Fate of the Forest: Conservation and Tribal Rights

Author(s): Amita Baviskar

Source: Economic and Political Weekly , Sep. 17, 1994, Vol. 29, No. 38 (Sep. 17, 1994), pp.
2493-2501
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly

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 Fate of the Forest: Conservation and Tribal Rights
Amita Baviskar

The recent circulation of a draft Forest Act has once again brought into question the future of India's forest.s.
The draft Act proposes to take a strongly conservationist stand against environmental degradation by severely restricting
people's rights to the forest. How environmentally successful and socially just will such a policy be?
This essay examines the experience of adivasis in Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh, whose livelihood derives fromn their
use of the forest, and who are held responsible by the state for destroying the forest. The state's persistent efforts
to deny adivasi rights to the Jorest has resulted in an ongoing conflict that today constitutes the biggest obstacle
forest conservation.
The author analyses the relationships between adivasis, the state and the forest to argue that the future of India's
forests is inseparable from the future of lndia's adivasis. Forest conservation is possible only if people's rights are
recognised and established within a larger prdgrammrle of tribal development.

I worshipped this land and raisecd theircchildren spread over two generations due to death,
Introduction on its bounty. But such is the power of the inheritance and partitioning, had happened
state over people's minds that they crave the without making their way onto the pages of
Sondiva (District Jhlabua) Mca) 28, 1994:
legitimacy accorded bythe government. One the booklet. Sinice getting the booklet updated
scrap of paper, in the usually illegible scrawl entails several trips to the teh.sil office as
MORE than a thousand Bhil ancd Bhilala of the tehlsildar, seems to be more real and well as bribes for the patvari, people usually
adivasis crowded the block headquarters in true than the land and the soil itself. The give up after a while, and make do with
this small towin to submit claims for the state's sanction seems more authentic than obsolete records.
regularisation of their encroaclhments on adivasis' bonds with their earthl. This irony If records of legal holdings bear little
forest land, locally known as 'nevad . May is not inci(lental; it is thecumulative product relation to actual lanidownership, records of
31 is the lastdate for submittinig claims. Theof years of state interveintion in the adivasi 'nevad' encroachments are much worse. The
turnout, several times larger than that for any
relationship with the forest. only official proofs of 'nevad' are thereceipts
election, took the administration completely Therush tosubmitclaims isaconsequence that adivasis are supposed to get after paying
by surprise. The sub-tehsil office ran out ofof a Madhya Pradesh gover-nment move to fines for the offence of cultivating forest
r-eceipt books and had to extend its working implement a central government directive to land. Most people, however, were never
to the next day, a Sunday. regularise 'nevad' (encroachments on forest given receipts because the fines that they
The prospect of regularisation has driven land) which proiniues to give adivasis title paid went directly into the pockets of the
adivasis in droves to the tehsil headquarters to land that they have cultivated for decades. forest guards, nakedars and deputy rangers.
at Alira pur where almost everyone capable However, very few adivasis may actually When receipts were given in. exceptional
of filling up a form is being besieged with meet the stringent conditions laid down in cases, very often they were small bits of
requests to oblige. The owner of the local the ministry of environmentand forests order. paper that were 'easily lost or destroyed.
photocopying shop has made a killing with In order to qualify, adivasis must prove that The absence or the poor quality of official
his packagedealof xeroxing the forms (which their 'nevad' encroachment happened before records makes it very hard to precisely
are in short supply) and filling them up for October 1980. that the'nevad' field does not estimate the extent of 'nevad'. There are no
his customers. Forthe almostwhollyilliterate^ have a gradient exceeding 30?, and that their detailed published statistics on the subject.
adivasis. such a service is worth even a legal landholdings do not exceed 2 hectares even though the partial data that does exist
hundred rupees. The biggest bucks, however, (ha). The fortunate few who satisfactorily indicates that 'nevad' forms a significant
have been made by the village patvaris who meet these conditions will be entitled to part of total forest land. An authoritative
keep revenue records and the forest nakedars.patta (title) for 'nevad' such that their total source estimated that out of Madhya
Their privileged access to government landholdings reach the 2 ha ceiling. Very Pradesh's total 15.5 million ha of forest
records has made them highly sought after few of the adivasis who flocked to Sondwa land, 1.6 million ha (more than 10 per cent)
as fillers-up of 'nevad' forms. The fast- or Alirajpur will ultimately get the patta that was 'lost to encroachmeit' between 1956
approaching deadline for submitting forms they desire so desperately. and 1989 [Buch 1991: 12]. ln Jhabua district,
hias brought money pouring into their hands. The mass submission of claims also prolonged agitation by the adivasis of
One patvari demanded a sum of Rs 8,000 highlighted the utterly shocking state Sondwa
of land block, led by Khedut Mazdoor
from the people of one village for merely records in Alirajpur. The peasant's basic ChetnaSangath (KMCS), a local trade union,
forwarding their claimns to the tehsil office; document of proof of landownership is a forced the forest department to conduct a
and, butfor the intervention of alocal adivasi small booklet that lists the names of the survey of 'nevad' in the forests of Mathvad
trade union which opposed such extortionist owners, and the size and location of their in 1988. The survey recorded that almost
demands, the patvari would have got it too. plots of land. Many adivasis who came to every cultivator in the area had supplemented
The adivasis do not know that they are Sondwa carried booklets that had belonged his legal holdings with several small plots
entitled to free forms. There is -supposed to their grandfathers, that had since acquired of 'nevad'. In one village alone, 14 cases
be no fee at any stage of the process of the patina and dog-eared look of venerable of encroachment amounting to 192 ha of
submission of claims. old age. While their antiqnity rendered themforest land were recorded. Most of these
The adivasis who came to Sondwa have mildly interesting as historical objects, they fields have been cultivated since 1970 and
de facto control over the land that they were useless in performing their primary even earlier.
cultivate. For decades they have laboured function, viz, recording present-day The prevalence of 'nevad', and its
and tended their 'nevad' fields; they have landownership. Numerous land transfers centrality in the lives of thousands ofadivasis,

