CLASS 10 GEOGRAPHY

Chapter 4 Agriculture Class 10 Geography Notes

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In this post, chapter 4 Agriculture Class 10 Geography Notes are given that is a part of a syllabus of Class 10 SST for session 2024-25.In Chapter 4 Agriculture of Class 10 Geography Ncert ,all topics are covered in descriptive manner so that students could attempt all questions in board exams of CBSE Class 10 SST.

CBSE Class 10 Geography chapter 4 Agriculture Notes

Introduction

India is an agrarian country where two-thirds of its population is engaged in agricultural activities. It is a primary activity, which produces most of the food that we consume. Besides food grains, it also produces raw material for various industries.

Types of Farming

Agriculture is an age-old economic activity in our country. Farming varies from subsistence to commercial type.

Cultivation methods have changed significantly depending upon

•the physical environment

•technological know-how

•Socio-cultural practices.

Primitive Subsistence Farming

•This farming is still practised in few parts of India.

•It is practised on small piece of land with the help of primitive tools like hoe, dao and digging sticks, and family/community labour.

• This farming depends on monsoon, natural fertility of the soil and suitability of other environmental conditions to the crops grown.

•It is a ‘slash and burn’ agriculture.

Slash and Burn Agriculture

Farmers clear a patch of land and produce cereals and other food crops to sustain their family. When the soil fertility decreases, the farmers shift and clear a fresh patch of land for cultivation.

Features

•land productivity is low as the farmer

•fertilisers or other modern inputs are not used.

• Shifting allows nature to replenish the fertility of the soil through natural processes.

It is known by different names in different regions/states of India and the world.

It is jhumming in north-eastern states like Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland;Pamlou in Manipur, Dipa in Bastar district of Chhattishgarh, and in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Intensive Subsistence Farming

•It is practised in areas of high population pressure on land.

•It is labour-intensive farming.

•high doses of biochemical inputs and irrigation are used for obtaining higher production.

•the ‘right of inheritance’ leading to the division of land among successive generations has rendered land-holding size uneconomical.

•the farmers continue to take maximum output from the limited land in the absence of alternative source of livelihood.

Commercial Farming

•use of higher doses of modern inputs,eg- high yielding variety (HYV) seeds, chemical fertilisers, insecticides and pesticides in order to obtain higher productivity.

•The degree of commercialisation of agriculture varies from one region to another. For example, rice is a commercial crop in Haryana and Punjab, but in Odisha, it is a subsistence crop.

Plantation Agriculture

In India, tea, coffee, rubber, sugarcane,banana, etc., are important plantation crops.

•It is a type of commercial farming.

•In this farming, a single crop is grown on a large area.

•Tea in Assam and North Bengal and coffee in Karnataka.

•The plantation has an interface of agriculture and industry.

•It cover large tracts of land, using capital intensive inputs, with the help of migrant labourers.

•Since the production is mainly for market, a well-developed network of transport and communication connecting the plantation areas, processing industries and markets plays an important role in the development of plantations

Cropping Pattern

The physical features and plurality of cultures that decides the cropping pattern exist in different parts of the country and on that basis India has three cropping seasons

-Rabi, kharif and zaid.

Rabi crops

•These crops are sown in winter from October to December

•harvested in summer from April to June.

•Important rabi crops are wheat, barley, peas, gram and mustard.

•These crops are grown in large parts of India, states from the north and north-western parts such as Punjab,Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh are important for the production of wheat and other rabi crops

.Kharif

•Sown with the onset of monsoon in different parts of the country

•harvested in September-October.

•Important kharif crops are paddy, maize, jowar, bajra, tur (arhar),moong, urad, cotton, jute, groundnut and Soyabean.

•In states like Assam,West Bengal and Odisha, three crops of paddy are grown in a year. These are Aus, Aman and Boro.

Zaid

•It is grown in between the rabi and the kharif seasons

•It is a short season during the summer months known as the Zaid season.

•Zaid crops are watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber, vegetables and fodder crops.

Major Crops

A variety of food and non food crops are grown in different parts of the country depending upon

•the variations in soil

• climate

•cultivation practices.

Major crops grown in India are rice, wheat, millets, pulses, tea,Coffee, sugarcane, oil seeds, cotton and jute etc.

Rice

•It is the most staple diet of India

•It requires high temperature above 25°C and high humidity.

•Requires an annual rainfall above 100 cm.

•India is the second largest producer of rice in the world after China.

•grow well in the plains of north and north-eastern India, coastal areas and the deltaic regions.

