 Over 20 lakh tribals are facing eviction following a recent Supreme Court decision which rejected the claims of the tribals under the Forest Rights Act. But what is this decision and more importantly what does it mean for the tribals? We bring you up to date with the case. On February 13th, the Supreme Court ordered the state governments to evict over 10 lakh forest dwelling people. This is only an estimate as the number of households affected by this decision could actually go up to 20 lakh. According to a report in the Business Standard, the affected families had filed claims for forest land under the Forest Rights Act of 2006 which were rejected. The court's decision will hurt some of India's most vulnerable communities. All of this owing to the Modi government's apathy towards tribals and their livelihoods. The Center, the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change which were respondents in the case for the tribals have kept silent in the last four hearings of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court had specifically issued directions to the Chief Secretaries of 17 states to ensure that in all the cases where land ownership claims had been rejected eviction must be carried out or not before the next date of hearing which happens to be July 12, 2019. The court had also asked the states to explain as to why there were no evictions despite the rejection of these claims. The claims of nearly 11 lakh tribals and other forest dwelling households have been rejected on various grounds which actually include the absence of proof that the land was in their possession for at least three generations. These numbers however only are a tip of the iceberg and could actually surge as most states have been asked to submit their data. The decision of the Supreme Court has triggered protests by various tribal groups and activists with the Adivasi Adhikaar Rashtriya Manj gearing up to file a review petition in the case. Detendra Chaudhary of the AARM said that the appearance of the Tribal Affairs Ministry in the case was primarily for a namesake and had the Center shown sincere commitment to tribal rights the decision of the Supreme Court could have been something else altogether. The judgment is being seen as a complete betrayal of the tribals and their rights by the BJP government. Responding to the judgment, Brinda Karath, the Politburo member of the CPIM said this. At this point, it becomes very important to understand that what was actually the petition that the Supreme Court was responding to. The petitions challenging the law were filed by Wildlife First, a non-governmental organization and the Bombay Natural History Society and the retired forest officials who blamed the law for deforestation and encroachment on forest lands. These claims largely mean that the increasing population of the forest dwellers and tribals is posing a threat to the forests. While it will be oversimplistic to dismiss these claims, it is even more crucial to shift attention to the instances where the two have existed peacefully. If the Supreme Court's order is implemented, only the poorest and the most vulnerable will pay the price and the Forest Rights Act may be permanently hollowed out. The FRA Act was passed by the parliament in 2006 after a massive people's movement to correct the historical injustice which was done to the forest dwellers. The act was meant to recognize the scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers who have been residing in the forests for generations but whose rights could not be recorded due to the lack of documentation. Through this example, it becomes very clear that the Modi government is consistently trampling with tribal rights. We hope you found this explainer useful. Thank you for watching.