MTS-I Final

8/2/2019 MTS-I Final

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2 | K I I T S C H O O L O F R U R A L M A N A G E M E N T

AcknowledgementFirst and foremost, we are thankful to Prof. (Dr.) L. K. Vaswani, DIRECTOR, KIIT School of

Rural Management for placing the Management Traineeship Segment-I (MTS-I) component as a

part of our course curricula. We would like to express our gratitude to Professor (Dr.) PrasunKumar Das, Coordinator, MTS-I to facilitate throughout by playing different roles as mentor,

coordinator and supervisor and for inputs and moral support for designing and completion of the

report. We are thankful to the faculty guide Prof. Nandini Sen for her/his guidance and

assessment of this report. Prof. Nandini Sen inspired us greatly to work in this project. Her

willingness to motivate us contributed tremendously to our project. We also would like to thank

her for referring to us examples, that related to the topic of our project. Our heartfelt gratitude

goes out to our reporting officer Mr. VivekVyas for giving us an opportunity to conduct research

on such an important topic as Encroachment of Common Property Resources. He worked as a

mentor and guide and provided valuable inputs and leadership in every stage of our research.

Besides, we would like to thank our colleagues in the project: Ms. Sumeha Kalla from National

Law University (Cuttack, Orissa), Ms. Kinga Csontos from Hungary, Ms. Pilar Colado from

Spain and Mr. Ramlal Jangid (Retd. Forest Officer, Department of Forestry, Government of

India) whose valuable inputs contributed immensely towards successful completion of this

report.

In order to complete fieldwork successfully, I would like to present special thanks to all the

research participants and villagers who provided their valuable time and made our staymeaningful and study valuable.

Finally, an honorable mention goes to our parents, Mr. Swapan Kumar Auddy, Mrs. Mallika

Auddy and Mr. Ramabhadra Raju and Mrs. Satyavathi for their understanding and support to us

in completing this report. Without the help and continued support of the above-mentioned people

this report would not have seen the light of the day. We are also extremely happy to reveal our

special thanks to Mr. Pankaj Shahane and Ms. Rajni Rathore from TISS, Maharashtra and our

classmates for their moral support and inspiration.

-Soumyajit Auddy(10201053)

-P. Krishna Bharath Varma(10201034)


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

KEY CONCEPTS ................................................................................................................................... 8

CHAPTER 1LOCATION OF STUDY (VILLAGE DETAILS).......................................................... 11

1.1. Location................................................................................................................................. 11

1.2. Meteorological data (Girwa block) ......................................................................................... 12

1.3. Geographical data .................................................................................................................. 12

1.4. Land Statistics........................................................................................................................ 13

1.5. Livestock Population.............................................................................................................. 14

1.6. Livelihoods ............................................................................................................................ 14

1.6.1. Agriculture: .................................................................................................................. 14

1.6.2. Salient Features of Agriculture.................................................................................... 15

1.6.3. Agricultural Practices .................................................................................................. 16

1.6.4. Livestock....................................................................................................................... 16

1.6.5. Migratory labour:......................................................................................................... 16

1.6.6. Non Migratory Labour: ............................................................................................... 17

1.7. Human Population.................................................................................................................. 17

1.8. Major Crops: .......................................................................................................................... 18

1.9. Crop Area .............................................................................................................................. 18

1.10. Irrigation Facilities: ............................................................................................................ 19

1.10.1. The hamlet ..................................................................................................................... 19

1.10.2. Anicuts: .......................................................................................................................... 20

1.10.3. Natural Springs: ............................................................................................................. 20

1.11. Wealth Ranking: ................................................................................................................ 20


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CHAPTER 2ANALYSIS................................................................................................................... 22

2.1. Analysis Overview ................................................................................................................. 22

2.2. Total land Surveyed ............................................................................................................... 23

2.3. Level of Encroachment (on surveyed land) ............................................................................. 25

2.4. Vegetation type by land classification in terms of parcel and Area (ha) ................................... 26

CHAPTER 3FINDINGS AND INFERENCE .................................................................................... 29

3.4. Field data collection and commentary..................................................................................... 30

3.4.1 Forest Land: ................................................................................................................... 30

3.4.2 Revenue wasteland and barren and uncultivable:............................................................. 32

3.5 Boundaries and encroachments:.............................................................................................. 32

3.6 Diversion of Land .................................................................................................................. 34

CHAPTER 4ACTIVITIES ON THE LANDS .................................................................................... 36

4.1 Livestock Grazing : ............................................................................................................ 36

4.2 Collection of Fire Wood: .................................................................................................... 37

4.3 Construction wood: ............................................................................................................ 37

4.4 Collection of Non Timber Forests Produce (NTFP): ........................................................... 38

4.4.1 Mahua (Madhuca indica): ............................................................................................... 38

4.4.2 Pasture Land................................................................................................................... 38

4.5 Fodder Availability ................................................................................................................ 39

CHAPTER 5INSTITUTIONS AND IMPLEMENTATION OF LAWS ............................................. 41

5.4 Institutions ............................................................................................................................. 41

5.4.1 Panchayat:...................................................................................................................... 41

5.4.2 Gram Sabha:................................................................................................................... 41

5.4.3 Self Help Group: ............................................................................................................ 41

5.4.4 Mukhiya:........................................................................................................................ 42


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5.4.5 Forest Protection Committee (van sanghatan): ................................................................ 42

5.4.6 Gram Vikas Committee: ................................................................................................. 43

5.5 Legal Aspects......................................................................................................................... 43

5.5.1 Forests Conservation Act (FCA), 1980 ........................................................................... 43

5.5.2 National Forest Policy, 1988 ........................................................................................... 44

5.5.3 PESA Act ....................................................................................................................... 44

5.5.5 Barren and uncultivable land .......................................................................................... 45

CHAPTER 6SUGGESTIONS ........................................................................................................... 46

CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................................... 47


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EXECUTIVE SUMMARYThe title of the project is Mapping of Common Property Resources in Dodawali Village ofUdaipur, Rajasthan conducted by P. Krishna Bharath Varma and Soumyajit Auddy, both

students of KIIT School of Rural Management, Bhubaneswar, Orissa in the host organisationSeva Mandir in the Udaipur district of Rajasthan.

The objectives of the project were the detailed mapping and measurement of encroachments on

the Common Property Resources in the village and the situation of encroached lands. SevaMandir wants to implement the Joint Forest Management program in the village and was

interested to know the present situation of encroachment and vegetation status of the commonlands in the village to assess the feasibility of its JFM program which formed the basis of our

project.

The methodology followed in the implementation of the project is enumerated in the following

points.

Land records (current as of 1985) and land-use maps were obtained through request from theRevenue Department of the state of Rajasthan.

The village contact person facilitated verification of encroachment with local stakeholders. Inaddition, one member of the project team is a retired Forest Department official, providing a

greater understanding of Village Map and local conditions.

Data was recorded in the following categories:1. Total area of parcel (ha) (from land record)2. State of grazing: open, closed (from visual inspection for boundary walls)3. Total area unoccupied (ha) (visual estimate)4. Area of encroachment (ha) (visual estimate)5. Age of encroachment (an estimate obtained from local stakeholders when available)6. Use of encroachment: (H) houses on encroached land, (A) agricultural field, (W)

wasteland

The findings from the analysis are listed below.

There were high degrees of irregularity and unevenness in distribution of land parcels interms of area (hectares)

There are three categories of lands in the Dodawali village namely forest land, revenuewasteland and barren and uncultivable land of which forest land is the largest in terms of

area (hectares).

Vegetation cover in the forest lands has depleted considerably. Most of the vegetationconsisted of small shrubs and bushes and number of trees were very less.

Revenue wasteland consists of some amount of fertility and is mostly encroached bydominant villagers while barren and uncultivable lands were mostly encroached by the

marginalised poor and landless.

