The Minister of State for Tribal Affairs, Shri. Durgadas Uikey, informed the Lok Sabha on Wednesday about the Ministry of Tribal Affairs' (MoTA) actions regarding the seasonal migration rights of the Van Gujjar tribal community. On June 5, 2025, MoTA issued letters to the State Government of Uttarakhand and the district administrations of nine specific districts: Dehradun, Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag, Chamoli, Udhamsingh Nagar, Haridwar, Pauri Garhwal, Nainital, and Tehri Garhwal.
The Tribal Welfare Department of the Uttarakhand government has acknowledged the matter and has directed the concerned district administrations to work on resolving the issues. The Ministry has been consistently urging State Governments and Union Territory Administrations to ensure that no rightful beneficiary is deprived of their forest rights, particularly emphasizing the community rights of traditional seasonal resource access for nomadic or pastoralist communities as stipulated under Section 3(1)(d) of the Forest Rights Act (FRA).
This communication represents ongoing governmental efforts to address and implement the provisions of the Forest Rights Act for mobile pastoralist communities, ensuring their access to traditional seasonal resources during migration.