Saora tribals of Gajapati district getting habitat rights over their ancestral lands In Odisha.
Thus, Odisha has become the only state in the country to provide such rights to the highest number of particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs).
Saoras have become the fifth tribal group in the state to get the rights that allow them to protect and preserve natural entities, sacred sites and places of religious and spiritual importance located within their habitat.
128 villages in the Gajapati district are inhabited by Saora tribe.
Habitat rights are given to PVTGs under section 3(1) (e) of The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.
Madhya Pradesh has also given habitat rights to Bharia PVTG and Chhattisgarh government to Kamar and Baiga PVTGs.