The ‘Reality’ of Participation During Community Partnership in Management of Forest Resource: Evidences from Bankura District, Eastern India
The notion of ‘participation’ and its association with the concept of planning and governance has increasingly become important both in rural and urban governance. However the impact of the participation has been different in different settings. The present study is an attempt to examine the participatory processes in planning within an already existing participatory programme in India, namely the Joint Forest Management (JFM) Programme, empowering forest communities within rural forest dwelling units with management functions, through a participative approach. In recent times, within the framework of JFM, Microplan has to be prepared for each village, under the National Afforestation Programme of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. The study aims to address the nature and extent of participation and the factors which have affected the outcome of participatory processes in a representative case site, within broader context of participatory governance.