PEOPLE’S PARTICIPATION IN THE MANAGEMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES
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PEOPLE’S PARTICIPATION
IN THE MANAGEMENT OF
NATURAL RESOURCES
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JANAARANYA
PEOPLE'S PARTICIPATION IN THE
MANAGEMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES
'■M
JANAARANYA
PEOPLE’S PARTICIPATION
IN THE MANAGEMENT OF
NATURAL RESOURCES
Samaj Parivartana Samudaya
Dharwad et al.
iii
CONTENTS
Preface
People’s Participation in the Management
of Natural Resources
1
Annexures
1.
National Forest Policy
18
2.
National Policy on Common Property Land
Resources - A Draft Paper
30
Circular of Govt, of India about involvement of
village communities & voluntary agencies for
regeneration of degraded forest lands, (dt. 1.6.1990)
42
“Regenerating the commons”
— A statement
47
3.
4.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The publishers gratefully acknowledge the following
sources from which different material in this document is
reproduced :
Centre for Ecological Sciences
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore who
originally brought out the write-up on "People’s
Participation in the Management of Natural
Resources.”
Wasteland News published by the Society for
Promotion of Waste-Land Development, New Delhi
who originally published the National Forest Policy
and the draft on National Policy on Common
Property Land Resources.
JANAARANYA
PEOPLE’S PARTICIPATION IN THE MANAGEMENT OF
NATURAL RESOURCES
Jointly Published by :
Samaj Parivartana Samudaya
“Asha Deep" Jayanager Cross, Saptapur
Dharwad 580 001
Federation of Voluntary Organisations
for Rural Development - Karnataka (FEVORD-K) B’lore
Action Committee for Protection of Common Lands
(ACPCL), Dharwad
Citizens for Democracy - Karnataka (CFD-K) B’lore
and
Jana Vikas Andolan - Karnataka (JVA - K) B’lore.
First Edition : 5000 copies
Aug. 1, 1991
Printed by
Omega Printers
316, SPM Road, Belgaum.
/
>
Pa kir.
K
PREFACE
The common lands play an important role in the lives of
rural people especially the poor. Basic needs of a vast majority
of people such as fodder for sheep, goats and cattle, fuel for
cooking, small timber for housing and agricultural implements,
leaves for manure and raw material for rural artisans have been
provided for by the common lands for centuries.
The right of people to use the common lands to meet their
needs was not challenged until the British Rulers saw them as a
means to generate revenues for the State. In the 1860s, they
“reserved" majority of forests for the use of Government. The
impact of this policy of the Colonial rulers was clearly seen by
the social thinkers of the times e.g. Jyotiba Phule warned the
people against H.M.'s Government’s conspiratorial designs
through the Forest Department in the following words as early as
1882 in his Marathi book “Shetkaryacha Aasud” (Cultivator’s
whip cord) :
"In the past the peasants who had small pieces of land
who couldn't eke out enough from it for their survival used to eat
fruits from the nearby forests and used to collect leaves, flowers
and dried tree branches and by selling these to others
supplemented their income. They also used to maintain a couple
of cows or goats and were living happily in their villages
depending on the village common grazing land. But H.M.’s
Government's conspiratorial bureaucracy have used their foreign
intelligence and have newly established the great forest
department and have incorporated all mountains, hills, vallies
alongwith barren lands, and village common grazing lands in this
department thus making it impossible for the goats of the poor
peasants to find even breathing space in the forests....”.
After independence in 1947, our Indian Government has
continued this process of govermentisation and privatization of
common lands for1 their financial, commercial and political
purposes. With increased adverse effects on the lives of the
poor, these policies and practices are being increasingly
questioned by people at all levels.
This booklet is being published on the occasion of the
Common Lands Jatha - an expression of concern about the use
of common lands and who should control them. The major
vii
demands of this Common Lands Jatha during August 1-10, 1991
from various villages in several districts in Karnataka to the
Capital, Bangalore are : Keeping village Common Lands for
villagers’ needs, the establishment of village level People's
committees for the management of all Common Property
Resources (CPRs) like the common lands and tanks, the
formulation of specific programmes with financial provision for
protection and development of degraded land and formulating
people - oriented policies and laws with the necessary
amendments in the existing laws.
At the national level, efforts by policy makers, activists,
bureaucrats and scientists have resulted in the realization that
the Common Property Resources cannot be managed without
the participation of the local people as decision makers. One
example of this is the issuing of a comprehensive circular of the
Ministry of Environment and Forests, the Governent of India,
entitled “Involvement of village communities and Voluntary
agencies for regeneration of degraded forest lands" which is
included in this booklet.
In Karnataka, the idea of meaningful participation of
people in the management of natural resources grew out of the
Save the Western Ghats March in 1987. This long March gave
an excellent opportunity for the activists and other concerned
people to meet the affected people and experience their
problems first hand. Some examples include the plight of tribals
in Mysore and Kodagu districts, whose traditional rights to use
the forests for their basic needs have been seriously curtailed,
the lakhs of rural poor in Shimoga, Chikmaglur, Dharwad and
Belgaum districts whose common lands have been taken away
for industrial raw material by the Mysore Paper Mills (MPM) and
the Harihar Polyfibres through the Karnataka Pulpwood Ltd
(KPL) and the gavlis in Belgaum, Dharwad and Uttarkannada
districts who have been most adversely affected by the loss of
water and fodder for their cattle due to the destruction of the
forest and planting of commercial species.
As a result of this experience, the Federation of Voluntary
Organizations for Rural Development in Karnataka (FEVORDK), the Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES) of the Indian
Institute of Science, Bangalore and the Samaj Parivartana
Samudaya (SPS), Dharwad began a dialogue on how the
viii
affected people can be effectively involved in the Management of
their own Common Property Resources. The series of activities
including the National Seminar on Common Lands organized by
the SPS in January ‘89 and the Workshop on Management of
Natural Resources by the CSE in October '89 both in close
cooperation with the FEVORD - K have resulted in the basic
documents compiled in this booklet. Government officials from
various departments, scientists, elected representatives and
Voluntary Agency Representatives participated actively in these
deliberations.
There is also a draft national policy on common Lands
being circulated by. the Society for Promotion of Wasteland
Development (New Delhi) which is also included in this booklet.
The publishers request that these documents be utilized
for debate on the State and Central policies and programmes on
the use and management of the Common Property Resources.
President,
Samaj Parivartana Samudaya, Dharwad.
President,
Federation of Voluntary Organisations for Rural Development Karnataka (FEVORD - K) Bangalore.
Convenor,
Action Committee for Protection of Common Lands, (ACPCL)
Dharwad.
President,
Citizens for Democracy, (CFD - K) Bangalore
Convenor,
Jana Vikas Andolan - (JVA - K) Bangalore
August 1, ‘91
Dharwad
PEOPLE’S PARTICIPATION
IN THE MANAGEMENT
OF NATURAL RESOURCES
1.
INTRODUCTION
“It is necessary to empower the local community at the
village level and ensure that each settlement will clearly have
locally defined environment and natural resource base of its
own to protect, care for, improve and use. if necessary, change
can be brought out
in laws. The entire process
of
political decentralisation and involvement of Panchayat Raj
institutions must ultimately end up in solving the most vital
problem facing India today, i.e., regeneration and restoration
of the environment, specially the ecologically fragile regions.
The only way to achieve this objective would be by deepening
democracy and participation at the village level as much as
possible. Every settlement in the country must have a clearly
defined environment to protect, care for and use this as an open
forum in which all can get together to discuss their problems
and find common solutions."
------ Report of the Steering Group on Environment,
Forests and Wastelands Development for the
formulation of the Eigth Five Year Plan (1990-95).
Planning Commission, Government of India. July
1989, pp. 134.
1.1 There is obviously an increasing awareness in the country
of the need to involve people actively in managing the soil,
water and biomass resources of their locality. This has been
mooted in a number of contexts including social forestry,
watershed development and management of minor irrigation
tanks. There has however been little progress in actually
involving people; in part, because the nature of such involvement
remains to be worked out explicitly. The voluntary sector and
academic institutions can play a most useful role in defining the
manifold ways in which such involvement could be fruitful.
1.2
The Centre for Ecological Sciences at the Indian Institute of
1
Science, Bangalore has been involved in such an attempt in
active collaboration with Federation of Voluntary Organizations
for Rural Development (Karnataka), the Save the Western
'Ghats Movement and an environmental voluntary agency,
Sahyadri Parisara Vardhini. Working together this group of
organizations conducted a series of village level meetings in
Uttara Kannada district from January to April 1988. Based on
the consensus arrived at in these meetings a concrete
proposal to involve people in management of village forests
was published on 5th June 1988 in English as well as Kannada
newspapers from Bangalore. This has subsequently been
widely debated in a number of forums including the Planning
Commission Steering Group on Environment, Forests and
Wastelands Development for the Eight Plan, and in a series of
meetings involving Zilla Parishat members and office bearers,
Government officials, workers of voluntary agencies and
technical experts; as well as news media. This process
culminated
in
a meeting
on 22nd September 1989 at
Bangalore. The present document reports the broad consensus
arrived at during the last meeting on 22nd September 1989.
1.3 There are several reasons why the involvement of local
people could contribute to better management of natural
resources. These include :
(a) The quality of life of local people is intimately linked to the
health of the resource base. Hence they are likely to be better
motivated than any impersonal machinery operating from a
distance to manage the resources well.
(b) The local people have considerable location specific
knowledge of the resource base of value to its good
management.
(c) The local people can continuously and closely monitor what
is happening to the resource base, and how the various
interventions are affecting the environment.
(d) Involving the people in a proper sharing of the benefits of
good resource use is vital to alleviation of rural poverty, our
most serious social problem.
’(e)
Involving local people actively in managing resources of
their locality could help get them out of the syndrome of
2
dependency on Government
handouts for everything and
confer on them some community responsibility and personal
dignity.
1.4 The possibilities of such involvement will have to be
worked out in terms of the following six parameters :
(a) Nature of resource element : degraded hilly land, irrigated
farm land, ground water trapped by bore well, small irrigation
tank, bamboo, bhabbar grass, fish stocks, oyster beds etc.
(b) Form of control over access to resource : private farmland,
state controlled reserve forest, roadsides controlled by PWD,
temple land, tank controlled by minor irrigation department etc.
