ABSTRACT
Historically, the forest resources in India were being accessed and utilized predominantly by the forest-dependent communities. However after the advent of British in India, they hedged in several restrictions on the utilization of these resources. Over the past years, studies have shown that forest policies and acts claim to conserve and provide equitable distribution of forest resources among the human population (Guha 1983; Gadgil and Guha 1992, 1994; Bandopadhyay 2010; Rangarajan and Sivaramkrisnan 2012). However, there are instances of state using its power to exclude forest-dependent communities from their rights to livelihood, and thus social equity and justice has remained elusive (Khana 2005 and Kumar 2012). Unlike other regions of India, the administrative control of forests in the north-east is predominantly still under the community, with much of the forests listed as ‘unclassified’. As in other parts of India, the state forest departments administer ‘reserved’ and ‘protected’ forests. In the unclassified region, forests have been protected and conserved by the tribal since time immemorial as a part of customary laws (Nongbri, 1999). However, the apathetic attitude of the state and its agencies has not only given rise to apprehensions but also atrophied the traditions of conservation and sustainable use of resources that have been practiced by the indigenous communities of north-east India.1
