The Forest Rights Act (FRA) of 2006 is a landmark legislation in India, empowering forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes and traditional forest communities to manage and conserve their forests. It is an unprecedented step in Indian legislation to correct historic injustice done to tribal communities and as such requires a deeper look into its on-ground implementation. The Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) has been actively involved in research on forest management initiatives under the FRA in central India since 2016. One such effort is currently being undertaken by the Center for Environment and Development under the project titled ‘Training, Capacity Building, and Decision Support for CFR and Management in Bastar District, Chhattisgarh’. Allied projects are also underway in Baiga Chak (Madhya Pradesh) and Adilabad district (Telangana).

As a Communications, Documentation, and Outreach Intern under the project, I was tasked with facilitating effective communication and documenting the impact of ATREE's project outcomes. My internship involved several responsibilities spanning the project field sites and employing a range of skills from map-making under the Telangana project to data management and analysis under the Baiga Chak project. Primarily, under the Bastar project, I created a video that documents the tireless efforts of the Bastar team in raising awareness and securing Community Forest Rights (CFR) titles under the Forest Rights Act. I also authored two articles, each delving into specific case studies of villages that achieved remarkable success in their individual journeys.

Over the six-month period, I gained first-hand experience in the process of CFR rights and Individual Forest Rights (IFR) claim-making, as well as awareness building within villages that had received those rights. Working closely with the team of Adivasi FRA Coordinators in Bastar, I was able to gain a nuanced understanding of the issues faced by villages and administrations in the district, allowing me to effectively communicate the project realities through different media.