(c) Activity in which people could be involved : digging farm
ponds on private land, planning of soil conservation works,
deciding on the location of irrigation tanks, collection of forest
produce like myrobolan, controlling fuelwood harvest from a
forest area, processing of a monor forest produce such as pine
resin, managing a community biogas plant, monitoring the
performance of minor irrigation department in supplying
irrigation water, marketing eucalyptus poles, etc.
(d) Kind of human social group involved : individual landless
labourers, nomadic shepherds, basket weavers, village youth
club, forest
labourers' cooperative, farmers' co-operative
sale-purchase
society,
countryboat
fishermen’s
union,
Mandal panchayats, Zilla Parishats etc.
(e) Mode of involvement : As daily wage labourers outside
their own locality, daily wage labourers on their own land,
joint managers of fuelwood plantations, watchdogs on execution
of works such as nala bunds, planners of land use etc.
(f)
Expected benefits of such involvement : Wage earnings,
better management of fuelwood plantations, better availability
of alternative cooking fuels such as biogas, reduction of
grazing pressure, opportunity to put traditional indigenous
knowledge to good use etc.
1.5 Evidently, there would be very many ways in which
people could be actively involved in managing resources of land.
water, vegetation
and anim'al life The most
Significant
contexts in which this would be relevant would include
3
(a)
Soil and water conservation
(b)
Irrigation
(c)
Common lands such as C and D class revenue lands,
protected forests, Panchayat lands etc.
(d)
Reserve forest lands
(e)
Livestock and their fodder resources
(f)
Fish and shellfish stocks and
(g)
Biological diversity including crop genetic resources.
1.6 Given below is an illustrative list of possibilities of
involvement restricted to productive use of plant biomass from
common lands and reserve forest lands and conservation
of biological diversity. This is an incomplete list which needs to
be added to; it also requires to be fleshed out by providing the
details along the six dimensions listed above.
(a) Individual or collective tree pattas or sanads for use of
wood or non-wood usufruct for roadside trees and for trees on
various categories of Government lands including C and D
class revenue lands, minor forest lands, reserve forest lands.
(b) Community based management systems for various
categories of public lands such as C and D class revenue
lands, protected forest lands, minor forest lands etc.
(c) Tree nurseries for planting on private, community or
reserve forest lands through kissans, youth clubs, mahila
mandals, schools etc.
(d) Forest labourers co-operatives/tribal LAMP societies for
plantation work, harvest, marketing and distribution of forest
produce, production of forest lands etc. on wages or on contract
as piece work.
(e) Forest labourers’ or artisians' co-operatives to process
forest produce for making baskets, agricultural implements etc.
(f)
co-operative socieites for sophisticated processing of forest
produce such as preparation of strychnine from Strychnos
nuxvomica.
(g)
Local forest protection forces for guarding reserve forests
4
against fire, smugglers etc.
(h) Continuation of traditional protection to sacred trees,
sacred groves etc.
(i)
Organizing protection of crops against damage by wild
animals such as pigs and elephants.
(j)
Educational institutions for developing data base on
utilization and management of forest lands, traditional resource
use practices etc.
2.
VILLAGE FOREST, RESERVE FOREST AND GRAZING
LANDS
We explore below possibilities of involving people in
managing forest and grazing lands in some detail, not because
other issues such as management of irrigation tanks are not
significant, but because the resource elements mentioned
above have received considerable attention in the exercise on
which this note is based.
2.1
Village forest and grazing land to meet the biomass
needs of villagers
Villagers depend on forests for their day-to-day needs
like fuelwood, fodder, timber for house construction and
agricultural implements. While farmers owning large tracts of
land meet these demands through their agricultural by-products,
small farmers and landless have to depend on Government
owned land for these needs. The land designated to meet the
needs of the people come under Revenue Department, Forest
Deparment and Panchayat. Often the land controlled by the
Forest Department is looked after fairly well; however the
lands under Panchayat and Revenue Department tend to be
neglected due to lack of funds and necessary facilities.
There is nowhere any proper plan for growing fodder on
Government land. Therefore landless people doing animal
husbandry always suffer from scarcity of fodder. People below
the poverty line are provided with cattle from various village
development projects. But if fodder is not available, the purpose
of removing poverty through these projects is defeated.
Therefore it is necessary to reserve large area of land and
develop them to meet the day-to-day needs of poor villagers.
Such land may be called “village forest or grazing land".
5
At present all villages do not have such lands. It is
necessary to create such village forests and grazing lands in all
places where there are Government lands.
The various needs of the local population should be kept in
view while creating village forests or grazing lands. Depending
on the population of the village, and number of cattle and other
livestock, the requirement of fuelwood, fodder, manure etc
should be decided Village forest and grazing lands should be
created after calculating how much of these should be drawn
from agricultural lands and Government lands.
2.2
Village level committee for the
village forests and grazing lands
development
of
We believe that the cooperation of villagers is essential in
the development of the village forests and grazing lands working
side by side with the Government departments. The social unit
appropriate for this purpose would be much smaller than the
area under the jurisdiction of a Mandal Panchayat or a revenue
village. These latter units are too large in extent of area and
include too large and heterogeneous a population to be effective
in the management of common lands and it would therefore
be desirable if relatively small homogenous units of settlement
such as a hamlet or a village are identified in which all the
people are in regular face to face contact. Pieces of common
lands close to such a unit settlement should then be identified to
fulfill the biomass needs of the concerned population.
Committees working at such village levels should play an
active role in the development and preservation of these lands
as well as in taking decisions regarding the distribution of the
produce. Committees should particularly involve
landless
agricultural labourers, and small and marginal farmers as
members since they depend mainly on these lands. If the
region includes tribal populations who are particularly dependent
on forest lands then they should also be given a special role in
these committees. It is also suggested that women who do lot
of gathering should be given high level of representation.
2.2.1
Composition of the Committee
Depending on the size of the families in the village, it is
suggested that this committee should have 9 to17 members in it.
6
Number of members
in the Committee
Number of families
100 and below
101 to 300
301 to 600
601 to 1000
9
11 to 13
13 to 15
15 to 17
If there are more than 1000 families in a village, there
should be more than one committee.
2.2.2
Election of members to the village committee
1.
There was some difference of opinion as to whether the
members of such a committee should be elected or nominated
in
some fashion. Some believe that any election would
introduce an element of politicization and should be avoided.
They suggest that workers of local voluntary agencies should
play an important role in these committees. Others believe that it
would be better if the members are elected by the whole Grama
Sabha, perhaps once every three years on the basis of a one
person one vote
system. However, it is felt that the
membership should
be reserved according to different
categories with higher weightage for
the people
more
intimately dependent on the common lands. The membership
could include :
(i)
If there are tribal people in the area, several members
including women from amongst them.
(ii)
One or more members from the landless agricultural
labourer group and same number of women. Number of
these members should be decided depending on the
percentage of landless in a village population and
number of members in the committee.
(iii)
One or more men from amongst small and marginal
farmers and same number of women.
(iv)
One member from landowners.
(v)
One member from village artisan group.
(vi)
One member amongst the other citizens of the
like shopowners, workers etc.
7
village
(vii)
One member from Mandal Panchayat.
(viii)
One member from the association of milk producers if the
village has such an association or union.
All these members should be residents of the village.
In addition, following Government officials should be ex-officio
members of the committee.
(i)
Forester. In his absence, forest guard can represent him.
(ii)
Village livestock inspector.
The president of the committee should be elected from
the representatives of the village.
2.2.3
Staff of the Committee
To implement the decisions taken by the committee a
secretary and if needed a field assistant should be elected /
nominated. The secretary should work on an honorary basis
while the field assistants may be full-time employees who would
serve for watch and ward and carry out any maintenance work
required. The secretary should submit his report to the
committee from time to time. The committee should pay the
salaries/honoraria ultimately from the revenue derived by
collecting fees for the fuelwood, fodder etc. supplied to the
villagers from the common land At the initial stage some
Government inputs may be necessary rowards renumeration.
2.2.4
Responsibility of the village level committee
1.
Development and protection of village forests and grazing
lands, distribution of forest produce and planning suitable
projects on Government s guidelines.
2.
Growing fodder yielding plants and trees, arranging
programmes with the help of range and division level committees
to create awareness regarding wasteland development amongst
people.
3.
Training the local people about forest develc, ment
tree planting with the help of higher level committees.
4.
and
Supervising the work done by the committee’s staff.
5.
Based on the report submitted by the committee's staff,
reporting of people who have violated the rules to forest
8
38
officials "lor taking appropriate action.
6.
Reporting any illegal activities in the village forest or
grazing land to the forest officials and cooperating with them to
prevent such activities.
2.2.5
Responsibilities of the staff of the committee
(a)
Secretary
1.
Sending meeting notices as directed by the President.
2.
Keeping records of the activities of the committee.
3.
Executing the decisions taken in the
Supervising the work of the field assistants.
4.
Distribution of forest produce based on the committee's
decisions and instruction.
5.
Maintenance of accounts and reporting them in meetings.
(b)
Field Assistant
meetings.
Field assistants may be chosen on the recommendation
of the secretary. Depending on the area of the village forest,
the number of staff members should be decided.
Following are the responsibilities of the field assistants :
1.
Implementation of forest development work based on
committee s decisions.
2.
Protecting the village forest from fire, animals and thieves.
3.
Catching the thieves and handing them over to forest
officials and reporting such matters to the secretary.
4.
Reporting any illegal activities in the forest to the
secretary.
2.2.6
Responsibility of the forester/field assitant
The responsibilities of the local foresters/field assistants
who are the ex-officio members of the committee are as follows
1.
Taking appropriate action when there is theft or any
activity that violates the rules.
2.
Advising on technical matters and forest rules in the
meetings.
9
3.
Visiting the village forests now and then and giving
guidance on technical matters to secretary and field
assistants.
4.
Reporting the events during the visit to the forest to the
village committee.
5.
Reporting the activities of the village committee to the
higher level committee.
2.2.7
Responsibilities of the village livestock inspector
1.
Giving
suitable
suggestions
regarding
animal
husbandry, treatment for sterile cattle and sale of cattle in
the meetings.
2.
Giving technical advice on growing fodder plants in
the village forests and helping in activities of the
committee in creating awareness amongst people on
such matters.
