DEFORESTATION IN INDIA: SNATCHING AWAY THE HOMES OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLEJinu Joseph and Shyni T. AlexanderAbstract Indiaâs total forest and tree cover is projected to be 80.73 million ha, which constitute 24.56 percent of the total geographical area of the country. Deforestation is a major threat that create ecological problems in every part of the world, which is mainly due to the conversion of forest area to non-forest area by the human interference. The deforestation makes a lot of negative impact on the earth. This may lead to the end of life in earth. Deforestation not only affects the environment and climate but also affects the life of indigenous people especially the tribals in our country whose life is closely linked with the nature. It is a fact that forests have played significant role in shaping the social, economic, religious, cultural, and political systems of tribal communities of the country. The indigenous people pay great respect to trees, animals, flowers, birds and everything in the nature. Deforestation is bringing about a lot of problems like lack of food, livelihood insecurity, out migration, displacement, isolation from the natural environment, social and economic imbalance among the tribal communities in the country. In this article the researcher deals with the structure, growth and composition of forest areas in India from 2011 to 2019. This article also analyses the deforestation rates and impacts of deforestation on indigenous people, especially the tribals in India. |