Forest Based Industry and Forest Land Management in India

The paper highlights that land degradation in India has been approaching a crisis level in spite of repeated emphasis on wasteland development and existence of apex level organisations for that purpose. One reason has been the policy emphasis on ownership and control rather than appropriate management of the land. It is set in the context of i) the 1988 Forest Policy, and ii) the recent amends to the Forest Conservation Act. The first of these stipulates that forest based industrial units should establish direct contacts with the farmers to obtain the woody raw materials while the second empowers the state governments, with the GOI’s approval, to lease forest land to the industrial and other non-government organizations to raise commercial plantations to meet their raw material needs. Doubts have, therefore, been expressed that the industries would still not be allowed to play a role to develop the forest and non-forest wasteland, and to produce the woody materials for themselves. The reasoning for and against involving wood based industries in this task has been assessed. Based on the welfare economics principles, some measures to minimize the short term conflicts, where relevant, between the industries and the rural people have also been suggested. These should be helpful in arriving at objective resource management decisions within the ambit of the new policy and the acts.