ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to compare the community-based forest protection groups with the traditional village institutions, the village councils or the panchayats. In West Bengal, the panchayats are parallel to the civil administration and assume responsibilities in a range of activities that include health, education, administration, and environment. While juxtaposing the village councils with the forest committees, the chapter examines the degree and nature of homogeneity of interests, opinions, and functions of these two key stake-holding institutions in Joint Forest Management. It analyzes the worthiness of the newly established issue-specific institution, the community-based forest management groups, against the traditional and larger body, the panchayats. The chapter examines the structure of panchayats and the Forest Protection Committees and voluntary forestry groups. A number of villagers have benefited from panchayat-run projects, such as the Jawahar Rozgar Yojana, Indira Vikas Yojana, Integrated Rural Development Projects, and other welfare schemes.