Encroachment issue is mostly a result of shortage of land for the increasing villagepopulation and lack of sustainable livelihood options.


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INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The Aravalli hills in Rajasthan are one of the forested regions of India and are the home to oneof the oldest civilizations of India, the Bhil tribe who dwelt in these forests since time

immemorial. The tribal villagers in the Dodawali village in Udaipur district of Rajasthan used to

reside in these forest lands which also provided them with livelihood in the form of timber and

non-timber forest products like wax, honey, firewood etc. During the imperial British rule in

India, the Indian Forest Act, 1927was first enacted which empowered the government to declare

any area to be a reserved forest, protected forest or village forest. The enactment of thislegislation declared the forest lands of Aravalli as protected area and out of bounds for common

people which rendered overnight, the forest dwelling Bhil tribe homeless. The situation did not

change either even after independence and in 1972, the Wildlife (Protection) Act was enacted.

This act allowed any area to be constituted as a "protected area", namely a national park, wildlife

sanctuary, tiger reserve or community conservation area. The villagers had no option but to live

on the land allotted to them by the government. But with time, the population of the village

increased and the villagers needed more land to accommodate their increasing family members.

So they started encroaching on the Common Property Resources like the revenue wasteland and

the barren and uncultivable land. They started using these encroached lands mainly for housing

and some used it for agriculture as well which the villagers practiced in the kharif season i.e.

from June to September. This kind of encroachments created problem of rapid degradation of

vegetation cover on the Common Property Resources in the Dodawali village in the Udaipur

district. The Forest Rights Act, 2006 has proposed to legalize the encroachments which occurred

before 2005 and allot these lands in the name of the encroachers. This has created a new problem

of increasing encroachments on the Common Property Resources wherein the villagers are

encroaching new plots of land and have them allotted in their name since the survey officer hasno way to determine whether the encroachment is before or after 2005. This has further

worsened the situation of depleting vegetation cover. Our host organization Seva Mandir, wants

to implement Joint Forest Management program in the area in order to improve the situation of

degrading vegetation and wanted to determine the present situation of the Common Property


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Resources in the Dodawali village which was the basis of this mapping of Common Property

Resources in the village. The study is based on parameters like condition of vegetation, state of

grazing, category of encroached land, use of encroached land etc.

KEY CONCEPTS1

Common property resources (CPRs) are those resources owned by a community, rather than

controlled by governments (public goods), or owned by individuals (private goods). CPRs in the

form of common lands (such as pastures, forests, etc.) represent one of the greatest strategic

concerns for both the livelihoods of millions of Indias poorest and most marginalized rural

people, as well as the integrity of the countrys ecosystems. CPRs provide Indias rural poor with

numerous use values such as animal fodder, firewood, non-timber forest products (NTFPs), andother goods, which help mitigate risk and alleviate poverty among the rural poor.

The smallest landholders and landless people, who represent the most vulnerable of the rural

poor in India, depend on common lands for their supplies of subsistence goods like thatching

material, fuel wood, timber, fodder etc. This is of particular importance to households with

livestock holdings that are dependent on common lands for grazing and fodder. Rich households

obtain such goods either from their own lands or from the market, while the poorest members of

villages must obtain these items from the commons.

CPRs cover a vast extent of Indias landmass. According to the 54th

round survey of the National

Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) for 1998, 15% of land area in India serves as CPRs. The

forest department administers an additional 22.38% of Indias land area, which provides an

important source of livelihood, along with direct and buffering ecosystem services, to rural

populations. The NSSO uses two categories, 1) de jure and 2) de facto CPRs, to recognize the

use of the commons across different land management regimes in India.

To define de jurecommon lands the NSSO states that, a resource becomes common property

only when the group of people who have the right to its collective use is well defined, and the

1The key concepts are written with partial adaptation from the paper Whether the Commons? Learning from the

Field, presented on behalf of Seva Mandir at the 14th

Biennial Conference of the International Association for the

Study of the Commons, held in Hyderabad, India January 10-14, 2011.


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rules that govern their use of it are set out clearly and followed universally. The category ofde

factoCPRs includes resources such as revenue land not assigned to panchayat 2 or a community

of the village, forest land, or even private land in use of the community by convention. All such

land in practice used as common resources (including common use of private property confined

to particular seasons) is treated as CPRs for data collection on benefits accruing to villagers even

if they are located outside the boundary of the village.3The varying jurisdictions of government

agencies and the categories of land-use that they designate largely determine which CPRs are de

facto or de jure. The laws carry provisions for custodianship of these lands, but there is a

complete lack of trusteeship in development and management. The three categories of land-use

relevant for these case studies are 1) pasturelands, 2) forestlands, and 3) other government-

owned lands.4

Pasturelands: The Rajasthan Land Revenue Act allocates pastures and grazing lands to local

panchayat bodies based on livestock population. Encroachment on pastures are prohibited under

the same, under section 4291.

Forestlands: The Forest Conservation Act (FCA) of 1980 restricts conversion of forestlands for

non-forestry purposes, prohibiting the conversion of land to agriculture through encroachments,

allotments, and diversion. The Forest Rights Act (FRA) of 2005 recognizes the livelihood usage

of forestlands, even for individual uses. Many also feared that it would turn into a land

distribution scheme. To date, implementation has been slow and complicated, with numerous

filings for individual property rights and very few for community forest rights, while verification

of livelihood use of the forests has been delegated to the village level Forest Rights Committee

(FRC).

Other government-owned lands: The Rajasthan Revenue Department is the responsible local

authority. These lands are called Revenue Wastelands, which can be allotted to private citizens

2Panchayat is the most important adjucating and licensing agency in the self government of Indian caste.

3National Sample Survey Organisation. 1999. Common Property Resources in India. NSSO 54th Round January

1998-June 1998. Report No. 452(54/31/4). New Delhi: National Sample Survey Organisation - Department of

Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India.4Seva Mandir and the Indian Department of Land Reforms. 2008. Report of the Committee on State Agrarian

Relations and the unfinished task of land reforms, sub-group VI.


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for cultivation or set aside as commons for gram panchayat5

management for a renewable 25-

year term.6

A sub-category of Revenue Wasteland is Barren and UncultivableLand, which

cannot be allotted. Finally, gram panchayats control Pasture Land, placed under their control by

the Rajasthan Land Settlement Act of 1955. Government surveys change the designation of

particular lands over a time through conversion7, although most land designation remains

unchanged from the surveys and settlements completed in the 1950s and 1960s.

LIMITATIONS

The limitations encountered during the course of the study are:

The extent of the study was huge and time was limited. The villagers were apprehensive to provide accurate information while field datacollection suspecting us to be government employees and fear of harassment.

The maps provided for the field data collection was not properly made and wasmisguiding in many cases.

The project was only on mapping of Common Property Resources and hence lacked theaspect of villagers viewpoints on the entire encroachment issue.

Joint Forest Management being the sole objective of the organisation, other feasiblerecommendations to address the primary problem of shortage of land as also the depleting forest

cover will be rendered useless.

5Gram panchayats are local self-governments at village or small town level in India with minimum population of

300.6

Ballabh, Pankaj, ed. 2004. Land, Community, and Governance. Udaipur: Seva Mandir.7

This involves transfer of ownership from the revenue department records to the forest department records.


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CHAPTER 1LOCATION OF STUDY (VILLAGE DETAILS)

1.1.LocationDodawali village is located 28 km away from the city of Udaipur in Girwa tehsil

8and falls under

the Udaipur district of Rajasthan. The village is located in the Aravalli hills, which is supposed to

be one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world having unique topography and physical

features. The land is undulating in nature. It is rocky and mostly barren marked by forest cover

and sedimentary rocks. Rainfall is scanty in this region. The houses are in close proximity with

each other. The village is divided into 12 hamlets and the main village of Dodawali.

