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June 5 is observed as Environment Day. In tropical India, by the
second week of the June, the spell of hot days begins to subside
with advent of southwest monsoon. The plants revive again and
animals including humans get relief. Natural forest, which is ever
decreasing in India, rejuvenates. Often the tribal communities
living inside declared forestland are blamed for wanton
destruction of forest. The government formulated forest protection
laws and the tribal people are dissuaded to hunt game animals,
collect wood fuel and minor-forest materials like leaves fruits
and flowers. The tribals are considered as encroachers. This is
similar to declare fishes as unwanted inhabitants of protected
water bodies.
Much before the formulation
of forest protection laws, many tribal people made hilly jungles
as their homeland. These aboriginal citizens depend on natural
resources for their sustenance. They do not require wood to
decorate their huts with furniture. They clear thickets on hill slopes or upland for
cultivation of crops, sparing valuable trees. Of course sometimes,
the forest fire produced by them engulfs some vegetation. The law
enforcing civilized people take these actions by the tribal
people as main cause for depletion of forest. But those who have
intimate knowledge about the tribal way of life know how colored is
this view. The tribal people are depicted as the
villain of the forest to cover up the malpractice of the timber
merchants. The forest department people are either silent
spectator or passive collaborator. More valuable trees are felled
than actually permitted. The economically deprived tribal people
are engaged by the wood-smugglers to carry out these unlawful
activities. So when forest guards spot them, the original culprit
remain unscathed.
Many seminars and brain
storming discussions have so far been held and many more methods to
stop this malpractice have been prescribed. A method to involve the local
tribal people in the protection of forest has been implemented
with partial success. The famous ‘Chipko’ movement by the
tribal women showed way. On last June 5, a news channel showed
that tribal women in Orissa have come forward to protect their
neighborhood forest from illegal felling of trees and poaching of
animals. As tribal women are deeply associated with forest
collection, they have taken the initiatives to protect their
source of livelihood. Men also, reportedly back them.
The so-called ‘civilized’
people, who think globally, often ignore the views of ‘backward’
aborigines regarding environment protection. These people whose
existence is intermingled with immediate environment, have their
own way of understanding the pulse of nature and never cause
extensive damage. They do not hunt female animal or floral species
on which animals depend. They propitiate earth, fire, rivulets
etc. The designing of regional rituals and customary habits are
adaptive to all natural environments.
It is the activities of the ruling ‘developed’
people, which cause extensive damage to the environment in the
name of industrialization in cheaper way.
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