Recently, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) advanced the development of an integrated, end-to-end digital platform for effective implementation and monitoring of the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006, through post–Smart India Hackathon (SIH) field engagement in Nashik, Maharashtra. The initiative forms part of the Ministry’s broader roadmap for digitisation, geospatial integration and data-driven decision-making in FRA governance.

Under the Software category of the Smart India Hackathon 2025, MoTA had proposed the development of an AI-powered FRA Atlas and a WebGIS-based Decision Support System (DSS) to enable integrated monitoring of Individual Forest Rights, Community Rights and Community Forest Resource rights. The solution is intended to support geotagging, convergence of records and improved transparency in FRA implementation.

As part of post-hackathon engagement, a meeting was held at the Collector Office in Nashik, bringing together officials from MoTA, the Maharashtra State Tribal Development Department and participating student teams from Pune, Kurnool and Indore. During the session, the State Government demonstrated the Maharashtra FRA Portal, showcasing its functional architecture, implementation outcomes and best practices, including progress in recognising patta holders across the state.

To strengthen evidence-based platform design, a two-day field visit has been scheduled for the student teams to FRA-implemented villages in Nashik district. The exercise will involve interactions with Gram Sabha members and district-level officials to document ground-level workflows, data requirements and implementation challenges. These insights will feed into refining the AI-enabled FRA Atlas and WebGIS-based DSS.

Subsequently, the teams will participate in a two-day hackathon at the National Tribal Research Institute in New Delhi, where the functional design of the FRA web portal will be finalised under the guidance of the Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

The post-SIH engagement underscores the Ministry’s commitment to translating FRA digitisation policy into field-validated digital solutions, aligned with inclusive growth objectives and the broader vision of empowering tribal communities through technology-enabled governance.