On the edge of a forest in Maharashtra's Chandrapur district, bamboo is much more than a natural resource. For the Gond Adivasi community of Pachgaon village, it has become a source of income, employment and self-reliance.

Over the past decade, the village has built a remarkable example of what can happen when communities gain legal rights over the forests they have lived alongside for generations.

The journey began in 2012, when Pachgaon secured community forest rights over 1,006 hectares of ancestral forest land under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), a landmark law passed in 2006. Today, that forest supports a community-run bamboo enterprise that has generated profits of around Rs 3.4 crore over the last 10 years.

What makes the story even more significant is how those earnings have been used. Instead of leaving the village, the profits have been reinvested into education, infrastructure, local employment and the purchase of additional land.

Reclaiming a forest, rebuilding a future

The Forest Rights Act was introduced to recognise the rights of indigenous........

© The Better India