DEVOLUTION OF FOREST MANAGEMENT - Vasundhara

174.1 CASE ANALYSIS/ SPECIAL FEATURESSome important aspects of this protection endeavour are as under:i) The trigger factor for forest protection in this case in interesting. The harijansused denial of access to a resource base as a tool of protest. This signifies theimportance attached to the resource.ii)iii)iv)After the initial initiative from harijan pada, the agarhias decided to join inwhen their access to forest also got restricted and they realised the importanceof getting involved to "regain/ retain" control over this important resource.The dynamic process of evolution of the forest management group such asexclusion of four padas on the other side of the river and inclusion ofMilupada in the protection effort reflects the adaptive management approach.Suruguda village also shrunk the forest area under its protection and gavesome portion to the neighbouring village responding to the need to respectpressure on the forest from other village as well as the other village’s ethicalrights over forests.No major conflict has surfaced since the beginning of protection campaign.This assumes greater significance especially given the heterogeneouscomposition of the village. Though there is a major caste and class divisionexisting in the village, people have managed to remain united on the topic offorest protection. However, recently some tensions have started surfacing andthis is being discussed as future threats.4.2 CURRENT CRISIS AND FUTURE THREATSPresently the VSS is facing crisis with the emergence of factional politics. Initially allsections in the village had an equal say in the decision making process but presentlypower is getting concentrated in the hands of the “upper-caste”. With the forestregenerating, the value of the resource and the perception of its value have gone up.As a result of this, positions in the Forest Management Committee/ VSS are getting tobe viewed as positions of power.Recently there has been major reshuffle in the committee. The individuals who hadbeen leading the process so long have been dropped from the committee and all theresponsible positions in the present committee are occupied by members of thedominant caste who are an inexperienced young lot. It is becoming apparent that theinterest of the young groups is primarily driven by the power and status of holding aposition in the committee. The villagers cite the example of last cleaning operation todescribe this.There has been significant change in the benefit distribution to the user group. In thelast cleaning operation, benefit distribution was done in an arbitrary fashion with veryfew people reaping the benefits. Cleaning operation was done only for four days andafter this cleaning operation was abruptly stopped. As a result of this, only a fewpeople (agharias) could take the cleaning material. This has been a major reason ofrecent tension and has led to serious crisis within the Forest Management systemwhich was revealed in a discussion.