forest, Revenue, Tribal, and Panchayati Raj, coordinate with the UNDP team to ascertain habitats.

Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG)

• PVTG (previously known as a Primitive Tribal Group) is a sub-classification of Scheduled Tribes considered more vulnerable among the tribal groups.
• Dhebar Commission (or Tribal Panchsheel Committee) recommended the creation of Primitive Tribal Groups (PTGs). Based on this, the Indian Government created PTGs in 1975.
• In 2006, PTGs were renamed as PVTGs.
• At present, there are 75 PVTGs out of 705 Scheduled Tribes.
• Odisha has the highest number of PVTGs.

• Criteria followed for identification of PVTGs are:

1. Pre-agricultural level of technology
2. Low level of literacy
3. Economic backwardness
4. A declining or stagnant population

In India, the tribal population makes up 8.6% of the total population. Tribal people live in about 15% of the country’s geographical area.

PVTGs with Habitat Rights

• Only three PVTGs have habitat rights.
  1. Bharia Tribe (Madhya Pradesh): 1st PVTG to get habitat right.
  2. Kamar Tribe (Chhattisgarh)
  3. Baiga Tribe (Chhattisgarh)

Benefits of Habitat Rights to PVTGs

• Protect traditional habitats from developmental activities: Habitat rights require consent and consultation of gram sabha for development activities. This provision helps protect traditional habitats from harmful activities like mining.

Forest Rights have legal protection under the Forest Conservation Act, the Land Acquisition Law of 2013, and the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act. The grant of habitat rights under the Forest Rights Act provides additional legal protection.