Effects Of Deforestation On Tribes Of Odisha- Case Of The Lanjia Saora & The Juang

Abstract

Today serious matter of worldwide concern is the phenomenon of degradation of the natural environment as a direct consequence of deforestation precipitated by a situation of over-exploitation of natural resources. Large tracts of moist tropical vegetations are disappearing fast from the earth's surface day by day.Now more than anybody else, the tribal folks who have been the denizens of forest since time immemorial stand at the receiving end of the disaster as its worst victims.To the forest dependent tribals, the forest has not been a source of profit but of survival. Therefore, deforestation involved the deprival of their life support system around which they had built their socio-cultural, economic and religious life. For them it is not merely the deprival of MFP but a crisis in their life. Economically, it involved scarcity of food, fuel, fodder, medicinal herbs and small timber on which they depended for ages. This book presents the findings of an empirical research study aimed at assessment of the effects of deforestation on Odishan tribes. The Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PTG) i.e., the Lanjia Saora of Puttasing of Rayagada district in southern Odisha and the Juang-the autochthones of Gonasika hills of Keonjhar district in northern Odisha who live in remote forest areas in their simple societies in a state of semi-isolation and thrive upon a subsistence economy based on land and forest has been taken as the subjects of this study.