India - Common Property Resources and Village Facilities, January - June 1998, NSS 54th Round

The right of use of forest land and forest produce will be recorded in codes for the categories of forests with some area contained within the village ( that is with a positive entry in the column for area). If a category of forest is not found within the village, the corresponding cells for recording right of use will be crossed.

Forests adjoining habitation are used in a number of ways. The local villagers use forests for meeting their requirements of timber, fuel and fodder. They also collect a large variety of minor forest produce. Forests are also used for grazing. But the villagers' rights of use are in most cases legally restricted. The code-structure for this item, provides for just the following four codes:

no right .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..1
restricted to collection of a few minor forest produce .. ... ... ... ... 2
collection of a large number of minor forest produce permitted ... ... . 3
other less restrictive right of use ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. 4

For each kind of forest in the village, the legally sanctioned right of use will be ascertained and an appropriate code will be recorded in the column. Note that permitting grazing in the forest land will be considered less restrictive than collection of minor forest produce. Thus, forests permitting grazing will always be assigned code '4'. Lopping rights are commonly accompanied with a number of other users' rights. Thus, forests where lopping is legally permitted should also be assigned code '4'.