There is a lot of history that one often takes for granted. History that goes unnoticed in the wilted yellow pages of struggle and resistance. Uttarakhand (earlier a part of the United Provinces during the British Raj) is one such repository of histories of struggles that not only led to it getting statehood but also reforms in laws that governed much of the forest communities. One of those reforms led to something extraordinarily unique to the state that is, the formation of community managed forest institutions called the Van Panchayats.
With the British Government usurping the traditional rights of the forest communities by denying any form of access or benefit from the forest land in the 1890s, the communities were faced with a subsistence crisis. As the communities were heavily dependent on the produce from the forests such a forceful taking away of a means of survival led to an outpouring of sustained and widespread resistance. Their anger was so great that large parts of forests were burnt down as a sign of dissatisfaction. In hopes of resolving the constant conflict between the forest communities and the British Government a committee called the Kumaon Grievances Committee was set up. The committee in the year 1931 issued a set of rules called the “Kumaon Panchayat Forest Rules†that ultimately enabled the forest communities of the mountains to reclaim their forests and also led to the creation of Van Panchayats.
Van Panchayats enable forest communities to demand ownership of any forest area adjoining them in order to manage that area. In return, the communities become beneficiaries of the produce that comes out of these forests for their personal use. Such a system not only reduces the burden on the state machinery for the conservation of the forests but also makes communities grow closer to their immediate environment. In a state where a sizable population hails from forest communities or benefits and sustains itself through forests and their produce, the relationship between communities and forests becomes extremely important.
Mr. Jogendra Bisht is the convener of Lok Chetna Manch, an NGO that aims to develop forests that come under the Van Panchayats through community participation. The NGO he says, shortlists Van Panchayats that have forest area of over 25 hectares and then seek villagers willing to develop the area that falls under their Van Panchayats. “Village communities due to lack of economic resources can only work for the protection of the forests that fall under their Van Panchayats. Any form of plantation effort is beyond their financial capabilities.†It is here he mentions that funding plays a huge role. In a recent project that the NGO undertook for a plantation drive the Van Panchayat was funded through a partnership between Japan (75%), the Center (15%) and the State (10%). The onus is placed on the forest community in deciding the area that needs to be developed, the plants that they wish to plant and the duration during which they wish the plantation to be conducted. The NGO works on providing important inputs for the community to come to an agreement and a timeline is formed according to which the villagers perform the tasks.
As the name of the NGO suggests, Mr Bisht says, “The NGO is focused in planning, guiding and creating an awareness (Chetna) regarding various forms of plantation techniques etc.†Hailing from Uttarakhand itself, Mr. Bisht is well aware of the growing problem of migration that the state faces. A 2018 report released by The Rural Development and Migration Commission set up by Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat in 2017 mentions that in the past decade “a total of 3,83,726 persons in 6338 gram panchayats have migrated on a semi - permanent basis… [and] there are 1, 18,981 permanent migrants from 3946 gram panchayats.â€[1] The situation is particularly worrying as the state was formed for the betterment and welfare of the people of the mountains, which the lack of employment and health care opportunities seem to completely contradict.
First the oppression of the British and now the negligence of the government itself has distanced the mountain community not only from their homeland but also from the very forests that a lot of them viewed as sacred entities. When one engages the village communities with the forests under their Van Panchayats a sense of ownership and responsibility seems to develop amongst the two. The community begins to reconnect with the forests and work towards the forest’s conservation as the long-lost source of sustenance seems to come back into sight.
While Mr. Bisht’s NGO is based on improving and developing the forests, there is he says another very important purpose that he hopes to achieve through his NGO. “Forestry has the largest scope of employment generation. Being almost completely manual work, 95% percent of the funds go into employment generation.†This he says is extremely important when one views it in light of the problem of migration that Uttarakhand faces. When people see that forests can too become sources of stable employment, the fears that lead to majority of migration from the state can be mitigated.
It all seems interconnected when one attempts to piece this information together. Communities need means of sustaining livelihood. When forests that had earlier been the source of their livelihood begin to show promising prospects; the long-lost bond re-emerges.
In the brief telephonic conversation that I had with Mr. Bisht, this is how he concluded, “The forest community had always been aware about the importance of the forests, but somehow, that connection between the people and the environment got lost. In the search for a stable livelihood forests seem to have lost the place they held in the consciousness of the people. What community participation in such plantation drives does is to rebuild that lost relationship between the people and the forests. It almost reignites the sensitivity that seems to have dwindled between forests communities and the forests that they share.â€
[1] http://www.spc.uk.gov.in/upload/contents/File-98.pdf