Economic and Political Weekly September 17, 1994 2493

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is also reflected in the quantum of litigation encroachments is the most unkindest cut of a village forest if it decides that the local
regarding forest offences. At least one case all. No wonder then that an authority on body is unable to protect the forest. Anyone
of violation of forest restrictions has been Madhya Pradesh's forests remarked that, who is deemed to benefit from a village
registered against almost every cultivatorin "the only symbiosis in the relationship of forest, stands to lose rights to pasturage and
Sondwa block. While some of thgse cases the Bhils with the forests seems to be that forest produce in reserve forests (Section
pertain to illicit felling of wood or other between a meat cleaver and the goat that it 15(3)iii). The Act also arms the state with
minor offences, the bulk are related to is about to decapitate" [Buch 1991: 84]. extensive punitivepowers againstoffenders.
encroachment. In order to save forests from further Section 64(1) empowers any forest officer,
'Nevad' is a forest crime. According to degradation, the ministry of environment police officer orrevenue officer to arrest and
the forest department, the adivasi practice and forests has proposed a draft bill called detain in custody, without orders from a
of clearing forests and converting them 'The Conservation of Forests and Natural magistrate and without a warrant, anybody
into farm land is one of the main reasons Ecosystems Act' which seeks to meet its suspected of committing an offence, abetting
for the destruction of the forest. Why then objectives by severely restricting local an offender or obstructing the execution of
has the government moved to regularise communities' rights to the forest. The act an officer's duty. Thus, the Act, in its entirety,
some of these encroachments? Some people proposes strict state control for 'sound amounts to a systematic attemptto legislate
allege that this is a populist ploy or ecological management'. Sections 5 and 34 people out of the forest.
'misguided philanthropy' on the part of the state governments from granting
prohibit There is widespread consensus that the
government [Buch 1991 :61, 85], intended pattas or occupancy rights to unauthorised problem that the draft Forest Act seeks to
toplease a tribal-dominated electorate. Such encroachers on forest land, without the address is a genuine and pressing one. 22.4
regularisation, it is predicted, will prove pernission of the centre. Sections 3(2) and per cent of India's land mass is designated
environmentally deadly in the long run for, 27A vest the centre with the power to directas 'forest'. However, it is widely ack-
once the flood gates are opened, there will any state government to constitute reserved nowledged that only 42 per cent of the area
be no stopping the deluge of 'nevad' claims. forests in any specific area. According to thus designated is actually under adequate
However, from the point of view of adivasis RamachandraGuha, thedraftActwill sharply tree or grass cover; the rest is more or less
who have for decades been agitating for curtail people's rights by classifying most completely devoid of vegetation [Vohra
rights to the forest, regularisation is simplyforests, especially the betterquality ones, as 1980:3]. With satelliteimaging, the govern-
the forestdepartment' s surrender of territoryReserved Forests, to be owned and managed ment has been compelled to bemore accurate
that had nevermorally belonged to it. In this by the state. Sections 1.12 and 13(d) state in its estimates of deforestation. According
view, regularisation of 'nevad' is a belated that the exercise of rights in reserved forests,
to the National Remote Sensing- Agency,
first step towards a fuller recognition of such as the collection of fuel, fodder, etc, forests covered 55.5 million ha (16.89 per
adivasis' rights to the forest. Any genuine can be continued "subject to the carrying cent of total land area) in 1972-75. During
programme of forest conservation mustbegincapacity of the land in question and 1980-82, this area dropped to 46 million ha
by accepting adivasirights of ownership andprevention of its overuse". If the land is (14.1 per cent of total area). In the 1990s
control as its basic premises. This latter "already degraded", the Forest Settlement forests cover a scant 32.8 million ha or 10
argument, however comipelling from the
* Officer can immediately stop the exercise per cent of total land area. Whereas four
point of view of social justice, leaves of rights until he is satisfied that the land million hectares of forest area was 'lost'
unresolved the vexing issueof environmental has been "restored to its potential productive between 1951 and 1976, over the last 15
damage. 'Nevad' does destroy forests. Where capacity". Sections 16 and 22Aprovide that years, 22.7 million hectares of forest has
then does the solution lie? all rights can be commuted, i e, extinguishedbeen cut down [Gadgil and Guha 1992:196;
with a one-time payment, if the government UNDP 1992:173]. The rapidity with which
II considers this to be necessary for the we are losing our forests certainly demands
Conservation and Draft Forest Act prevention of "degradation of the said immediate attention and action.
reserved forest". Likewise, Section 76A But while there is no disputing the fact
The episode in Sondwa encapsulates the reserves to the central government the right of the crisis or the need for urgent action,
complexity of the 'nevad' issue. In the officialto make any rules for "rationalising rights, there is considerable controversy about the
viewof the forest department, 'nevad' is part privileges and concessions in respect of way in which the government proposes to
of a package of practices by which adivasis, forestproduce from reserved and protecteddeal with the problem. Is state-controlled
especially Bhils and Bhilalas, destroy the forests". As Guha remarks, "rationalising" conservation, as envisaged in the draft Act,
forest. The degradation of the forest is is, of course, only a euphemism for possible? Will extinguishing the rights of
attributed to 'biotic interference', a term "extinguishing" [Guha 1994]. local communities prevent the degradation
used to describe the assaults made on the While closing off people's rights in of forests? What is the optimal-socially
forest by local communities seeking fuel, Reserved Forests, the Act offers them a just and environmentally sustainable-
fodder, other forest produce and, in the case limited opening in the form of village forests solution to what is apparently a trade-off
of 'nevad', cultivable forest land. The which will be managed to meet the biomass between conservation and villagers'.
livestock population of Madhya Pradesh needs of local communities. On closer demands? In order to approach these issues
increased from 30.6 million in 1951 to 42.5 examination, even this crumb of comfort with any degree of insight, wemustexamine
million in 1981. The pressure of ever larger turns out to be cold. Since the Act states that therelationships between the state, adivasis
herds of cattle and goats foraging in the village forests cannot be constituted from and the forest. An appreciation of these
forests has not only destroyed existing Reserved Forests, and as Reserved Forests relationships is essential for designing a
vegetation, but has also prevented its predominate in most states, very little area conservation-oriented forest management
regeneration. With the population of Madhya will actually be available for the formation strategy that actually works on the basis of
Pradesh swelling by 10 million over theof10- villageforests. And, even in village forests, popular support. This essay attempts to
year period from 1971 to 1981, increased the state willretain its dominantrole. Section conductsuch an analysisforapartof Alirajpur
demandforfuelwood has led tosuch intensive 34AA 1 (c) vests the power of determining tehsil in Jhabua district, Madhya Pfadesh,
lopping.that trees have become stunted villagers' rights with the state government. mentioned earlier as the place where the
shrubs. And, finally, the conversion of forestSection 34AA 1 (j) empowers the state 'nevad' rush occurred. This area is
land into cultivation through 'nevad' government to take over the manag emen tof
particularly appropriate as an illustration of