The hamlets other than the main village Dodawali are as follows:

1) Amba Khadra2) Upali Gowadiincluding Naya kheda,Mata thal3) Pola Phala4) Vera Khadra5) Kanha ji kheda

8A tehsil is a unit of government in Pakistan and India, similar to a county. It usually consists of a town, or more

towns, and the villages around the towns.

Dodawali Panchayat Map


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6) Bauna Khet7) Gona Ka Phala8) Pagaria Phala9) Nichli Gawadi10)Talai Ghati11)Damor Gawadi12)Lamba Davda

There are 6 other small hamlets located below the forest area and above Upali Gawadi. They are

as follows:

1) Muda ka khadra2) Khatla ka Khadra3) Surya ka khadra4) Phadi ghati ka khadra5) Pana khadra6) Gogudri ka khadra

1.2.Meteorological data (Girwa block)The climate of the village is semi arid and there are wide temperature differentials across

seasons.

1.3.Geographical dataVillage: Dodawali


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Tehsil: Girwa

Panchayat: Dodawali

District: Udaipur

State: Rajasthan

1.4. Land StatisticsRevenue records show that the village of Dodawali has about 1222 ha out of which forest area is

285, revenue Waste land 360.4262 ha, Barren and uncultivable land 79.9 ha and private land 585

ha. The village has a good fertile land and agriculture is being practised on 48% of the total land

of the village. The total land has been divided among 12 hamlets Amba Khadra, Upali Gowadil,

Pola Phala, Vera

Khadra, Kanha ji kheda, Bauna Khet, Gona Ka Phala,Pagaria Phala, Nichli Gawadi, Talai

Ghati, Damor Gawadi and Lamba Davda.

The study on village Dodawali states that rural rich are not much in number. Majority of land is

held by households of higher caste and their income is high from agriculture as they have access

to irrigation facilities. They use technical implements in farming like tractor and motors for

pumping water. In Dodawali some hamlets like nichli gowadi, Talai Ghati, lamba Davda have

private fodder land. The villagers from poor households generally work on these fields as labour

for Rs 100 per day in cutting the fodder. Generally poor households are belonging to low caste

and thus are subordinated from use of basic resource like fodder. The village panchayat has very

Total Area Forest Revenue

Wasteland

Barren and

Uncultivable

Land

Private Land

1222 ha 707.965 ha 36.4262 ha. 79.9 ha. 585.8950 ha


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little pasture land but that is also encroached by the community people. The poors have no

access to fodder in particular.

1.5. Livestock PopulationThe livestock rearing is common practice in the village but it is not sufficient for the demand of

self consumption. This is the reason 40% of the villagers have to buy milk. And a large part of

population can not use it as a livelihood option because cattle population is not very high in the

village. Each household has at least 1-2 cattles, but very few households have large number of

the Ruminants. The production of milk is very little, one of the reason is that sufficient fodder is

not available for the cattles and many of them suffer from malnutrition.

1.6.Livelihoods1.6.1. Agriculture:

Agriculture is traditionally the main occupation of the village. The land is mostly on slopes and

the soil types are black soil and red soil. There are three cropping seasons Kharif, Rabi and

Jayad. One can have a look at the seasonal calendar to understand the cropping pattern in the

village.

SEASONAL CALENDAR

Season Cereals Vegetables Fruits Water

Availability

Rainy

Season(Kharif

June, July,

August ,

September

1. Makki2. Moong3. Chawal4. Udat5. Tuwar Daal6. Chaula

1. Bhindi2. Lauki3. Kaddu4. Hari Mirch5. Adrak6. Arbi

1. Kakdi2. Lemon3. Jaam Fal4. Papaya

Rain Fed


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7. Jowar8. Bajra

7. Rataalu8. Dhaniya9. Moongfali10.Til11.Tamatar

October(Mid)

-March (Rabi)

1. Wheat2. Mustard3. Chana

1. Brinjal2. Carrot3. Raddish4.

Methi

5. Palak6. Potato7. Garlic8. Onion9. Cabbage10.Cauli

Flower

11.Peas

1. CustardApple

Water Pumps,

Motor, Diesel

Powered Pumps

1.6.2. Salient Features of AgricultureSubsistence Type of Agriculture: Agriculture is mainly of subsistence nature. Maize and Wheat

are the main crops but are mostly grown for domestic consumption. Agriculture in the Kharif

season is rain fed, while the Rabi crops are irrigated in some cases. There is undulating nature of

land coupled with shortage of water.


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1.6.3. Agricultural PracticesMany villagers still use the traditional implements for agriculture and labour is mainly human

labour or cattle are used. For tilling, harvesting laborers are hired at Rs 100 per day. The overall

expenditure for a farmer for the entire process ranging from sowing to harvesting comes out to

Rs 4000- 5000 (inclusive of the labour costs, cost of fertilizers, seeds, and fuel). Fertilizers used

are Urea and DAP besides the organic manures to increase the productivity. Three-fourth of the

households use organic manure made from cattle/animal dung and agricultural wastes. The

agricultural work is done by both males and females however the productivity is low because of

small land holdings.

1.6.4. LivestockOn an average each household in the village have 1 or 2 goat and 1-2 buffalo or oxen and some

number of hens. Most of the production of milk in the village is utilized for household

consumption. Only 20% of the households used to sell milk and sold. The livestock rearing is

common practice in the village but it is not sufficient for the demand of consumption. This is the

reason 40% of the villagers have to buy milk. And a large part of population can not use it as one

of livelihood opportunity.

Cost of cattles sold (source PRA)

Name of the animal Price

Bullock/oxen Rs 10,000 - 20,000 (Depending on the breed)

Cow/buffalo (giving milk) Rs 15,000 - 20,000

Goat Rs 5,0008,000

1.6.5. Migratory labour:Generally those farmers who have small land holdings between 0-5 bigha

9migrate to Udaipur as

daily wage labour. Some stay in Udaipur and work as chef in hotels and factory workers. The

9Bigha is a unit of measurement of area of land used in Nepal, Bangladesh and in a few states of India,

like Rajasthanalso. The precise size of a bigha varies considerably. Here: 1 hectare = 5.5 bighas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladeshhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajasthanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajasthanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajasthanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladeshhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepal


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elder in the family look after the farming and the sons migrate out as labourers in the city.

Almost 60% of the population in the village keeps on migrating to Udaipur for livelihood. There

is no particular time for migration and the people migrate to Udaipur off and on, during times of

need. Men and women go to work in mills and factories and also as construction laborers.

1.6.6. Non Migratory Labour:Non-migratory labour is mainly for construction of roads under the NREGA scheme of the

government. At present, the construction of water canal project in the village has provided

employment to the villagers as drivers and labourers for. However, still many havent been able

to benefit because of the lack of technical know-how. Besides that, mostly people practice

agriculture round the year.

1.7. Human PopulationDodawali is a middle-size tribal village in terms of population. There are nearly 500 households

and about 3500 people residing in 12 hamlets of the village. The hamlet wise distribution of

population is as shown in the table below:

Name of the

Hamlet

No. of Houses

(approx)

Population

(approx)

Caste/community

Main Dodawali 35 150 Rajput,Bhil,Rawat,Vaidh,Dholaki

Amba Khadra 25 125 Bhil

Lakha Peepli 25 125 Bhil

Upli Gawadi 100 400 Bhil

Sukhi thal 25 125 Bhil

Pola Phala 20 100 Rajput

Vera khadra 20 100 Bhil

Khatla Khadra 10 50 Bhil

Nichli Gowadi 100 500 Bhil

Gona ka Phala 20 100 Bhil


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Bauna Khet 10 50 Bhil

Vera wala Phala 20 100 Bhil

Phagaria Phala 50 250 Bhil

Talai Ghati 15 75 Bhil

Damor Gwadi 30 150 Bhil

Vera khadra 20 70 Bhil

Radha Thal 30 120 Bhil

Kanha ji Kheda 30 100 Bhil

The population in Dodawali is homogeneous in terms of caste and majority of population of

population belongs to Bhil tribe. There are various Gowtras and sub castes, such as Solanki,Domar, Pargi and Gonna. Apart from Bhil tribe there are few Rajputs families in the village.

