Van panchayats in Uttarakhand - A case study

A product of colonial times, the van panchayats in Uttarakhand, though lawf ully empower the residents living on the outskirts of reserved and protecte d forests to nurture trees and consume forest products, paucity of financia l resources and negligible participation of women are some of the reasons f or the failure of the panchayats to sustain and spread in many villages.