2494 Economic and Political Weekly September 17, 1994

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the arguments contained in this paper for it of various human development indicators: their ability to thrive on low-quality fodder
has witnessed a sustained struggle by adivasis a scant 4.6 per cent of the population is and for the comparatively small investment
for theirrights to the forest. This area is also literate; only 2 per cent of the women can that theirpurchase entails [Jodha 1994:165].
the site of a small experiment in community read and write. Of the tehsil's totalpopulation While there is little significantdifferentiation
forest management which offers an of 1,96,000, only 14 per cent has access to in the size of legal landholdings among
alternative model for forest conservation. governmentmedical services. A mere 55 (16 adivasis, the size of livestock herds tends to
The Alirajpur experience is relevant and per cent)of the 339 villages in the tehsil are vary quite a bit. Thus relative wealth is
significantnotonly fortribal areas in Madhya electrified. Most villages have no source of dependent on the number of cattle, goats and
Pradesh, but elsewhere in India as well. safe drinking water. A part of the Bhil belt hens that a family owns. Villages where
In this essay, I shall begin by describing which stretches from western Rajasthan nearby forests provide plentiful fodder take
theeconomyof theBhil and Bhilalaadivasis through Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh to in livestock from less well endowed villages
of Alirajpur, focusing particularly on their Maharashtra, the population of Alirajpur is for part of the year, in exchange for some
dependence on the forest. Then I shall overwhelmingly tribal; almost 89 per cent cash or agricultural produce and the right
of the people belong to the Bhil and Bhilala
delineate the periodic crises that have erupted to the manure.
whenever the state has attempted to close tribes. Another 6.7 percent belong to various
off access to the forest. Following this, we scheduled castes. The small non-adivasi DEENDBNCE ON FoRs
shall examine the state's analysis of the population includes Bohra Muslims and
'nevad' jproblem and official responses Banias,
to who tend to be traders and As important as legal land and livestock
these conflicts. The subsequent section will moneylenders, and Rajputs. Justas commerce is the forest. Although the forests of Alirajpur
look at the state's own experience of forest is dominated by non-adivasis, so is the state have been written off by the experts as
management in Alirajpur, both historically administration; generally, adivasis are highly degraded, and indeed, crown density
and through present practices, especially in employed only in a few petty posts. There is 40 per cent or less, they still manage to
terms of their impacton adivasis. I will argue is a.sharp socialdivide between adivasis and sustain the tribal economy in a surprising
that the forest department's record with non-idivasis (locally called 'bazaarias' or variety of ways. In one village alone, people
respect to environmental conservation people of the town, by the adivasis), with easily identified 150 different tree species
contradicts its claims for pre-emptive rights the latter regarding the former as savage, and described their different uses. Through
to the forest at the expense of adivasis. In backward, and contemptible. the seasons of the year, the cycle of collecting
the concluding section, I shall examine some Jhabua district is counted among the various forest produce marches along with
attempts made by a trade union in Alirajpur poorest districts of India, and most of the the cycle of agriculture [Baviskar 1994].
to initiate an alternate model of conservation Adivasi homes, constructed entirely of teak,
population of Alirajpur falls well below the
based on local management of forest poverty line. Almost all the people of bamboo and 'anjan', with floors of packed
resources. This suggests that the goal of Alirajpur make their living from the land. mud and cowdung, are in a way simply the
environmental conservation on forest lands Eighty-three per cent of adult workers forest transformed.
can only be achieved by vesting ownership cultivate their own land, and another 8 per The forest is the source of much more than
and control with local communities. cent work as agricultural labourers. People house-building material; fodder, fuel, fibre,
mainly grow maize, jowar (sorghum) and fruit, medicines and edible gums figure
HI bajra (pearl millet) and several kinds of among items too numerous to list here. To
Alirajpur: Development Profile pulses. While the cereals are intended forname only five of the mostimportant species:
self-consumption, some part of the pulses baihboo is woven into baskets, some of them
Alirajpur tehsil in Jhabua district lies at may be sold. Oilseeds such as groundnut and four feet high and equally wide to store
approximately 22?N latitude and 740E sesame are primarily grown for sale. Small grain; arrows and bows are made from
longitude in the south-westcornerofMadhya quantities of coarse cereals such as 'badi' bamboo as are fishing traps and brooms and
Pradesh in western India. Here the river (Setaria italica Beauv. or fox-tail millet) and axe handles; strips of bamboo line the roof
Narmada flows into a rocky valley flanked 'batti' (Echinicloa colona), fibre crops like so that baked clay tiles can rest on them. The
by two hill ranges-the Vindhyas on its sunn hemp and 'bhend' (Ur ena tobata), andflowers of the 'muhda',' the tree prized
north bank and the Satpuras on the south, several kinds of fruits and vegetables are above all others, are eaten as well as dried
becoming the border between two states, also grown for own use. Although people and distilled for liquor; the fruit is pressed
Madhya Pradesh on the north bank and grow as many as 20 different crops, for oil. 'Anjan' (Hardwickia binaia) yields
Maharashtraon the south. Being the western- agricultural productivity is low due to skeletala fibre that is used to make rope; its wood
most tip of the Vindhyas, Alirajpur is soils and unpredictable rains. Only 8 per is burnt as well as used for making cots; its
mountainous; the hills are covered by dry cent of the total cultivated area of Jhabua leaves are eaten by goats. Then there is
deciduous mixed teak forests, which have 'temru' (Diospyros melanoxy lon); its leaves
district is irrigated. Out of the district's total
been partly cleared forcultivation. The rockyof 97,674 agricultural holdings, 91,507 are rolled to hold tobacco and smoked as
terrain, broken by gorges and streams, has holdings (93.6percent) areclassified by the bidis, its fruit eaten, its wood used to make
thin soils. The slopes are watered only by government as uneconomic. carts. Finally, teak is used to make all
the monsoon's and rain tends to vary wildly Since their legal landholdings are marginal, agricultural implements-ploughs, hoes,
from year to year. While rainfall averages people rely as much on livestock and the rakes-drums and kitchen utensils; its wood
around 60 cm, in the last seven years it has forest to sustain themselves. Access to the is burnt; its large leaves are used to make
fluctuated between 41 cm and 96 cm. forest enables adivasis to own large herds packages for storing dried chillies or
Consequently, drought is a frequent visitor of livestock that would be impossible to groundnuts.
to this land. Alirajpur tehsil has an area of maintainotherwise.Besideskeepingdraught The continuity between the forest, animal
2,237 square kilometres. The region is animals to work the land, most households husbandry and cultivation is reiterated
sparsely settled compared to the natidnal have at least one cow and several goats. The through rituals that seek to control and
average, with a density of only 87 people better-off adivasis keep buffaloes and large manage nature. Just as there areproscriptions
per square km. herds of goats. Goats are the preferred form against consuming certain crops during
Forty-five years after independence, of livestock in Alirajpur, just as they are 'chaumasa' (the season of the rains), there
Alirajpur presents a dismal picture in terms preferred by poor people everywhere for are taboos about cutting green fodder and

