Forest Village Ghugri: Constraints and Opportunities

Battling centuries of oppression and bondage, the inhabitants of forest villages are now slowly realizing that the forest is theirs to protect and they can take consensual, collaborative decisions to claim what is rightfully theirs

T hroughout the colonial period in India, we have seen massive exploitation of resources by the British. In order to make big ships and railway tracks, a large number of trees were felled in the Indian forests by the colonizers. To do this, they required labour. They made temporary settlements for labourers in the forests and later on these settlements were called ‘forest villages’. The inhabitants of these forest villages, however, did not have any role in the governance of the forest village; it was the prerogative of the forest department, established in 1862, to regulate everything in the village. Section 2(t) of the Forest Rights Act 2006 defines forest villages as “settlements which have been established inside the forests by the forest department of any State Government for forestry operations or which were converted into forest villages through the forest reservation process and includes forest settlement villages, fixed demand holdings, all types of Taungya< settlements, by whatever name called, for such villages and includes lands for cultivation and other uses, permitted by the Government.” (Source: tribal.nic.in).

The inhabitants of these forest villages, however, did not have any role in the governance of the forest village; it was the prerogative of the forest department, established in 1862, to regulate everything in the village.

I ndian jungles are not isolated havens of flora and fauna but an active interaction ground of fauna, flora and people. This feature makes jungles vibrant and the adjacent human settlements resilient. This organic relationship has deteriorated over the past two centuries or so, and people are bereft of their traditional knowledge of forest systems and skills of co-living. In the name of industrial growth, jungles are cut and livelihood patterns altered with chemical inputs, and the link of jungle with agriculture systems has deteriorated. Due to this deterioration, the adivasi villages of central Indian plateau particularly are rapidly losing their livelihood that is integrated in the forest systems. Additionally, with climatic vulnerabilities looming large, this zone urgently needs an alternative to revive their social ecological system and support them to arrive at sustainable models of development that may be distinctly different from the mainstream idea of development.

In the name of industrial growth, jungles are cut and livelihood patterns altered with chemical inputs, and the link of jungle with agriculture systems has deteriorated. Due to this deterioration, the adivasi villages of central Indian plateau particularly are rapidly losing their livelihood that is integrated in the forest systems.

A zim Premji University (APU) and PRADAN have joined hands for four years for Adaptive Skilling through Action Research (ASAR)—an attempt to understand these complex socio-ecological systems, to arrive at development strategies, based on sustainable intensification models. In the first year of research, in 2019, the areas of deskilling were explored. In order to delineate paths for adaptive skilling, the teams engaged in identifying where and how the adivasis are gradually losing, or have already lost, their traditional know-how. Three forest fringe research sites (Jana, a village in Gumla district, Jharkhand; Jharna Ghughri in Dindori district and Chattania in Singrauli district, Madhya Pradesh) were identified to re-look and re-establish their relationship with the village jungle. Interestingly, the villagers of the three research sites emphasized that their ago-ecosystem is at risk due to their changing relationship with the jungle that was deteriorating at a fast pace.

A number of laws were made to include forest dwellers in the decision-making processes in independent India; and ultimately, to undo this historical injustice, the Forest Rights Act was enacted in 2006. The Act recognizes the rights of the forest villagers over forest resources. It also directs that these villages be converted into revenue villages in which the community will be in charge of the forest through the Community Forest Rights (CFR). However, till now, in India, only 3 per cent of these CFR claims have been recognized in the last 12 years. (Source: www.fra.org.in)

A number of laws were made to include forest dwellers in the decision-making processes in independent India; and ultimately, to undo this historical injustice, the Forest Rights Act was enacted in 2006. The Act recognizes the rights of the forest villagers over forest resources.

