In April 2019, villagers of Jabarra learned that they would gain rights over 5,352 hectares of forest land from the state forest department.
The picturesque village, located in the tribal belt of Dhamtari village in Chhattisgarh, has 57 houses, and is surrounded by lush green forest on all sides, with river Kajal flowing alongside. By gaining their Community Forest Reserve Rights (CFRR), Jabarra is the first village in the state to gain such ownership of the forest.
The 540 villagers, however, found it difficult to understand what difference it would make in their lives. “We always depended on the forest for our livelihood. The department had allowed us to use resources from the forest anyway. It didn’t make too much of a difference to us,” says Madhav Singh Markam, a resident of Jabarra.
But Madhav thanks IAS Rajat Bansal (32), who educated villagers about their rights and helped unravel the true potential of this new development. Efforts taken by the officer have helped…
