India’s Forest Rights Act and indigenous claims to community forest resources: A case study of Lavari, Maharashtra

India’s forest-dependent communities constitute one of the most marginalized sections of the country’s population. Despite legal recognition of the rights of forest dwellers over community forest resources through the enactment of Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act in 2006, the communities still struggle in adequately exercising their rights, in fact, in most cases exercising rights is highly unlikely unless the communties are capable of asserting their rights and resisting deprivation from resources they are legally entitled to. This has led to a protracted struggle by forest dependent communities as they demand resettlement of their claims to rights over forest resources. In that context, we draw on evidence from a case study of a village in Maharashtra. Using this case study, we exemplify that statutory recognition of the rights of forest dwellers over community forest resources, when combined with sustained mobilization, allows the community to fully exercise their rights. This can then eventually lead to rewarding outcomes for local communities in the resettlement of their claims to rights over community forest resources in cases of acquisition of forest lands.