Joint National Workshop on Forest Rights Act and PESA to Kick Off Tomorrow in Jabalpur

In alignment with the provisions of the Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Unnat Gram Abhiyan (PM-JUGA), Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Ministry of Panchayati Raj are collaborating for focused Capacity Building & Training of tribal communities, particularly the members of the District Level Committees, Sub Division Level Committees and Elected Panchayat Representatives in the PESA areas with the aim of strengthening of Gram Sabhas in Areas covered by Panchayat Extension in Scheduled Act (PESA) and effective implementation of Forest Rights Act (FRA). The Training of Trainers (TOT) workshop being jointly organised by Ministry of Panchayati Raj and Ministry of Tribal Affairs, at Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj (MGSIRD&PR), Jabalpur, on 8th and 9th October 2024 on PESA subject of Control over Money Lending and on various issues related with implementation of FRA. Approximately 150 State and District level Master Trainers from across 21 States and UTs (having Forest Rights Act in force) will be trained in the workshop.

The aforesaid Special Capacity Building Campaign will be implemented within the framework of Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA). While the Scheme of Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Unnat Gram Abhiyan is being implemented by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA), Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) will provide support for Special Capacity Building Campaign and Training under its flagship Scheme Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA). It will include State, District and Block level Training Programmes.

The Special Capacity Building Campaign had started with a joint workshop of Ministry of Panchayati Raj and Ministry of Tribal Affairs in June 2024 at NIRD&PR to finalize the Instruction Material for Training on PESA issues and FRA. After finalization of Instruction material State and District level Master Trainers have been identified in States & UTs for imparting training to the Elected Representatives and other stakeholders of PRIs in the PESA areas and FRA implementing States. Training of these Trainers (ToT) is in progress, four ToTs on PESA subjects have been conducted by the MoPR.

In the workshop, training would be provided on various aspects of FRA such as Institutional Mechanisms; Process of Claims under Individual Forest Rights, Community Forest Rights and Community Forest Resource Rights; challenges in filing claims and grievance redressal etc.

Senior officers from the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Ministry of Tribal Affairs and from the Panchayat & Rural Development and Tribal Welfare Departments of Government of Madhya Pradesh would be present to guide the participants towards next course of action to attain the mandate of the Joint Advisory and the collaboration through training of grassroots level trainers, PRIs and various implementation stakeholders.

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