Material and methods
Resource management approach
The crucial aspect of any land use planning exercise is to handle complex problems of resource allocations and decision-making. It is an accepted fact that low socio-economic variables make diffusion of new ideas extremely difficult and thus require tactful handling (Prasad and Chary, 2001). Working in a participatory mode, the scientists from National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning (NBSS and LUP) and villagers dwelt upon the possible land use plan (LUP) and identified potential area of scientific interventions. It was agreed that the plan would necessarily aim at benefiting poorest of the poor and reduce dependence on forest for living. It was also recognized that forest resources would always be threatened until alternative source of living/earning was made available. The beneficiaries of incentives to adopt interventions were identified in a transparent and participatory way. Existing legal framework in India does not provide any mechanism for institutionalizing LUP be it mutually agreed or otherwise. The state ownership of forest land empowers or bestows hardly any role to the stakeholders living in rural countryside. Thus, land use plan produced by scientific institution has little state sanctity and its implementation is purely voluntary. The National Agriculture Innovation Project (component 3) currently being implemented in India is aimed at developing sustainable livelihood systems. The PLUP work reported here is essentially a part of this project to evaluate different livelihood options with LUP as a base. To overcome the constraints of lack of mechanism for LUP and ensure project implementation, one NGO representative and one research fellow visited villages daily especially during agricultural season. Following broad steps were followed to collect information.