•It is grown even in areas of low rainfall with dense network of canal irrigation and tubewells like Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh.

Wheat

•Second most important cereal crop after rice and main food crop in the north and north-western part of India.

•This rabi crop requires a cool growing season and bright sunshine at the time of ripening.

• requires 50 to 75 cm of annual rainfall evenly distributed over the growing season.

•The Ganga-Satluj plains in the northwest and the black soil region of the Deccan are two main wheat-growing zones in India.

•Major wheat producing states are Punjab, Haryana , Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Millets

•Jowar, bajra and ragi are the important millets grown in India.

•these are known as coarse grains

• they have very high nutritional value.

Ragi

•Ragi is a crop of dry regions and grows well on red,black, sandy, loamy and shallow black soils

•rich in iron, calcium, other micro nutrients and roughage.

•Major ragi producing states are: Karnataka,Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand,Sikkim, Jharkhand and Arunachal Pradesh.

Read more: Water Resources Class 10 Geography Notes

Jowar

•third most important food crop with respect to area and production.

•It is a rain-fed crop mostly grown in the moist areas which hardly needs irrigation.

•Major Jowar producing States are Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Bajra

•grows well on sandy soils and shallow black soil.

• Major Bajra producing states are Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Haryana. Maize

•It is a kharif crop and used as food and fodder.• It requires temperature between 21°C to 27°C and grows well in old alluvial soil.

•In Bihar maize is grown in rabi season also.

•Use of modern inputs such as HYV seeds, fertilisers and irrigation lead to the increasing production of it.

•Major maize-producing states are Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Pulses:

•India is the largest producer as well as the consumer of pulses in the world.

• major source of protein in a vegetarian diet.

•Major pulses that are grown in India are tur (arhar), urad, moong, masur, peas and gram.

•Need less moisture and survive even in dry conditions.

•Being leguminous crops,all pulses except arhar help in restoring soil fertility by fixing nitrogen from the air.

•these are mostly grown in rotation with other crops.

•Major pulse producing states in India are Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan,Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka.

Sugarcane

•It is a tropical as well as a subtropical crop.

• It grows well in hot and humid climate with a temperature of 21°C to 27° C and annual rainfall between 75cm and 100cm.

•It needs manual labour from sowing to harvesting.

• India is the second largest producer of sugarcane only after Brazil.

•main source of sugar, gur ,(jaggary), khandsari and molasses.

•The major sugarcane-producing states are Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar,Punjab and Haryana.

Oilseeds

•In 2018 India was the second largest producer of groundnut in the world after China.

•In rapeseed production India was third largest producer in the world after Canada and China in 2018.

•Different oil seeds grown in India covers approximately 12 per cent of the total cropped area of the country.

•Main oil-seeds produced in India are groundnut,mustard, coconut, sesamum (til), soyabean,castor seeds, cotton seeds, linseed and sunflower.

•Most of these are edible and used for cooking and som are also used as raw material in the production of soap, cosmetics and ointments.

•Groundnut is a kharif crop and accounts for about half of the major oilseeds produced in the country.

• Gujarat was the largest producer of groundnut followed by Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu in 2019–20.

• Linseed and mustard are rabi crops.

•Sesamum is a kharif crop in north and rabi crop in south India.

•Castor seed is grown both as rabi and kharif crop.

Tea

important beverage crop introduced by the British in India.

•grows well in tropical and sub-tropical climates with deep and fertile well-drained soil, rich in humus and organic matter.

•Tea bushes require a warm and moist frost-free climate all through the year.

•It requires abundant, cheap and skilled labour.

•Tea is processed within the tea garden to restore its freshness.

•Major tea-producing states are Assam, hills of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Coffee

•Indian coffee is known in the world for its good quality.

•The Arabica variety initially brought from Yemen is produced in India.

•its cultivation was introduced on the Baba Budan Hills and even today its cultivation is confined to the Nilgiri in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Horticulture Crops

•India is a producer of tropical as well as temperate fruits.

•India was second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world after China.

•Mangoes of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal

• Oranges of Nagpur and Cherrapunjee (Meghalaya)

•bananas of Kerala, Mizoram, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

•Lichi and Guava of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar• Pineapples of Meghalaya

•Grapes of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra

•Apples, pears, apricots and walnuts of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.

•Major crops produced are pea, cauliflower, onion, cabbage, tomato, brinjal and potato.

Non-Food Crops

Rubber

•It is an equatorial crop, but under special conditions, it is also grown in tropical and sub-tropical areas.

•It requires moist and humid climate with rainfall of more than 200 cm and temperature above 25°C.

