The persistence of populism in Indian Forest policy

In the last ten years, the definition of the national interest in forest policy in India has changed. Before 1988, the national interest had been defined as industrial forestry. Since 1988, the priorities are conservation and meeting local subsistence needs. This reorientation in policy has developed alongside a populist critique of the ideology of development in colonial and post‐independence forest management. This article examines why populism persists as an explanation for environment‐society interaction and the consequences of this for meeting local needs. It is argued that populist explanations have allowed the state to retain final control over the distribution of benefit streams from forests and respond to local demands with accommodative policy statements.