A word from the author

We, a group of tribal and urban friends walked from village to village in the summer of 2008. We lived in the villages, sat with people, and talked about forests and forest rights. Our tribal friends explained to the people that the forests now belonged to the people. They could protect and prosper the forests. Youth came forward and walked with us, making the padyatra – an event of spreading energy. The old men with their wrinkled smiles sang the stories of gods in the nature – of the oneness of man and forest – and the devotion to the forest came alive with our walk.

A week after we sent out an email about this padyatra, a gentleman from Mumbai called me on phone. He introduced himself as a wild-life-lover and asked me a point-blank question: “Which side are you on? Tribal rights or forest conservation?” He said the report of our padyatra had confused him. We were talking about conserving the forests, ‘but’ we were supporting people’s rights on forests.

His perception made me restless. I tried to explain to him that there were no two sides like this. Tribal rights and forest conservation are on the same side, my friend. Communities that live with and within forests are the only people who can save our forests. What worried me further was that this man from Mumbai was not even aware that the internal security of our country too depended on just and good governance in forest villages. The issue of forest rights and governance of a natural resource by local community are critical for everything: internal security, environment, and sustainable livelihoods.

After being exhausted of explaining too many things on phone, I realised that there were lot many friends like this. They were sensitive, but perhaps uninformed.

So I started writing this book. It runs quickly through the history of India’s forests and forest management, surfs our laws about forests, and then meets with the real people living in real forests. These are stories from forest villages of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat. This is no fiction. This is about our own people.

This is my effort to tell my countrymen – the urban, the elite, and the sensitive that we need to protect both: Our forests and Our people.

Milind Thatte
12-June-2010, Nashik