O ne such forest village is Ghughri, situated at a distance of 9 km from the block headquarters, Amarpur, in Dindori district, Madhya Pradesh. More than 84 per cent of its population comprise Scheduled Tribes, mainly Gonds. The other caste groups in the village are Yadavs, Panikas and Vishwakarmas (blacksmiths). The village is divided into two—Jharna and Ghughri. These two settlements have eight hamlets. The villagers are dependent mainly on agriculture, wage labour and non-timber forest produce (NTFP). The villagers largely practise non-chemical agriculture, use indigenous seeds and broadcast paddy seeds. The topography is mainly undulating and agriculture is rain-fed.

The jungles of the central Indian plateau are deciduous and look more or less similar from a bird’s eye view; the specific species composition at the micro-level defines the nature of the relationship people have with their jungle and this shapes their agro-ecosystem. For an outsider like me, jungles are erstwhile abodes of tigers. That people are dependent on forest is easily said; the exact nature and significance of the jungles on their lives and livelihoods remain elusive. These complex relationships need to be understood subjectively, in order to re-work the social ecological systems. There lies the possibility of creating safe havens distinct from the effects of climate change and other impending calamities, due to the valorizing and over-homogenization of the industrial mode of development.

Villagers in forest villages face many issues that villagers in revenue villages do not encounter. This article highlights the struggles of the people of Ghughri. They have faced many atrocities by the forest department since the Britishers ruled India. At that time, the labourers were considered bonded labour. British forest officers used to make the men of the village work for them; they engaged them in works such as the construction of roads and the cutting of trees, for which they were paid nothing. In addition, they had to carry their own food for 15–20 days at a stretch if they wished to survive. If somebody refused to go, he was beaten up brutally by the officers and threatened that his house would be burnt. After Independence, there was not much difference to the lives of these villagers. The Indian forest officers paid the villagers a meagre sum of Rs 2 for 15 days’ work in the department. The exploitation continued and the villagers did unpaid work in the officer’s service quarters, growing crops in their homestead, repairing their houses, cutting trees in the forest, etc.

After Independence, there was not much difference to the lives of these villagers. The Indian forest officers paid the villagers a meagre sum of Rs 2 for 15 days’ work in the department.

They were brutally beaten when they refused to work for them. Each household had to deposit a small share of their harvest in the forest officer’s house. The villagers realized that the forest in which they were living was not theirs; it belonged to the forest department. Each household had to pay tax to the department for every cattle they owned, failing which their cattle was confiscated by the department.

According to the villagers, such fierce atrocities did reduce with time; yet, they are still living amidst sanctions and restricted permissions.

A ccording to the villagers, such fierce atrocities did reduce with time; yet, they are still living amidst sanctions and restricted permissions. For a long time, there was no pucca road in the village and the rainy season brought with it additional problems. The forest department did not allow soil for making the road to be excavated from the village. The soil had to be taken from a nearby revenue village. Similarly, the gram panchayat faces many obstacles when carrying out development work in the village because the process of getting permissions is laborious and time-consuming.

For instance, the members of the Village Forest Protection Committee (VFPC) said they were not aware about the net income being deposited in their account.

For instance, the members of the Village Forest Protection Committee (VFPC) said they were not aware about the net income being deposited in their account. The only thing that they could recall was that some time back they had received pressure cookers, shoes, sandals, water bottles, blankets and bicycles from the forest department, for which too they had to pay bribes. The clerk in the Range Office of Amarpur said that, after deducting the actual transportation costs, the revenue collected from the sale of logs and other forest produce is directly deposited in the VFPC account of that forest area. He also said that 50 per cent of this money was deposited in the individual accounts of all the households of the village, 30 per cent was used for developmental activities in the village and the remaining 20 per cent was used for planting trees in the forest. When we inquired about the balance in the VFPC accounts, he refused to give this data and told us to consult the Ranger for this information.

VFPC members are unaware of the amount. All the information is with the forest department, which is reluctant to provide it. PRADAN has been working in the Ghugri village for the last 10 years and has been involved in organizing women in self-help groups (SHGs) and helping them enhance their income through livelihoods activities. PRADAN also helps women realize that, as equal citizens, they are eligible to participate in the governance of a village.

