IJEP 42(8): 1008-1013 : Vol. 42 Issue. 8 (August 2022)
1. K.R. Manglam University, School of Humanities (Economic Department), Gurgaon – 122 103, Haryana, India
2. Amity University, Raipur – 493 225, Chhattisgarh, India
3. Chandigarh University, University School of Business, Chandigara – 148 413, India
Abstract
Chhattisgarh, the 10th largest state of India, is famous for its forests and tribal population. The forest area as a percentage of the state’s total area as per the latest economic survey of the state stands at 44.2%, much higher than the all-India level of 21.67%. The total tribal population of the state represents more than 10% of entire India and accounts for more than 30% of the state’s population. The tribal population of the state is immensely dependent on the forests for their livelihood. The forest is their dwelling and a vital income source considering the non-timber forest produce collected by the tribal women. The forest also provides them firewood, medicinal plants, mahua, etc., for their captive use. In this background, proper measurement of the forest area across the state becomes immensely important. However, consideration of economic surveys of the state from 2007-08 to 2020-21 raises some doubt regarding the authenticity of the state’s forest area data. The present paper leads an investigative approach backed by solid literature review and quantitative comparison to determine whether the forest area data is fudged or accurate. The result refutes forest area related economic survey data of Chhattisgarh as accurate.
Keywords
Forest area, Forest destruction, Tribal, NTFP, Livelihood, Chhattisgarh, Data fudging
References
- NIC. About Chhattisgarh. National Information Centre, CG State Centre. Available at : http://cgtrti. gov.in/About Cg-html.
- Economic Survey. 2020-21. Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Chhattisgarh, Govt. of Chhattisgarh, Raipur.
- GDL. Sunational HDI. Global Data Lab, Institute of Management Research, Radbound University. Available at : https://globaldatalab.org/shdi/shdi/IND/? levels=1%6284 and interpolation=0 & extrapolation= O and nearest real=0.
- Chutani, D. and P. Singh. 2017. Overview of PMFME scheme. In PM formalisation of micro food processing enterprises (PM-FME) scheme. Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology (IIFPT), Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Govt. of India.
- Ganguly, B.K. and K. Chaudhary. 2003. Forest product of Bastar : A story of tribal exploitation. Economic Political Weekly. 38:2985-2989.
- Ahirwar, R.K. 2015. Diversity of ethnomedicinal plants in boridand forest of district Korea, Chhattisgarh, India. American J. Plant Sci., 6:413-425.
- Bhat, S.J.A., M.A. Itoo and S.M. Geelani. 2016. Non-timber forest produce of Bilaspur forest division of Chhattisgarh state of India and their potential in the livelihood of tribal communities. J. Plant Sci. Res., 32:189-194.
- Chandel, P.K., R. Prajapati and R.K. Dhurwe. 2018. Documentation of traditional collection methods of different NTFPS in different seasons in Narayanpur forest area of Chhattisgarh. J. Pharmacognosy Phytochem., 6:3124-3133.
- Chauhan, D., A.K. Shrivastava and S. Patra. 2014. Diversity of leafy vegetables used by tribal peoples of Chhattisgarh, India. Int. J. Curr. Microbial. Appl. Sci., 3:611-622.
- Churpal, D., et al. 2021a. Economically and traditionally important non-timber forest products (NTFPs) of Chhattisgarh. J. Pharmacognosy Phytochem., 10:89-92.
- Churpal, D., et al. 2021b. An economic evaluation of cost and return on non-timber forest products (NTFPs) in Chhattisgarh. J. Pharmacohnosy phytochem., 10:272-274.
- Gupta, A.K., M.L. Sharma and L. Singh. 2017. Utilization pattern of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) among the tribal population of Chhattisgarh, India. Int. J. Bioresour. Stress Manage., 8:327-333. DOI: 10.23910/ ijbsm/2017.8.2.1764b.
- Kala, C.P. 2009. Aboriginal uses and management of ethnobotanical species in deciduous forests of Chhattisgarh state in India. J. Ethnobiol. Ethnomedicine. 5 (i):20. DOI:10.1186/1746-4269-5-20.
- Kuruwanshi, V.B., P. Katiyar and S. Khan. 2018a. Anatomical study of ethylene induced gum duct formation and scientific gum tapping technique in gum karaya (Sterculia urens Roxb.). Int. J. Chem. Studies. 8:2376-2382. DOI:10.2271/chemi.2020.v8.i6ah.11129.
- Kuruwanshi, V.B., et al. 2018b. Histological study of ethylene induced gum duct formation in gum karaya (Sterculia urens Roxb.). J. Pharmacognosy phytochem., 7:348-350.
- Mishra, D. and A. Broker. 2009. An ethno-medicinial study among the gond of Chhattisgarh, India. Etnobotanical. 5:61-65.
- Painkra, M., J. Dutta and M.M. Ranga. 2017. Status survey of non-wood forest products in Surguja district of Chhattisgarh, India. J. Appl. Forest Ecol., 5:19-27.
- Paul, B., V.K. Soni and A. Das. 2013. Forest dependency of Dhurwa tribe found in Bastar plateau of Chhattisgarh. Life Sci. Leaflets. 37:1-5.
- Dust, P., et al. 2008. Re-inventing forestry agencies : Experiences of institutional restructuring in Asia and Pacific. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Bangkok.
