Jan Aranya
Quarterly Newsletter on Joint Forest Management

Client / Financial Support: Department for International Development (DFID, India) and the Himachal Pradesh Forest Department

Over the course of the year 2001, we worked on the production of a newsletter, Jan Aranya, for the state of Himachal Pradesh. This was done primarily with the objective of improving communication among various stake-holders with an interest in the forestry sector in the state, including villagers, NGOs and officials at various levels within the Forest Department. Joint Forest Management all over the country has been plagued by the lack of an effective means of communication amongst these various players, with the result that there is a general lack of clarity with regard to the rules and regulations that are in place, the nature of the benefits that villagers can claim from a given programme, and their responsibilities with regard to protecting areas identified as JFM areas. Equally, officials of the forest department have often displayed a basic lack of understanding regarding the gender, caste and class divisions that serve to inhibit real participation by all sections of village society. Improved communication amongst the various actors involved is a pre-requisite to improving the outcomes from Joint Forest Management, particularly given the uncertain and radically changed policy environment that is represented by this initiative in Indian forestry. The production and distribution of this newsletter was aimed at doing just that.

Panel discussions "I have a right to …."

Client / Financial Support:BBC World Service Trust, together with BBC Hindi ServiceTrust

A series of five panel discussions were organized by Moving Images on behalf of the BBC Hindi Service and the BBC World Trust under the broad rubric "I have a right…". These discussions took place in Bhopal (right to food and health), Delhi (right to security), Lucknow (right to education), Jaipur (right to information) and Patna (right to protection by law) between the 5th of November and the 3rd of December, 2001. Amongst those who spoke at these events were Aruna Roy, Anil Sadgopal, Mihir Shah, Roop Rekha Verma, A. G. Noorani, Ved Bhasin and Ravi Nair.

These recordings were recorded at the BBC offices and have now been aired on the BBC Hindi Service. Transcripts of the aired discussions are available at www.bbc.co.uk/hindi