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The Jamun Tree and other stories on the environment provides an insider’s view–from the villages, of work related to natural resource management. It describes the process by which farmers were motivated and involved to regard the work to be done as their own. It is a narration of the personal experience of people in those village areas where the author worked.

Starting the endeavour with just 95 farmers on a mere 18 hectares land, the programme has benefitted over 10,000 farmers by reclaiming over 4,600 hectares in just two years. Till date, with the intervention of the World Bank, a total of 6.25 lakh hectares has been reclaimed and the work is still on. The action taken found an echo with local people as it followed the need of the hour, right there in the field, with innovative techniques and new ideas.

Key Features: An insider's view of work related to natural resource management and community development. Establishes one of the most important tenets of development studies: involvement of people in the decision-making process is the key to any development initiative. Reinforces the importance of a bottom-up approach of development initiatives. Emphasizes the significance of adequate capacity-building of people. The data accounted for is original and the experiences in most cases, are the author’s own. The narrative is in a story-telling pattern, though most of the incidents and people are from real life.