Is bamboo a type of tree or grass? For the inhabitants of Sandni village in Rajasthan's Chittorgarh district as well as thousands of others dwelling in rural areas across the country, this is a million dollar question. The reason: residents of such villages are legally entitled to 100 per cent rights over grass in the woodland protected by them under the Joint Forest Management (jfm) programme. It may be noted that though botanists consider bamboo a grass species, the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, does not categorise it thus. This has enabled state forest departments to conveniently wrest control of bamboo trade at a time when revenues from timber harvesting are drying up.

Against such a backdrop, the Planning Commission's comprehensive report