15.05.24

JharFRA Training Workshop in East Singhbhum District, Jharkhand

To ensure effective adoption and utilisation of JharFRA, it is essential that communities understand both the platform and the FRA. Accordingly, comprehensive training programmes and community engagement initiatives have been designed to promote more efficient and widespread implementation of CFRR.

Our team met with the District Welfare Officer (DWO) of East Singhbhum to review progress under the ABAD Abhiyan. It was agreed that efforts must be accelerated, and Bir Bandhus (volunteers who assist forest-dependent communities in managing and protecting their forest rights) should be reviewed continuously. To streamline claim generation, we proposed a phased, three-month review cum training approach, beginning with user registration on the JharFRA app.

Women collect a substantial portion of seasonal forest products (SFPs) and sell these in local markets to supplement household incomes. Recognising their vital contribution, the Initiative on the Forest Economy (IoFE)—led by the Bharti Institute of Public Policy (BIPP) at the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad—aims to empower these women by establishing women-led, forest-based enterprises. The first step towards fulfilling this vision is the formal recognition of Community Forest Resource Rights (CFRR) as guaranteed under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006—commonly known as the Forest Rights Act (FRA).

Timeline of events

On 22 April 2024, our team conducted a JharFRA training workshop in Potka block, which was attended by over 100 participants—including 94 Forest Rights Committee (FRC) members, either presidents or secretaries. The session began with an overview of the CFRR claim process—from initial filing to title entitlement—and demonstrated how JharFRA facilitates each stage. Some attendees brought Gram Sabha–signed CFRR documents for on-site verification. During the hands-on segment, participants received step-by-step guidance on downloading the JharFRA app to their mobiles, registering their profiles, and initiating their own claims.

The workshop generated considerable enthusiasm, with village communities responding positively to the new digital platform. However, it soon became apparent that some village-level data and CFRR maps required to progress to the next stage were missing. The technology team was immediately informed and has since begun resolving these issues. Similar workshops are also being planned in other blocks to ensure district-wide coverage.

On 9 May 2024, we organised a block-level review-cum-workshop on CFRR claim generation in Dumaria block, which was attended by all 10 Bir Bandhus and representatives from 55 out of the block’s 68 FRCs. During the session, participants registered their FRCs in the JharFRA app and completed Phase 1 training of the claim-generation process.

The Bir Bandhus demonstrated active engagement and expressed their willingness to support FRC members throughout the claim-generation process. However, they requested modest financial assistance to cover travel expenses. Providing such incentives would substantially enhance their capacity to facilitate claims across the block.

Operational Focus in East Singhbhum

Consequently, in consultation with the Government of Jharkhand, we developed JharFRA—a digital application (app) that:

• streamlines the filing of CFRR claims;

• enhances scalability and efficiency; and

• accelerates the saturation of valid CFRR claims across forest-dependent communities.

With JharFRA launched under the state’s Abua Bir Abua Dishom (ABAD) Abhiyaan, we are now leveraging the platform for bolstering CFRR implementation in East Singhbhum.