At the national level, which ministry is the nodal agency to ensure effective implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006? ​

The correct answer is D, Ministry of Tribal Affairs. It is the nodal ministry for the Forest Rights Act, 2006, which recognises the rights of Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers over forest land and resources. The Act was notified in 2007 and its rules in 2008. At the village level the Gram Sabha is the key authority, and it works through the Sub-Divisional and District Level Committees and the State Level Monitoring Committee.

• A (MoEFCC): Wrong. It is a major stakeholder because forest diversion and clearances involve it, but it is not the nodal agency for implementing the FRA.
• B (Ministry of Panchayati Raj): Wrong. The related law here is PESA, 1996, which extends Panchayat provisions to Scheduled Areas. It is not the FRA's nodal ministry.
• C (Ministry of Rural Development): Wrong. It runs schemes like MGNREGA and PMAY-G, not the forest rights regime.

For Mains, the FRA is a case study in correcting historical injustice while balancing conservation, which is why the forest-rights versus forest-conservation debate keeps returning in GS-II and GS-III answers.

Trap: Aspirants pick MoEFCC because the Act deals with forest land. Remember that forest administration and forest rights are different functions, and the FRA is nodal under the Tribal Affairs ministry.