Poster #110 - Whose Village Is It Anyway? Administrative Classifications and Livelihood Development in India’s Forest Villages

• In Event: Saturday Poster Luncheon

Abstract

Livelihood development interventions for forest-dependent communities seek to balance their development needs with forest conservation objectives. This paper evaluates the impact of a development intervention implemented in 2004 in Forest Villages of Madhya Pradesh state, central India: a distinct forest administration classification with colonial land-tenure arrangements. Our findings show that the livelihood development programme altered labor market outcomes in treated villages, resulting in a higher workforce participation rate and shift towards cultivation and household industry work. These effects appear to stem from the specific types of land-use changes promoted by the intervention, such as a higher proportion of unirrigated cultivated land and decline in share of forest land. However, the programme had little or worsening impact on provision of social infrastructure and road connectivity. This paper shows the role of administrative classifications and institutional history in shaping socio-economic outcomes of forest-dependent communities. 

Author

• Sanjana Kadyan, Duke University
  Presenting Author