PRADAN has been working in the Ghugri village for the last 10 years and has been involved in organizing women in self-help groups (SHGs) and helping them enhance their income through livelihoods activities. PRADAN also helps women realize that, as equal citizens, they are eligible to participate in the governance of a village.

A daptive Skilling through Action Research (ASAR) was started in the Ghugri village in March 2018. Villagers went to Mendha Lekha, in Gadhchiroli district of Maharashtra, for the action review. The objective was to understand the processes of local self-governance, collective action and, above all, how the villagers of Mendha Lekha received Community Forest Rights and registered their village under the Gramdaan Act. In this visit, the villagers from Ghugri interacted with village leaders such as Devaji Tofa, Mohan Bhai and the other people of the village, and heard their stories of how the villagers started their journey from rejuvenating Ghotul (a religious and social Center for youths of the Gond tribal society) for the youth of their village; how they fought for their forest rights in a non-violent, law-abiding manner and became the first village in the country to get CFRs under Forest Rights Act 2006. They saw their forest and bamboo cultivation in the forest. They also saw the ponds they dug with their own contribution, craft they made from bamboo and the processing unit for extracting oil from Chironjee. They got to know of participative, consensual, decision-making processes, communication processes, abhyas-ghats for building sound understanding on any subject. They also came to know about Gramdaan Act and why the villagers of Mendha Lekha had given all their land to gram sabha so that no private contractors and industries could buy any land in their village and start extracting resources from the village.

They got to know of participative, consensual, decision-making processes, communication processes, abhyas-ghats for building sound understanding on any subject.

The villagers of Ghughri were very impressed by the fact that people of Mendha protected their forest by distributing responsibilities among themselves. They also understood clearly the concept of a village fund, a grain bank, its systems and significance for the people of the village.

On their return from Mendha, the villagers discussed their learning with their other villagers and decided to plant 500 bamboo saplings provided by the forest department on the boundary of the cricket field in the village. In the meantime, the researchers and, gradually, the villagers started discussing self-governance. They spoke about how the indiscriminate felling of forest trees by the forest department, with the help of the village forest protection committee and the poacher from the adjoining 11 villages, is affecting rainfall and, hence, agriculture. They are also losing their forest produce, fuel wood and medicinal herbs, which they used to collect from the forest. The biodiversity of the forest is also declining.

On 1 January 2019, people from the two adjoining villages came to Ghughri and, together, they took an oath to protect their forest.

T he forest department pays the villagers to cut trees. One section of the villagers, who realized that they would lose their forest in no time, wanted to protect it whereas the other was of the opinion that they would continue to cut trees because otherwise they would lose their wages. After a series of discussions, they decided to talk to the villagers of the eleven adjoining villages, who come to their forest to cut the trees. On 1 January 2019, people from the two adjoining villages came to Ghughri and, together, they took an oath to protect their forest. In continuation of this meeting, two hamlet-level meetings were called for in which discussions were held on protecting the forest.

On 1 January 2019, people from the two adjoining villages came to Ghughri and, together, they took an oath to protect their forest.

They distributed the responsibility hamlet-wise and started going to different segments of the forests to stop illegal felling. They also got involved in small skirmishes with the people, who came to their forest to cut trees; they confiscated their axes, bundles of logs, etc. According to them, people from these eleven villages have now got the message that illegal felling would not be allowed. The news of this initiative spread in the nearby villages.

The villagers of Ghughri say they will continue this campaign to protect their forest and are thinking of taking it further to get management rights of their forest, spread over 800 ha.

The villagers of Ghughri say they will continue this campaign to protect their forest and are thinking of taking it further to get management rights of their forest, spread over 800 ha. For that, they want to continue with the hamlet-level meetings that they have started and also involve more and more people in such initiatives whereby they collectively decide to deal with issues impacting their lives.


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