Poverty Alleviation through Employment Generation : Role for Lok Vaniki

While extensive studies have been carried out on the role of Government-owned forests in the national economy and livelihoods of the people living in and around the forests in India, not much is known about the role of privately owned forests in employment generation and poverty alleviation, which also has the potential to kick-start the rural economy. The scheme of Lok Vaniki, a scheme of its own kind in the country launched in the State of Madhya Pradesh for the management of private forests, attempts to address the same. The paper also makes a comparison between Lok Vaniki and a major ongoing employment generation scheme of Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, i.e. Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY). Unlike Lok Vaniki, SGRY requires significant investment by the Government. Moreover, stakeholder participation, capacity building, entrepreneurship development and ultimately poverty alleviation make Lok Vaniki worth emulation by other States and Union Territories.