 bill no 35 of 2008 the scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers (recognition of forest rights) amendment bill, 2008 byshri  l rajagopal, mpa billto amend the scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers(recognition of forest rights) act, 2006be  it enacted by parliament in the fifty-ninth year of the republic of india as follows:—1  (1) this act may be called the scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers (recognition of forest rights) amendment act, 2008short title, and commencement statement  of  objects  and  reasonsthe scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers (recognition of forest rights) act, 2006 seeks to provide for forest rights and occupation of forest land by forest dwelling scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers who have been residing there for generationsthe aim of the government and the spirit of the act is to protect the rights of all scheduled tribes, irrespective of the fact whether  they are living in the forest or in any village or hamlet in and around forests not covered under scheduled areas however, in the present act, scheduled tribes living in villages and hamlets situated in the areas which are not scheduled areas have not been expressly given the same rights as the scheduled tribes living in the scheduled areas, although they are also equally entitled for forest rights as they entirely depend on forests for their livelihood they also deserve to be given their rightful share, as they have no other source of income of their own for example, in andhra pradesh, there are more than 800 villages situated in or around forests which are totally inhabited by scheduled tribes but they are not treated as forest dwelling scheduled tribes and are thereby denied of their forest rights even under the above act because these areas are not covered within the meaning of scheduled areasso, the objective of the bill is to redefine the phrase 'forest dwelling scheduled tribes'under section 2(c) of the act by amending the phrase 'forest dwelling scheduled tribes', forest rights have not only  been extended to tribes living in forests of scheduled areas but also to tribes living in villages and hamlets which are situated in and around the forest areas falling in non-scheduled areasthe bill seeks to achieve the above objectivenew delhi;l rajagopalfebruary 25, 2008 annexure extract from the scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers (recognition of forest rights) act, 2006(act no 2 of 2007) chapter 1 preliminarydefinitions2 in this  act, unless the context otherwise requires,— (a)      (b)      (c) "forest dwelling scheduled tribes" means the members or community of the scheduled tribes who primarily reside in and who depend on the forests or  forest lands for bona fide livelihood needs and includes the scheduled tribes pastoralist communities; ————abillto amend the scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers (recognition of forest rights) act, 2006————(shri l rajagopal, mp)mgipmrnd—1035ls(s5)—14032008