2.2.8
Finances of the village committee
Funds needed for protection and development of village
forests during the first five years should come from the
Government. There should be a gradual decline in the financial
support from the Government in the next two years so that in
seven years’ time the committee would become self-supporting.
Based on the guidelines, prices for all the forest produce
should be fixed. Rebate should be given to green card
holding poor people. Whenever the rebate is given, the
difference should be paid by the Government.
By seven years, enough money should be obtained by
selling the produce of village forests to meet the expenses
connected with staff salaries and forest development activities.
Beyond this period, support from the Government should be
taken only for educating and training programmes.
If there is surplus of the forest produce, it should be sent
to depots of forest department for sale in other villages or to the
urban poor. Money thus obtained should be utilized for the
development work of the village forests and grazing lands. In
case some funds remain after utilizing for development work,
they should be used for village improvement programmes.
10
ROLE OF VILLAGERS IN WORKING
DEVELOPMENT OF RESERVE FORESTS
3.
AND
In addition to their cooperation and participation in taking
care of the village forests, villagers' cooperation is needed in the
development and protection of reserve forests as well.
It is important to involve people below the poverty line in
the working, development and preservation of reserve forests by
the Forest Department because,
1.
Only these poor people will be willing to work as labourers
in forest development activities. If they are convinced that
they will be benefitted by working for the Forest
Department, the expenses involved in their participation
can be brought down.
2.
Their dependence on the forests is more as they have
little land of their own.
3.
In view of social justice also, these people should get
benefits of produce from the reserve forests.
Aims of developing the reserve forests
3.1
1.
Conservation of water and soil nutrients of the forest land.
2.
Preservation of diversity of plants.
3.
Growing plants which yield the kind of fruits, flowers.
leaves, seeds etc. that promote employment opportunities
for the poor villagers. Villagers would be more
enthusiastic in protecting such plants that continually yield
usufructs without having to cut them periodically.
4.
It is necessary to use some forest land to meet the
fuelwood demands of the urban poor and for special
occasions. It is also necessary to take steps to reduce
the urban people's dependence on fuelwood. This could
be achieved by providing stoves that consume less fuel
and financial support for getting cooking gas. In addition
encouragement could be given for growing timber and
fuelwood yielding trees in urban Government lands. With
proper planning pressure on reserve forests for supply
of wood by felling trees should be reduced as much as
possible.
11
3.
Visiting the village forests now and then and giving
guidance on technical matters to secretary and field
assistants.
4.
Reporting the events during the visit to the forest to the
village committee.
5.
Reporting the activities of the village committee to the
higher level committee.
2.2.7 Responsibilities of the village livestock inspector
1.
Giving
suitable
suggestions
regarding
animal
husbandry, treatment for sterile cattle and sale of cattle in
the meetings.
2.
Giving technical advice on growing fodder plants in
the village forests and helping in activities of the
committee in creating awareness amongst people on
such matters.
2.2.8
Finances of the village committee
Funds needed for protection and development of village
forests during the first five years should come from the
Government. There should be a gradual decline in the financial
support from the Government in the next two years so that in
seven years' time the committee would become self-supporting.
Based on the guidelines, prices for all the forest produce
should be fixed. Rebate should be given to green card
holding poor people. Whenever the rebate is given, the
difference should be paid by the Government.
By seven years, enough money should be obtained by
selling the produce of village forests to meet the expenses
connected with staff salaries and forest development activities.
Beyond this period, support from the Government should be
taken only for educating and training programmes.
If there is surplus of the forest produce, it should be sent
to depots of forest department for sale in other villages or to the
urban poor. Money thus obtained should be utilized for the
development work of the village forests and grazing lands. In
case some funds remain after utilizing for development work,
they should be used for village improvement programmes.
10
ROLE OF VILLAGERS IN WORKING
DEVELOPMENT OF RESERVE FORESTS
3.
AND
In addition to their cooperation and participation in taking
care of the village forests, villagers’ cooperation is needed in the
development and protection of reserve forests as well.
It is important to involve people below the poverty line in
the working, development and preservation of reserve forests by
the Forest Department because,
1.
Only these poor people will be willing to work as labourers
in forest development activities. If they are convinced that
they will be benefitted by working for the Forest
Department, the expenses involved in their participation
can be brought down.
2.
Their dependence on the forests is more as they have
little land of their own.
3.
In view of social justice also, these people should get
benefits of produce from the reserve forests.
Aims of developing the reserve forests
3.1
1.
Conservation of water and soil nutrients of the forest land.
2.
Preservation of diversity of plants.
3.
Growing plants which yield the kind of fruits, flowers,
leaves, seeds etc. that promote employment opportunities
for the poor villagers. Villagers would be more
enthusiastic in protecting such plants that continually yield
usufructs without having to cut them periodically.
4.
It is necessary to use some forest land to meet the
fuelwood demands of the urban poor and for special
occasions. It is also necessary to take steps to reduce
the urban people's dependence on fuelwood. This could
be achieved by providing stoves that consume less fuel
and financial support for getting cooking gas. In addition
encouragement could be given for growing timber and
fuelwood yielding trees in urban Government lands. With
proper planning pressure on reserve forests for supply
of wood by felling trees should be reduced as much as
possible.
11
3.2
Involvement
of villagers in the
development,
working and protection of reserve forest.
Suggestions
1.
Ownership of reserve forests should continue to be with
the Forest Department.
2.
A society or association of poor people who are willing to
work in cooperation with the Forest Department for the
protection and development of reserve forests should be
formed. Only landless agricultural labourers, small
farmers and village artisans should be members of such
socieites.
3.
At present, formation of such societies is possible only
under the rules and regualations of Cooperative societies.
Under these rules, it becomes difficult for the poor
people to run such cooperative societies. Moreover, it
is a difficult task to interact with different Government
departments dealing with different kinds of matters.
Therefore, simple guidelines should be formulated for the
working of such people's socieites. Forest development
projects should have provisions for the formation of such
socieites.
4.
Forest Department should give contracts
societies instead of to individuals.
5.
Contract for collection of minor forest produce should
be given to such societies. The societies should be
allowed to sell the minor forest produce only after paying
the Forest Department the contract amount.
6.
Processing of the minor forest produce should also be
done in the villages as far as possible. Other
Departments of the Government should help in this
matter. The Government Departments, research
institutions and voluntary agencies
should play an
important role in identifying minor forest products that
help in creating employment to poor villagers.
7.
The traditional occupation of the villagers should be
taken into consideration while deciding about the types of
plants to be grown in reserve forests. The plant species
12
to
these
.
that yield raw materials needed for them and those that
might offer newer jobs should be planted. The poor
villagers’ societies should take active part in taking such
decisions.
8.
The chair-person of these socieites should be from the
respective villages. The ex-officio members should be the
forest officials An advisory committee should be
constituted with heads of the Departments of Forests,
Animal husbandry, Agriculture and Industry as its
members. Representatives from Voluntary organizations
should also be part of the committee.
9.
It is estimated that about hundred lakh tonnes of fuelwood
is being transported to cities as headloads at present. A
union of people who sell headloads may be created and
made to get involved in growing fuelwood yielding trees
and plants. They should be trained to grow and
scientifically cut plants. They may be permitted to
transport fuelwood through vehicles and to sell fuelwood
to poor people at fixed price. After first five years, these
socieites should be able to grow and sell fuelwood on
trieir own. Lands will have to be specially earmarked for
this purpose.
10.
Forest dwelling tribals should also be brought together to
make societies which could be involved in growing,
gathering and processing and selling minor forest
products.
4.
HIGHER LEVEL COMMITTEE/S
There was considerable discussion about the constitution
of higher level committees to oversee and help in the work of
the village level committees / organizations such as forest
labourers’ societies. One view was that any structure thought of
has to be compatible with the Mandal Panchayat and Zilla
Parishat system. It was therefore suggested that special
committees should be constituted at the Mandal and district level
to discharge this function. There was also debate on whether
this
responsibility should be taken on by the appropriate
standing committees of the Panchayat and Zilla Parishat or
whether special committees need to be constituted. Experience
with the village forest protection committees of Midnapore district
13
of West Bengal, suggests that it might be useful to have a
further hierarchy of committees between the Panchayat and Zilla
level at the forest range and division level. If this is to be
implemented the following structure is suggested :
Range level committee
4.1
The range level committee
composition :
1.
may
have the following
Five members from each Mandal. They should be
representatives of the following groups : One from
landless agricultural labourers group; one from amongst
women; one from the artisans; one farmer and one of the
members of Mandal panchayat.
These members should be elected by the representatives
of the village level committees of each mandal. For example, if
there are 10 village level committees, all landless agricultural
labourers of these committees should elect one amongst them
as a member to range level committee.
2.
One of the members should be elected as the President.
3.
The range forest officer should be the Secretary of the
committee while other forest officials may be ex-officio
members.
4.
Heads of the Departments of Animal Husbandry,
Horticulture, Agriculture and Development at taluk level
should be ex-officio members.
5.
Voluntary agencies, educational institutions and reserach
organizations of a particular range should send
representatives as ex-officio members of the committee.
6.
Number .of representatives from village level committees
in range level committees should not be more than 30. In
a committee of too many members, it becomes difficult for
proper discussions to take place. Therefore it is
suggested that if there are more than six Mandals in a
range, there should be more than one committee.
7.
Government officials of the range level committees
are expected to pay frequent visits to the villages,
supervise the functioning of the village level committees.
14
They should also visit the forests and submit reports on
the status of the forests to range level committee.
4.1.1.
Responsibilities of range level committees
1.
Provide guidance and technical advice on rules and
regulation to village level committees.
2.
Arrage programmes to create awareness about forest
development and growing fodder yielding plants and trees
in private lands amongst people.
3.
Train the staff of village committees and local people.
4.
Review the complaints received from village committees
and local forest officials and recommend suitable action.
5.
If any village committee fails to function properly, report
the matter to division level committee with a
recommendation for proper course of action.
6.
Supervise and direct the developmental activities of
the village forests which are far from the concerned
villages.
7.
Take steps to increase the participation of poor villagers,
socieites in the development of reserve forests. Discuss
with local poor about the types of plants to be planted.
Division level committee
4.2
A division level committee may be formed to guide and
advise range level committees on technical matters. The
composition of this committee may be as follows :
1.
