green guarantee: The Centre will extend its rural job guarantee schemes to plantations. State governments have been asked to deploy "tree guards' to protect "avenue plantations' on rural roads

The National Food for Work Programme (NFFWP), launched in 2004, identified 50 backward districts, where employment guarantee scheme was to get started. The 150 districts were identified by the Planning Commission on the basis of three criteria, Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) population, agricultural productivity per worker, and agricultural wage rate in the district. The author find that the final choice for the NFFWP was not consistent with the methodology mentioned, nor can it be defended by using other measures of backwardness.

This study quantifies the tangible, economic benefits of a nongovernmental organization's social forestry project to local people and analyzes the potential return from this investment in natural capital. The analysis was conducted in the Kumaun hill region of Uttaranchal, India, using participatory rapid appraisal, household survey, avoided cost method, and present value investment analysis.