Forest rights without women’s rights: How the FRA is delaying the lives of indigenous women in Srikakulam

The forest villages in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh are mainly inhabited by Savara and Jatapu tribes. Agriculture is their main occupation, but a significant portion of their household income comes from collecting minor forest products such as seasonal fruits, roots, firewood, etc. This work is largely done by women, who often travel over the forested hills.

Almost two decades after Forest Rights Act 2006 Once in force, legal recognition to protect forest-dependent communities remains inconsistent, meaning women who work in forests have no decision-making power.

During visits to the Chelam hills area of ​​Burja and Sarubujjili mandals, conversations with Savara and Jatapu women reveal how these gaps shape their everyday lives. Despite their important role in providing for the household, women have limited control over how their forest produce is sold and their voice is limited in decision-making bodies such as gram sabhas. Many are not yet aware of their legal rights under the FRA. This marginalization is not a coincidence but is deeply rooted in the way forest management works in this area.

The Forest Rights Act was enacted to address historical injustices inflicted on forest-dependent communities. It recognized both individual and community forest resource rights (CFR) for forest land and small-scale produce Gram Sabha at the heart of forest management and mandatory shared ownership for men and women.

Photo credit: Kanchi Dileep

However, studies have highlighted bad recognition of community rights to forest resources, with implementation focusing primarily on individual rights.

In Srikakulam, the problem goes beyond administrative delays. Although individual forest land titles have been granted in some villages, community forest rights remain unrecognized. Without these collective rights, women who work in the forest every day have no say in the management or marketing of forest resources. Therefore, their work remains informal and they continue to rely on middlemen and household decisions rather than community control.

Forest work without economic autonomy

During field interactions, women spoke of regularly collecting small-scale produce and selling almost all of the produce through local middlemen. Weekly markets and other large centers are located far from many forest villages; access to these centers is costly and time-consuming. In this context, local intermediaries are the standard channel for selling their products. You often pay a price that is well below market prices. Although the work is mainly done by women, they have little influence over how, where and at what price their collected products are sold.

A Savara woman from Burja Mandal said: “We collect the forest products, but others decide the price and sale. We don’t know how much we earn.”

Many women noted that forest officials did not regularly prevent them from collecting small forest products. However, this access is based more on tolerance than on legal certainty. While individual forest land pattas have been issued in several villages, community forest rights remain largely unrecognized.

Photo credit: Kanchi Dileep

In the absence of recognized CFRs, women’s engagement with forests continues without collective control over forest resources, prices or decision-making. Most women are unaware that the Forest Rights Act explicitly recognizes rights to minor forest products and community forest resources.

This lack of awareness reflects deeper implementation gaps rather than individual failures. Studies have repeatedly pointed this out weak legal competence Efforts under the FRA, particularly among women, despite the provisions of the Gender Equality and Co-responsibility Act.

Land, documents and gender control

In the villages visited, families had received land pattas (official land titles), but the properties usually have men’s names on them. In one village, only two women have pattas with their names as they were single women in the households.

Although the FRA requires co-ownership of land, it is women rarely gain control. Their names may be added to the pattas, but the documents are still held and managed by men. Because there are almost no recognized community forest rights in these villages, women’s ability to participate in collective decisions about forest use and livelihoods is limited.

Gram Sabha and the limits of participation

The Forest Rights Act placed Gram Sabha at the center of forest administration where decisions are discussed and approved. In practice, this space remains highly gendered. The presence and participation of women is minimal. Women reported fear, hesitation, and social pressure, particularly in the presence of male elders, which discouraged them from speaking in gram sabhas and other public spaces.

Even when women are present, participation does not necessarily result in a voice. A Jatapu woman from Sarubujjili Mandal said, “Even when we attend the Gram Sabha, we are rarely encouraged to talk and discussions about forest access or livelihood are usually led by men.”

The Gram Sabha proceedings are conducted primarily in Telugu and the women speak Savara, an unwritten language, which limits their ability to follow and participate in discussions.

For many women from the Savara tribe, this exclusion is also shaped by language. The Gram Sabha proceedings are conducted primarily in Telugu and the women speak Savara, an unwritten language, which limits their ability to follow and participate in discussions.

As a result, formal inclusion in Gram Sabhas often masks deeper exclusions. In Srikakulam, this divide determines whose voices are heard, whose concerns are taken seriously, and whose connection to the forest is officially recognized.

In the villages discussed here, the Savara tribe is considered a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), whereas the Jatapu community is not. This distinction influences access to welfare systems, development programs and government attention.

Even within the PVTG, women’s rights receive limited attention. Women from the Savara tribe face greater hurdles due to language differences and low literacy levels, and Jatapu women face similar hurdles in land control and decision-making despite not having a PVTG. In both communities, gender continues to determine access to land, documents and public platforms.

These intersecting inequalities explain why the lack of community forest rights matters. Without these rights, women remain on the margins of forest management, present as workers but not represented as decision-makers with rights.

The women’s concerns were not only shaped by their struggles for existence, but also by the uncertainty about planned coal mining thermal power plant in the region. Most women from these villages are not fully aware of the project, but they worry about displacement from their forests, limited access and loss of already fragile livelihoods.

These concerns reflect a broader level Pattern. In many parts of the country, forest land has been converted for industrial and energy projects, often without meaningful consent from Gram Sabhas, with women mostly excluded from decision-making. Regions where community forest resource rights are outstanding or unrecognized are more vulnerable to land diversion and loss of forest access.

FRA is delayed as gendered dispossession

Delayed CFR recognition, lack of legal awareness, weak implementation of shared ownership titles and exclusionary local government practices combine to produce a specific form of dispossession. Women perform work without control over income, do not secure rights, and continue to engage in local government platforms without real influence.

Forest management should not be viewed as gender neutral. Without addressing how women perceive, understand and exercise rights, there is a risk that legal recognition will remain more symbolic than transformative.

An activist who has been advocating for tribal development and forest rights in the district for over two decades said: “The delays in recognition of community forest rights have disproportionately affected women.” In his view, when forest management focuses primarily on individual land titles, women’s everyday dependence on forests for livelihood remains outside of formal decision-making. Without recognized community rights, women are excluded not only from forest management but also from discussions about development and land diversion.

This shows how state practices, patriarchal norms and market structures intersect on the ground. Women’s work in the forest remains essential to a household’s survival, but is viewed as informal, expendable, and secondary to male authority.

Therefore, it is crucial to treat delays in the implementation of the Forest Rights Act as a feminist issue. Forest management should not be viewed as gender neutral. Without addressing how women perceive, understand and exercise rights, there is a risk that legal recognition will remain more symbolic than transformative.

Beyond paper rights

In districts like Srikakulam, securing forest rights cannot end with individual land titles or compliance with paperwork. Rights on paper mean little without meaningful recognition of community forest rights, accessible legal literacy and conscious efforts to enable women’s participation in decision-making.

Otherwise, women will continue to bear the burden of forest work without their rights being protected. So the question is not whether forests are sustainable Tribal womenThey already do, but whether politics recognizes women as legitimate decision-makers in the landscapes they support.

Kanchi Dileep is a Masters student in Political Science at the University of Hyderabad. His research interests include gender issues, forest rights and Indian politics.