Between forest conservation and livelihood, exist forest villages of Madhya Pradesh

'Yar Nagar' is a forest village located 24 kilometres away from Budhni tehsil of Sehore district of Madhya Pradesh. This village, surrounded by forests on all sides, has a population of only 250 people. Except for the school and Panchayat building, all the houses are made of mud and have thatched roofs. The people earn their livelihood through farming on the land leased by the Forest Department and/or by selling the non-timber forest produce in the market. However, farmers here point out the limitation in the farming practices as they live in a ‘forest village’ or Van Gram.

Aap Singh Barde, 45, has a family that has lived in Yar Nagar village for generations. He is busy harvesting paddy.

“We are not able to do farming mindfully. If we want to run a machine or dig a bore well. We have to first get permission from the Forest Department… we don't even get a loan on the land.”

All the limitations stated by Aap Singh lead to low farming yield, hence low income. Apart from this, they are continuously threatened by human-animal conflict. Not just Aap Singh Barde, but many tribals in forest villages resonate with his sentiments. They emphasise that the situation might have been different if Yar Nagar was a revenue village. 

What are forest villages?

Forest villages were developed during the British time to manage the forest ecosystem and infrastructure. There was a need for cheap labourers to build roads, cut trees, build forest guard posts, rest houses, water-soil conservation and forest management work, forest villages seemed the most viable option. Sudesh Waghmare, the former Chief Forest Conservator of Madhya Pradesh, explains, 

“As an attraction, each person was given 3 to 5 acres of forest land for free, where they could do farming and were also paid daily wages.”

Advocate Anil Garg sees this practice as a violation of someone's rights. Hence, he has been fighting the legal battle for forest village rights for a long time. He says that people have been living in the forests even before the Forest Department. These forests have also been the natural habitat of wild animals and the biggest source of biodiversity. Here, originally tribal communities have been doing farming in these forests. Garg explains the historical injustice done to the tribal communities by including forests in reserved or protected forests during the colonial period for economic benefits. Even after independence, this wasn’t rectified. These areas were considered forest land, not agricultural land under the control of the Forest. This historic mistake continues today.

Revenue village vs forest village

The difference between revenue and forest villages can also be understood from the money received for their development. Revenue Gram Panchayat established under Gram Panchayati Raj can be said to earn its revenue through trade tax, land revenue, stamp and registration fee, property tax and service tax. Apart from this, the village receives 80 per cent of the funds from the Central Government and 15 per cent of the funds from the State Governments as grants. There is no restriction on any kind of commercial activity or development work in these villages.

At the same time, a village situated in or near the border of forests is called a forest village. The responsibility of development here rests with the Forest Department only. In these villages, the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs of the Government of India provide funds directly to the Forest Development Agencies (FDAs) registered in each forest division. According to Sudesh Waghmare, only those development works can be done here which do not harm the forests. Needless to say,  in such a situation, several important developmental-infrastructural projects are not implemented in these villages. 

Basic development and fight for land rights

Since the British rule till now, the people living in the forest villages have been struggling for the rights over water, forest and land. Even after many years of independence, there is a lack of basic amenities in the forest villages. Besides this, the benefits of many government schemes also do not reach the people here. Recalling the construction of a road in the village, Aap Singh Barde's brother, who is a teacher, says,

“It was only after a lot of bureaucratic struggle that the village got this road two years ago. If it had been a revenue village then perhaps it would not have been so difficult.”

There are Panchayats (Forest Committees) in forest villages though, no work can be done without the permission of the Forest Department. Anil Garg says that,

“Most of the time it happens that the Panchayat in the forest villages is not able to implement the government schemes because the forest department officials create obstructions.”

The primary problem in the forest villages is individual’s rights over the land. Here, a forest rights lease is issued to the farmers by the Forest Department. The farmer can farm on this land but they neither have the right to sell it, nor they take a loan on it from the bank. According to Aap Singh, he gets a crop loan under a Kisan Credit Card, but the bank does not give any other loan. The land is a substantial asset, particularly for low-income families. As people in forest villages can’t mortgage their land for buying a house or getting their child married, or any family emergency, they rely on informal credit systems in the villages or nearby areas with high-interest rates.

There is another issue of displacement. Kailash Barde–Aap Singh's younger brother– says, “Many times we get news that the government is going to expand the forest and we will be removed from here.” Kailash fears that the village in which he spent his childhood and youth will be taken away from him because he does not have ownership rights to the land, and can’t fight to save it.

Demand to convert forest villages into revenue villages

In the ambit of the mentioned issues, people living in forest villages are demanding to convert the governance status to revenue villages. Under the Revenue Department, the people will get a 'Khasra B Forest and Loan Rights Book' instead of a forest rights lease. Then, they will be able to apply for a loan from the bank. However, they will still not have the right to sell the land. According to Section 165 of the Land Revenue Code in the Scheduled Tribal areas of Madhya Pradesh, there is a complete ban on selling the land of any tribal to any non-tribal. However, Sudesh Waghmare says on this that,

“The collector can permit, so that the tribal can sell his land to someone else.”

Waghmare further explains that the conversion will lead to a definite improvement in their standard of living. Many development works will be possible, but the way for commercial use of forest land will also open. Those building hotels, farmhouses or second homes will buy these lands. We have had a wrong precedent too. Stone crushers, mineral mining, and construction had begun after land conversion, impacting the forest ecosystem.

Announcement made in presence of HM Amit Shah, implementation awaits

In the conference of Forest Committees in April 2022, the then Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan made several big announcements for the tribals in the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah. This included converting 827 out of 925 forest villages into revenue villages. Out of these, the process of converting 793 forest villages into revenue villages is going on. A notification has also been issued by the collectors. Action is yet to start in three Forest Villages (of Mandla and Dindori districts), the remaining 31  Forest Villages have already been included in the revenue villages or are in the submerged area. Former state Chief Minister Shivraj said that,

“Once the forest village becomes a revenue village, accounts of the land you will be created, instalments will be settled, you will get Khasra-maps, and name transfer and distribution will take place. This was not the case till now, farmer brothers living in forest villages will now have the right to be given adequate compensation in case of natural disaster”

Even after 2 years of this announcement, Singh Barde is still waiting for his village to become a revenue village. Kailash Barde says,

“We like our village, we do not want to leave it. If the village is converted into revenue village then we will get the rights on our land.” 

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