Browsing by Author "Reddy, M. Gopinath"

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The Indian Forest Rights Act 2006: Commoning Enclosures?
(2008) Springate-Baginski, Oliver; Sarin, Madhu; Ghosh, S.; Dasgupta, Purnamita; Bose, I.; Banerjee, A.; Sarap, Kailas; Misra, P.; Behera, Sandeep; Reddy, M. Gopinath; Rao, P.T.
"This paper considers the process of 'commoning enclosures', how tenure of enclosed forest land is reformed, taking the example of the Indian Forest Rights Act 2006. The issue of forest rights in India, affecting forested landscapes that cover about 23% of the country and the livelihoods of at least 200 million, have been highly conflictual for at least a century and a half, and intensifying in recent years. The process of formal state enclosure of forests, from the late 19th Century on, criminalised the normal livelihood activities of millions of local forest-dependent people. In recent years the Forest Departments sought to complete this process through the eviction of what had become, in the eyes of the law, 'encroachers'. This finally united and mobilised movements working with forest users across the country to action. "Despite severe opposition the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act (or simply 'Forest Rights Act' was passed in December 2006 and came into force in January 1st 2008 with notification of the rules. It provides for restitution of deprived forest rights across India, including both individual rights to cultivated land in forested landscapes and collective rights to control manage and use forests as common property. The livelihoods of perhaps 100 million of the poorest of the poor stand to improve if implementation can succeed. "Based on currently ongoing primary research in three eastern states (West Bengal, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh), this paper assesses this reform process and how implementation is really happening on the ground. We are establishing baseline information about pre-existing legal rights or the lack of them, and the processes through which these may be changing. "We have found that so far there has been only spasmodic state action, often inconsistent with both the spirit and letter of the Act, and thus rights are yet to be secured on the ground. Only where committed NGOs and movements are active is awareness of the issues and process becoming clarified and the process gathering momentum."
Participatory Governance and Institutional Innovation: A Case of Andhra Pradesh Forestry Project (JFM)
(2004) Reddy, M. Gopinath; Bandhii, Madhuusudana
"JFM is a different concept from many earlier attempts to promote forestry needs of the people, simply because it builds from the roles played by both local forest users and the professionals employed by the State to act as custodians. The combined effort of community and Government is the ultimate solution under prevailing circumstances therefore the Government intervention is expected to address the equity and transparency aspects to strengthen the voice of the poor. In the same way, participation of the people will warrant a constant vigil against all odds to protect the forests, hence VSS / FPC should be viewed as an entity for an overall development of village resources and its people, and not merely an instrument of developing the degraded forests, more so when the forthcoming endeavour of graduation from JFM to CFM focussing on alleviating rural poverty. This would be carried out through improved forest management and community development through participation of the stakeholders in a democratic participatory approach and empowering forest dependent local communities are expected to improve the forest development. "For the success of any programme of this nature and magnitude needs, top-level commitment at both political and official levels and process transparency. Unless the commitment is extended beyond missionary zeal towards humane and social regard the results would be ineffective. In the same way transparency wins the confidence of the people targeted by the programme. At the same time not ignoring the potentiality of the involvement of NGOs, who could play a crucial role. Above all if the programme is tailored to local conditions, culture, institutional and geoclimate not throttling local creativity and innovation there will be no stopping. Though most of these aspects are addressed in the CFM initiative of AP, the effectiveness of the programme depends largely on the implementation. As observed in other development programmes in AP, the implementation could suffer due to the scaling of the programme. This issue was observed to 29 be crucial for the success of JFM by many district forest officials. For, even in the case of CFM FD continues to be the main implementing agency. The human resources of the department are not enough to follow the intensive approach of sustainable community participation when the scale of the programme is large, especially in the districts with larger forest areas. In this context, it is necessary to consider NGOs and Panchayats as implementing agencies. There is also an urgent need to first resolve the contentious issues of forest dwellers land and forest rights, providing them with tenure security for devolved management of community forests based on enhancing both livelihood and ecological security. At the same time Conflicts Resolving Mechanism need to be developed to cope with the newer conflicts emerging out of the implementation of the programme of this magnitude."
Threat to Forest Commons: Mapping the Livelihoods of Mining induced Communities in the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh
(2011) Mishra, Prajna Paramita; Reddy, M. Gopinath
"India’s rich mineral reserves lie in the same regions that hold its greenest forests and tribal people. Mining is not only a direct, but also an underlying cause of forest loss and degradation. It also has a negative impact on wildlife, river systems, tribal livelihoods, tourism and climate. This paper tries to map the existing livelihoods pattern of the affected communities in the upcoming bauxite mining and alumina refinery areas of Andhra Pradesh. The study covered 355 households in Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh. Using the Sustainable Rural Livelihoods Framework, the study shows that all project-affected people do not have a sustainable livelihood. Though they are rich in some capital, they are lagging behind in other forms of capital. Land acquisition process has not completed in these areas. However, once it completes where will these people go? They will lose their agricultural land and the forest will be destroyed. What will be their new source of livelihoods? These are some of the unanswered questions, which the study has tried to answer."