Apna Jungle Apni Kahani

Film on the empowerment of communities for conservation

Water

Over the last 15 years, there has evolved a people's revolution across 600 villages in the district of Alwar, Rajasthan. In a drought-prone state like Rajasthan the most important question around which life revolves is water. Villagers in this district, with the help of NGO Tarun Bharat Sangh, have changed the face of their village by bringing water back into their lives. They have restored their traditional water harvesting systems, recharged wells and revived old dried up rivers. Their work was recently applauded by the President of India when he flew down and presented an award to the villagers for their achievements.

Forest

Alongside this came the protection of their forests and regaining control over them. They have now declared a public sanctuary - Bhairon Dev Sanctuary - a unique concept in conservation where people have declared their own sanctuary for their own use. They have earmarked forests for grazing, they have put in place punishment regimes for offenders who poach or illegally cut wood, their hunting communities have changed into agriculturists with the coming of water, their relationship with the forest department officials has gone through a drastic change for the better. They now jointly guard the forest (and in a National Park like Sariska, they have built water harvesting structures for animals). This is an unheard of thing in today's official forest policy, where people are not even allowed inside the parks without permission.

The film

Though the water harvesting achievements of the community have been highlighted and rewarded, the forest conservation aspects of this movement have been ignored. This film highlights these achievements and brings to all other communities living around and inside national parks and sanctuaries this unique story of conservation. The film documents five case studies bringing out the various facets of the empowerment process of the communities which has helped them in protecting their forests. The narrators of the film are the villagers who have lived through the experience of the process of empowerment and conservation. The script was written with the active collaboration of the villagers. The leitmotif of the film is a Gram Sabha meeting in progress, which is the thread that binds the stories together. This is the first film on forest conservation in an otherwise well documented water conservation success story.

For more information, please contact:

Tarun Bharat Sangh,
Bhikampura Kishori,
Thanagaji, Alwar 301022
India

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