Role of Joint Forest Management in the Socio-Economic Enhancement of Tribal's in Madhya Pradesh

Abstract

Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest area in India. The area of Madhya Pradesh is 30.28 million ha, as the state of Madhya Pradesh is second largest in terms of area in the country. It consists 9.38 % of the geographical area of the country. In Madhya Pradesh more than 20000 villages are in and around forests, they account 42% of the total villages of the state. Madhya Pradesh is receiving worldwide popularity in terms of conservation and protection of natural resources mainly through Joint Forest Management which has a well renowned record over the past three decades. The study was carried out in the Mandla district of the Madhya Pradesh targeting on the tribal areas which are proximate to forests, with an aim to find out the impact of Joint Forest Management in the economic enhancement of the tribal population, to find out the level of participation in Joint Forest Management activities. The participatory rural assessment approaches were used to collect the data from respondents of the study area involved in the forestry sector. Data was collected by using household interview, semi-structured questionnaires, and data were inserted and analyzed in MS Excel and in SPSS (Statistical package for social sciences). Chi square test at 5% level of significant is applied. It is found that the Non-timber forest products in the study area contribute 25% in the total income of the forest users. It is also found that the Joint Forest Management has brought great changes in the area either ecologically and economically.