- Sharma, D., et al. 2014. A study on consumption trends of fuel wood and their impact on forest in Kanker forest division of Chhattisgarh state (India). Int. J. Sci. Res. Publication. 4(1):301-304.
- Shau, L.K., M.A. Ayub and O.K. Netam. 2017. Trends in growth of collection and sales of tendu leaves in Chhattisgarh state, India. Plant Arch., 17:132-134.
- Toppo, P., A. Raj and M.K. Jharia. 2016. Agraforestry systems practiced in Dhamtari district of Chhattisgarh, India. J. Appl. Natural Sci., 8:1850-1854. DOI:10.31018/jans.v8i4.1052.
- Kala, C.P. and Y. Dubey. 2012. Anthropogenic disturbances and status of forest and wildlife in the dry deciduous forests of Chhattisgarh state in India. J. Forestry Res., 23:45-52. DOI:10.1007/s11676-012-0219-7.
- Chandrakar, K., et al. 2014. A study on the role of sacred groves in conserving the genetic diversity of the rare, endangered and threatened species of flora and fauna of Chhattisgarh state (India). Int. J. Sci. Res. Publications. 4(1):271-275.
- Ahmad, F., M.M. Uddin and L. Goparaju. 2019. Analysis of forest health and socio-economic dimension in climate change scenario and its future impacts : Remote sensing and GIS approach. Spatial Information Res., 27:385-397. DOI:10.1007/s41324-019-00245-5.
- Balgir, R.S. 2011. Genetic disease burden, nutrition and determinants of tribal healthcare in chhattisgarh state of central-east India: A status paper. J. Health and Allied Sci., 10:1-7.
- Kunjam, S.R., S.K. Jadhav and K.L. Tiwari. 2013. Traditional herbal medicines for the treatment of snake bite and scorpion sting by the tribes of south Surguja, Chhattisgarh, India. Medicinal Aromatic Plants. 2:2120.DOI:10.4172/2167-0412.100 0120.
- Nanda, N., et al. 2012. Prevalence and incrimination of Anopheles fluviatilis species S (Diptera : Culicidae) in a malaria endemic forest area of Chhattisgarh state, central India. Parasites vectors. 5:1-6. DOI:10.1186/1756-3305-5-215.
- Niyaj, A. and S. Pushpraj. 2014a. Change detection analysis of forest area of Kenda village of Kota block, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh. Int. J. Res. Advent. Tech., 2:348-353.
- Pandey, A.K. and D.C. Kori. 2011. Non-destructive harvesting practices of Terminalia arjuna (arjuna), phyllanthus emblica (aonla) and Andrographis paniculata (kalmegh). Indian Forester. 137:1269-1279.
- Shukla, N. and S. Pandey. 2015. A study on marketing of forest produce of Chhattisgarh state., Int. Res. J. Eng. Tech., 2(8): 1665-1671.
- Thakur, T., S.L. Swamy and A.S. Nain. 2014. Composition, structure and diversity characterization of dry tropical forest of chhattisgarh using satellite data. J. Forestry Res., 25:819-825. DOI:10. 1007/s11676-014-0486-6.
- Jhariya, M.K., S.S. Bargali and A. Raj. 2015. Possibilities and perspectives of agroforestry in Chhattisgarh. In Precious Forests: Precious Earth. DOI :10.5772/60841.
- Gupta, A.K., et al. 2015. Problems faced by tribes in collection and marketing of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) in Chhattisgarh, India. Plant Arch., 15:789-793.
- Singh, R.K. 2016. Endemic and threatened angiosperms of chhattisgarh state, India. J. Non-Timber Forest Products. 23(4):239-243.
- Lal, C., L. Singh and D.R. Bhardwaj. 2015. Regeneration status and floristic composition of natural and plantation. Indian Forester. 141(8):848-853.
- Economic Survey. 2007-08. Directorate of Economic and Statistics, Govt. of Chhattisgarh, Raipur.
- Economic Survey. 2008-09. Directorate of Economic and Statistics, Govt. of Chhattisgarh, Raipur.
- Economic Survey. 2009-10. Directorate of Economic and Statistics, Govt. of Chhattisgarh, Raipur.
- Economic Survey. 2010-11. Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Govt. of Chhattisgarh, Raipur.
- Economic Survey. 2011-12. Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Govt. of Chhattisgarh, Raipur.
- Economic Survey. 2012-13. Directorate of Economics an Statistics, Govt. of Chhatisgarh, Raipur.
- Economic Survey. 2013-14. Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Govt. of Chhatisgarh, Raipur.
- Ecomic Survey. 2014-15. Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Govt. of Chhattisgarh, Raipur.
- Economic Survey. 2015-16. Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Govt. of Chhattisgarh, Raipur.
- Economic Survey. 2016-17. Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Govt. of Chhattisgarh, Raipur.
- Economic Survey. 2017-18. Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Govt. of Chhattisgarh, Raipur.
- Economic Survey. 2018-19. Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Govt. of Chhattisgarh, Raipur.
- Economics Survey. 2019-20. Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Govt. of Chhattisgarh, Raipur.
- Census. 2022. Top 10 largest states of India by total area. Census 2011. Available at : https://www.census 2011.co.in/facts/largestates. html.