Five village level representatives from each range. They
should be : One from landless agricultural labourer group;
one amongst women; one village artisan, one member of
the Mandal Panchayat and one from other categories.
The range level members should elect them.
2.
Range forest officers should be members.
3.
Heads of the Departments of Animal
Agriculture, Horticulture at district level
members.
4.
Two members from the Zilla Parishat of the division
nA
15
Husbandry,
should be
elected by the Zilla parishat members.
5.
Representatives from voluntary organizations,
educational institutions and reserach organizations of the
division.
6.
From amongst the representatives from the village, one
should be elected as president.
7.
Deputy Conservator of the Division should act as the
Secretary of the committee.
8.
Three representatives from the poor villagers' societies.
4.2.1
Responsibilities of the divisional level committee
1.
Provide guidance to range level committees.
2.
Arrange to give technical
committees.
3.
Review the recommendation and complaints received
from range level committees regarding village level
committees and take suitable actions.
4.3
advice to
range level
District level coordination committee
Since the development, planning and administration would
now focus on the district as a unit, it would be necessary to
coordinate the activities of the lower level committees beginning
with the village committees at the district level. This committee
would work closely with the Zilla Parishat and the district level
set-up of the Government development machinery.
4.3.1
Composition of the Committee
’President of the Zilla Parishat should be the president of
the committee and the Chief Secretary of the Zilla Parishat
should function as the Secretary. In addition, the committee
may be constituted with the following members :
1.
Conservators of Forest of the district.
2.
Deputy Conservators of Forest of the district
3.
Ten members from division level committees from
different groups of village societies with different
occupations.
16
Husbandry,
4.
Heads of the departments of Animal
Agriculture, and Horticulture at district level.
5.
Representatives from voluntary organizations working in
the district.
6.
Representatives from educational institutions, research
organizations working in the field of environment,
agriculture and forestry. If such institutions are not found
in the district, representatives may be invited from
institutions outside the district.
4.3.2
Responsibilities of the district level
committee
coordination
The committee should meet at least once a year.
1.
Form subcommittees to coordinate activities of different
division level committees.
2.
Look into the developmental activities of forest
wastelands of the district.
3.
Guidance for future work.
4.
Allocate funds earmarked for forest and wastelands
and environment improvement
projects to different
divisional committees of the district.
5.
Sanction funds for relevant research activities.
6.
Arrange for periodic examination and review of the forests
and wastelands of the district and evaluation of the
developmental activities.
and
We believe that such formal local level management must
be put into place to effectively involve the people and to ensure
that the weaker segmets of our population who are concentrated
in the rural areas derive substantial benefits from the natural
resource base. To quote once again, the Steering Group on
Environment, Forests and Wastelands Development for the
formulation of the Eight Five Year Plan (1990-95), strengthening
community effort is perhaps the only hope for enriching rural
resource base.
17
The National Forest Policy
The Government of India presented in Parliament in
December 1988 the National Forest Policy, 1988. We give
below the Minister’s speech in Parliament on this occasion,
followed by the full text of the new policy.
“The issue of revision of the Forest Policy formulated in
1952 has been under the active consideration of the
Government for some time, in view of the social, economic
and ecological importance of forests, considerable thought has
to be given to the multifarious implications of the Forest Policy.
Although the 1952 Forest Policy aimed at Forest coverage of
one-third of the total land area of the country, due to various
constraints, this could not be attained. Rather, extensive
diversion of forest land has taken place for non-forest use. The
genetic diversity has also been considerably affected by the
destruction of flora and fauna. The Government have
increasingly realised the great importance of forests in
contributing to the ecological stability of the country. This has
necessitated a re-examination of the Forest Policy and giving
emphasis to the conservation and ecological aspects.
The salient features of the new Forest Policy are :
1.
Maintenance of environmental stability through
preservation and restoration of ecological balance.
2.
Conservation of the natural heritage of the country
by preserving the remaining natural forests and protecting
the vast genetic resources for the benefit of the posterity.
3.
Meeting the basic needs of the people, especially
fuelwood, fodder and small timber for the rural and the
tribal people.
4.
Maintaining the intrinsic relationship between forests and
the tribal and other poor people living in and around
forests by protecting their customary rights and
concessions on the forests.
The main approach outlined is as follows :
18
1.
Existing forest land and forests will be fully protected and
their productivity will be improved. Emphasis will be
given to enhance forest cover on hill slopes and
catchment areas of rivers.
2.
In order to conserve biological diversity, a network of
sanctuaries, national parks, biosphere reserves and
other protected areas will be extended and better
managed
3.
The people will be actively involved in programmes
of protection, conservation and management of the
forests.
We believe that the new Forest Policy will be able to
achieve nature conservation and ecological balance at the
same time meeting the essential requirements of the people."
Text of the Resolution on National Forest Policy, 1988
1.
PREAMBLE
1.1
In Resolution No. 13/52-F, dated the 12th May 1952,
the Government of India in the erstwhile Ministry of Food
and Agriculture enunciated a Forest Policy to be followed in
the management of State Forests in the country. However,
over the years, forests in the country have suffered serious
depletion. This is attributable to relentless pressures arising
from ever-increasing demand for tuelwood, fodder and timber;
inadequcy of protection measures, diversion of forest lands to
non-forest uses without ensuring compensatory afforestation
and essential environmental safeguards; and the tendency to
look upon forests as revenue earning resource. The need to
review the situation and to evolve, for the future, a new strategy
of forest conservation has become imperative. Conservation
includes preservation, maintenance,
sustainable utilisation,
restoration,
and enhancement of the natural environment.
It has thus become necessary to review and revise the
National Forest Policy.
BASIC OBJECTIVES
2.
2.1
The basic objectives that should govern the National
Forest Policy are the tollowing
-
Maintenance
of
environmental
19
stability
through
preservation and, where necessary, restoration of the
ecological balance that has been adversely disturbed by
serious depletion of the forests of the country.
-
Conserving the natural heritage of the country by
preserving the remaining natural forests with the vast
variety of flora and fauna, which represent the remarkable
biological diversity and genetic resources of the country.
-
Checking soil erosion and denudation in the catchment
areas of rivers, lakes, reservoirs in the interest of soil
and water conservation, for mitigating floods and droughts
and for the retardation of siltation of reservoirs.
-
Checking the extension of sand-dunes in the desert
areas of Rajasthan and along the coastal tracts.
-
Increasing substantially the forest/tree cover in the
country through massive afforestation and social forestry
programmes, especially on all denuded, degraded and
unproductive lands.
-
Meeting the requirements of fuelwood, fodder, minor
forest produce and small timber of the rural and tribal
populations.
-
increasing the productivity of forests to meet essential
national needs.
-
Encouraging efficient utilisation of forest produce
maximising substitution of wood.
-
Creating a massive people's movement with the
involvement of women, for achieving these objectives
and to minimise pressure on existing forests.
and
2.2 The principal aim of Forest Policy must be to
ensure environmental stability and maintenance of ecological
balance including atmospheric equilibrium which are vital for
sustenance of all lifeforms, human, animal and plant. The
derivation of direct economic benefit must be subordinated to
this principal aim.
3.
ESSENTIALS OF FOREST MANAGEMENT
3.1 Existing forests and forest lands should be fully protected
and their productivity improved. Forest and vegetal cover should
20
be increased rapidly on hill slopes, in catchment areas of
rivers, lakes and reservoirs and ocean shores and on semi-arid,
arid and desert tracts.
3.2 Diversion of good and productive agricultural lands to
forestry should be discouraged in view of the need for increased
food production.
3.3 For the conservation of total biological diversity, the
network of national parks, sanctuaries, biosphere reserves and
other protected
areas
should
be strengthened
and
extended adequately.
3.4 Provision of sufficient fodder, fuel and pasture, specially in
areas adjoining forest, is necessary in order to prevent
depletion of forests beyond the sustainable limit. Since fuelwood
continues to be the predominant source of energy in rual areas,
the programme of afforestation should be intensified with special
emphasis on augmenting fulewood production to meet the
requirement of the rural people.
3.5 Minor forest produce provides sustenance to tribal
population and to other communities residing in and around the
forests. Such produce should be protected, improved and
their production enhanced with due regard to generation of
employment and income.
4.
4.1
STRATEGY
Area Under Forest :
The national goal should be to have a minimum of one-third
of the total land area of the country under forest or tree cover.
In the hills and in mountainous regions, the aim should be to
maintain two-third of the area under such cover in order to
prevent erosion and land degradation and to ensure the stability
of the fragile eco-system.
4.2
Afforestation, Social Forestry & Farm Forestry :
4.2.1
A massive need-based and timebound programme
of afforestation and tree planting, with particular emphasis on
fuelwood and fodder development, on all degraded and
denuded lands in the country, whether forest or non-forest
4.2 2
It is necessary to encourage the planting of tree
alongside of roads, railway lines, rivers and streams and canals,
and on other unutilised lands under State/corporate, institutional
or private ownership Green belts should be raised in
urban/industrial areas as well as in and tracts Such a
programme will help to check erosion and desertification as well
as improve the micro-climate.
4.2 3
Village and community lands, including those on
foreshores and environs of tanks, not required for other
productive uses, should be taken up for the development of
tree crops and fodder resources. Technical assistance and
other inputs necessary for intiating such programmes should
be provided by the Government. The revenues generated
through such programmes should belong to the panchayats
where the lands are vested in them; in all other cases, such
revenues should be shared with the local communities in order
to provide an incentive to them The vesting, in individuals,
particularly from the weaker sections (such as landless labour,
small and marginal farmers, scheduled castes, tribals, women)
of certain ownership rights over trees, could be considered,
subject to appropriate regulations, beneficiaries would be
entitled to usufruct and would in turn be responsible for their
security and maintenance.
4.2.4
Land laws should be so modified wherever necessary so
as to facilitate and motivate individuals and institutions to
undertake tree-farming and grow fodder plants, grasses and
legumes on their own land. Wherever possible, degraded lands
should be made available for this purpose either on lease or
on the basis of a tree-patta scheme. Such leasing of the land
should be subject to the land grant rules and land ceiling laws.
Steps necessary to encourage them to do so must be taken.
Appropriate regulations should govern the felling of trees on
private holding.