1.8. Major Crops:Agriculture is traditionally main occupation of the village. Maize and Wheat are main crops,

mostly grown for domestic purpose. Due to less irrigation facilities and untimely rainfall,

villagers mostly preferred to cultivate maize, as maize does not require much for irrigation.

Cultivation of wheat and rice is less common because of the access to sufficient water resources

is limited to only a few people in the village.

Crop Mean qty/ season Season Grown

Maize About 1-2 quintal10

(4 bigha land approx) per year Kharif

Wheat About to 2 quintal (depending upon the size of the land) per

year

Rabi

Rice About 1 quintal Kharif

1.9. Crop AreaAverage Landholding: The land distribution is as shown in the table below

10Quintal or centner is a historical unit of mass which is usually defined as 100 base units of

eitherpounds or kilograms. If based on the pound, it is equivalent to the Imperial hundredweight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pound_(mass)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilogramhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_unitshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundredweighthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundredweighthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_unitshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilogramhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pound_(mass)


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Size of the land in Bighas Percentage of cultivators

0-5 40%

5-10 40%

10-15 10%

15-20 5%

20-30 5%

Although the distribution of land is pretty homogenous in nature, average landholding ranges

from 5 to 10 bighas (1 hectare = 5.5 bighas).

1.10. Irrigation Facilities:The sources of irrigation are as followings:

1.10.1. The hamletThe hamlet wise availability of irrigation facilities is as shown in table below:

Name of the

hamlet

Wells Handpump

(running )

Anicut11

(Mostly dried )

Tubewell

Main Dodawali 4 1 1

Amba Khadra 2 2

Lakha Peepli 1

Upli Gawadi 2 2

Sukhi thal 2

Pola Phala 1 1

Vera khadra 2 2

11Anicut is a dam or mole made in the course of a stream for the purpose of regulating the flow of a system of

irrigation.


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Khatla Khadra 1 1

Nichli Gowadi 2 1 3

Gona ka Phala 2 1 1

Bauna Khet 1 1

Phagaria Phala 2 1 1

Talai Ghati 2 1

Damor Gwadi 1

Vera khadra 1 1

Radha Thal 1 1 1

Lamba Davda 2

1.10.2.Anicuts:There are 10 anicuts in the village. However, most of them are dry due to lack of rainfall.

1.10.3.Natural Springs:The forest area is interspersed with natural springs. These come out of the mountainside and are

usually evergreen. Nine such springs are close to village. But most of them were depleted due to

lack of rainfall. Only two of them run in rainy season and provide water support for irrigation.

One is running from Vera Khadra hamlet and the other inAmba Khadra hamlet. The one from

from Vera Khadra is going towards the other end of the village crossing it diagonally and it is

moving towards the front part of Amba Khadra hamlet. One branch is also moving towards Bada

Barda (Lamba Davda).

1.11. Wealth Ranking:Most of the people in the village are going through critical economic situation. Most of the

villagers are dependent on agriculture as their livelihood. The other source of livelihood isworking as daily wage labour in the city. As such, none of the villager is working in any

government jobs or as professionals. There are 3 peons earning Rs 10,000 per month and one

postman earning Rs 5,000-Rs 6,000. There are around 25 people who migrate to Udaipur and

work as chef earning Rs 8,000 - Rs 10,000. The wealth ranking exercise is as follows:


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Livelihood for people in

category A


category B


category C

Govt jobs (peons, postman) Agriculture (irrigated in

plain area)

Agriculture (unirrigated

on sloppy area)

Agriculture (large irrigated

land holdings, 10-20 bigha)

Irrigated land holding (5-

10 bigha)

Migratory labour

Migratory labour (chef,

workers)

No stock of food, forced

to buy from outside.

Sell livestock, milk, grains Farmers: seasonal

household consumption of

grains, less stock of grains

There are around 500 households in the village. 10% of the households come under category A,

who are benefiting from agriculture as a good source of livelihood.

In category B, 200 households have their own agriculture fields. The stock from agriculture is

not much and it is only sufficient for seasonal consumption, very less amount is stocked.

In category C Most of the people encroached land. The villagers do not have food availability

throughout the year, and they in fact have to buy it from Udaipur or nearby villages. Most of the

people in the village also consume grains from PDS in the village.


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CHAPTER 2ANALYSIS

2.1. Analysis OverviewPastureland Revenue

Wasteland

Barren and

uncultivable

Total

Total area of land 707.965 36.4262 79.9 824.2912

Area (ha) surveyed 707.965 27.7732 72.733 807.4692

Level of surveying 100% 76.24% 91.03% 89.09%

Total parcels 64 76 89 229

Number of Parcels

surveyed

64 36 60 160

% parcels surveyed 100 47.36 68 70%

The table above depicts the level of surveying in terms of parcels and area of the common lands

of Dodawali village. From the above table we see that the level of surveying in terms of parcels

of land is 100% in terms of forest, 47.36% in terms of revenue wasteland, 68% in terms of barren

and uncultivable and 70% in terms of the total. But this 70% in terms of total parcels surveyed

covers 89.09% of the total land surveyed in terms of area (hectares). Also we see from the table

that the parcel distribution in terms of size is quite uneven and we have seen in the course of our

survey that it ranges from less than a hectare to more than 6 hectares. This is one of the reasons


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why encroachments in terms of area are so high in the village because if only a few parcels are

encroached by the villagers, it covers a large part of the common lands.

2.2. Total land SurveyedParameters

We excluded land parcels less than .4 hectares in size due to time constraint and insignificance of

those land parcels in influencing our analysis and findings

The above graph depicts the total area of CPRs in the village in terms of hectares. It also shows

the area of the CPRs surveyed in terms of hectares. This means the percentage of area surveyed

in terms of hectares is almost 90 whereas the number of parcels surveyed is almost 70. As

mentioned earlier, this is due to the uneven distribution of land parcels in terms of hectares.

Area(ha)

Total 824

Surveyed 807

795800805810815820825830


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The above graph depicts the pattern of land distribution in terms of hectares. Forest land is the

largest category of Common Property Resource in the Dodawali village followed by Barren and

uncultivable land and revenue wasteland. As we see from the graph, majority of the CPR in

Dodawali village consists of forest land, followed by barren and uncultivable land and revenue

wasteland. Among these three categories of land the revenue wasteland has some amount of

fertility and can be used for agriculture with the help of irrigation. The records for forest land are

maintained by the forest department whereas the records for the revenue wasteland and barren

and uncultivable land are maintained by the revenue department of the government. An

interesting fact to note here is that the records have never been updated since 1984.

Forest Land,

707.965

Revenue

Wasteland,

36.4262

Barren and

Uncultivable

Land, 79.9


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The above graph depicts the total land surveyed in terms of area (hectares). In our survey we

covered 100% of the forest land, 76% of the revenue wasteland and 91% of the barren and

uncultivable land in terms of area (hectares).

