Bhagirathi Devi’s daily routine has remained the same for the past 25 years. She gets up at dawn and sets out to patrol the forest near her village, Manar. She returns home at noon and goes back to the forest around 2 pm for a second round that lasts till sunset. “I confront anyone I see exploiting the forest,” says the 75-year-old about trespassers who graze cattle, cut trees or damage the greenery. Her dedication has earned her the name Van Amma—mother of the forest.
Home to some 700 people in Uttarakhand’s Champawat district, Manar once had a 12-hectare (ha) forest next to it. But excessive grazing and tree felling turned it barren around 2000. This also adversely impacted the flow of water in local springs. “I remember walking 7-8 km to another forest, Siddhmandir, to collect fodder and dry wood. It took five-six hours every day. All women in the village faced this problem,” says Bhagirathi Devi. She then decided to revive Manar’s forest and convinced other women, who came together in 2000, to form a van panchayat—autonomous forest management committees under the Indian Forest Act 1927. Bhagirathi Devi was unanimously elected as the first sarpanch of van panchayat and held the post unopposed till 2024.
For the first couple of years, the women focused on clearing and fencing parts of the forest. During this time they came in contact with BAIF Development Research Foundation, a Pune-based non-profit working in the nearby Khetikhan village on silvopasture—a practice of integrating trees and livestock grazing on the same land. With BAIF’s intervention, Manar formed a Silvopasture Management Committee with 100-odd residents as members. The committee oversaw the work for developing a community pasture. Utilising BAIF’s training, the residents fenced the forest with stones and thorny plants like rambaans (Agave americana) and kunja (Rosa brunonii Lindley). They cleared the bushes and invasive species like lantana, and planted grass and fodder plants like baanj (Quercus leucotrichophora), angu (Fraxinus micrantha) and utish (Alnus nepalensis). “We irrigated the plants with water from home,” says Manju Manral, first president of the silvopasture committee. For two years, animal grazing was banned while the grass regrew, says Manral. Tree growth took five to six years and 11.6 ha of forest was revived, she adds.
“For our work, we received a daily wage of Rs 120 by BAIF, similar to the sum under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). We would voluntarily deposit 10 per cent of our wage to the committee’s account for maintenance of the forest,” adds Manral. The 10 per cent contribution helped create a corpus of Rs 8,992, says Dinesh Prasad Raturi, additional chief programme executive, BAIF. With Bhagirathi Devi assigned to guard the forest, every house contributed Rs 20 a month for her salary.
The van panchayat and the committee now oversee the forest’s management. From time to time, they open access to let people collect fodder, wood and leaves. For instance, on December 24, 2024, the panchayat opened the forest for a week for residents to collect dry and raw wood. For every visit, families must pay the committee Rs 10 for forest maintenance. “About Rs 60,000 is currently deposited,” says Sunita, Bhagirathi Devi’s daughter-in-law, who has been the sarpanch after her.
The forest is also usually opened in March to remove dry leaves before fire season, says Bhim Singh Bisht, a Manar resident. As a result, there has been no incident of forest fire so far, say the residents.
Rejuvenation of the forest has also revived streams that contribute to the three springs of Manar—Seem, Sitrani Khola and Gungkhani. Between 2017 and 2021, their flow increased from an average of 2.8 litres per minute to 4 litres per minute, says Raturi, referring to a survey by BAIF. The streams now meet the water needs of 8-10 villages, including Manar, says Raturi.
A 2022 field study by the International Centre for Integrated Mounted Development, BAIF, and Centre for Ecology Development and Research, reveals that the forest under Manar van panchayat is healthier than the forest outside its control (see ‘Healthy signs’). Bhagirathi Devi credits the village for this. “If someone looks at our forest with bad intentions, we will not spare them,” she says.
(This story has been published under the Promise of Commons Media Fellowship 2024)
This was originally published in the 1-15 May, 2025 print edition of Down To Earth