4.3
MANAGEMENT OF STATE FORESTS
4.3.1. Schemes and projects which interfere with forests that
clothe steep slopes, catchments of rivers, lakes, and resrvoirs,
geologically unstable
terrain
and such other ecologically
sensitive areas should be severely restricted. Tropical rain/
moist forests, particularly in areas like Arunachal Pradesh,
22
Kerala, Andaman
safeguarded.
&
Nicobar
Islands,
should be totally
4.3.2
No forest should be permitted to be worked without
the Government having approved the management plan, which
should be in a prescribed format and in keeping with the
National Forest Policy, the Central Government should issue
necessary guidelines to the State Government in this rgard and
monitor compliance.
4.3.3
In order to meet the growing needs for essential goods
and services which the forests provide, it is necessary to
enhance forest cover and productivity of the forests through
the application of scientific and technical inputs. Production
forestry programmes, while aiming at enhancing the forest cover
in the country, and meeting national needs, should also be
oriented to narrowing by the turn of the century, the increasing
gap between demand and supply of fuelwood.
No such
programme, however, should entail clear-felling of adequately
stocked natural forests. Nor should exotic species be introduced,
through public or private sources, unless long-term scientific
trials undertaken by specialists in ecology, forestry and
agriculture have established that they are suitable and have
no adverse impact on native vegetation and environment.
4.3.4
Rights and Concessions
4.3.4.1 The rights and concessions, including grazing, should
always remain related to the carrying capacity of forests. The
capacity itself should be optimised by increased investment,
silvicultural research and development of the area. Stall-feeding
of cattle should be encouraged. The requirements of the
community, which cannot be met by the rights and concessions
so determined, should be met by development of social
forestry outside the reserved forests.
4.3.4.2 The holders of customary rights and concessions in
forest areas should be motivated to identify themselves with the
protection and development of forests from which they derive
benefits. The rights and concessions from forests should
primarily be for the bonafide use of the communities living
within and around forest areas, specially the tribals.
4.3.4.3
The life of tribals and other poor living within and near
23
forests revolves around forests. The rights and concessions
enjoyed by them should be fully protected. Their domestic
requirements of fuelwood, fodder, minor forest produce and
construction timber should be the first charge on forest produce.
These and substitute materials should be made available
through conveniently located at depots at reasonable prices.
4.3.4.4 Similar consideration should be given to scheduled
castes and other poor living near forests. However, the area,
which such consideration should cover, would be determined by
the carrying capacity of the forests.
4.3.5 Wood is in short supply. The long-term solution for
meeting the existing gap lies in increasing the productivity of
forests, but to relieve the existing pressure on forests for the
demands of railway sleepers, construction industry (particularly
in the public sector), furniture and panelling, mine-pit props,
paper and paper board etc. substitution of wood needs to be
taken recourse to. Similarly, on the front of domestic energy,
fuelwood needs to be substituted as far as practicable with
alternate sources like biogas, LPG and solar energy. Fuel
efficient “chulhas" as a measure of conservation of fuelwood
need to be popularised in rural areas.
4.4
Diversion of Forest Lands for Non-forest Purposes
4.4.1 Forest land or land with tree cover should not be treated
merely as a resource readily available to be utilised for various
projects and programmes, but as a national asset which
requires to be properly safguarded for providing sustained
benefits to the entire community. Diversion of forest land Jor
any non-forest purpose should be subject to the most careful
examinations by the specialists from the standpoint of social and
environmental costs and benefits. Construction of dams and
reservoirs, mining and industrial development and expansion
of agriculture should be consistent with the needs for
conservation of trees and forests. Projects which involve such
diversion should at least provide in their investment budget,
funds for regeneration/compensatory afforestation.
4.4.2
Beneficiaries who are allowed mining and quarrying
in forest land and in land covered by trees should be required
to repair and re-vegetate the area in accordance
with
established forestry practices. No mining lease should be
24
granted to any party, private or public, without a proper mine
management plan appraised from the environmental angle and
enforced by adequate machinery.
Wildlife Conservation
4.5
Forest Management should take special care of the needs
of wildlife conservation, and forest management plans should
include prescriptions for this purpose. It is specially essential
to provide for “corridors” linking the protected areas in order to
maintain genetic continuity between artificially separated sub
sections of migrant wildlife.
Tribal People and Forests
4.6
Having regard to the symbiotic relationship between the
tribal people and forests, a primary task of all agencies
responsible for forest management, including the forest
development corporations should be to associate the tribal
people closely in the protection, regeneration and development
of forests as well as to provide gainful employment to people
living in and around the forest. While safeguarding the
customary rights and interests of such people, forestry
programmes should pay special attention to the following
-
One of the major causes for degradation of forest is
illegal cutting and removal by contractors and their labour.
In order to put an end to this practice, contractors should
be replaced by institutions such as tribal cooperatives,
labour cooperatives, government corporations, etc. as
early as possible.
-
Protection, regeneration and optimum collection of minor
forest produce along with institutional arrangements for
the marketing of such produce;
-
Development of forest villages on par with revenue
villages;
-
Family-oriented schemes for improving the status of the
tribal beneficiaries; and
-
Undertaking integrated area development programmes to
meet the needs of the tribal economy in and around the
forest areas, including the provision of alternative sources
of domestic energy on a subsidised basis, to reduce
25
pressure on the existing forest areas.
4.7
Shifting Cultivation
Shifting cultivation is affecting the environment and
productivity of land adversely. Alternative avenues of income,
suitably harmonised with the right landuse practices, should be
devised to discourage shifting cultivation. Efforts should be
made to contain such cultivation within the area already
affected, by propagating improved agricultural practices. Area
already damaged by such cultivation should be rehabilitated
through social forestry and energy plantations.
4.8
Damage to Forests from Encroachments, Fires and
Grazing
4.8.1
Encroachment on forest lands has been on the increase.
This trend has to be arrested and effective action taken to
prevent its continuance. There should be no regularisation of
existing encroachments.
4.8.2 The incidence of forest fires in the country is high.
Standing trees and fodder are destroyed on a large scale and
natural regeneration annihilated by such fires. Special
precautions should be taken during the fire season. Improved
and modern management practices should be adopted to deal
with forest fires.
4.8.3 Grazing in forest areas should be regulated with the
involvement of the community. Special conversation areas,
young plantation and regeneration areas should be fully
protected. Grazing and browsing in forest areas need to be
controlled. Adequate grazing fees should be levied to discourage
people in forest areas from maintaining large herds of nonessential livestock.
4.9
Forest-based Industries
The main considerations governing the establishment of
forest-based industries and supply of raw material to them
should be as follows :
- As far as possible, a forest-based industry should raise
the raw material needed for meeting its own
requirements, preferably by establishment of a direct
relationship between the factory and the individuals who
26
can grow the raw material by supporting the individuals
with inputs including credit, constant technical advice
and finally harvesting and transport services.
-
No forest-based enterprise, except that at the village
or cottage level, should be permitted in the future unless
it has been first cleared after a careful scrutiny with
regard to assured availability of raw material. In any
case, the fuel, fodder and timber requirements of the local
population should not be sacrificed for this purpose.
-
Forest-based industries must not only provide
employment to local people on priority but also involve
them fully in raising trees and raw-material.
-
Natural forests serve as a gene pool resource and
help to maintain ecological balance. Such forests will not,
therefore, be made available to industries for undertaking
plantation and for any other activities.
-
Farmers, particularly small and marginal farmers would
be encouraged to grow, on marginal/degraded lands
available with them, wood species required for industries.
These may also be grown along with fuel and fodder
species on community lands not required for pasture
purposes, and by forest department/corporations
on
degraded forests, not earmarked for natural regeneration.
- The practice of supply of forest produce to industry
at concessional prices should cease. Industry should be
encouraged to use alternative raw materials import of
wood and wood products should be liberalised.
- The above considerations will however, be subject to
the current policy relating to land ceiling and land-laws.
4.10
Forest Extension
Forest conservation programme cannot succeed without
the willing support
and cooperation of the people. It is
essential, therefore, to inculcate in the people, a direct interest
in forests, their devleopment and conservation, and to make
them conscious of the value of trees, wildlife and nature in
general. This can be achieved through the involvement of
educational intitutions, right from the primary stage. Farmers and
27
interested people should be provided opportunities through
institutions like Krishi Vigyan Kendras, Trainers' Training Centres
to learn agri-silvicultural and silvicultural techniques to ensure
optimum use of their land and water resources. Short-term
extension courses and lectures should be organised in order
to educate farmers. For this purpose, it is essential that
suitable programmes are propagated through mass media,
audio-visual aids and the extension machinery.
4 11 Forestry Education
Forestry should be recognised both as a scientific discipline
as well as a profession. Agriculture universities and institutions
dedicated to the development of forestry education should
formulate curricula and courses for imparling academic
education and promoting post-graduate research and
professional excellence, keeping in view the manpower needs
of the country. Academic and professional qualifications in
forestry should be kept in view for recruitment to the Indian
Forest Service and the State Forest Service. Specialised and
orientation courses for developing better management skills
by inservice training need to be encouraged, taking into
account the latest development in forestry and related
disciplines.
4.12 Foretry Research
With the increasing recognition of the importance of forests
for environmental health, energy and employment, emphasis
must be laid on scientific forestry research, necessitating
adequate strengthening of the research base as well as new
priorities for action. Some broad priority areas of research and
development needing special attention are
i)
Increasing the productivity of wood and other forest
produce per unit of area per unit time by the application
of modern scientific and technological methods.
ii)
Revegetation of barren/marginal/waste/mined
and watershed areas.
iii)
Effective conservation and management of
existing
forest resources (mainly natural forest eco-systems).
iv)
Research
related to
social
28
forestry
for
lands
rural/tribal
development.
v)
Development of substitutes to replace wood and wood
products.
vi)
Reserach related to wildlife and management of naional
parks and sanctuaries.
4 13
Personnel Management
Government policies in personnel management for
professional foresters and forest scientists should aim at
enhancing their professional competence and status and
attracting and retaining qualified and motivated personnel,
keeping in view particularly the arduous nature of duties they
have to perform, often in remote and inhospitable places.
