The Baiga Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) became the second to get habitat rights in Chhattisgarh, after the Kamar PVTG.
- A total of 19 Baiga villages with a population of 6,483 people have been given the habitat rights.
- These villages/para/tola of Gaurela block received the rights in a special event organised by the district administration of Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi (GPM).
- The Baiga community primarily resides in Rajnandgaon, Kawardha, Mungeli, Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi (GPM), Manendra-Bharatpur-Chirmiri, and Bilaspur districts of the state.
- Habitat rights are given to PVTGs under section 3(1) (e) [rights including community tenures of habitat and habitation for primitive tribal groups and pre-agricultural communities] of The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 also known as the Forest Rights Act (FRA).
- Habitat rights recognition provides the community concerned rights over their customary territory of habitation, socio-cultural practices, economic and livelihood means, intellectual knowledge of biodiversity and ecology, traditional knowledge of use of natural resources, as well as protection and conservation of their natural and cultural heritage.
- Habitat rights safeguard and promote traditional livelihood and ecological knowledge passed down through generations.
