Tribal institute bags e-governance award

• A project on the use of geoinformatics in the implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006 in Maharashtra by the Tribal Research and Training Institute (TRTI), Pune has been given the National e-Governance award, 2010-11 (Silver). Even though Maharashtra has a poor track record of granting forest rights, the award recognises the exemplary re-use of Information Communication Technology (ICT)-based solutions
• The project relates to the implementation of the Act and attempts to address the issue of fairness and transparency in the grant of forest rights. It enables District level Committees to take decisions in favour of genuine cases. The area coverage of the project consists of more than 14,000 villages, which are in and around forests and quite remote. The number of claims targeted for processing is more than 3.3 lakh. About 1.6 lakh cases have already been measured by the Global Positioning System (GPS) instruments at the village level. A total of 1.05 lakh cases have been decided.
• There are 110 uploading centres mostly in tribal areas. There are 200 report viewing centres, with one monitoring centre at TRTI. It segregates the ineligible claimants on the basis of satellite imagery of 2005, which is the cut-off year and promotes an approach that supports genuine cases, a senior official said. It provides for online monitoring of the various stages of implementation of the Act. A website has been developed to manage information regarding claimants, land measurement, verification process, decisions regarding forest rights claims to prevent further encroachment of forest land. The project has demonstrated the efficacy of IT and GIS-based systems to the tribal and rural populations which is unique in the country, sources added.
• The system allots every Forest Rights claimant a 13 digit ID. It links forest rights holders with the protection and management of forestry resources.