4.14
Forest Survey and Data Base
Inadequacy of data regarding forest resources is a
matter of concern because this creates a false sense of
complacency. Priority needs to be accorded to completing the
survey of forest resources in the country on scientific lines
and to updating information. For this purpose, periodical
collection, collation and publication of reliable data on relevant
aspects of forest management needs to be improved with
recourse to modern technology and equipment.
4.15
Legal Support and Infrastructure Development
Appropriate legislation should be undertaken, supported
by adequate infrastructure, at the Centre and State levels in
order to implement the Policy effectively.
4.16
Financial Support for Forestry
The objectives of this revised Policy cannot be achieved
without the investment of financial and other resources on a
substantial scale. Such investment is indeed fully justified
considering the contribution of forests in maintaining essential
ecological processes and life-support systems and in preserving
genetic diversity. Forests should not be looked upon as a
source of revenue. Forests are a renewable natural resource.
They are a national asset to be protected and enhanced for the
well-being of the people and the Nation.
29
Draft Paper
National Policy on Common
Property
Land Resources
The
National
Wastelands Development Board in
the
Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, set
up a Policy Advisory Group on Distribution of Benefits from
Common Lands. Following the first meeting of the Group on 9th
July 1990, the Ministry asked a sub-group under the chairmanship
of Shrl. V.B. Eswaran, Executive Director, SPWD, to draft a
paper on the subject of common lands, their development and
management Including equitable distribution of the benefits of
the development, bringing
out the issues for
policy and
practice. Other members of the sub-group were Shrl Anil C.Shah
of the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme, Ahmedabad, Shrl K.B.
Saxena, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development and Shrl.
J.C. Kala, Deputy
Inspector-General
of Forests,
National
Wastelands Development Board.
The draft paper was discussed at a meeting of the Policy
Advisory Group in February 1991, when It was decided that it
should be widely published, for Inviting reactions and suggetlons
from non-government organisations all over the country. Taking
these into account, as well as the views of State governments,
it is expected that the whole subject would be placed before a
national level conference for recommending a national policy.
The following extract from the paper prepared by the sub
group contains its essentials. We have also reproduced certain
comments by the NWDB on the draft paper, and the responses to
them from the Chairman of the sub-group.
Readers would recall that a year ago, with our May-July
1990 issue, we brought the text of the S.P.W.D. Foundation Day
Lecture 1990 by Dr. N.S. Jodha on Rural Common Property.
That lecture provided the stimulus to many, Including people in
the government, to give serious thought to the subject.
Readers are requested to write to us, and/or to the
Additional Secretary to the Government of India, National
Wastelands Development Board, Paryavaran Bhawan, C.G.O.
Complex, Lodi
Road, New
Delhl-110 003, to convey their
reactions, comments and recommendations.
In the
Indian
village scene the common lands - in the
30
form of grazing grounds, village wood-lands, dumping and
thresing grounds, catchment areas, village ponds, rivers and
streams, their banks and beds, other village wastelands, etcprovide an invisible source of employment, income generation
and asset accumulation directly and by complementing the
private resources.
2.
In the country, Common Lands (CLs) broadly fall under
the following categories, and are utilised for the purpose
indicated against each :
Forest Lands : Environmental stability, preserving natural
heritage, production of fuel, fodder, minor forest produce and
small timber, for rual population, recreation, etc.
Other Government lands : Building, roads, parks, buffer lands for
grazing, fuel gathering etc.
KK-iJWI
H 3 li
Community Lands : Pasture, grazing, collection of fuelwood,
fodder, fruit, fibre, food, medicines, thatch material for artisans,
green manure, silt, rearing of cattle, threshing, village ponds,
etc.
In India generally all the common lands belong to the
State governments, and even where lands for common use are
vested in Panchayats, in many States the government has the
right to resume such lands. Barring the lands which are under
the control of the Forest Department, Irrigation Department or
the Railways or some other government departments, all other
lands are administered by the authorities of the Revenue
Department, under land revenue laws, where provision exists
for assignment for public purposes such as grazing, threshing
floors, cremation grounds, etc. Government lands can also be
assigned to private individuals or institutions by the same
authority under land revenue laws and policy/executive
instructions of State governments. Where assignments from
\ common lands were made to individuals or for a public purpose
A (say, grazing), there was generally no follow-up of their
Smanagement or development.
13.
The National Forest Policy, 1988 provides the basic
/ objectives and strategy for the management of the existing
, forests and the forest lands. Guidelines have also been issued
by the Ministry of Environment and Forests in their letter dated
31
f[<S>rr
I
/
~
LIBRARY
AND
June 1, 1990 to all State forest secretaries for the involvement
of village communities and voluntary agencies for the
regeneration of degraded forest lands. However, the problems
concerning other Government and community lands, hereafter
called as common property resource lands (CPRLs), have not
been addressed so far, and there has been no national or State
policy for common lands and their conservation, development
and management. The heavy pressure and abuse to which
these lands are subjected, coupled with the social structure
prevailing in the village make these problems more complex.
4.
Despite declining support available from common property
resource lands (CPRLs), the rural poor continue to depend on
them since the opportunity cost of their labour to harness these
options is still lower and their access to these degraded lands
is less hindered by others. With passage of time, more and
more poor depend upon less and less productive common lands
and in the process silently consume this permanent and
valuable capital asset. Yet the common lands remain the
inexpensive means to support the poor (84 to 100 per cent
poor household depend on fuel, fodder and food items) with
no burden on the public exchequer.
5.
CPRLs contribute significantly, by way of inflows in cash or
kind, to private farming They also provide considerable support
for sustenance of farm animals used as draught power as well
as source of farmyard manure.
6.
CPRLs also have the potential to contribute a minimum
natural vegetation for ecological health
7.
Notwithstanding the above, CPRLs have been constantly
declining both in extent and productivity. Reduction in areas of
CPRLs varying from 30 to 50 percent have been noticed
in different States since 1960. Half the resource is badly
degraded.
The principal causes of degradation are
8.
(i)
Population growth
-
both human and cattle, in a situation of absence of
technological inputs info CPRLs to improve production of
the biomass requirements.
32
(ii)
Development forces
-
monetising of rural economy; neglect by those whose
dependence on CPRLs was reduced as a result of
changes in the rural economy,
-
urban influences,
obligation,
-
breaking up of communities into families and families
into individuals, resulting in gradual disappearance of
values attached to common lands, and consequent
collective indifference to CPRLs
(iii)
diluting
the
sense
of community
Public interventions
- the grow more food campaign, the land reforms of the
1950's and the anti-poverty programmes launched from
1970 led to large-scale distribution of common lands to
individuals for cultivation,
-
indifference of public authorities to protecting the
CPRLs encouraged encroachments on a large scale,
- vesting and assigning of common lands in panchayats
and other bodies eroded the informal authority of village
elders and of traditional institutions,
-
more and more new needs started competing with the
traditional ones, consequent to the implementation of
development plans, (e.g. common lands diverted for
kilns, public works, habitations, etc.)
-
abolition of grazing tax, levies, compulsory labour for
maintenance etc., induced overuse and poor upkeep of
common lands. In many cases because of over
exploitation, the lands lost their power of regeneration.
(iv)
Technological changes
-
it encouraged changes in land use and in turn led
to privatisation,
-
prompted the State to grab most of the benefits, depriving
the village community from having a fuller share.
(v)
Environmental stress
33
(vi)
drought and floods aggravated degradation of CPRLs.
Others
The right to utilise the produce of CPRL of a particular
village, by neighboring villages, has resulted in indifference of
the former to manage its CPRLs on a sustainable basis.
Similarly, no restrictions are imposed on the shepherd
communities who wander in several villages to utilise and
consume products from the CPRLs.
9.
Public Interventions in Greening and Management of
PLs-
- A good deal of public intervention has gone into restoring
the degraded common lands. But the policies and programmes
lacked a CPR perspective, and rehabilitation efforts often
remained a State-run project without people's participation.
- Since the mandate of such programmes was afforestation
or tree-planting rather than the development of common
property resources, the focus was laid on the production
technology where recipes of species of trees, grasses,
method of seeding the wastelands, thinning and other
management techniques were made available, but nothing was
done on sensitising the institutions to involve people.
converted
Experts comment that the "CPRs were virtually
into commercial fields by Social Forestry Projects”
- The situation was further compounded as the State
often appropriated the major portion of the resources without
making available the fuller
benefits
to
the
village
communities, specially the poor.
- On the assumption that the individuals are more
interested and efficient in managing PLs/CPRLs as compared
to collective efforts, a scheme of Tree Pattas’ was evolved by
the government. But owing to the refractory nature of degraded
common lands, lack of input support, diversion of land by
pattadars for crop cultivation and restriction of access to the exCPRLs to a very small number of animals and house-holds
caused considerable resentment. The Tree Patta Scheme in
effect was a privatisation process, for pattas of 15 or 20 years
would operate in that manner. In many States these pattas
34
were not restricted to people of the village,
obtained by persons from other places too.
and could be
- Benefits sharing was identified as a keyword to involve
the community in creation and management of assets on
CPRLs. Models for sharing were developed in many States
such as Haryana, West Bengal, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil
Nadu etc. However, productivity will have to be increased in
order to maintain the interest of the people in managing these
resources.
Yet, justifications for maintaining the CPRLs in extent and
productivity are overwhelming.
10.
National Policy for Common Property Resource Lands
In view of the accelerated shrinkage and degradation of
CPRLs, owing to a variety of forces as explained earlier,
it is expedient and desirable to decide upon a National Policy,
which, with the involvement of people in planning,
implementation and management, and backed by public system
support, viz., legal, administrative and financial, will lead to
protection and development of CPRLs at the highest level of
productivity on a sustained basis.
11.
Objective
The basic objective of the National Policy is to provide support
to the people and their production systems through restoration,
protection and development of common property resources
lands.
12.
Goals
In order to achieve this objective the policy sets out the
following goals :
- Meet all the biomass needs of the community, in terms
of grazing,
fuelwood, small timber, thatching
material,
medicinal plants, etc. and the public purposes like dumping and
threshing, ponds, etc.
- Income and employment support to the poor at times
of vulnerability.
Suppot for sustenance of farm animals and
35
thereby
complement the private resource for agriculture.
- Contribute the minimum natural vegetation for ecological
health.
- Support to agencies and institutions responsible for
management of CPRLs in the discharge of their responsibilities
efficiently and equitably.
13.
