Tripura Governor launches northeast’s first Digital Forest Rights Act (FRA) Atlas at tribal festival

Tripura Governor N Indrasena Reddy, on May 28, launched the Northeast’s first Digital Forest Rights Act (FRA) Atlas and a Tribal Development Atlas during the opening of "Janjatiya Garima Utsav 2026 — Birsa Lives in New Bharat Week", saying the state will use scientific planning and technology to protect tribal rights and dignity.

Developed with support from the Tripura Space Application Centre, the digital FRA Atlas is intended to strengthen implementation and monitoring of individual and community forest rights. The Tribal Welfare Department also released an FRA Atlas booklet at the event.

“Birsa Munda’s ideals on tribal rights, forests and identity remain relevant in the 21st century,” Reddy said, describing the festival as more than a commemorative event and calling Tripura a leading example in recognising individual forest rights.

Tribal Welfare Minister Bikash Debbarma said the department is prioritising welfare, education and skill development in remote tribal areas. Senior officials at the programme included Tribal Welfare Department Secretary Dr K Shashi Kumar, Governor’s Secretary U K Chakma and department director Subhashish Das.

The launch aligns with a national push by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to digitise FRA processes. As part of that effort, the ministry posed a problem statement to the Smart India Hackathon 2025 seeking an AI-powered FRA Atlas and WebGIS decision-support system to monitor Individual Forest Rights, Community Rights and Community Forest Resource rights.

Student teams from Pune, Kurnool and Indore carried out field visits to FRA-implemented villages after the hackathon, collecting ground-level data that is being used to refine a national FRA Digital Platform. The final design work is being coordinated at the National Tribal Research Institute, New Delhi, under the Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

Separately, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met representatives of the Janjati Suraksha Manch in New Delhi on Thursday to discuss tribal development and empowerment, calling their dedication to tribal communities “truly commendable” in a post on X.