{"title":"Can Social Mobilizations Democratize Forest Governance? The “Making” and “Unmaking” of India’s Forest Rights Act","authors":"Priyanshu Gupta, Arnab Roy Chowdhury","doi":"10.1561/112.00000573","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Sustained advocacy by the indigenous people and a coalition of civil society organizations led the government to pass the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of <em>Forest Rights</em>) <em>Act</em>, 2006 (FRA) in India. But the Act failed to democratize forest governance as its implementation failed, and subsequent dilutions resulted in its unmaking. Using primary data – collected through ethnographic fieldwork-based observations and in-depth interviews in Chhattisgarh from 2014 to 2020 – and secondary data, we critically analyze the stages and processes of the making and unmaking of the law. We argue that the coalition structure of the mobilizing groups was loose and its efficacy and longevity limited; framing its demands after the FRA was passed proved too challenging for the coalition; the Act had shortcomings; and a new political regime came to power in 2014 and subverted the intent of the Act and diluted its governance framework and provisions, which finally led to its unmaking.</p>","PeriodicalId":54831,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Forest Economics","volume":"118 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Forest Economics","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1561/112.00000573","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Sustained advocacy by the indigenous people and a coalition of civil society organizations led the government to pass the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (FRA) in India. But the Act failed to democratize forest governance as its implementation failed, and subsequent dilutions resulted in its unmaking. Using primary data – collected through ethnographic fieldwork-based observations and in-depth interviews in Chhattisgarh from 2014 to 2020 – and secondary data, we critically analyze the stages and processes of the making and unmaking of the law. We argue that the coalition structure of the mobilizing groups was loose and its efficacy and longevity limited; framing its demands after the FRA was passed proved too challenging for the coalition; the Act had shortcomings; and a new political regime came to power in 2014 and subverted the intent of the Act and diluted its governance framework and provisions, which finally led to its unmaking.
期刊介绍:
The journal covers all aspects of forest economics, and publishes scientific papers in subject areas such as the following:
forest management problems: economics of silviculture, forest regulation and operational activities, managerial economics;
forest industry analysis: economics of processing, industrial organization problems, demand and supply analysis, technological change, international trade of forest products;
multiple use of forests: valuation of non-market priced goods and services, cost-benefit analysis of environment and timber production, external effects of forestry and forest industry;
forest policy analysis: market and intervention failures, regulation of forest management, ownership, taxation;
land use and economic development: deforestation and land use problem, national resource accounting, contribution to national and regional income and employment.
forestry and climate change: using forestry to mitigate climate change, economic analysis of bioenergy, adaption of forestry to climate change.