Assam gives forest land titles to 4,673 tribal families in Kamrup

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday handed over land title certificates under the Forest Rights Act, 2006, to 4,673 tribal families at a function in Chhaygaon in Kamrup district.

The event was part of the Janjatiya Gaurav Varsh Pakhwada, observed from November 1 to 15 to mark the 150th birth anniversary of tribal leader Birsa Munda.

Who received titles

The families belong to the Garo, Rabha, Bodo and Karbi communities and live in forest areas including Lakhra, Bondapara, Kulshi, Loharghat, Bamunigaon, Boko and Singra, according to the Chief Minister's office. These fall under the Kamrup East and Kamrup West forest divisions.

Sarma said the families had lived on this land for generations and were now its rightful owners. Education Minister Ranoj Pegu was also present, All India Radio reported.

What the CM said

Sarma said that after he took office in 2021, he directed officials to ensure that every tribal family living in Assam's forest areas gets land rights. He said thousands of families in Sonitpur, Nagaon, Karbi Anglong and the Bodoland Territorial Region had already received pattas, and that titles for nearly 5,000 more families in Sonitpur and Biswanath were in the final stage.

He also highlighted two related changes:

• Higher ceiling under Mission Basundhara: tribal families can now get pattas for up to 50 bighas of land, up from the earlier limit of seven bighas. Sarma said many tribal families had not applied before because their ancestral holdings were bigger than the old limit.
• Cadastral survey: land in around 600 villages has been converted from non-cadastral to cadastral status over the past four and a half years, making more families eligible for pattas.

More than 1.5 lakh tribal families received pattas in the first phase of Mission Basundhara, he said.

Evictions to continue

At the same event, Sarma said the government would keep protecting forest land. He said over 1.45 lakh bighas of encroached forest land had been freed so far and that eviction drives would continue in districts such as Goalpara and Kamrup.

Why it matters

The Forest Rights Act lets forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers claim rights over land they have long occupied. Land rights remain a sensitive issue in the state, where the government is also carrying out large eviction drives against people it describes as encroachers. The distribution also comes amid the long-running debate over Scheduled Tribe status for six Assam communities.