Economic and Political Weekly September 17, 1994 2495

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teak leaves from the forest during-the same Every time the forest department ha.s tried charges, against adivasis forviolating forest
season. Only when the gods have been to repossess 'nevad' fields, ithas encountered laws. This has trapped people in a wearying
propitiated after the rains can these widespread resistance. Adivasis refuse to round of visits to the police lock-up and the
products be used. In the 'gayana', the surrender their 'nevad' because doing so court. The harassment and the expense
Bhilala song of creation, teak anid 'pahal' would directly threaten theirlivelihood. They entailed are considerable. People also risk
(also cailled 'khakr-a', Butea monosper7na) have made frequent representations to the getting their livestock confiscated and have
are as crucial in the myth as is j-owar administration to settle their claims through to pay to get them back. If a pair of bullocks
(sorghum) [Baviskar 1994]. are confiscated at the time of ploughing
negotiation, hut there has been no positive
Access to the forest enables adivasis of during the crucial agricultural season, it can
response to their call for a dialogue. The
Alirajpur to hold their own economically. forestdepartment, on its part, has rarely tried cripple an adivasi household's agricultural
Whatis classified in gover,nment terminologyto find an amicable solution to this conflict,2 prospects for the entire year. If these forest
as minor forrst produce' is an integral partpreferring to enforce its claim with the offences are a measure, then almost every
of what they live on. Besides self- unilateral use of force. Most confrontations adivasi in Alirajpur is a criminal several
consumption nieeds, they tade forestproduce have been sparked off when forestdepartment times over.
along with some of their agricultureproduce parties have suddenly descended on an area More often than not, the means used by
for merchanidise such as cloth, jewellery, and started digging CPTs (Cattle Proof the forest department against adivasis are
-iron implements and salt. And in years when Trenches), attempting to cordon off an area illegal. Villagers recount stories of the
the rains fail, the forest is refuge; they cut that may include grazing lands as well as beatings that they suffered in the hands of
wood for sale in the market. As one adivasi 'nevad' fields. Such an incident occuITed in forest guards. They remember times when
observed, "during the drought, the forest is March 1991 in Kiti village when the police the 'nakedar' or deputy ranger would enter
our moneylender". Whereas people from fired to disperse assembled villagers from their village and order that several hen be,
other drought-stricken areas are forced to Kiti, Keldi and Vakner, who had been slaughtered and a feast of chicken and
migrate in search of a livelihood, the adivasis peacefully resisting CPT work.3 In another 'pannia' (bread cooked between leaves) anid
pf Alirajpur who still have access to the instance, forest guards came with a herd of 'muhda' liquor be served for the pleasure
forest manage to stave off starvation and cattle and set them to graze on staniding cropsof the officers. Earlier, forest guards would
avoid migration by selling forest produce. in 'nevad' fields that belonged to Semlani simply demand and receive a bottle of ghee
During a particularly lean summer, when village in August 1993. Veiy often, the or a bag of groundnut; no one dared resist.
asked why he and his fellow-villagers had forest department provokes a confrontation When called upon, an adivasi had to put
not migrated for 'mazdoori' (wage labour), by setting its labourers to digging holes in aside his work and escort the forest official
onie Bhilala man replied, "we are doing the middle of nevad' fields, ostensibly for to the next village, carrying his bag for him.
cheek ki mnazdoori right here". That is, planting trees, as was done in Pujara ki And a constant accompaniment to all these
villagers survived by collecting and selling Chauki village. Since this work can never demands were the monetary bribes that
the aromatic resin exuded from the 'halai' have local co-operation, the forestdepartment villagers had to pay to persuade the forest
tree (Bosivellia serrata). brings in labourers from distant villages department to look the other way.
The most controversial use of the forest under heavy police escort. In the instances Since 1982, the forest department's ability
by adivasis is not wood cutting, grazing or when the forest department's attempts to to get away with such blatant abuse of power
collecting forest produce (even though all reclaim 'nevad' have led to retaliation in the has been TSharply curtailed. A trade union
these practices are blamed fordestroying the form of villagers throwing stones, the crisis called Khedut Mazdoor Chetna Sangath
forest), it is 'nevad'. The word 'nievad' has been precipitated precisely because of (Organisation for the Consciousness of
literally means 'new field', or places that the state's use of force at the very outset.4 Peasants and Workers) has mobilised adivasis
have been cleared and made suitable for It must be noted that, while enclosure is in about 95 villages to collectively fight for
cultivation. However, now it is used only justified on sound grounds from the their rights to the forest. When the Sangath
to refer to encroached fields. There are two viewpoint of conservation, viz, it allows the has sent representations asking the
kinds of 'nevad'-revenue and forest, forest to regenerate through protection and administration to negotiate a resolution for
depending on which department happens to tree plantation, in practice enclosures made the 'nevad' issue, ithas been rebuffed. Since
own the land encroached upon. In Alirajpur, by the forest department rarely achieve this then, the Sangath has had to adopt more
forest 'nevad' is by far the more contentious laudable objective. Despite cordoning off aggressive tactics like mass demonstrations,
category. The statistics about 'nevad' speak the forest and related measures like hunger strikes, and the obstruction of forest-
for themselves: the claims submitted in confiscating livestock found grazing in the related work. These have succeeded in putting
Sondwa revealed that each household forest and fining trespassers, the survival in an end to some of the excesses of the forest
cultivated 'nevad' holdings that were three rate of planted saplings in most areas is so department, such as the petty violence and
to 10 times larger than its legal holdings. abysmal that it is difficult to discern the corruption. The Sangath' s work is notdefined
Since the size of legal holdings is too small difference between the degraded forest and by defending 'nevad'; its objective is the
for subsistence, it becomes imperative to the enclosed portion which has had the benefit wider cause of empowering adivasis in their
supplement them with 'nevad' cultivation. of the forest department' sministrations. We struggle to live with dignity, without being
'Nevad' fields tend to be tiny patches of shall discuss the reasons for this failure later. exploited and cheated, with control over the
cleared forest, usuallydiscreetly tucked away Besides the violent mass confrontations resources and processes that so vitally affect
in the high hils. The land is generally sloping,
that have occurred in villages like Kiti, them. To this end, the Sangath has tried to
with thin soils that are easily washed away. Semlani, Pujara ki Chauki, Umrath, work on several fronts-from organising a
But despite its drawbacks, this land keeps Khodamba and so on, the conflict over the co-operative shop, teaching literacy in Bhili
the adivasi economy of Alirajpur on its feet. forest has also been a ceaseless war of and Bhilali, to initiating a soil and water
attrition, bywhich the forestdepartmenthas conservation programme, to generally
CONFLICr OVER FoREsr tried to terrorise adivasis into submission. strengthening adivasis' ability to stand up
As mentioned earlier, the legal weapons for their rights. For its troubles, the Sangath
Since 'nevad' is crucial for adivasi survival, used include litigation and confiscation. The has been frequently called 'naxalite', the
any attempt made by the. state to stop it forest department has registered thousands most recent sub-divis ional magistrate (SDM)
evokes immediate and strong reactions?. of cases, many of them on trumped up in Alirajpur going so far as to propose the

2496 Economic and Political Weekly September 17, 1994

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analytically interesting label of "semi- people to build roads has always been a time- Around 1870, adivasis were 'encouraged'
naxalite outfit masquerading as voluntary honoured device in drought-relief to stop 'dahia' (shifting cultivation) and
organisation" [Pathak 1994:10]. For the programmes. However, while road works settle down. Guha and Gadgil observe that
most part, the local administration has provide short-term employment, they do "...almost without exception, colonial
chosen to treat the mobilisation around the little to address the root causes of poverty administrators viewed [shifting cultivation
forest rights issue as a law and order and unemployment. Such money could be with disfavour as a primitive and
problem, to be suppressed by means of used much more productively for soil and unremunerative form of agriculture in
state violence. water conservation schemes which have the comparison with plough cultivation.
potential to create long-term employment Influenced both by the agriculturalrevolution
TRIBAL DEVELOPMENT IN ALIRAJPUR and income, using local resources. But the in Europe and the revenue-generating
SDM's expert opinion on people's priorities, possibilities of intensive (as opposed to
A few administrators, however, have and his prescription, prevaiLs over the extensive) forms of cultivation, official
perceived the links between the issue of demands of the people themselves. hostility to [shifting cultivation] gained an
forest rights and the condition of adiv4sis In a way, road building fulfils a social added impetus with the commercialisation
in general. Realising the immense hardship need, itself a consequence of poverty in of the forest. Like theircounterparts in other
entailed if adivasis were forced to give up Alirajpur. Roads facilitate migration out of parts of the globe, British foresters held
'nevad', different administrators have the area. As the situation of adivasis [shifting cultivation] to be the most
initiated different schemes, all of them deteriorates, their migration to urban destructiveof all practices for theforest, not
ultimately driven by the logic of getting construction sites and agricultural fields in the least because it competed with timber
adivasis out of the forest. Each SDM or neighbouring Gujarat has increased. The operations" [Guha and Gadgil 1989:152].
district collector has his pet projects for SDM'sprojectproposal says as much: "The Earlier there had been n6 cleardemarcation
tribal development. While each SDM usually common feeling was that with a good road, between revenue and forest land and
manages to finish constructing themandatory public transport would increase and people administration of both was vested in the
fountain in Alirajpur town during his tenure, could go out of the area for employment, same official. Within thejurisdiction of his
the developmentprogrammes stay half-done, as well as take theirmeagre exportable surplus village, the headman gave permission for
only to languish and die during the reign of outside" [Pathak 1994:9; emphasis added]. expanding cultivation. With the tightening
the next SDM. Some projects are wacky in In the absence of adequate state investment of colonialrule, the authority of the headman
the extreme. One SDM proposed custard for makin.g the Alirajpur agricultural to permit fresh clearings in the forest came
apple cultivation on 'nevad' land as the economy more productive,,adivasis have no to be abrogated and wasinstead vested with
panacea for adivasi poverty, much in the recourse but to labour elsewhere. In the state officials [Nath 1960:27). In theprocess,
manner of Marie Antoinette telling the summer, in some parts of Alirajpur that doproperty rights were sharply redefined.
peasants to eat cake. When people barely not have access to forests, entire villages However, in the more remote parts of
manage to grow enough grain to see them may, be found deserted but for a few elderlyAlirajpur, such as Mathvad, customary rights
through the year, to expect them to switchpeople. B hils and B hilalas have traditionally continued to be respected. The ruggedness
to a highly perishable luxury crop, in a placemigrated during times of famine; but now of the terrain and the absence ofroads limited
where infrastructure for transport and they migrate every year, in much larger the extent to which forests could be exploited
marketing is practically non-existent, is a for timber. As long as the state received its
numbers, travelling further and staying away
ludicrous idea. longer. State tribal developmentprogrammes due, the thakur turned a blind eye to 'nevad',
The lure of lucrative markets beckoning have not helped them survive; 'nevad' has. the expansion of cultivation. Without
enticingly from adistance works apowerful competition from large-scale state-sponsored
magic on administrators, most of whose IV deforestation and the pressure of increasing
schemes focus on getting adivasis further State Managemient of Forest population density, 'nevad' could remain
integrated into the market. Instead of politically and ecologically tolerable. Itmust
strengthening their natural resource base orWhen the administration blames adivasis be emphasised, though, that Alirajpur was
improving their access to basic services such for destroying the forest through practices unusual in its geographic isolation which
as health, education or drinking water, like 'nevad' and tries assiduously to stop insulated it for almost 100 years from the
government schemes tend to prefer giving them, it chooses to ignore its own record of widespread commodification of the forest
a one-time subsidised commercial asset- forest degradation. All over India, the that occurred around this time.
amilch cow (the Madhuban scheme), atruck governmenthas continued the colonialpolicy From being an intrinsic part of peasant
(the Raftaar scheme), which is supposed to of managing the,forest for maximising its agriculture, forests came to be inserted into
generate income. In keeping with a view of own short-term profits, without respecting a commercial economy which sharply
life seen from the front seat of a Maruti the rights of local communities to use the undermined the ecological basis of
Gypsy, the last SDM's petproject was road forests for subsistence [Gadgil and Guha subsistence agriculture, hunting and
improvement. In 1994, the state govemment 1992]. In Alirajpur, commercialisation of gathering. While *adivasis were being
sanctionedRs 2.06 crore underthelnnovative theforeststarted after 1869, when theprincely
increasingly excluded from the forest and
Jawahar Rozgaar Yoj ana scheme for a year- state of Alirajpur, ruled by Rajputs, was their customary use rights restricted, in most
long project thatconcentrated on helping 12 placed 'under the superintendence' of a places this was not justifled by the British
villages in the Alirajpur area. Of this, Rs British Political Agent. Before that, the foreston grounds of environmentalprotection, for
1.22 crore (59 per cent) was allocated for was left to the adivasis. As the term 'nevad' no policy of conservation was instituted.
road construction; Rs 0.3 crore (14.5 per (literally 'new field') indicates, adivasis in Land was leased to contractors whose
cent) foreducation (constructing two school Alirajpur seem to have been shifting activities turned vast tracts of forest into
and three hostel buildings); Rs 0.28 crore cultivators who were free to move from one semi-barren land [Aurora 1972:87]. Indian
(13 per cent) for soil and water conservation;place in the forest to another. As long as they teak was extensively used in ship-building
and the rest for health cover and drinking fulfilled their obligation of free labour for for the royal navy in the Anglo-French wars
water [Pathak 1994]. This allocation of funds the king, and paid up their taxes (calculated of the early 19th century and by themerchant
was sanctioned for a scheme intended to as a fixed rate per plough), they could use ships in the later period of maritime
generate employment! Of course, employing the forest formeeting their subsistence needs. expansion, as a substitute for the depleted

