UPSC Prelims 2018 · Question 98 of 99

UPSC Prelims 2018 question on Critical Wildlife Habitat

Consider the following statements:

1. The definition of 'Critical Wildlife Habitat' is incorporated in the Forest Rights Act, 2006.

2. For the first time in India, Baigas have been given Habitat Rights.

3. Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change officially decides and declares Habitat Rights for Primitive and Vulnerable Tribal Groups in any part of India.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. 1 and 2 only
  2. 2 and 3 only
  3. 3 only
  4. 1, 2 and 3
Show answer

Answer: A. 1 and 2 only

Verdict

Statements 1 and 2 are correct, so the answer is (a) 1 and 2 only.

Statement by statement

Statement 1 is CORRECT. The phrase critical wildlife habitat is defined only in the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, and not in the wildlife legislation where one might expect it.

Statement 2 is CORRECT. The Government of Madhya Pradesh, for the first time, recognised the habitat rights of seven villages in Dindori district, mostly inhabited by the Baigas, to undo the historical injustice done to primitive tribal communities in central India.

Statement 3 is INCORRECT. Under the Act, the District Level Committee is to ensure that all Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups receive habitat rights, in consultation with their traditional institutions, with claims filed before the concerned Gram Sabhas. The decision is not taken by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

Source

PIB release on habitat rights; Down To Earth report on the Baiga becoming India's first community to receive them.

How to crack it

Statement 3 fails on the architecture of the Forest Rights Act, which deliberately vests decisions in the Gram Sabha and district level committees rather than in a central ministry. Ask which level of government a law empowers, since a statute built to decentralise will not hand the final say to a Union ministry.

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