2.3. Level of Encroachment (on surveyed land)

The above graph depicts the level of encroachment on surveyed land. We see that there is only

3.77% encroachment in the forest land which is a good sign that not much of the forest land is

encroached. But the percentage of encroachment is very high in the other two land categories

Forest Land,

707.965

Revenue

Wasteland,

27.7732

Barren and

Uncultivable

Land,

72.733

Surveyed Land(ha)

707.965

36.4262 79.926.715 24.5412 68.863

Forest land Revenue Wasteland Barren and

uncultivableTotal area(ha) Area Encroached (ha)


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with 89.74% in the revenue wasteland category and 92.23% in the barren and uncultivable land

category. The reason for this is that the forest land is generally undulating and steep in the

Aravalli hills which make it difficult for encroachment. The barren and uncultivable lands on the

other hand are more or less on level ground and are generally degraded. So it makes it beneficial

and cost effective for the villagers to encroach on these lands and practice agriculture or build

homesteads. The revenue wasteland has some amount of fertility in it and agriculture can be

practiced on it with the help of irrigation. This makes this category of land susceptible to

encroachment by the villagers of Dodawali.

2.4. Vegetation type by land classification in terms of parcel and Area (ha)

60%

3%

37%

Forest LandSV WV Degraded

24%

7%

69%

Barren &

Uncultivable Land

SV WV Degraded

43%

6%

51%

Revenue

Wasteland

SV WV Degraded


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The above graphs an the table depict the type of vegetation in terms of parcels. The condition of

the forest land is pretty bad with only 5% of the area having well vegetation and the rest is either

degraded or sparsely vegetated. While measuring the vegetation we applied the relative method.

According to the Department of Forestry in India, a forest where sunlight cannot percolate

through tree tops and touch ground is termed as 1 and is considered well vegetated while a

completely barren land having no tree cover is zero and is considered degraded. Any other

measurement of forest cover is between these two values. In the Udaipur district of Rajasthan,

0.4 is considered to be well vegetated. So any tree cover above 0.4 is well vegetated and below

that we consider it to be sparsely vegetated and 0 represents degraded land. While measuring

vegetation cover we have taken eye estimation as means for measurement and categorised the

vegetation relative to the district measurement of 0.4. The vegetation level in the revenue

wasteland category is 29.41% well vegetated, 31.33% sparsely vegetated and 39.21% degraded.

The degradation in the barren and uncultivable land category is the maximum at 62% bearingtruth to its characteristics. Here we also see that in spite of only 3.77% of encroachment in the

forest land, almost 261 hectares of the forest land has been degraded and 426 hectares are only

sparsely vegetated while well vegetation is found on 20.9% of land. This is due to the

honeycombing of parcels in the forest land and the large single unit parcel sizes on those lands.

Vegetation Forest Land (ha) Revenue Wasteland(ha) Barren and

Uncultivable

Land(ha)

SV 426.615 11.89 17.73

WV 20.9 1.645 5.445

Degraded 261.26 13.9902 50.41


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On the other hand we see that although the level of encroachment is very high on barren and

uncultivable land category the well vegetated land is almost at par with the forest land which

proves our assumption of the superficial distribution of land parcels in terms of area in the barren

and uncultivable land category. This also justifies our assumption of leaving out the parcels

below 0.4 hectares in size from the purview of our survey.


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CHAPTER 3FINDINGS AND INFERENCE

From the analysis we see that the common land in Dodawali is being divided unequally in terms

of area and parcels.

3.1 Forest Land

Forest land is the largest category of Common Property Resource covering almost 57% of the

total land area in the Dodawali village in terms of hectares. The vegetation cover in the forest

land has degraded to a huge extent over the past decade. Most of the land in the forest area is

either sparsely vegetated or degraded which is quite alarming. Rajasthan is one of the driest

states of the country. Rainfall in Rajasthan is very less and is mostly dependant on the Aravalli

hills. The depletion of forest land also poses a huge threat to the ecological balance of the region.

The forest land on the Aravalli hills also used to provide livelihood in the form of NTFP to the

tribal villagers of the region. An interesting fact to note here is that the vegetation cover in the

forest land has degraded although there are very few encroachments on this land. The main

reason for the degradation of vegetation is over exploitation of the forest resources by the

villagers before it was declared as protected area and lack of proper afforestation programs by

the forest department over the years. There has also been no recruitment of forest guards since

last twenty-five years due to which a large portion of the forest land has been illegally exploited

by the villagers.

3.2 Revenue Wasteland

The revenue wasteland is the smallest Common Property Resource in the Dodawali village

covering only 29% of the total land area in terms of hectares. It is mostly encroached by the

dominant Rajputs in the village. The revenue wasteland has some amount of fertility in it and

agriculture can be practiced with the help of irrigation. The villagers practice agriculture on therevenue wasteland in the kharif season. All the encroachments on the revenue wasteland belong

to a few dominant villagers who have encroached on these lands due to their fertility and are

using it mainly for agriculture. The barren and uncultivable land on the other hand is encroached

by the lowest sections of the village society-the marginalized poor and the landless.


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3.3Barren and Uncultivable LandThe barren and uncultivable land is mostly degraded and devoid of any fertility, bearing truth

to its characteristic. This land is mostly used by encroachers to build homestead or store

fodder for livestock. Among the three categories of land in the village, the barren and

uncultivable land is divided into a large number of very small parcels. Most of these parcels

are encroached by the tribal of the village. The barren and uncultivable land is rarely used for

agriculture.

A trend we saw during our fieldwork was that most of the villagers have encroached on the

common property resources adjacent to their allotted lands. This is due to the reason that the

encroached lands will be easily accessible from the allotted lands and if the encroached land

is allotted to the villager as per the FRA 2006, the villager will have a large single plot of

land to his name.

3.4. Field data collection and commentary

3.4.1 Forest Land:While working in forest area what we came across was people are not concerned with the state

of forest land which is left unencroached. The encroached areas which are used for agriculture

are taken into consideration and looked after by respective encroachers but the left ones are not

even taken care of. Moreover these unencroached areas are left open for grazing. Though

boundary of forest department exists but still they are open for village cattle. Due to excessive

grazing, afforestation once done by forest department seems worthless now. Boundaries are

simply made of stones which are not strong enough. In other terms they are not permanent

concrete walls. Recently forest department drew new boundary lines for forest area which

created more confusion about forest boundaries and parcel units.

If we go through numbers the forest areas are not much encroached because of their location.

Forest areas consist of 64 units out of which 13 units were encroached which were located on

lower lands. Elaborating on specific parcels, parcel 1 situated near karnali boundary which

reduced its area because of new boundary line drawn. It was encroached by Roda Vena and Rupa

Nana. Very small portion of this unit was used for agriculture rest was degraded land, which was


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encroached for land holding purpose. The government datas are not true, moreover they are not

updated with latest changes this created more confusion.

Taking example ofparcel 272 the owner claimed it to be allotted land and claimed ownership

from last 35 year but government records doesnt show up in the same way. Moreover

government records just have list of approx 8 encroachment cases whereas on site 17

encroachments were found. There is an interesting story related to parcel 385. It is encroached

by Sarpanch from the village and his brothers; the forest officer of the time did not report this

encroachment because the brother of Sarpanch helped him and gave evidence in his favour to

protect him against legal action. This parcel unit is among those units which contain permanent

house, the rest of the land is degraded and small part of it is irrigated during the rainy season.

Condition of the lands in forest area:Land condition is bad in forest area but plantation work is going on presently for

improving the condition of land. Mostly encroached area is used for agriculture purpose

and rest are left open to grazing. Weeds, shrubs are found mostly and plants like cactus,

wild Aloe Vera are found in forest area. Vegetation in forest is unevenly distributed.

Some part of forest are well vegetated whereas other are degraded and barren.

Parcel wise description:

959: this parcel lies to the proximity of Peepalia village boundary. It is the mostvegetated part of Dodawali village. This parcel unit is 14.5600 hectares. Out of

this around 9 hectares is encroached. Here worth mentioning is that the rest of

unencroached area too is vegetated and contributes to greenery.