Economic and Political Weekly September 17, 1994 2497

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oak forests of England and Ireland [Guha the fields of Gujarat, Nimar and the Tapti the forest department for their every need
and Gadgil 1989:145]. The expansion of the
valley in years when famine stalked the land. instead of going directly to the forest.
railways (1870-1910) for the movement of Ironically, the only historical evidence of With the passing of power into the hands
troops and trade in the subcontinent also thedestruction of forests and its consequences of the Congress nationalists after inde-
resulted in widespread destruction of the is the immediate and enormous increase pendence, the state embarked upon the
forests for manufacturing sleepers. The registered in the state's income, mainly from project of 'development'. The independent
British 'reservation' of the forests for their
land revenue, excise dues and forests. state's agenda of progress called for
own useresulted in large-scalefelling in this Statistics for Alirajpur state's receipts from accelerated indu.strialisation and modernisa-
region too. In the summer of 1877, "though 1901-02 to 1937-38 show a three-fold rise tion together with a populist 'welfare'
the [Narmada] was unusually low, a flotilla in totalrevenue over aperiod when therupee component in the form of anti-poverty
of 625 logs and 6,000 rafters was, after a did not change significantly in value. Land programmes. The state was charged by the
month's passage, safely and withoutincident revenue grew from Rs 38,000 in 1901-02 Constitution to "promote with special care
floated from the north-east of Akrani to to Rs 2,41,540 in 1937-38, an increase of the educational and economic interests of
Broach [Bharuch], where it fetched more 635 per cent. Excise receipts rose from Rs the weaker sections of the people, and in
than three times the amount spenton felling, 16,000 to Rs 37,521, an increase of 234 per particular, of the scheduled castes and
dragging, and floating itdown" [KG 1880:9]. cent. Over the same period, the forest scheduled tribes, and [to] protectthem from
Under the British, land was surveyed and departmentregistered the greatestrise, mainly
socialinjustice and all forms of exploitation"
new tax rates fixed on the basis of size and from massive deforestation and the sale of [GOI 1978:4].
quality of landholding, notper plough or on timber; while it had generated Rs 11,000 in To this end, Jhabua district was declared
the basis of ability topay as had earlier been 1901-02, in 1937-38 it produced Rs a scheduled area in 1950, and Bhils and
the case. As aresult, statereceipts from land 1,13,564-an increase of 1,032 per cent. Bhilalas were classified as scheduled tribes
revenue went up by 50 per cent. Colonial Expenditure statements show that a good by 1956 [NCAER 1963:191]. Welfare
efforts to survey and enumerate, ostensibly third of this revenue went to the maintenance measures such as ashrams (residential
to aid good governance, invariably ended up and expansion of police and revenue schools), income generation schemes such
to their monetary advantage as well. The collection agencies [Aurora 1972:82]. as the Integrated Rural Development
administrators made strenuous efforts to The dominance of comumerce and colonial Programme (IRDP), and government-
know in order to tax and take away; only administration over the tribal hinterland was controlled co-operative societies were started.
vociferous objections from the populace held spatially represented by the emergence of However, most government programmes
them in check. In Alirajpur, to this end, the towns at places where 'haats' (weekly consisted of handouts in times of distress,
Native Superintendent wrote that, "...I am markets) were held. According to traders in especially during drought, which failed to
of the opinion that all the Mangoe [sic] and Valpur and Chhaktala (towns in Alirajpur address the underlying causes of adivasi
Mowa trees within the Rajpore state should impoverishment. Tribal rights to the forest
tehsil), the institution of the 'haat' has existed
be enumerated and registered in a Book, since known times, but all the present remained unrecognised; their continued
which will prove of service when some permanenttraders are immigrants whosettled alienation from the land base upon which
disputes arise about possession. Also, it is there four or five generations ago [Aurora they depended for sustenance precluded any
possible, when all the trees have been 1972:69]. The 'haat' metamorphosed into opportunity for genuine gains in power and
enumerated, that atax, which will bedeemed small towns which were locations of prosperity.
fit, may be levied" [NAP 1870]. institutions of political authority as This
well asis not surprising when we examine
With this view, measures were adopted points in the trade of produce. These towns the overall framework of thenationalpolicy
to ascertain the total number of trees, but served as nodes which channelled regional for tribal areas and tribal communities in the
the work was stopped when the Bheel surplus into anationalmarket. Forestproduce country. According to the Report of the
Agent was informed of the cultivators' such as timber, lac, mahua flowers, for National Council of Applied Economic
'displeasure'. The superintendent went on example, would go from the 'haat' "to Research, the aim of the policy
dismissively, "On this, I minutely inquired Dohad (Panch Mahals) and Kukshi (Dhar),
into thematter and informed Captain Cadellthe nearest foreign markets" [Luard is to integrate the tribal communities within
that they were not at all displeased on account1908:604]. the body politic of the nation. This is sought
of the trees, only they had entertained a After 1947, when India became free, the to be achieved through raising the standard
doubt, which was removed by discontinuing kingdom of Alirajpur merged with of living in the tribal areas to that in the
the enumeration measures. But it is usual independent India as a constituent of the rural areas of the country. Since the tribal
areas are exceptionally backward and
that the cultivators grumble and murmur at state of MadhyaBharat. Jhabua district was
primitive, welfare of the people living
every new arrangement" [NAIP 1870]. constituted in 1949 and Alirajpur became a
therein is sought to be achieved through
Similarly, a list of about a 100 local trees tehsil within it. Almost the first act of the
some measures of protection during the
and their various uses was prepared in 1894 new regime was to order a detailed land
next 20 years. This protection is in respect
with aview to theircommercialexploitation survey for permanent settlement. Titles to
of seats in parliament and legislatures,
[NAP 1894]. land were issued, soil types were assessed,
reservation in services of all types and
The methodical mapping of tribal and regularrates of land revenue were fixed. categories, educational benefits and
resources-the enumeration of the flora and For the adivasis, land settlement was simply economic protection. The aim of the
its consequent exploitation, and the land alienation. Enumeration left out many government is to level up the tribal
systematic shift to monetary taxation which 'nevad' holdings, either because they were communities without unduly damaging
commercialised agriculture-resulted in too high up in the hills for surveyors to check their social structure or interfering with
enormous deforestation and soil erosion, comfortably, orbecause their adivasi owners the way of their lives [NCAER 1963:vi].
affecting people's ability to provision had not paid adequate bribes to the patvari.
themselves on their own. The crushing Other adivasi rights to the forest were also To this lofty end,
pincers of the state's revenue exactions andcurtailed, leaving only limited rights of
the depletion of natural resources must have usufruct which were channelled through top priority has been given to a programme
made survival even more precarious than 'nistar' depots run by the forest department. of rapid indu-strialisation and extension of
usual, necessitating seasonal migration to Thus adivasis were supposed to approach means of communication to the most

