About 74.74 million h.a. or 22.7 percent of the land area of India is classified as forest but only 40.00 percent of this area is under tree cover. Due to depletion of forest resources, we are facing the triple crisis of environmental degradation, unemployment and rural poverty.
Forests are intimately connected with the life of tribes and play a vital role in their economy. The forests not only provide them food, house-building materials, fuel for cooking and warmth and fodder for their cattle but also satisfy their deep-rooted sentiments, In times of distress like famine, forests are their last resort. The tribals and forests are one body, one mind, one soul.
Dr. D. N. Tewari examines this dependence of the tribals on forests, with reference to Bastar, the biggest District in Madhya Pradesh. About 68.00 percent of the District population con-sists of colourful but very very poor tribals. He has collected data from 40 sample villages of the District to verify his hunches, put them systematically and drawn wise conclusions therefrom.
The present pattern of development, under which commercial interests, forest industries and development infra-structure claim the largest portion of the natural resources, has resulted in victimisation of the tribals. Commercial and industrial interests look upon forests only as a source of wealth whereas for the tribals, forests are source of their sustenance.
The primary task of all agencies responsible for forests management should be to associate tribals closely in the protection, regeneration and development of forests as well as to provide gainful employment to the people living in and around the forests. Tribal customary rights and interests in forest should be safe-guarded.
Special attention should be paid to (i) substitution of intermediaries by institutional arrangements which promote the interests of tribals, (ii) regeneration, collection, processing and marketing of minor forest produce, (iii) family beneficiary schemes for upgrading the economy of the tribals and (iv) undertaking integrated area development programmes to meet the needs of tribal economy. Dr. Tewari's monograph is a land-mark in the multi-disciplinary approach in social sciences. He wrote this as a thesis for Ph.D. degree of the Gujarat Vidyapith and later developed it as a research monograph in an exemplary multi-disciplinary way. He has ingeniously used both the science of forestry and anthropology in understanding the tribals' dependence on forests and also in suggesting development programme for the advantage of both. We hope the Anthropology and Sociology Departments in Universities, Forestry and Development Departments of Central and State Governments, Voluntary Organisations and scholars will find this monograph useful in their studies. I thank him for his painstaking efforts under the most enlightened advice of Dr. T. B. Naik, Prof. of Social Anthropology who has promoted several such illustrious studies.
It is a very fortuitous coincidence that practically wherever there are concentrations of tribal population, there happens to be sufficient forest area nearby. Bastar district, being the biggest in Madhya Pradesh, with 53 percent of the forest cover form one of the largest and complex biogeographic zones in the country. The people of Bastar are variegated lot. Of the total population, about 67.8 percent are tribals comprising sub-groups of different communities both large and small, having cultural and social variations. The district is rich in natural resources but is in-habited by poor people who are paradoxically contended.
Time and again it is said that tribals have evolved a way of life, which on the one hand, woven around forest ecology and forest resources and on the other ensures that forest is protected against depredation by man and nature. It is well known fact that tribal economy revolves around forests and forest pro-ducts but dependence of tribals on forests has not been systematically studied by anyone.
The present study makes an attempt to portray and analyse dependence of tribals on forest in Bastar district of Madhya Pradesh. It concludes that Forestry Development can benefit the tribals without destroying their freedom, precious value system and communal dignity.
I express my sincere gratitude to Dr. T. B. Naik, Professor, Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad, who inspired me to complete this study for my Ph.D. work. I wish to record my gratitudes to Shri Ramlal Parikh, Vice-Chancellor, Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad, for extending support to publish the study in the shape of a book.
I am grateful to all my colleagues for the help and support given by them in completing this task.
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