Jharkhand: Unique treasure of forest products

Jharkhand is unique in the country for its natural forests with bio-diversity . It wouldn't be any exaggeration if one says that forest is the backbone of Jharkhand's economy. Almost 30 percent of it's area is covered by rich forest which is almost 24 thousand sq kms. If we include plantation of both private and public sectors , it can cover almost 33 percent which is considered as the optimum target for any area. As per the records available with Institute of forest productiviry, Ranchi, 58 sq  kms forest area has been added during the last two years. 
The sustainability of the Minor Forest Produce forms the core of all issues. There was a time when these products were in abundance, but due to lack of proper management, both by the people and the government, their sustenance beyond this generation carries a big question mark. The reasons for such a crisis are many but the foremost has been the lack of any clear-cut policy towards these products.

The forest Department has its own problems.The forest in Jharkhand comprises of biological and geophysical diversities. Due to variations of altitude and rainfall, diverse forest types and species are available in Jharkhand. Many species are economically important for the people living in & around the forest areas. These people mainly tribal are engaged in the collection of leaves, barks, gums, roots, flowers, fruits and sometimes entire plants.Forest provides invaluable income to millions of tribal people and forest dwellers and, thereby, plays an important role in their life support system. They depend on it for food, fodder, medicines.

Forest is a source of livelihood for nearly 2 million poor and tribal people of Jharkhand . Despite the natural resources in such abundance the state's poverty ratio is about  35% as against the national average of 20%.A large percent of population depend totally on the forest ,during times of unemployment. Also, the survey reported that most forest products are collected for personal use. Forestry sector contributes 4 to 7 percent of employment and has very low productivity in terms of per unit generation of timber. In Tribal sub plan districts, tribal populations are in majority but there are tribal populations in other districts also and for their livelihood the prime source is the forest. The forests, being one of the most important entity the terrestrial ecological system which is presently under extreme biotic pressure, is still a renewable natural resource that support not only human life but also providing various habitat to millions of life forms, attracts needs to manage it scientifically to sustain.
The most striking issue is that almost 70 percent of the tribal people are dependent on forest products so far as livelihood is concerned . For tribal societies forests are second most important source of livelihood after agriculture. The irony is that despite huge potential, Jharkhand doesn't have any concrete policies for protecting forests and creating employment based on this. The idea and the struggle for the  formation of separate Jharkhand state got momentum because of this only so that the lives of tribal people could be drastically improved but the target is still  far away .