254, 255, and 256: These parcel units are well vegetated. In spite of practice ofagriculture, rich natural vegetation was found here. These kinds of units were very

rare in the area.


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261, 262, 263, 264, 265, and 266: these parcel units are encroached for landholding purpose and are used to store fodder. Sheds were found on these lands

which were used to store fodder for animals. They are among those units which

are barren and now used for cultivation.

272, 273: these units are situated on road side. They are both used for agriculturalpurpose. They are enclosed with boundary because of proximity to main road.

Notes: During field work we got the chance to meet forest officials and people working in forest

which encountered us with shocking facts and we came to know that from last 25 year there have

been no recruitments in forest department because of lack of funds and other reasons, which

handicapped forest department to work in desired direction. Though there is development i.e.

plantation is going in this area.

3.4.2 Revenue wasteland and barren and uncultivable:They are scattered parcels in whole of the village, ranging in different sizes. They are less than 1

hectare and also more than 6 hectares.

3.5 Boundaries and encroachments:The interesting fact about encroachments on these categories of land was that encroachment was

mostly done by the person who held the allotted land in the vicinity. And the encroachments

were done by the same people, rarely four or five new name came in the encroachment list. And

the power of influence was clearly visible in the encroachments. On other hand some

encroachments were away from the encroachers residents. Likewise forest these categories also

had same situation regarding encroachment that they were encroached just for having land

ownerships.


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Parcel descriptions:

2: this land can be taken as first parcel unit adjoining to forest parcel. Here multipleencroachments were found which divided land and its status. On this parcel agriculture,

hut, livestock were found.

46, 47, 48, 60, 65, 74, 104, 107, and 108: these units have the same characteristics;agriculture and huts were found with enclosed boundaries.

34, 53, 90, 91, 568, 569, 611, 715, 716 and 717 : these units are found to be degraded.The age of encroachments was almost similar and agriculture is practised on these lands.

113 and 115: these units are also situated in vicinity of main road. Land was used foragriculture, and the encroachers allotted land was close so he used allotted land for

residential purpose.

98 and 101: they are next to Karnali boundary and some of the most vegetated areas ofthese categories. Some part of these parcels had dense trees inspite of agriculture being

practised on these lands. The owner of the 101st

parcel was not a villager. He used this

unit for seasonal agriculture, he is a resident in Udaipur district.

490, 491 and 492: these units are covered by same individual and uniqueness about theseparcels was that they are wastelands. This land is being used for homestead purposes. The

owner is working in forest for plantation project and he has hut here where he resides

occasionally.

1556: this is a part of a big cluster of common land which is big in terms of area. It is theonly land with new hut construction, but the land was degraded.


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551, 559, 611, 1557, 1559, 1571, 1602, and 1558: these units are similar with not muchdifferentiation. All units have the same use of agriculture on seasonal basis and some

with residential space and for the rest of year they are left open for grazing and to store

fodder.

3417, 3418, 3419, 3420, 3421, 3422, 3423, 3424, 3425 and 3426: the interesting factabout these parcels is that all these parcels have been encroached by one person (Rupa s/o

Bhera). These encroachments are really old, dating back to 50 years. The parcels are well

vegetated with planted trees like neem, mango etc. The land is used for agriculture and

housing.

3412, 3413 and 3414: the only parcels in the barren and uncultivable category which wefound to be not encroached during the course of our survey.

561: this parcel is on the road and hence not encroached upon. 3407, 3408, 3409, 3410, 3411, 3431, 3432, 3433 and 3434 : these parcels have been

encroached by two villagers (Deva s/o Gulab and Budda s/o Vella) respectively. These

encroachments are very old, about 60 to 70 years and they are all well planted with fruit

trees. The interesting fact about these parcels is that they are open for grazing and in spite

of being encroached for such a long period of time, these parcels have been lying as

wasteland and there is no housing or agriculture practised on these parcels.

956 and 2444: these are two unique parcels of land we came across during our survey.The first one is encroached by Varda s/o Thavra and the second one is encroached by

Madan Singh. Agriculture is practised on both these parcels of land and there are

housings as well. Inspite of this both the lands are well vegetated as the encroachers have

maintained the trees very well on these parcels and also done vegetation.

3.6 Diversion of LandThere has been no record of diversion of land for industrial purposes in the area.


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Notes:

In nutshell, the revenue wastelands and barren and uncultivable land didnt have much

differentiation leaving some units. All were used for seasonal agriculture and rest of time for

grazing and store for fodder.


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CHAPTER 4ACTIVITIES ON THE LANDS

4.1Livestock Grazing :Most of the people from main village and nearby hamlets used to take their animals for grazing

to Mutta Gatta hills here they graze them in Bhadvi Thal, Bida ka Kheda, Khatla Khadra (Mutta

Gatta), Amar Khadra, Keshav Mahadev (5 km from Dodawali) and Juna Mangla (Lamba

Davda).There is not as such specific time period to graze animals, people take their animals to

forest daily (Mutta Gatta). Some of them take their animals once a week or some times in a

month as per the requirement of grass and leaves. In Juna Mangla they take fodder in months of

December and January.

Villagers also used common land in each hamlet for grazing of animals. About 10 % of the

households have their private land for fodder specially in hamlet Kanha Ji Kheda,Vera Khadra,

Upali Gowadi and Lamba Davda where they hire daily wage labour at Rs 100 per day for cutting

of fodder. Most of them used this fodder for their own requirements and some of them even sold

it but the percentage is lower. The availability of fodder is less for an average cattle due to

shortage of rainfall. They are capable of growing everything in rain happens. Now the villagers

even have to buy fodder from outside.

Fodder requirement for cattle:

Animal Daily fodder requirement Name of Grass/fodder

Cows/Bullocks 10 pula (10 kg) Sheran, Padia, Bhangta

Buffallows 12 pula (12 kg) Sheran, Padia, Bhangta

Goats 5-6 kg Ganturi, leaves of trees

like Davda, Dadi


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4.2Collection of Fire Wood:Most of the households have chulas to cook food. The collection of firewood happens to be from

forests of Juna Mangla only Dried wood is allowed to take out from it, as of now there is massive

collection of firewood in forests of Mutta Gatta and now the forest is completely empty there is

no more firewood left here.

In this situation of crises people started collecting it from their own land as well which was not

sufficient and they even started buying it from nearby villages like Karnali or Surana.This also

one of the reason why people started taken out more wood from Juna Mangla, the protected area.

The requirements of fuel wood from each household is on an average is 6-7 kg per day. One of

the reason people told in PRA is that the population in the village increased in last 10 years, thus

the requirement is also increased, leading to the collection of firewood in large quantities and the

availability of fuel is decreasing day by day.

There is a desperate need to protect and rehabilitate the forest area of Mutta Gatta which is the

main nearby source of natural resources. Moreover, the degradation of it is leading to adverse

affects on the climate in the region; no trees means no process of transpiration by trees, less rain,

less availability of fodder for animals. The animals become week and the production of milk

decreases .The seasons are also changing. In PRA Exercise they claim that for the last 10 years

there was more summer, until October the months were very hot.

4.3Construction wood:Most of the houses in Dodawali are build of stones and mud. Construction wood is required for

making doors, roofs etc., but each household requires wood for construction of their houses. The

trees available for construction in Juna Mangla forests are Kemda, Haldu, Baas, Halar, Gobda,

Davda which are used as construction wood. There are no trees in Mutta Gatta. There is no

availability of Sagwaan wood in both of these forests which is the best wood used for

construction purposes. Due to the high level of deforestation the climate also changes in the

region; there are less rains and the forests degraded in their natural process of regeneration.