2498 Economic and PoliticA Weekly September 17, 1994

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 interior regions in the state. Our firm view By reserving the best forests for commercial 'halai' resin, trade in which is banned. In
is that the development of land and timber, the forest department has closed off May 1994, a consignment of resin valued
agriculture alone will not be adequate for local people' s access to the forest for meeting at Rs 2 lakh was intercepted by the Gujarat
the-rehabilitation of the tribal communities. their subsistence needs. The village forests authorities outside the Alirajpur border. The
Agricultural land is insufficient and cannot and pastures that would otherwise have met smuggler in question was chagrined; his seth
serve the needs of even half the tribal some of people's needs were anyway either (financier-boss) reportedly paid Rs 20,000
population of the state. Fortunately, the
destroyed or classified as reserved. In this permonth to the Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat
tribal areas of the state are rich in industrial
way, the problem c'biotic interference' is forest department checkposts to let his stuff
and power potential. There is no reason
a creation of the management strategy go through unharmed. The previous year,
why in the wider interest of the nation and
adopted by the forest department which when another consignment had been stopped
in the long-term interest of the tribals
focuses on growing uniform crop and age on the state border, the smuggler negotiated
themselves, industries should not be
timber forests. As M N Buch explains, "Had an ingenious compromise: instead of
developed and localised in tribal areas
the forests consisted of the mixture designed confiscating and fining him on the basis of
[NCAER 1963:vi].
by nature, with ground flora serving the the value of resin in his truck, the forest
In the 'wider interests of the nation', the state needs of cattle, the lower and middle storeys department officials allowed him to remove
has exercised its prerogative of claiming serving the needs of the people in the matter the resin originally intercepted and replace
eminent domain - the greater good of the of fuel and timber and the upper storey it with inferior quality stuff so that the value
people-to pre-empt resources for itself. serving both environmental requirements of the consignment and therefore the fine
Yet the pursuit of these policies has brought and timber needs, even biotic intervention payable on it would be considerably reduced.
aboutrapid exploitation of natural resources would have caused only a minimal damage This generosity, of course, was made possible
in tribal areas, violating the interests of to the forests" [Buch 1991 :59]. because of the fat bribes given by the seth
dispossessed adivasis. Between 1951 and The mandate of 'environmental to the forest officials. Conservation, properly
1976,4,79, 100 ha of forest were lost to river conservation' has been given into the hands implemented, would put an end to these
valley projects, and another 1,27,200 ha to of a bureaucracy that has so far managed the mutually advantageous arrangements.
establish industries [Gadgil and Guha forest for profit, both public and personal. Since it is in the interests of the forest
1992:196]. The colonialpolicy of 'scientific It is now expected that forest officials, who department to retain control over the forest,
forestry' has become even more profitable have so far only been trained to measure schemes for power-sharing with adivasis
after independence as industrial demand for diameter at breast height (DBH) and have never really got off the ground in
wood has escalated.8 In Madhya Pradesh, determine if a tree is ready for felling Alirajpur.
or not, The Hitgrahi Yojana-a scheme
the state government recently announced will be competent judges of the ecological in which forest land is leased to landless
that it will turn over degraded forest land 'carrying capacity' of the forest. The tribals for growing forest crops-was
to private industry forplanting trees for their orientation of the forest departmenthas been
implemented in the mid-1980s as a
own use. It is well known that it is primarily towards maximum exploitation of the forest; compromise solution to the problem of
the rural poor who depend on these degraded there has been no evidence so far that the 'nevad' . The entire cost of afforestation was
commons for fodder and fuel [Jodha 1994]. forest department has the knowledge, skills to be met by the forest department, with a
Their replacement by private timber and or sympathies to manage the forest for their monthly cash grant being given for five
softwood plantations will further reduce conservation. Judgments about 'carrying years to support the adivasi till the forest
villagers' access to resources essential for capacity', an ecological concept that, in any crop matured. Adivasis were to have the
survival. The acceleration of extraction has case, is extremely hard to operationalise, right to the usufruct of the entire crop,
been matched by the expansion of will be made by forest officers who have including the corpus of the trees as may be
administrative control to further restrict the power to deny all long-standing rights grown and harvested. With the intervention
adivasi use of the land and the forest. These and claims of local communities. of the Khedut Mazdoor Chetna Sangath,
regulations have become the source of a The draft Forest Conservation Act some villages of Alirajpur were involved in
steady stream of remuneration for petty continues to have the same deadly. bias that this scheme. People planted tree crops on
officials who browbeat adivasis who break the existing Indian Forest Act contains: it some of their 'nevad' land, but their initial
the law into the submission of bribes and entrusts the task of conservation into the mistrust of the government was borne out
'gifts' of omission. Meanwhile the forest hands of an organisation that lives off the when the promised monthly payments
department, legendary in its corruption, forests and the adivasis. Theofficial discourse stopped after three or four months. After
colludes with timber merchants to decimate on 'nevad' and 'biotic interference' chooses initiating the scheme, the government aborted
the forest. to disregard the unofficial transactions to it by providing- inadequate funds. The
which it has given rise. From the legal HitgrahiYojanaandotherfailed afforestation
FOREST MANAGEMENT TODAY sanctions against adivasis' use of the forest schemes such as the community woodlot
derives the power of forest officials; the act programme [Chambers et al 1989:164] are
Aurora quotes the administrative report of has sown the seeds of a thriving corruption. precursors of Joint Forestry Management
Alirajpur state for 1939-40 which states that People can have access to the forest, but for (JFM) schemes which, after succeeding in
"about half the area of the state is under a price, usually payable in cash, fowl, ghee. West Bengal, are being tried out in
forests, of which 289 square miles is reservedIf the forest department were to really cordon Hoshangabad and Jhabuadistricts in Madhy
forest and 149 square miles is unreserved off the forest for conservation, this steady Pradesh. Whereas JFM has elicited
forest" [Aurora 1972:59]. Buteven in 1939, stream of income would dry up. enthusiastic popular participation in West
much of this forest had been degraded due Another stream of unofficial transactions Bengal [Viegas and Menon 1993], in
to timber extraction by the forestdepartment. that would end if the mandate of environ- Alirajpur the forest department has formed
Since 1939, further areas were felled for mental conservation were implemented in village forest protection committees without
timber as well as cleared for agriculture. The earnest is smuggling. The illegal sale of holding proper village meetings, selecting
history of Alirajpur shows that forests were wood by forest department officials and -office bearers at will [Banerjee 1993].
used primarily by the state to generate revenue contractors working together has been Villagers have gained from temporary wage
for itself; an orientation that is reflected in common in the better fore.sted parts of employment, but there h as been no
present-day management practices as well. Alirajpur. A more recent trade is smuggling meaningful participation or sharing of power.

