This article demonstrates that the resistance movement of forest communities in western Midnapore division in West Bengal, which acted as a key precursor to the joint forest management (JFM) programmes in India through a June 1990 Ministry of Environment and Forests circular, was based to a large extent on the successful experience of JFM in Arabari Hills under this division. In this particular locality, the resistance movement of forest communities had been mobilized for a long time by poor forest communities fighting for their community rights to forest resources as a matter of immediate survival, opposing top-down approaches to forest management. A detailed study of the existing four Forest Protection Committees (FPCs) of this area confirms that these immediate survival needs, generating mainly sustenance and income from non-timber forest products (NTFPs) for FPC members, are the key element for the long-term sustainability of a JFM system.
Agarwal, B. (1997) ‘Environmental Action, Gender Equity and Women’s Participation’ , Development and Change28(1): 1-44 .
2.
Agarwal, C. and Saigal, S. (1996) ‘Joint Forest Management in India: A Brief Review’, SPWD Working Paper, New Delhi: Society for Promotion of Wastelands Development .
3.
Agarwal, N. (1986) Cold Hearths and Barren Slopes: The Woodfuel Crisis in the Third World. New Delhi: Allied Publishers .
4.
Archer, W. G. (1974) The Hill of Flutes, Love and Poetry in Tribal India. A Portrait of the Santals. London: George Allen and Unwin .
5.
Baland, J. M. and Platteau, J. P. (1996) Halting Degradation of Natural Resources: Is There a Role for Rural Communities?Oxford: Clarendon Press .
6.
Bannerjee, U. (1989) ‘Participatory Forest Management in West Bengal’, in K. C. Malhotra and Mark Poffenberger (eds) Forest Regeneration Through Community Participation (pp. 1-4). Calcutta: West Bengal Forest Department .
7.
Berkes, F. (ed.) (1989) Common Property Resources. Ecology and Community Based Sustainable Development. London: Belhaven Press .
8.
Bromley, D. W. (ed.) (1992) Making the Commons Work: Theory, Practice, and Policy. San Francisco, CA: Institute for Contemporary Studies Press .
9.
Chatterjee, G. (1986) The Forerunner of India’s Freedom Struggle. Delhi: Mittal .
10.
Ciriacy-Wantrup, S. V. and Bishop, R. C. (1975) ‘Common Property as a Concept in Natural Resource Policy’ , Natural Resources Journal15: 713-727 .
11.
Correa, M. (1999) ‘The Need for Emancipatory Research: Experiences from JFPM in Uttara Kannada’, in R. Jeffery and N. Sundar (eds) A New Moral Economy for India’s Forests? Discourses of Community and Participation (pp. 216-234). New Delhi: SAGE .
12.
Dasgupta, S. (1985) ‘Adivasi Politics in Midnapur, c. 1760-1924’, in R. Guha (ed.) Subaltern Studies IV: Writings on South Asian History and Society (pp. 101-135). Delhi: Oxford University Press .
13.
Dutta K. K. (1940): The Santal Insurrection of 1955-1857. Calcutta: University of Calcutta .
14.
Duyker, E. (1987) Tribal Guerrillas: The Santals of West Bengal and the Naxalite Movement. Delhi: Oxford University Press .
15.
Hobley, M. (1996) Participatory Forestry: Process of Change in India and Nepal. Rural Development Forestry Study Guide 3. London: Overseas Development Institute .
16.
Hunter, W. W. (1876) Statistical Account of Bengal, Vol. III. London: Truebner .
17.
Jeffery, R. and Sundar, N. (eds) (1999) A New Moral Economy for India’s Forests? Discourses of Community and Participation. New Delhi: SAGE .
18.
Joekes, S. , Heyzer, N. , Oniango, R. and Salles, V. (1994) ‘Gender, Environment and Population’ , Development and Change25(1): 137-165 .
19.
Karnath, G. K. (1992) ‘Privatisation of Common Property Resources: Lessons from Rural Karnataka’ , Economic and Political Weekly27(31&32): 1680-1688 .
20.
Lama, A. and Buchy, M. (2002) ‘Gender, Class, Caste and Participation: The Case of Community Forestry in Nepal’ , Indian Journal of Gender Studies9(1): 27-41 .
21.
Locke, C. (1999) ‘Women’s Representation and Roles in Gender Policy in JFM’, in R. Jeffery and N. Sundar (eds) A New Moral Economy for India’s Forests? Discourses of Community and Participation (pp. 235-253). New Delhi: SAGE .
