Why Are Tribals Protesting in Maharashtra?

Context

Thousands of tribal farmers from Palghar and Nashik undertook long marches in January 2026, led by All India Kisan Sabha and CPI(M), to press for long-pending land and livelihood rights in tribal-dominated districts.

Core Demands

• Land Rights under FRA, 2006: Demand individual ownership titles for forest land cultivated for generations, instead of collective or village-level records.
• Access to Welfare & Credit: Faulty title formats exclude tribals from government schemes and institutional loans.
• Irrigation Infrastructure: Construction of small dams and diversion of west-flowing rivers to water-scarce eastern regions for year-round farming.
• Minimum Support Price (MSP): MSP coverage for crops beyond paddy, including millets, maize, soybean, onion, and horticultural produce.
• Employment under PESA, 1996: Speedy recruitment to empower tribal self-governance and provide jobs to educated tribal youth.
• Education & Basic Services: Filling teacher vacancies in Zilla Parishad schools and ensuring 24-hour electricity supply.

Key Concerns

• Rejection of FRA Claims: Large numbers of individual land claims rejected or approved for only a fraction of cultivated land.
• Digitisation Errors: Governance records allegedly causing mismatches and denial of rightful claims.
• Collective vs Individual Ownership: Village-level land records dilute individual entitlements, limiting access to state benefits.

Government’s Position

• FRA Status (2025 Data):

• • Total claims: 4.09 lakh
  • Disposed: 3.80 lakh
  • Titles issued: 2.08 lakh
  • Rejected: 1.72 lakh
  • Pending: 28,190
• Response:
  The state government has held talks with protest leaders and expressed willingness to resolve issues, citing differing interpretations of FRA provisions.

Expert recommendation

Madhav Gadgil (Ecologist): Highlights an ideological conflict between traditional forest conservation and the FRA’s rights-based approach, calling for integrating tribal communities into forest management rather than excluding them.

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