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4.4Collection of Non Timber Forests Produce (NTFP):The availability of NTFP is completely vanished in the Mutta Gatta hills. There are some trees

like Khjoor, mango, badla, neem, mahua, jamun, ambia, bor used as medicine, fruit and mahua

to make desi liquor; but they are very few and found scattered in some of the hamlets of the

village only,not in the main forest. Althrough some people in the village approach to Juna

Mangla for collection of NTFP.

4.4.1 Mahua (Madhuca indica):Mahua is used to make liquor. Around 75 households are using it as livelihood, this is decreased

in last 10 years as the trees are started depleting. The flowers and seeds are used to make liquor.

The flowers sold at Rs 15-20 per kg. Moreover, Juna Mangla forest is not open at this time

villagers take their animals to Mutta Gatta for grazing which is now completely depleting. It

become very difficult for villagers to feed their animals. There is some relief from November to

March when maize is harvested as maize is grown in abundance. At this particular time the forest

Juna Mangla is open where some grass can be taken from months of December and January by

the villagers. Thus some of the villagers stock the fodder as 30-35 mudi (each 1 kg) remain for

six months.

4.4.2 Pasture LandAlthough the cattle population is not very high in the village, each household has at least 1-2

cattle. But very few households have large number of the Ruminants. The production of milk is

very little, one of the reason is that sufficient fodder is not available for the cattle. Many of them

suffer from malnutrition. The pasture land under Panchayat is encroached by people, so there is

no claimed grazing land in the village where villagers can actually go and graze their animals.

They are confined to the Mutta Gatta forest, which is open throughout the year, but as of now no

fodder is available in this forest. Apart from it, some common and own land of the villagers is

where they collect fodder. Here they also used the residue of crops like wheat as fodder for

animals. Now the village is facing critical situation as no more natural resources are left here.


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4.5Fodder AvailabilityThe use of fodder/ livestock mainly comes from forestland and gauchar(Pandey, 1999) revenue

wasteland and partially from crop residue for example when maize is used as a crop residue

when wheat is sown. The gaucharland is traditionally managed by the village communities. Non

timber forest products provide supplementary income to their livelihood, and often act as a safety

net during drought. Forest resources act as coping mechanisms for poor communities providing

non-timber forest products, especially during years of poor harvest (Angelsen and Wunder,

20039). With large number of poor people living in and around forests and traditionally

managing the resources suggest strong interdependency between forests and people. In village

Dodawali as per my understanding by conducting PRA in the village, the fodder availability is

fulfilled from main forest Mutta Gatta which is now completely depleted. The other source here

the villagers used are the crop residue in the season of harvesting. The below table shows the

availability of fodder from protected area of forest I.e. Juna Mangla and open area Mutta Gatta

and the use of crop residue in various seasons.

Months Agriculture

Cultivation

Crop

Residue

Closed

Commons

Open

Commons

Stall

Feeding

Purchase

Jan Wheat

Cultivation(

less

amount)

Maize as

fodder

Juna

Mangla

Open

Mutta

Gatta Open

all year

Agriculture

residue

Feb Wheat

cultivation

Maize as

fodder

Closed open Agriculture

residue

March Wheat

cultivation

Maize as

fodder

Closed open

April Wheat as

fodder

Closed open

May Wheat as

fodder

Closed open

June Wheat as closed open Dry fodder


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fodder from own

land

/commons

July Maize

Sowing

Wheat as

fodder

Closed open

August Maize

cultivation

Wheat as

fodder

Closed open

September Maize Wheat as

fodder

Closed open

October Maize

harvesting

Maize as

fodder


November Wheat

sowing

Maize as

fodder


December Wheat

cultivation

Maize as

fodder

Open open Agriculture


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CHAPTER 5INSTITUTIONS AND IMPLEMENTATION OF LAWS

5.4 Institutions5.4.1 Panchayat:There are 4 villages which come under Dodawali Panchayat. These are Peepli, Raita, Karnali and

Dodawali. The Panchayat looks after the development needs of the these villages like various

schemes related to Ration, Pension, NREGA, building of anicuts and building of pucca roads etc.

in the village. The panchayat has 101.5550 ha pasture land but it is now encroached.

5.4.2 Gram Sabha:Gram sabha includes all the villagers who are above 18 years of age. The villagers can voice

their concerns and opinions about the village through participation and decision making. It gives

them opportunity to share their views and standpoint on any matter related to village, and present

them before Panchayat.

5.4.3 Self Help Group:The women samuh in the village is running since past four years. The main purpose this samuh

is to empower women and encourage them to be part of decision making process and boosting up

their economic condition and enable to start income generating activities. The process is to

collect money from all the members of the samuhs and keep them in the saving account in a

bank. Later it can be used for various income generating purposes. This initiative is taken by the

organisation Sajjan Manch. There are two women Samuh in the village.

Charbhujia Sahayta Samuh: Running from past 4 years. It consists of 7 women. Theamount is saved in Udaipur Central cooperative bank but it is now transferring to

Nandeshwar Sahkari Money bank. The saving amount is not yet utilized by the women.

Ambesha Sahayta Samuh: This samuh is running since past one year it. It consists of 10women. Each month Rs 500 is deposited in the bank.

Rajput Women are the head of these samuh. Even if its a small saving group women from higher

caste has representation in it. Some of the man are also part of the group who also belongs to


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higher caste. Earlier they used to collect money and keep it among one of them but there was lot

of disputes as the money is never returned. Thus the money is collected and saved in the bank.

There is dominance of higher Caste in the group: This is also one of the reason that other women

belonging to the Bhil community are not a part of the group.

5.4.4 Mukhiya:The mukhiya is an informal head of the village as a whole or a group of villagers. The

villagers/group of villagers unanimously elect from among themselves, a mukhiya, who is

generally a respected person in the community. The mukhiya acts as a mediator in the resolution

of all conflicts in the village.

5.4.5 Forest Protection Committee (van sanghatan):This committee consists of 11 members from the village. The villagers claim that forest

protection committee is running in the village from past 20 years. This committee was formed to

protect forest area in the village; to protect the forest from overuse by the villagers, further

exploitation and cutting of trees in large number. As discussed by the people, they told the

following rules and regulations of the FPC they formed which are as follows:

1) After every 2 years the villagers change their representative. For this they choose arepresentative from a differentphala among themselves.

2) The committee calls for the meeting once in a month and discuss the issues related toforest land in village, where cutting of wood remains the common issues.

3) The committee collect money from people of the village and hire a watchman to checkcutting of wood.

4) The committee have women representatives as well as part of women advisorycommittee.

5) The committee in consultation with village panchayat give prastav to government, forestdepartment regarding forest protection.

6) The committee looks after two forest area one is the forest of Lamba Davda which isabout 5 km from main village. This area was under protection since 10 years. The


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villagers were allowed to take out dried wood and fodder for two months i.e in December

and January only. The other forest land is Mutta Gatta hills behind main village this area

is not under protection .It was open for last 10 years and the forest is completely depleted

now.

5.4.6 Gram Vikas Committee:Recently Gram Vikas Committee is formed in the village, Consisting of 11 members from the

village.

In all these informal institutions there is dominance of the higher caste people specially the

people belonging to Rajput community .If the husband is in one committee, the wife is the

member of same or other committee of the village.

The various institutions are in linked with each other in a sense one or two members from each

committee are also members of the panchayat, forest protection committee and recently formed

Gram vikas committee except SHG which do not have any direct link with the panchayat, but

some of them are members of gram vikas committee like Nakkubai who is member of SHG as

well

5.5 Legal AspectsList of the relevant legislations:

5.5.1 Forests Conservation Act (FCA), 1980The FCA, 1980 prohibits non-forest use of forestland without central government approval. Also

advocates "sustainable forest management through participatory approach", with "due regard to

the traditional rights of the tribal people on forest land". This also paved way for legal solutions

to long pending settlement of rights of the tribals. The forest conservation act (1980) was

specially enacted to prohibit non forestry activities in forest areas like agriculture, mining etc.

