 bill no 75 of 2009 the scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers (recognition of forest rights) amendment  bill, 2009 by shri anantkumar hegde, mp a billto amend the scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers(recognition of forest rights) act, 2006be  it enacted by parliament in the sixtieth year of the republic of india as follows:—short title and commencement1  (1) this act may be called the scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers (recognition of forest rights)  amendment act, 2009(2) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notificationin the official gazette, appointamendment of section 22 in section 2 of the scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers(recognition of forest rights) act, 2006 (hereinafter referred to as the principal act), for clause (o), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:—10'(o) "other traditional forest dweller" means any member or community who hasfor at least one generation prior to the 13th day of december, 2005 primarily resided inand who has engaged in agriculture on the forest land or who depend on the forests or forest land for bona fide livelihood needs but does not include a migrant or refugee from outside india5explanation:—for the purpose of this clause, "generation" means a period comprising of twenty-five years;'amendment of section 63 in section 6 of the principal act, in sub-section (8), the following proviso shall be inserted, namely:—10"provided that in case of sub-divisional level and district level committees, the provision regarding appointment of scheduled tribe members shall not apply, if such members of the panchayati raj institutions at the appropriate level are not available" statement  of  objects  and  reasonsthe scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers (recognition of forest rights) act, 2006 was enacted  to confer certain rights on persons who are forest dwellers and are traditionally dependent on forests for their bona fide livelihood needsthere are certain forest dwellers who are engaged either in agricultural activities or work as agricultural labourers and remain deprived of the benefits of this act, since they do not fulfil the criteria provided therein, ie, having lived in the forest areas for at least three generations or seventy-five years such persons need the protection of the act, as they are very poor and have no other source of livelihood therefore, the condition of having lived in the forests should be reduced from seventy-five to twenty-five years besides, the protection of the act should not be available to persons migrating and settling in forests from other countriesmoreover, there are many places in the country where the persons belonging to scheduled tribes are either not living or their proportion in the population is negligible in such a scenario, it would not be possible to form sub-divisional level committees as the requisite two persons belonging to scheduled tribes would not be available and this may result in administrative problems therefore, this provision should not apply to areas where the persons belonging to scheduled tribes do not live or where their proportion in the total population is negligiblethe bill seeks to achieve the above objectivesnew delhi;anantkumar hegdejuly 7, 2009 annexure extract from the scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers (recognition of forest rights) act, 2006(act no 2 of 2007)       chapter i preliminary      definitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(a)            (o) "other traditional forest dweller" means any member or community who has for at least three generations prior to the 13th day of december, 2005 primarily resided in and who depend on the forest or forests land for bona fide livelihood needsexplanation—for the purpose of this clause, "generation" means a period comprising of twenty-five years;       chapter iv authorities  and  procedure  for  vesting  of  forest  rights      6 (1)      (2)            (8) the sub-divisional level committee, the district level committee and the state level monitoring committee shall consist of officers of the departments of revenue, forest and tribal affairs of the state government and three members of the panchayati raj institutions at the appropriate level, appointed by the respective panchayati raj institutions, of whom two shall be the scheduled tribe members and at least one shall be a woman, as may be prescribed       lok   salok   sabhabha————abillto amend the scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers(recognition of forest rights) act, 2006————(shri anantkumar hegde, mp)gmgipmrnd—3875ls(s-5)—05112009