Economic and Political Weekly, September 17, 1994 2499

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JFM in Alirajpur also seems to have gone But regularisation of 'nevad' alone is anypampered agricultural extension station.
the way of other government programmes. not enough. Merely granting adivasis Villagers have collectively decided which
security of tenure and improved access to parts of the forest should be closed to
CONCLUSIONS ABOUr Fu-ruRE the forest does not equip them to improve livestock to allow regeneration. They found
OF CONSERVATION the land or the forest. Considerable that trying to save more distant patches of
investment must be made for environ- forestwas harder; notonly were they difficult
We have seen that the forestdepartment' s mental conservation programmes to to guard, but the competing claims of other
efforts to protect forests have inherent succeed. In addition, there has to be greater villages often led to quarrels. Instead, people
contradictions and limitations which have co-ordination between environmental chose to cordon off forests close to their
brought about the present crisis in forest conservation and tribal development fields which are easier to monitor. People
management. If power is further concentratedprogrammes. Tribal development, which is take turns to regularly patrol the closed-off
in the hands of the government, as the draft presently amoribund affair, benefiting only area. The increased fodder output is shared
Act proposes to do, then the problem of the bureaucracy, has to be integrated with among the members. People have now also
forest degradation will be made infinitely environmental conservation so that adivasis started planting trees on forest land. The
worse. Atpresent, there are few mechanisms have a chance to create sustainable, self- only response of the forest department to this
to check the abuse of power by the forest reliant livelihoods for themselves. Both initiative has been to file a 'panchnama',
department; increasing power without an channels of state intervention-forestpolicy recording this 'offence'.
accompanying system of outside control and tribal development policy-will only Why has Attha succeeded where others
would place the forests and the people entirely
work if they articulate and address adivasis' did not even try? One reason could be the
at the mercy of the state. What then would felt needs. Such sensitivity has never been increasingly acute scarcity offorestproduce
be a better approach to ensure that the a distinguishing feature of top-down around Attha which forced people to initiate
objective of environmental conservation is govemment policies; only when adivasis action themselves. Gondvani and Vicholi
achieved? How would sharing power with have acted politically has the state are two villages near Attha (not members
adivasis show away outoftheenvironmental administration been forced to improve ofitself.
the Sangath) which started planting
crisis? A group of villages in Alirajpur have bamboo on their land since bamboo
The adivasis of Alirajpur are today living demonstrated that the potential gains from disappeared from the forest. Other villages
on the edge, forced to cultivate 'nevad' political action in combination with in the Sangath, which do not face such an
fields on fragile hill slopes and collect forestenvironmental conservation work are acute forest crisis, have contented
produce in order to avoid migration in search infinite. The villagers of Attha, Gendra and
themselves with protecting particular
of work. They continue to be heavily Umrath have been active in the Sangath for or patches of forest. For instance,
species
dependent on the forest for their survival. several years. Their organisation into the Bhitada and Nadi Sirkhadi, villages on the
Because adivasis have no security of tenure, Sangath, together with hundreds of other banks of theNarmada, stopped using 'anjan'
and live under the constant threat of eviction, villagers, has allowed them to safeguard trees which had been lopped mercilessly and
they cannot invest in improving their land. access to their 'nevad' fields. This collective have consequently been rewarded by
Their poverty prevents them from planting sense of security has enabled them to invest tremendous regeneration. While scarcity is
tree crops that have a long gestation period, in soil and water conservation measures on afactorinexplaining interestin conservation,
and the illegality of their position precludes a large scale. Through a slow process of trial income is another [Chambers et al 1989].
their receiving loans from the government and error, people have tried to evolve a Wherever people have earned from
for making agriculture more productive. conservation strategy that works best for conservation, they have invested in it. Attha
Since adivasis' rights to the forest are not them. The Attha efforts are not perfect; has reaped the benefits of conservation
recognised, they have no stake in protecting activists' and villagers' interest and through increased supplies of fodder, wood
it from the depredations of the forest participation have flagged at times. But, and bamboo. But even a village like
department or from outsiders. despite the many setbacks, the achievements Khodamba, surrounded by dense and
The first step towards recognition of are there for all to see. apparently abundant forests, has started
adivasis' rights must be a comprehensive Work through the Sangath has con- protecting species like 'halai' which yields
surveyto systematically map allrights, claims centrated on two fronts: improving 'nevad' an aromatic resin that fetches handsome
and existing uses of the forest by adivasis. fields and managing the rest of the forest prices.
Atpresent, rights are exercised on an ad hoc for sustainable fodder yields. Labour The change of attitude that underlies
basis, as concessions grudgingly granted by collectives have worked on bunding and these initiatives is all the more remarkable
the forest department. Adivasis have no gully plugging to prevent soil erosion from when we remember the centuries of state
guarantee that they will be allowed access the fields. One year, villagers ran a nursery control during which adivasis have often
to the forest on a regular basis. Therefore to grow saplings for planting. When they internalised the dominant ideology that
we urgently need a 'forest settlement', not found thattrees planted in 'nevad' fields did they have no right to the forest. Physical
to 'extinguish' or 'commute' rights, as the not do well because they needed too much and political alienation had created profound
draft Act intends to do, but to recognise and tending, people chose more manageable sites psychological alienation. After years of being
incorporatethem into amanagementstrategy, close to their houses. Since people could made to feel like trespassers in their own
into institutions and practices ofparticipation. select tree species and plantation sites that homes, it requires a sea change in their
Secured access to the forest is a precondition best met their particular needs (field perceptions for them to think that they have
for eliciting popular participation for boundaries orclose to theirhouses), survival a stake in the future of the forest.9 Even
environmental conservation. This implies rates were high, in stark contrast to the failed within the Sangath, this transformation of
that the state must also take the bold but plantation work of the forest department. consciousness has been slow in coming. But
essential step of settling legitimate 'nevad' People have adopted innovative crop-mixes, whereverpeople have started protecting the
cases. Ignoring the problem or trying to combining bamboo and pulses for instance, forest, they have fiercely defended it against
suppress itwill impoverish the forest as well and invested considerable labour and thought outsiders. The villagers of Kfiodamba, for
as the adivasis. And wemustremember that to use the land to optimal advantage. Since example, have resolutely denied access to
it is adivasis who have a pre-eminent right such conservation started, some 'nevad' people from othervrillag es .In Khodar village,
to the forest, and not the state. fields have become showpieces worthy of a Sangath member has single-handedly

2500 Economic and Political Weekly September 17, 1994

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protected the forestadjoining hiis fie'lds. Since are used in cooking, relished as mucl fortheir for Society tor Promotioni of Wastelands
he has laboured to take care of it. he regards sweetly punigentt flavour as for theirnutrients; Development. New Delhi).

