BHUBANESWAR: The State Government’s decision to cover beneficiaries of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) under different welfare schemes through convergence at the field level seems to have yielded results as more than 2.3 lakh persons benefited from this new initiative.This came to the fore during a review of implementation of FRA taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi through a video conference with the chief secretaries recently. Official sources said the beneficiaries were covered under different schemes, including Mo Kudia, Indira Awas Yojana (IAY), Mo Pokhari, land development under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), National Bamboo Mission and National Horticulture Mission.
While about 1,49,327 households were provided IAY houses, 3,818 covered under Mo Kudia Yojana of the State Government. While 3,549 households were covered under Mo Pokhari Yojana, 54,099 benefited from land development under MGNREGS. Besides, 8.776 and 286 families were covered under National Horticulture Mission and National Bamboo Mission respectively. Around 13,228 households were covered under various other programmes.
Secretary in the SC and ST Development department Surendra Kumar said till the end of June, 2017, about 4,06,745 individual family titles and 5,942 community rights involving an area of about 6,09,553 acres and 3,27,171 acres respectively were distributed under the FRA. This included 18,402 individual title certificates distributed to the particularly vulnerable tribal group ( PVTG) families involving around 31,233 acres. These PVTG families are presently residing in 17 micro project areas of the State under which they have been also covered under various schemes, he added.
Besides, the claim rejection ratio in Odisha is less than the national average. The rejection rate in Odisha is around 24 per cent (pc) against the national level rejection rate of around 45 pc. The cases rejected at the village level suo motu goes for appeal at the sub-divisional level committee (SDC). Similarly, the cases rejected at SDC level are automatically taken up for appeal at district level committee (DLC) constituted under the chairmanship of the district magistrate. The decision of the DLC is, however, final.
Coverage of schemes
1,49,327
households were provided IAY houses
3,818
covered under Mo Kudia
3,549
households covered under Mo Pokhari Yojana
54,099
benefited from land development under MGNREGS
13,228
covered under various other programmes