Requirements
The existing common lands must be fully protected and their
productivity enhanced to meet the rising demands of the
community so that the interest of the people to manage them
is sustained. It is also necessary that CPRLs are clearly
demarcated and assigned and used by a particular village, that
was traditionally depending on it.
14.
Protection
Privatisation of CPRLs should be stopped, and exceptions may
be made only for very special considerations of policy.
Government departmental and public sector requirements of
land
from CPRLs should be carefully vetted. The
encroachments on the CPRLs should be demarcated on the
ground and described in records. The State should
have
adequate legal authority to prevail upon the panchayats and
other local bodies for the protection of CPRLs, even to the
extent of disqualifying the office-holders of these bodies who
themselves do or abet encroachments or are negligent otherwise
in protecting common lands.
- Changes in the extent and use of CPRLs should be monitored
by undertaking periodic ground surveys in order to ensure that
the CPRLs do not decline any further. All tree pattas should
be reviewed, and the land resumed if conditions of the patta
have been infringed.
- Accountability should be enforced on all those who are
expected to protect the CPRLs. Incentives/disincentives may be
provided to this end.
15.
Productivity
- Inputs of science and technology (S & T) should be applied
to enhance the productivity of CPRLs, in quantity and variety
36
consistent with the felt needs of the community.
- Appropriate scientific and technological options should- be
placed before the village community (gram saba and its
committees) together with implementation packages and costs,
for the village people to take a decision on the scope, scale
and phasing of its programme and its management. Particularly
in common lands in semi-arid and arid regions the technological
inputs must be directed towards controlling erosion and
conserving soil and water. An integrated micro-management
plan could perhaps be prepared for CPRLs at village level on
watershed basis. This micro-management plan should be put of
the village community and
its committees-broadly on the
analogy of the village forest committees in joint forest
management programmes or the village level committees
envisaged in the 1st June 1990 policy letter of the Environment
Ministry governing the use of degraded lands by village
communities.
- This science and technology input function would
need that research institutions and agricultural universities be
given specific responsibility to take technological packages to
the community at village level (more or less like the strategy
of extension and provision of services and supplies for the
green revolution from the 1960s).
- Any gaps in S & T should be identified, in order to
sponsor R and D work to meet the same.
- Grazing in the CPRLs should be regulated by the
community. This may include imposition of grazing fees and
rotational grazing wherever feasible. Measures to encourage
stall-feeding and upgradation of livestock may be promoted and
adopted.
- A portion of the revenue generated from the CPRLs
should be reinvested for their sustainable development and
management.
16.
Peoples participation
- Formation of user groups may be promoted for the
management of CPRLs.
- The village community/user group should be involved
37
in planning, regeneration and management of CPRLs, including
distribution of benefits.
- The principle of equity in access and usage regulation
must be enforced.
- Voluntary agencies and NGOs of established credibility
and commitment may be involved as interface between
Government and a local community for the management and
development of common lands. They should, however, act as
facilitators rather than implementers.
17.
Training and documentation
Orientation programme for legislators, panchayat members
as well as government implementers should be organised to
emphasise the need, relevance and scope for protection and
development of CPRLs.
Documentation of case studies and success stories of
government officers, research organisations and VAs, as
also critical analysis of failures, for drawing lessons, may be
encouraged
18. Technical
problems and
constraints
surrounding
community management may be studied through action-oriented
research.
19.
Finanacial support
The objective and goals of the National Policy on CPRLs
cannot be achieved without making funds available on a
substantial scale. The support to the people and their production
systems, which the development and efficient management of
CPRLs would provide, would fully justify the investment.
At the village level, however, many activities can be
implemented without the full-time employees which a
government department would need. Monitoring and execution
by village communities (without the usual procedures of tenders
or contracts even for small jobs), combined with social audit
at the village level, would probably reduce costs considerably
and also make for efficiency of execution.
The NWDB made the following points on the report (draft
paper) of the Sub-Group
38
(i) The goal of the policy should be to meet the biomass
needs of the community to the extent possible and not all
biomass needs since a part of these needs is met from forest
areas and private lands.
(ii) Creating of conditions to sustain the interest of people
to manage common lands is as important as increasing
the productivity of the common lands.
(iii) That, although protection is rightly emphasised in the
report, there was need to give stress to a multi-disciplinary
approach in managing the common lands.
(iv) Regulation of live-stock, in addition to regulation of
grazing, needed to be mentioned in the report as contributing to
enhancing the productivity of common lands.
(v) To ensure re-investment on the common lands, the first
charge on the revenue generated from common lands could
be that of ploughing it back on the common lands.
(vi) In regard to people’s participation, cooperatives could
also be mentioned as institutions for ensuring people’s
participation.
(vii) The report needed to specify a mechanism at
the governmental level to maintain an inventory of common
lands, their status, productivity, etc.
(viii) The report should bring out the need to support
institutions and social and economic forces that would help
ensure the collective management of the common lands.
(ix) The new stress on employment generation for building
up and maintaining community assets could be stressed as a
potential for developing and upgrading the common lands.
The following is the response by the Chairman of the SubGroup, Shri V.B. Eswaran to these comments.
The goal of the policy has to be to meet all biomass needs
of the community, meaning all kinds of biomass; and to the
maximum extent where there is not enough common land. I do
not wish to bring in the forests as a source of supply for
these biomass needs, for the reason that the majority of
villages in the country, I imagine, do not have forests next door.
39
Where degraded forest lands are made available to village
communities for growing their boimass needs, as envisaged
in the Environment Ministry's policy letter of 1st June 1990,
I would expect the village level organisation to take these
into account while planning the development of common lands
outside the forest.
May I also point out that different kinds of biomass are
needed and used by different sections or strata of the
village communities and unless each section or stratum clearly
sees the benefits to be derived from the common lands, they
are not going to be keen on protecting them; this is the prime
condition to sustain the interest of every section/stratum of
the local community, and cannot be substituted by any amount
of support from the government to "institutions and social and
economic forces". We did not stress or dwell upon a multi
disciplinary approach in the efforts at improving common lands’
productivity, but we have talked about an integrated micro
management plan. The pharase ‘multi-disciplinary approach’ is
officialese and no village level organisation should need such
officialese to get on with its work.
Regulation of livestock should not be a prescription in
the policy, but one would expect it to follow as a result
of discussion and decisions in the local community organisation
and by individual familes in the village, as a consequence of
assured availability of fodder. There is also a suggestion
that reinvestment of revenues from common lands development
should be compulsorily a first charge on the revenues. Our
approach has been to leave all such matters to the good sense
of the village level organisation and not to give top-down
prescriptions.
If the village level organisation for the development of
common lands is to be a co-operative society as the village
community may decide, we should have no quarrel with it. We
would not even insist that it should be a registered body of any
kind, for that matter.
Whether the
government maintains an inventory of
common lands would not be, we think, a matter for a policy
statement on common lands.
A
point has been made that the new stress in the
40
government on employment generation could well be drawn
upon tor upgrading common land resources. No one can
quarrel with this very useful suggestion. One may only note
the caution that government programmes of this kind tend
to shrink or expand in financial terms depending on the
preferences and constraints upon the govenment from time to
time, and are also quite often constrained by the procedural
requirements built into such programmes.
As regards the distribution of the products of development
of common lands, our approach has been that this should be
left to the village level organisation, and they need not be given
a set of prescriptions. Firstly, no prescriptions will apply equally
in all villages in the light of their population make-up,
livestock needs, the productive potential or the extent of
common lands, etc. Secondly, we believe that these matters can
best be dealt with at the village level, unfettered by top-down
rules. However, we have made it clear in para 16 of the Draft
Paper, for instance, that the principle of equity in access and
usage regulations must be enforced. It should be read with para
13 of the Draft Paper, which refers to meeting the biomass
needs of the community, income and employment support to
the poor, and also sustenance of farm animals.
"When any environmental issue is probed to its
origins, it reveals an inescapable truth - that the root
cause of the crisis is not to be found in how men
interact with nature, but in how they interact with each
other; that to solve the environmental crisis we must
solve the problem of poverty, racial injustice and war;
that the debt to nature which is the measure of the
environmental crisis, cannot be paid, person by
person, in recycled bottles or ecologically sound
habits, but in the ancient coin of social justice."
Barry Commoner
In Ecology & Social Action
41
No. 6-21/89-P.P.
Government of India
Ministry of Environment and Forests
Department of Environment, Forests and Wildlife
Paryavaran Bhavan, C.G.O. Complex, B-Block.
Lodi Road, New Delhi
Dated : 1st June, 1990
To,
The Forest Secretaries
(All States/Uts)
Subject:-Involvement
of
village
communities
andvoluntary agencies for regeneration
of degraded forest lands
Sir,
The National
Forest
Policy,
1988 envisages
people's
involvement in the development and
protection of
forests.
The reguirements
of
fuelwood,
fodder and small timber such
as
house
building material,
of the tribals and
other villagers living in and near the forests,
are to be treated as first charge on forest
produce. The
policy
document envisages it as
one of
the
essentials
of forest management
that the forest communities should be motivated
to identify themselves with the development and
protection
of forests from which they derive
benefits.
2.
In a D.O. letter No. 1/188-TMA dated 13th
January, 1989 to the Chief Secretary of
your
State,
the need for
working
out
the
modalities
for
giving
to
the
village
communities, living close to the forest
land,
usufructory
benefits
to
ensure
their
participation
in the afforestation programme,
was emphasized
by Shri.
K.P. Geethakrishnan,
the then Secretary
(Environment
and Forests).
3.
Committed
voluntary
42
agencies
/NGOs,
with
proven track
record, may prove particularly
well suited for motivating and
organising
village
communities
for
protection,
afforestation,
and development
of degraded
forest land, especially in the
vicinity of
habitations.
The State Forest
Departments
Social
Forestry Organizations ought to take
full advangate of their expertise and experience
in this respect for building up
meaningful
people's
participation
in
protection
and
development of
degraded
forest lands. The
voluntary agencies/NGOs may be associated as
interface between
State Forest Departments and
the
local
village communities
for
revival,
restoration and delopment
of degraded forests
in the manner suggested below:(i)
The
programme should be implemented
under
an
arrangement between
the
Voluntary
Agency/NGO,
the
village
community (beneficiaries) and the State
Forest Department.