it as his own. Now it is the forest department but they are valued eveii more for the 'huru' Baviskar. A (forthcoming): In tlie Belly of thle
(liquor) that is distilled fronm thlem, a clear, River: Adivasi Battles over Nature in the
which is coming to be regarded as the
delicately potent brew. No rituall occasion can NaarmZ1ada Valley, Oxford University Press.
interloper, not the adivasi.
go unmarked by the ceremiionial partaking of New Delhi.
The Atthaexample demonstrates people's 'huru'. The fruit of the 'muhda' yields an oil Buch, M N (1991): The Forests of Madhlya
preference for an approach where they have that tastes rather like ghee. Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh Madhyam, Bhopal.
control over the conservation programme 2 The sole exception to tuius has been a short- Chambers, R, N C Saxena and T Shah (1989): To
and where their rights are secured. However, lived schemecalledtheHitgrahi Yojanawhich the Hands of the Poor: Water and Trees,
a small financial base prevents them from we will discuss later. IntermediateTechnologyPublications, London.
expanding the scale of activity, and from 3 For a fuller account of this incident, see Gadgil, M and R Guha (1992): This Fjssured

undertaking works that require more bought Baviskar (1994). Land: Ati Ecological History ofltndia, Oxford
4 Recently, such a confrontation occurred in University Press, Delhi.
materials (for water harvesting, for instance).
Chikhli village, Dhar district, adjoining GOI (Govemment of India) (1978): Provisiots
People would like to travel to other places
Jhabua. Theforest departmenttried toforcibly in thte Constitution of India for Scheduled
to learn from the experience of NGOs such Ttibes, Ministry of HomeAffairs, NewDelhi.
plant trees on Chikhli's traditional grazing
as the Aga Khani Rural Support Project or land, classified as 'culturable waste' by the -(1981): Census of India 1981 ,Series 11-
Sadguru Waterand Development Foundation revenue department. Representations to the Madhya Pradesh, Pan XIII-A, Village and
in Gujarat. But while the SDM can bring tehsildar asking thatt the land not be turned Town Directory, Jhabua district, District
R.; 2 crore to build roads, the adivasis of over to the forest department were ignored. Census Handbook.

Aliraipur have to protect the forest and the On May 17, 1994, on hearing ihat forest Guha, R (1994): 'Forestry Debateand DraftForest

land on their own. An organisation such as depaftment officials had arrived withlabourers Act: Who Wins, Who Loses?', Economic and
to start planitationi work, people rushed to the Political Weekly, August 20.
the Sangatlh can cr-eate a small island( in Attha
spot. The range officer fired in the air to Guha, R and M Gadgil (1989): 'State Forestry and
to show what is possible. But for all the
-disperse them, then iincited the labourers to SocialConflictinBritishlndia',Pa.stan-dPre.senit:
adivasi.s in the Sangath, and for all the adliva.s is
throw stones at the villagers. Police A Journal of Historical Studies, No 123.
in India, such a transformation of the forest intervenition broke up this fight but, later,
Jodlha, NS (1994): 'Conmmon Property Resources
and of their own lives is possible only when villagers were arrested on charges of rioting and the Rural Poor' in R Guha (ed), Social
political control is combined with control anid intimidation [Shraddha 1994]. Ecology, Oxford University Press, New Delhi.
over the resources now commanded by the 5 From the nativesuperinitendent of Ali RajporeKG (Khandesh Gazetteer) (1880): Gazettee, of
state.'0 to Col Blair, Officiating Bheel Agent, August the Bombay Presidency, Vol XII, Govern-
If the ministry of environment and forests 27, 1870, Bhopawar Political Agency. S No ment Cenitral Press, Bombay.
16, 1/152/1870. NAI. Luard, C E (1908): Central ulina GazelteerSeries:
(MoEFF) takes its mandate of environmental
6 Ibid. Western States (Malwa), Vol V-Part A Text,
conservationi at all seriously, it will have to
7 ReportfromtheAmeenAlirajpur. 1894. Yaad British Inidia Press, Bombay.
.shed its unwillingness to facilitate people in
.vadar aatm riyasat Alirajpur. Babad /laal Nath, Y V S (1960): Bhtils oJ Ratanimal: Atn
doinig things their own way, with their datrakiat jantgal Alirajpur. NAI. Analysis ofJlhe Social Structure oJ a Western
priorities foremost. Besides .surrendering 8 For an excellent account of the way in which Indian Community, The M S University of
power over the forest into the hani(ds of those, forest managemenit ias chaniged since Baroda, Baroda.
who have a muclh greater right to it, the independenice and yet remalined the same,NCAER see (National Council of Applied Economic
ministry must ensure that development Gaidgil anid Guha [1992: 185-214]. Research) (1'963): Socio-Econo,nic Cotndi-
resources are invested into this process. This 9 In coloniial times, whileadivasisc weregeneraly tiolLs' of Primitive Tribes in Madhtya Pradesh,
excluded fromii the forest. some practices, of NCAER, New Delhi.
requires legislative initiatives as well as
the tonuer princely rulers exemplified an Pangare, G and V Pangare (1992): Fromn Po -erty
administrative enterprise. The fate of the
understanding of the 'stakeholder approach' to Plentv: T7he Stoty of Ralegan Siddhi,
forest and the fate of adivasis are linked. As
to conservation. Raja Pramap Singh (1891- INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and
long as adivasis continiue to be exploited and 1920) planted mango trees along all major Cultural Heritage), New Delhi.
impoverished. so will the forest. The cause roads in Alirajpur. entrusting their care to Pathak, S (1994): 'Mathwar Area Development
of conservation is iniseparable from the cause neiglhbourinig villages who were then entitled Project' (niimeo).
of making adivasis' lives more secure, to half the iianigo crop in exchange for their Shraddha (1994): Gavleen Gatha: Adivasi
sustainable and prosperous. For environ- labours. Today the produce of these trees is Astitva ki Ladai ('Battle for Tribal
mental conservation. popular struggles have auctioned to the highest bidder and villagers Existence'), Press release issued by
have no interest in caring for the trees. Sarvodaya Press Service, Indore.
to be met half-way by an enlightened state.
I 0 We now have several examples of successful Singh, A M and N Burra (eds), Womnen and
The ministry has previously shown its
decentralised sustainiable development. The Wastelanid Development in India, Sage
appreciation of these perspectives by
achievemenits of the Chipko movement are Publications, New Delhi.
encouraging fledgling efforts towards famous. More recenitly, thevillages of Ralegan UNDP (United Nations Development Programme)
participatoiy for est management. It must not Siddiu in Maharashtra [Pangare and Pangare (1992): Human Development Report 1992,
now fritter away its gains througlh a 1992] anid Suklhomiiajri in Haryana [see Oxford University Press, New York.
retrogressive act. Chambers et adl 1989:155, for sources] have Viegas, P and G Menon (1993): 'Bringing
becomne well knowni. For other case studies, Government and People Together: Forest
Notes see Chambers et al (1989), Singh and Burra Protection Coimmittees of West Bengal-
(1993), as well as, periodic reports in Down Role and Participation of Women' in A M
[Suggestions from Amiiit Bhatnagar, Walter to Eart/i, an environmental niewsmagazine. Singh and N Burra (eds), Women and
Fernandes. Ramachandra Guha and Rahul N Wasteland Development in Itndia, Sage
Raii greatly improved this essay. The author References Publications, New Delhi.
is responsible torthe shortconiings that reiiiain.I Vohra, B B (1980):A PolicyforLatd and Water,
Aurora, G S (1972): Tribe-Caste-Class Encoun- Sardar Patel Memorial Lectures, Department
I Madhtuca itndica, or 'mahua' (in Hindi) hlolds tei:s: Somne Aspects of Folk- Urbant Relations of Environment, Government of India.
a pre-eiilllenit place in Bhilala culture, just in Alirajpur Tehlsil, Administrative Staff Unpublished Sources
as it does for adivasis all over central India. College, Hlyderabad. NAI (National Archives of India), Foreign
In the months of March and April. the white- Banerjee, R (1993): TIme Greenling, of Jhlabua: A Department.
green fleshy flowers of the 'muhda' fall to Cr)itique of Joinlt Fore.stry ManlagemsenttNAI (National Archives of India). Bhopawar
the ground aind are collected an(d dried. They .Schemtes inl Jhabua Di.strict (Report prepared Political Agency.

Economic and Political Weekly September 17, 1994 2501

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