Therefore encroachments become illegal according to this provision. The forest act mansion

about encroachment on forest land is illegal even if it is used for purpose of agriculture, but the

condition in the village of my study on common property resources getting understanding that.


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5.5.2 National Forest Policy, 1988This Act recognizes the need for participatory governance of natural resources and forests. The

1988 Forest Policy talks about symbiotic relationship between the tribals and the forests while

meeting the needs of the people but as regards encroachments it is clearly mentions that there

should be no regularization of encroachments. In Para 4.8.1 of the Act, the provision does not

support regularization of encroachment in a time bound manner.

5.5.3 PESA ActThis act broadly talks about to gram sabha are Gram Sabha are endowed specifically, inter-alia,

with the ownership of Minor Forest Produce. This act is not implemented in Rajasthan. Although

it is supposed to be implemented as Rajasthan is among those few state but has not been

implemented.

5.5.4 The Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of ForestRights) Act, 2006

The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act,

2006, is a key piece of forest legislation passed in India on December 18, 2006. It has also been

called the "Forest Rights Act", the "Tribal Rights Act", the "Tribal Bill", and the "Tribal Land

Act." The law concerns the rights of forest-dwelling communities to land and other resources,

denied to them over decades as a result of the continuance of colonial forest laws in India. India's

forests are home to millions of people, including many Scheduled Tribes, who live in or near the

forest areas of the country. Forests provide sustenance in the form ofminor forest produce,

water, grazing grounds and habitat for shifting cultivation. Moreover, vast areas of land that may

or may not be forests are classified as "forest" under India's forest laws, and those cultivating

these lands are technically cultivating "forest land.

The reason for this latter phenomenon is India's forest laws. India's forests are governed by two

main laws, the Indian Forest Act, 1927 and the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. The former

empowers the government to declare any area to be a reserved forest, protected forest or village
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheduled_Tribeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Minor_forest_produce&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Forest_Act,_1927http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildlife_Protection_Act_of_1972http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildlife_Protection_Act_of_1972http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Forest_Act,_1927http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Minor_forest_produce&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheduled_Tribes


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forest. The latter allows any area to be constituted as a "protected area", namely a national park,

wildlife sanctuary, tiger reserve or community conservation area.

Under these laws, the rights of people living in or depending on the area to be declared as a

forest or protected area are to be "settled" by a "forest settlement officer." This basically requires

that officer to enquire into the claims of people to land, minor forest produce, etc., and, in the

case of claims found to be valid, to allow them to continue or to extinguish them by paying

compensation.

Studies have shown that in many areas this process either did not take place at all or took place

in a highly faulty manner. Thus 82.9% of the forest blocks in undivided Madhya Pradesh had not

been settled as of December 2003 , while all the hilly tracts of Orissa were declared government

forests without any survey. In Orissa, around 40% of the government forests are "deemed

reserved forests" which have not been surveyed .

Those whose rights are not recorded during the settlement process are susceptible to eviction at

any time.

5.5.5 Barren and uncultivable landThese land categories are guided by Rajasthan land revenue act and Rajasthan tenancy act.

Allotment and other issues are dealt by revenue board of Rajasthan. And forest category is

guided by forest act of Rajasthan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhya_Pradeshhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhya_Pradesh


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CHAPTER 6SUGGESTIONS

Before giving a recommendation in this report a little backdrop of the entire encroachment issueis needed. The forest land in Aravalli has been the home of the Bhil tribe from time immemorial.

The tribal people used to dwell on these forest lands which also provided livelihood for this

people in the form of timber and non-timber forest produce like honey, wax, firewood etc. The

Forest Protection Act of 1927 and the Wildlife Conservation Act of 1980 declared these forest

lands as protected and restricted access for the tribal villagers from these lands. Overnight the

tribal villagers became homeless and lost their livelihood. They started living on the lands

allotted to them by the Government. However over time their population increased and they

needed space to make room for their extended families. Many of the villagers went to the cities

like Udaipur, Jaipur etc in search of livelihood, but these traditional forest dwellers were not

accustomed to city lives. This is the primary reason for encroachments on the CPRs in the

Dodawali village. As the encroachments increased, trees were cleared to make room for

homestead and agricultural activities and as a result vegetation cover on these lands decreased. In

order to address the problem of shortage of land for housing and agriculture, we propose the

following suggestions:

On the revenue wasteland and barren and uncultivable lands, we have seen that there aremany parcels of land which are being encroached by one of the villagers with already

allotted lands having homesteads and practicing agriculture on those lands. Most of these

encroached parcels are lying unused with only a stone boundary wall around it. These

parcels of land should be taken away from the villagers and evenly allotted to the

villagers for homestead and agricultural purposes as necessary and declare the remaining

land as common property resources. If the shortage of land problem be solved in this way

and land is evenly redistributed, the encroachments will no longer exist and there will be

large area of land in terms of hectares which can be declared as Common Property

Resources especially on the barren and uncultivable category.

In order to solve the problem of decreasing vegetation cover, our host organization, SevaMandir, has proposed Joint Forest Management in the village. This is also the primary

objective of our host organization since according to the organization, degradation in

vegetation cover has occurred due to faulty application of the provisions of the ForestRights Act in the Dodawali village and resorting to old mechanisms like Joint Forest

Management program is a feasible solution. However we believe Joint Forest

Management program will not alone solve the problem of decreasing forest cover. As we

had seen in the course of our survey, that many villagers have encroached on large

parcels of land and have built homestead or practicing agriculture on a small part of it.


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Remaining of the land is lying unused. These villagers can be persuaded to plant trees

like mango, eucalyptus, neem etc. which will also provide the villagers with livelihood

opportunities and improve the degraded vegetation cover on the Aravalli hills at the same

time. Case in point here is parcels number 3417-3426 which is encroached by Rupa s/o

Bhera and who is practicing similar kind of activity on the encroached lands. The

villagers who are holding private allotted lands can be persuaded and encouraged to

practice afforestation activities on parts of their land by enlightening them about the

importance of forest in maintaining the socio-ecological balance as also the source of

livelihood aspect of this kind of afforestation activity.

Another suggestion we propose is the updating of the land records with the Revenue andForest Departments which were never updated after the year 1984. The upgradation of

the land records is very important to assess the present situation of the Common Property

Resources in the Dodawali village as also rectify the problem of uneven distribution of

land parcels in terms of hectares.

CONCLUSION

The bhil tribe constitutes the majority of the population in the Dodawali village of Udaipur in

Rajasthan. The villagers of this tribe have lived as traditional forest dwellers for centuries. But

sudden policy changes by the government and implementation of laws before and after the

independence of India overlooked the problems of habitat and dwellings of these people. Over

time, with increase in numbers of tribal families, the villagers needed more land to expand and

the problems of encroachment started. The problem of encroachment on the other hand has

posed a major threat to the ever dwindling forest cover in the region. The government was faced

with a major challenge to solve the problem of shortage of land for the Bhil tribe as also improve

the vegetation cover and implemented the FRA, 2006. This act however backfired in the village

leading to more encroachments and presents a serious threat to the remaining vegetation cover.

Our host organization wants to implement JFM program in the village which is feasible owing to

very less encroachments on the forest lands but not very cost effective owing to the steepness of

the forest lands. Even if JFM program is implemented in the village, the problems of housing and

livelihood need to be addressed in the village since high degree of poverty prevails in the village.

Implementation of livelihood intervention programs in the village will surely reduce the problem

of encroachment over time and improve the vegetation cover and is sure to get positive responsefrom the villagers resulting in complete village participation.

Documents

MTS-I Final