Village Forest Committee (VFC) members engage in diverse and multiple activities to improve their livelihoods by maximizing their income through income generating activities, while minimizing vulnerability and risk and achieving other household objectives (improved health, nutrition and education etc.). These activities may include forestry based farm, non-farm and other non-forestry activities. An attempt was made in the study to construct a scale to measure livelihood status of VFC members due to joint forest planning and management (JFPM) programme. The method of rating was followed in the construction of livelihood status scale. The scale was found to be reliable and valid. The livelihood scale developed was administered to 30 VFC members of Gollahatty village, Sira taluk of Tumkur district in Karnataka state during 2015. The results revealed that 77.00 per cent of VFC members had medium to high level of livelihood status and 23.00 per cent of VFC members had low levels of livelihood status respectively.

Keyword: Livelihood status; Assets; Activities; Capabilities