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Evil preys at night |
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 Precious trees of Sal are cut and hidden in the forest on the way to
Dundi village. It lies in Jaranga panchayat. It is merely 4 kms.
from the Arki block office. The Gram Sabha of Dundi is very weak.
Forest mafias work in collusion with forest official. They cut trees
here. Villagers are tempted with good price for cutting thick old
Sal trees. Sometime whole village is involved in this operation if
they are in need of money. A truck comes at night. All the logs
hidden in forest are shifted in the truck. They are carried to
nearest cities of Ranchi and Jamshedpur. In the way there are forest
check posts and police stations. All are aware of such operation.
Despite, the truck reaches its destination without any check. A
nexus of police, forest department and forest mafia is involved in
this game. Agents sometime pay very less amount to villager. Highly
priced wood is fetched at very low amount. |
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Awareness
balancing the eco system |
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 Sonepur
is a village in Arki block. It has two rival Gram Sabhas. Taking
advantage, villagers cut down trees for their own purpose. AID
intervened. It brought two rival groups into one fold. Regular
Meeting of Gram Sabha began. AID worker regularly attended the
meeting. The Munda Gram Sabha was made aware of the importance of
forest. Villagers realized how far they have degraded their own
forest. They convened an emergency Gram Sabha meeting. They took
decision not to cut down Sal trees for next two years. They decided
to restore the growth of Sal trees in their forest. Today the forest
is looking green. It has become dense with healthy trees around.
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May I help you: Women the leading
force |
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 We
did not give much importance to women in our village. Today we have
greatly benefited from them. We
seek their help in case of need. We get loan through inter- loan of
SHG. At least we got rid of mahajans (who also works as
moneylenders) of the village. Now, we no more mortgage our land,
jewellery, utensils etc. We get required loan from SHG in time of
need- be it marriage, disease or to purchase seeds during season,”
informed Mohan Singh Munda of Lemba village. |
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Coming
out of fourwalls |
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 SHG
in Khesaribera village of Arki is very active. They were made aware
of various government schemes. A meeting was convened. The members
decided to apply for one such scheme. They forwarded an application
to the Block officer (BDO). They succeeded in getting a contract
for constructing a road in their own village. The road is complete
now. Another achievement was selection of one SHG member as the
President of Gram Sabha. It is a post generally held by men in the
villages of this region |
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Training
counts |
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 In Gram Sabha, we talked of only cutting trees from
our forest. We never thought of regenerating forest through
plantation. AID gave new concept to promote our jungle. We used to
cut many trees in a year. Plants regenerate naturally. We thought
that was enough to compensate the loss. But it has resulted in a
major forest depletion," informed a villager at Gorahapa village. |
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Beware! Village
on watch |
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 The GS of Sinjani village is very strict in
protecting forest. The fine imposed by GS is Rs.5000 if some
outsider cut down trees. The villages are very much aware about
preserving forest. It provides them fuelwood and wood for
construction of house. They also get flowers and fruits like
chiraunji (locally called char), Kendu, Mahuwa, bhelwa and tamarind. |
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Destruction!
at whose cost |
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 Lemba is a roadside village. It
is about 5 kms from Arki block office. The forest department had
been cutting trees for last four decades. It actually belongs to the
village community under Khuttkati rights. Forest department puts up
many clauses to claim forest lying under khuntkatti area.
Contractors used to assist forest officials in cutting down trees.
This created a conflict between the two claimants. “With no old and
thick trees left, the forest department has now handed over the
forest to us,” claimed Mohan Singh Munda of the village |
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Future is ours
to see |
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 Youth group in Chorardih village was formed in 2003.
It started with 5 members and today it has swelled up to 12 in
numbers. Soma Singh Munda is one of its members. He used to work at
brick- kiln in Varanasi district before joining youth group. With
respectable saving of their own, the group decided to do business of
ber this season. AID provided revolving fund to them for the same
purpose. The ber has been dried and packed in 100 gunny bags ready
to be marketed by AID. Encouraged by ber business the group has
decided to go in for tamarind and mahua collection as well. |
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Lac producers
facing economic hardship |
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 After
paddy harvest tribal are in need of money. This is overcome by
cutting immature lac from the trees. Tribal are forced to sell lac
before it is fully-grown at very less price. It results in major
loss for the lac centers. One tree provides about Rs.500-600 when
fully matured. But premature lac fetches only about Rs.50-100. The
lac production from Jharkhand is in great demand outside the state
for various lac products. However no concern is shown by the state
government to provide any insurance to check cutting of premature
lac. |
