A Study on the Participation of Dalits in community Forest Management in Dang District (A Case Study of Gairakhali Hariyali Community Forestry UsersGroups in Tulsipur Municipality)

Abstract

This study entitled,"A Study on the Participation of Dalits in CommunityForest Management in Dang District: A Case Study of Gairakhali Hariyali Community Forestry User Groups in Tulsipur Municipality"was based onprimary data collected in June, 2006. The main objective of the study was tofind out the participation of Dalits in CF management. The other specificobjectives included To analyse the socio-economic characteristic of the Dalitshousehold population of the CFUG members, to evaluate the participation ofDalits in CF management process, to analyse the status of Dalits in decisionmaking and benefit sharing process. and to identify the problems of Dalits inactive participation in CF program. For the purpose of the study, the researcher hadapplied the techniques of socialscience research methodology. The study was held on both exploratory anddescriptive research design. The sources of data were both primary andsecondary and the natures of data were both qualitative and quantitative. Therewere 797 households of the CFUG members in the community forestry. Out ofwhich 124 households were from Dalits. Among total Dalit households, 40households with 196 population were taken on a simple random basis for thestudy. 40 Dalit respondents of the CFUG members and key informants werethe respondents of the study. The Dalit households has the sex ratio 96.00 percent and overall agedependency ratio of 141.27 percent and most of them were unmarried. Theeducational status of Dalits HHs population was very low. Females were moreilliterate than males. Agriculture was the major occupation of Dalit HHspopulation and Dalit CFUG members of the CF. of the total 97.50 percent ofthem were having food deficiency. Only 2.50 percent HHs produced sufficientfood. Wage labour was found as a primary source of income of Dalit HHs ofCFUGs. The effective participation of Dalits CFUG members in decisions makingprocess was not satisfactory because of illiteracy, low level of awareness, lackof leadership development, poverty, untouchability and discriminatorypractices of social elites. Most of Dalits were participating irregularly,knowingly or unknowingly and had passive or supportive role in decisionmaking process. But their participation in benefit sharing process was satisfactory. Most of theDalits had access to forest products of daily needs, but they were unable to graban opportunities from CF fund. Moreover, they had no access to incomegenerating activities and training which is most important to up-lift their socio-economic status. Therefore, amendment of operational plan of the CF by broader discussion,focusing on tilting opportunities from community forest for Dalits (like forincome generating activities, providing capacity building training etc.) andcreating an inclusive environment for intermixing between Dalits and non-Dalits are major recommendations made by the research study.