22.
Martin, F. (1992) ‘Common Pool Resources and Collective Action: A Bibliography’ . Paper Presented to the Workshop on Political Theory and Political Analysis. Bloomington, Indiana.
23.
McAlpin, M. C. (1909) Report on the Condition of the Sonthals in the Districts of Birbhum Bankura, Midnapore and North Balasore. Calcutta: Government Printing Office .
24.
Mukherjee, N. (1995) ‘Forest Management and Survival Needs: Community Experience in West Bengal’ , Economic and Political Weekly30(49): 3130-3132 .
25.
Mukherjee, S. (1975) ‘A Chapter on the Tribal Sources of Bengal History in the Muslim Period’ , Bulletin of the Cultural Research Institute, Delhi: 11(1-2): 20-24 .
26.
Naik, G. (1995) ‘Determinants of People’s Participation in Joint Forest Management’. Ahmedabad: Indian Institute of Management . (Mimeo).
27.
Naik, G. (1997) ‘Joint Forest Management: Factors Influencing Household Participation’ , Economic and Political Weekly32(48): 3084-3089 .
28.
Ostrom, E. (1990) Governing the Commons: The Evaluation of Institutions for Collective Action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .
29.
Poffenberger, M. (1995) ‘The Resurgence of Community Forest Management in the Jungle Mahals of West Bengal’, in David Arnold and Ram Chandra Guha (eds) Nature, Culture and Imperialism: Essays on the Environmental History of South Asia (pp. 336-369). Delhi: Oxford University Press .
30.
Poffenberger, M. (1996) ‘The Struggle for Forest Control in the Jungle Mahals of West Bengal, 1750-1990’, in M. Poffenberger and B. McGean (eds) Village Voices, Forest Choices: JFM in India (pp. 132-161). Delhi: Oxford University Press .
31.
Poffenberger, M. , McGean, B. and Khare, A. (1996) ‘Communities Sustaining India’s Forest in the Twenty-first Century’, in M. Poffenberger and B. McGean (eds) Village Voices, Forest Choices: JFM in India (pp. 17-55). Delhi: Oxford University Press .
32.
Poffenberger, M. and Singh, C. (1996) ‘Communities and the State: Re-establishing the Balance in Indian Forest Policy’, in M. Poffenberger and B. McGean (eds) Village Voices, Forest Choices: Joint Forest Management in India (pp. 56-85). Delhi: Oxford University Press .
33.
Roy, D. (2001) Role of NTFP in Sustenance of Joint Forest Management - A Case Study. Kolkata: Office of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Government of West Bengal .
34.
Sarin, M. (1998) Who is Gaining? Who is Losing? Gender and Equity Concerns in Joint Forest Management. New Delhi: Society for Promotion of Wastelands Development .
35.
Saxena, N. C. and Sarin, M. (1999) ‘The Western Ghats Forestry and Environmental Project in Karnataka: A Preliminary Assessment’, in R. Jeffery and N. Sundar (eds) A New Moral Economy for India’s Forests? Discourses of Community and Participation (pp. 181-215). New Delhi: SAGE .
36.
Shiva, Vandana (1999) ‘Colonialism and the Evolution of Masculinist Forestry’, in N. Menon (ed.) Gender and Politics in India (pp. 39-71). New Delhi: Oxford University Press .
37.
Singh, C. (1995) ‘Forests, Pastoralists and Agrarian Society in Mughal India’, in D. Arnold and R. C. Guha (eds) Nature, Culture, Imperialism: Essays on the Environmental History of South Asia (pp. 21-48). Delhi: Oxford University Press .
38.
Singh, N. M. (2001) ‘Women and Community Forests in Orissa: Rights and Management’ , Indian Journal of Gender Studies8(2): 257-270 .
39.
Sundar, N. , Mishra, A. and Peter, N. (1996) ‘Defending the Dalki Forest: Joint Forest Management in Lapanga’ , Economic and Political Weekly31(45&46): 3021-3025 .
40.
Vira, B. (1999) ‘Implementing JFM in the Field: Towards an Understanding of the Community Bureaucracy Interface’, in R. Jeffery and N. Sundar (eds) A New Moral Economy for India’s Forests? Discourses of Community and Participation (pp. 254-275). New Delhi: SAGE .
