Economic impact of forest policy on tribals in Mahrashtra.

This book uses empirical data to articulate the issues of the Indian tribal economy in general and the role of minor forest produce in the tribal economy in particular. It throws new light on hitherto under-researched areas, especially those related to the significance of minor forest produce. This book is primarily based on the functioning of the tribal economy and draws on the experience gained by the author during his sojourn as a research scholar working the debt of tribal farmers and the technological gap in tribal agriculture. Empirical evidence is given in the present book to explore the validity of the earlier hypotheses in respect of the contribution of minor forest produce to the total income of the tribal households. Furthermore, a statistical analysis is undertaken to ascertain the relative contribution of each forest product to the augmentation of tribal earnings. The empirical work in this book also corroborates the theories of dependency between the forest and the tribals.

"A masterful study. . . . It does for ecological history what the writings of Marx and Engels did for the study of class relations and social production."—Michael Adas, Rutgers University

This book offers a bird’s eye view of the economic and environmental history of the Indian peninsula during colonial era. It analyses the nature of colonial land revenue policy, commercialisation of forest resources, consequences of coffee plantations, intrusion into tribal private forests and tribal-controlled geographical regions, and disintegration of their socio-cultural, political, administrative and judicial systems during the British Raj. It explores the economic history of the region through regional and ‘non-market’ economies and addresses the issues concerning local communities. Comprehensive, systematic and rich in archival material, this book will be useful to scholars and researchers in history, especially those concerned with economic and environmental history.

First Published in 2012. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

A plethora of literature is available and various studies have been undertaken on different aspects of tribal development. But very few on the analysis of tribal problems vis-à-vis programmes/policies for their development has remained more or less unexplored. The present study has attempted to plug this critical gap. In this book the author has delved deeper into the genesis of tribal problems, critically examined the programmes for their development in the past and present and offered some valuable insights for lifting them out of the morass of poverty and stagnation. It has traced successive shifts in tribal development policies and strategies at different points of time. A thumbnail picture has been presented on impact of the programmes on the stakeholders through case studies conducted in a remote district of a poverty ridden state. The results of the field study tend to conceptualise that despite input in terms of money and material and the so called coveted efforts and endeavours of public servants, there is an abysmal mismatch between the objectives and achievement. We are still far away from the point of their conscientisation. The study will be of immense academic and practical worth. The comprehensive analysis and critical review presented in this book on an important aspect of tribal development and finally the policy prescriptions suggested make it imperative reading for economists, anthropologists, planners, policy makers, administrators and members of the academic and research organizations.