Habitat Rights in Forest Rights Act, 2006.

38. 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?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3

Ans: (a) 1 and 2 only
Explanation:-

• The Critical Wildlife Habitats have been envisaged in Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. 
• In a bid to undo historical injustice meted out to primitive tribal communities living in central India, the government of Madhya Pradesh has for the first time recognised the habitat rights of seven villages in Dindori district, mostly inhabited by the Baiga.
• Gram panchayats decide Habitat Rights for Primitive and Vulnerable.
• Scheduled  Tribes  and  Other  Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 defines  the Critical Wildlife Habitats (CWH)  as  the  ―areas  of  national  parks  and  sanctuaries  where  it  has  been  specifically  and  clearly established, case by case, on the basis of scientific and objective criteria, that such areas are required to be kept as inviolate for the purposes of wildlife conservation.
• The Ministry of Tribal Affairs is implementing the ―Scheme of Development of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups(PVTGs) which aims at planning their socio-economic development in a comprehensive manner  while  retaining  the  culture  and  heritage  of  the  community  by  adopting  habitat  development approach  and  intervening  in  all  spheres  of  their  social  and  economic  life,  so that  a  visible  impact  is made in improvement of the quality of life of PVTGs. 
• Baiga tribals became India's first community to get habitat rights. ... The tribe numbers only 150,000 people spread  over  forested  areas  of  Madhya  Pradesh  and  Chhattisgarh.  For  several  decades,  the Baigas were discriminated against and often evicted from forest areas by government agencies.