(ii)
No ownership or lease rights over the
forest land should be given
to the
beneficiaries
or
to
the
Voluntary
Agency/NGO.
Nor should
the
forest
land be assigned
in
contravention
of
the provisions contained in the Forest
(Conservation) Act, 1980.
(iii)
The beneficiaries should be entitled
to a share in usufructs to the extent
and
subject
to
the
conditions
prescribed by the State Government in
this behalf. The Voluntary
Agency/NGO
should not be entitled to usufructory
benefits.
(iv)
Access to forest land and usufructory
benefits
should
be only
to
the
beneficiaries who get organized into a
village institution,
specifically for
43
forest regeneration and protection. This
could be the Panchayat or the Co
operative
of
the
village,
with
no
restriction on membership. It could also
be
a
village Forest Committee. In no
case should any access or tree pattas
be given to individuals.
(v)
The
beneficiaries
should be given
usufructs like grasses, lops
and
tops
of branches, and minor forest produce.
If
they
successfully
protect
the
forests, they may be given a portion of
the
proceeds from the sale of trees
when
they
mature. (The Govenment
of
West Bengal has issued orders to give
25%
of
the sale
proceeds
to
the
Village Forest Protection Commitcees.
Similar n^rms may be adopted by other
States)
(vi)
Areas to be selected for the programme
should
be
free
from
the
claims
(including existing rights, privileges,
concessions) of any person who
is not
a
beneficiary
under
t?he
scheme.
Alternatively,
for a given site the
selection
of beneficiaries should be
done in such a way that any one who has
a claim to any forest produce from the
selected site is not left out
without
being given full opportunity of joining.
(vii)
The selected site should be worked in
accordance
with a Working Scheme, duly
approved by the State Government. Such
scheme may remain in operation for a
period of 10 years and
revised/renewed
after
that. The working Scheme should
be prepared in consultation with the
beneficiaries. Apart from protection of
the site,
the said Scheme may prescribe
44
requisite
operations, eg. Inducement
to
natural regeneration
of
existing
root stock, seeding gap filling, and
wherever necessary, intensive planting,
soil-moisture conservation measures etc.
The Working Scheme should also prescribe
other operations eg.
fire-protection,
maintenence
of
boundaries,
weeding,
tending, cleaning, thinning etc.
(viii)
For
raising nurseries, preparing land
for
planting
and protecting the trees
after planting, the beneficiaries should
be paid by the Forest Department from
the funds under the social forestry
programme. However,the village community
may
obtain funds from other Government
agencies and sources for undertaking
these activities.
(ix)
It should be ensured that there is no
grazing
at
all
in the
forest
land
protected by
the
village
community.
Permission to cut and
carry
grass
free of cost should be given
so
that
stall feeding is promoted.
(x)
No agriculture should be permited on the
forest land.
(xi)
Along with trees for fuel, fodder and
timber, the village community may be
permitted to plant such fruit trees as
would fit in with the overall scheme of
afforestation,
such
as
aonla,
Imli
mango,
mahua, etc. as well as shrubs,
legumes and grasses
which would meet
local
needs,
help
soil
and
water
conservation, and enrich the degraded
soils/land.
Even indigenous medicinal
plants may be grown
according to the
requirements
and
preferences
of
45
beneficiaries.
(xii)
Cutting of trees should not be permitted
before they are ripe
for
harvesting.
The forest dept, also should not cut
the trees on the forest land being
protected by the
village communities
except in
the manner
prescribed
in
the Working Scheme. In case of emergency
needs, the
village
communities should
be taken into confidence.
(xiii)
The
benefit of people's participation
should go
to
the village communities
and
not
to
commercial
or
other
interests
which
may
try
to
derive
benefit in their names. The selection of
beneficiaries should therefore, be done
from only those
families which are
willing to participate through their
personal efforts.
(xiv)
The Forest Department should closely
supervise
the
works.
If
the
beneficiaries
and/or
the
Voluntary
Agency/NGO
fail
or neglect to protect
the area from grazing, encroachment or
do not perform the operations prescribed
in the Working Scheme in a satisfactory
manner, the usufructory benefits should
be
withdrawn
without
paying
compensation to anyone for any work
that might have been done prior to it.
Suitable provisions in the
Memorandum
of understanding (MOD) for this purpose
should
be incorporated.
Yours
faithfully,
Sd/~
(Mahesh Prasad)
Secretary to Government of
46
India.
Copy for information and necessary action to:~
1.
Principal Chief Conservator of Forests/
Chief Conservator of Forests (All States/
UTs) .
2.
Additional Secretary,
National Wasteland
Development Board, Ministry of Environment
and Forests, New Delhi.
3.
Chief Conservator of Forests (Central) of
all
Regional
Offices
located
at:
Bhubaneshwar, Bangalore, Bhopal, Shillong,
Lucknow, Chandigarh.
4.
All
5.
All Officers of the Ministry of Environment
and Forests.
DIGFs
including N.W.D.B.,
New Delhi.
Sd/(K.M. Chadha)
Joint Secretary to Govt, of India.
Copy
for
information to
the:-
1.
Secretary
(Co-ordination),
Cabinet
Secretariat, Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.
2.
Secreatary, Ministry of Welfare, New Delhi.
3.
Secretary, Department of Rural Development,
New Delhi.
sd/~
(K.M. Chadha)
Joint Secretary to Government of India.
47
REGENERATING THE COMMONS
A statement signed by over a hundred noted citizens
of India including natural and social scientists, planners,
thinkers, politicians activists, environmentalists, government
officials, diplomats and others.
India is primarily a land of villages, a good proportion of
whose inhabitants produce or earn barely enough to purchase
the food they need. With access to food itself a serious
problem, a majority of villagers cannot afford to pay for their
other biomass needs. These needs are considerable quantities
of fuel, fodder, small timber, thatch, and organic manure whose
continued availability is absolutely critical to most rural
households. These needs are met partly from agricultural
wastes like cotton sticks and paddy straw, but more importantly
from the produce of common lands. The dependence on
common lands is even more acute among those sections of
the rural population whose mode of livelihood does not
depend on cultivated lands, yet whose dependence on
biomass resources is total- e.g. shepherds and artisans.
The health of the plant-cover of these common lands is
therefore critical to the quality of life of hundreds of millions
of Indians. Unfortunately, this issue, has received little attention
from planners and politicians - in fact, one could argue that
government policy has itself been largely responsible for the
continuing degredation of those lands. In the last century and a
quarter, these lands, earlier under de facto control of village
communities, have been progressively taken over by the
state; prior to this takeover there did exist a widespread
network of village forests, with well knit village communities
guarding and managing these resources effectively. But at that
time, these commuities had the right to exclude outsiders
from their community lands and to punish any of their own
members who disobeyed the community regulations for the
management of such lands. The British, by emphasizing state
monopoly over forest protection and production, took away
such authority. The divorce thus introduced between use and
control of resources had disastrous consequenees. with the
new open access resources being subject to continued over
48
exploitation. Unfortunately, this trend has
intensified after
independence. While the government has favoured the option
of taking more and more lands under its control, at the same
time, it has greatly intensified commercial forest operations to
meet the needs of an expanding forest industries sector. This
entire process has been punctuated by bursts of widespread
conflict between the state machinery and villagers who feel that
their longstanding claims on forest produce has been neglected
in favour of meeting urban and industrial demand for forest raw
material. These conflicts, which are not likely to abate so long
as the present system continues, have had an adverse impact
on the natural environment.
While our common lands are getting progressively
degraded, most rural households continue to be crucially
dependent on biomass resources for their survival.
Regenerating the commons is therefore one of the major
development challenges of the day. Unfortunately, there are
forces in motion for the privatization of these lands and their
further alienation from those whose dependence on them is
the most acute. Thus some state govenments are handing over
common lands to joint sector companies for the exclusive
purpose of growing industrial raw material for the private
sector. At the same time, the privatization of such lands within
the village is also no solution, for experience has shown that
such transfers ultimetely end up benifiting a small class of richer
landowners at the cost of the bulk of the villagers.
Neither increased state control nor privatization (under
whatever guise) are therfore a solution to the biomass crisis
of the majority of our rural population. We believe that the
only ecologically sustainable and socially just option, expecially
in the long run, is to design an effective system of community
management based on local control. Despite the increasing
fragmentation within village society itself, the establishment of a
decentralized, participatory system of forest management is the
only way out. Research has shown that for both bureaucracy
and industry, there are powerful disincentives under the present
political-administrative system which inhibit the ecological
sustainable management of common lands. In fact, the only
people whose self interest is firmly linked to the good
management of common lands are the local landless, the
49
small and marginal farmers, the pastoral nomads, and the
basket weavers and other artisans and among all these social
groups, it may be pointed out that it is the women folk who
presently bear the brunt of the shortages, and are also most
aware of the need to regenerate the commons. It is this self
interest that could ultimately save those lands and the people
thomselves, if it can be channelized properly. This is a difficult
task, for these people are presently disorganized and with
little political and economic clout. But it must be done. We,
the undersigend, believe that the time has come for a major
public debate which will come up with appropriate legal and
institutional mechanisms, to ensure that our common lands are
effectively integrated with the lives and livelihood of the poorer
sections of the rural population. This debate as indeed the more
serious job of regenerating the soils, the water cycle and the
vegetation of the commons, will reguire the participation of all
concerned sections of our society - apart from the concerned
villagers themselves, natural scientists, social scientists,
voluntary agencies, politicians and government officials.
"Our mother Earth has enough to satisfy all our needs but
not enough to satisfy our greed."
M.K. Gandhi
50
"Nature can never be managed well
unless the people closest to it are
involved in its management and
healthy relationship is established
between nature, society and culture.
Common natural resources were
earlier regulated through diverse,
decentralised. Community Control
systems. But the State's policy of
converting
common property
resources into government property
resources has put them under the
control of centralised bureaucracies,
who in turn have put them at the
service of the more powerful. Today,
with no participation of the common
people In the management of local
resources, even the poor have
become so marginalised and
alienated from their environment that
they are ready to discount their future
and seil away the remaining natural
resources for a pittance."
- from the statement of “Shared Concern
in the Second Citizens Report on
India’s Environment".
Samaj Parivartana Samudaya, Dharwad et al.
OMEGA. BGM. Tel.24124
- Media
2001.pdf
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