Collective Action in Non-Timber Forest Products Governance: Experience of Gram Sabha Federation in Korchi Taluka,Maharashtra

Abstract

The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, popularly known as the Forest Rights Act (FRA), recognises the historical injustice done to Scheduled Tribes (STs) and other traditional forest dwellers. It seeks to recognise and secure customary and traditional rights over forest land and community forest resources and establish democratic community-based forest governance. One of the critical rights that the Act recognises is Gram Sabha’s (Village Assembly) and communities’ ownership, access, use, and disposal rights of non-timber forest products (NTFPs). While thousands of the Gram Sabhas across the country are yet to claim their rights over NTFPs, a group of 87 Gram Sabhas from the Korchi taluka of Gadchiroli district, Maharashtra, came together to form a Gram Sabha Federation known as Maha Gram Sabha (MGS). The case of Korchi MGS of Maharashtra stands out from the rest of the Gram Sabhas in the country, as the Korchi MGS became the first Gram Sabha federation to collectively assert its rights over NTFPs, especially on tendu/kendu leaf (Diospyros melanoxylon). In this article, we describe the collective action of Korchi MGS by focusing on its origins, the underlying motives of the Gram Sabha federation, the details of economic benefits from tendu leaf and the impact of collective action in tendu leaf trading on the governing structure of the Gram Sabha. The study was conducted between January 2021 and February 2022.