Deep in the interior of Chamoli District, 40 kilometres from Karnaprayag, the barren Garhwali landscape suddenly gives way to a lush oak forest, green, in stark contrast to the surrounding barren hillsides, which are punctuated with lone pine trees. This is the forest of Nanda Sen, protected by the women of Malai village.
In 1985, this forest was nearly destroyed when the Forest Department started an "afforestation" drive in the villages of Malai and the nearby settlements of Benoli, Deval and Chaurasen using pine saplings. However, instead of placing saplings on barren land around the villages, they were planted in the Panchayati Ban, which actually had flourishing stands of broad leaf species. After the Department secured permission from the village Pradhan, the contracts for putting up boundary walls, digging pits and planting the saplings were awarded to a few village leaders, who made sizeable profits, while at the same time the existing oak forest was being destroyed.
USELESS CONIFERS
The village women approached the all-male Panehayati Ban Committee, which declared its helplessness in the face of a governmental decision to plant pine amidst the oak. The women knew the destruction of the forest would add to their woes. The conifers are of little use to villagers. The leaves are useless for fodder, the wood is bad for construction and as fuel it produces too much smoke and sticky soot. Pines do not allow undergrowth, their needles acidify the soil and they are also more prone to forest fires.