Specially produced for Vikalp Sangam and Kalpavriksh in collaboration with Amhi Amchya Arogyasathi
Around the world indigenous people are resisting mainstream development models which have devastated local biodiversity, threatened species with extinction and changed the earth’s climate. Many communities are creating transformative alternatives to challenge such ideas of development.
Korchi taluka in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra State in India, is one such region where the local villages are moving towards social, political, economic and ecological transformation and are re-defining development and wellbeing.
This is a story of 90 gram sabhas that, supported by their federation are moving towards social, political, economic and ecological transformation and re-defining development and wellbeing. Recognition of their community right over their traditional forests was one of the important triggers for this process to unfold.
Articles written about this process from different perspectives:
- About Role of women in the processes towards self empowerment and alternatives : WRM Bulletin 241. December 2018. World Rainforest Movement. https://wrm.org.uy/bulletins/
issue-241/. Pathak Broome, N., Bajpai, S. and Shende, M., 2018. Reimagining Wellbeing: Villages in Korchi taluka in India, resisting mining and opening up spaces for self-governance.
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Bajpai, S. (2018). Women come out of the woods: collectivization in rural Maharashtra. https://www.thehindu.com/
society/women-come-out-of-the- woods-collectivisation-in- rural-maharashtra/ article26468461.ece -
Pathak Broome, N., Bajpai, S. and Shende, M. (2020). Forest rights act, local collectivisation and transformation in Korchi. In Anders Breidlid, Roy Krøvel (eds) (2020). In Indigenous Knowledges and the Sustainable Development Agenda. ISBN 9780367425968. Routledge. 236 Pages. https://www.routledge.com/
Indigenous-Knowledges-and-the- Sustainable-Development- Agenda-1st-Edition/Breidlid- Krovel/p/book/9780367425968 - Pathak Broome, N., Bajpai, S. and Shende, M. (2020). On the Cusp: Reframing Democracy and Well-Being in Korchi, India. Beyond Development, Rosa Luxembourg Foundation. https://beyonddevelopment.net/
on-the-cusp-reframing- democracy-and-well-being-in- korchi-india/ -
Pathak Broome, N., Bajpai, S. and Shende, M. (2020). Mining Conflict and Transformative Alternatives in Korchi. Heinrich Boll Stiftung, India. https://in.boell.org/
sites/default/files/2019-12/ Mining%20conflict%20and% 20transformative% 20alternatives%20in%20Korchi. pdf
The film and articles are part of a collaborative study between Kalpavriksh, Maha Gramsabha Korchi, and Amhi Amchya Arogyasathi (a local NGO based in Kurkheda in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra), as part of a global project, the Academic-Activist Co-generation of Knowledge on Environmental Justice or ACKnowl-EJ (www.acknowlej.org).
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