•It is mainly grown in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Garo hills of Meghalaya.

Jute

•It is known as the golden fibre.

•It grows well on well-drained fertile soils in the flood plains where soils are renewed every year.

• Requires high temperature during the time of growth.

•West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Odisha and Meghalaya are the major jute producing states.

• used in making gunny bags, mats, ropes,yarn, carpets and other artefacts.

•Due to its high cost, it is losing market to synthetic fibres and packing materials, particularly the nylon.

Fibre Crops

Cotton, jute, hemp and natural silk are the four major fibre crops grown in India.

•The first three are derived from the crops grown in the soil, the latter is obtained from cocoons of the silkworms fed on green leaves specially mulberry.

• Rearing of silk worms for the production of silk fibre is known as sericulture.

Cotton

•India is believed to be the original home of the cotton plant.

•In 2017, India was second largest producer of cotton after China.

• It grows well in drier parts of the black cotton soil of the Deccan Plateau.

•It requires high temperature, light rainfall or irrigation, 210 frost-free days and bright sun-shine for its growth.

•It is a kharif crop and requires 6 to 8 months to mature.

•Major cotton-producing states are–Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh,Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

Technological and Institutional Reforms Sustained uses of land without compatible techno-institutional changes have hindered the pace of agricultural development.

Agriculture which provides livelihood for more than 60 per cent of its population, needs some serious technical and institutional reforms.

•collectivisation, consolidation of holdings, cooperation and abolition of zamindari, and land reforms etc. were given priority to bring about institutional reforms in the country after Independence.

•Introducing agricultural reforms to improve indian agriculture in the 1960s and 1970s like Green Revolution based on the use of package technology and the White Revolution (Operation Flood) were some of the strategies initiated to improve the Indian agriculture.

In the 1980s and 1990s, a comprehensive land development programme was initiated, which included both institutional and technical reforms.

•Provision for crop insurance against drought, flood, cyclone, fire and disease.

•Establishment of Grameen banks, cooperative societies and banks for providing loan facilities to the farmers at lower rates of interest were some important steps in this direction.

•Kissan Credit Card (KCC), Personal Accident,insurance scheme (PAIS) are some other schemes introduced by the Government of India for the benefit of the farmers.

•Special weather bulletins and agricultural programmes for farmers were introduced on the radio and television.

•The government also announces minimum support price, remunerative and procurement prices for important crops to check the exploitation of farmers by speculators and middlemen.

Water Resources Class 10 Geography Notes

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Water resources class 10 Geography notes is comprehensively discussed which would cover various topics of chapter 3 water resources of class 10 Geography ncert.It encompasses topic like sources of freshwater ,water scarcity,causes of water scarcity,dams and multipurpose projects and rainwater harvesting.

Water

Three-fourth of the earth’s surface is covered with water, but only a small proportion of it accounts for freshwater which is less than

Sources of Freshwater

• Surface run off

ground water

• Precipitation

All water moves within the hydrological cycle ensuring that water is a renewable resource.

WATER SCARCITY AND THE NEED FOR WATER CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT

Given the abundance and renewability of water,we suffer from water scarcity. we immediately associate it with regions having low rainfall or those that are drought prone.

Causes of Water Scarcity

•The availability of water resources varies over space and time, mainly due to the variations in seasonal and annual precipitation

•Over-exploitation

•Excessive use

• unequal access to water among different social groups

• Large and growing population

• Water intensive agriculture

• Industrialisation and urbanisation

Population and Water Scarcity

A large population requires more water not only for domestic use but also to produce more food. Hence, to facilitate higher food-grain production, water resources are being over-exploited to expand irrigated areas for dry-season agriculture. Irrigated agriculture is the largest consumer of water

Industrialisation and Water Scarcity

Industries, apart from being heavy users of water, also require power to run them. Much of this energy comes from hydroelectric power. Today, in India hydroelectric power contributes approximately 22 per cent of the total electricity produced.

Urbanisation and water scarcity

Multiplying urban centres with large and dense populations and urban lifestyles have not only added to water and energy requirements but have further aggravated the problem. They have their own groundwater pumping devices to meet their water needs.There has been a growing concern that even if there is ample water to meet the needs of the people, much of it may be polluted by domestic and industrial wastes, chemicals,pesticides and fertilisers used in agriculture, thus, making it hazardous for human use.

Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM)

The Goal of JJM is to enable every rural household get assured supply of potable piped water at a service level of 55 litres per capita per day regularly on long-term basis by ensuring functionality of the tap water connections.

Need to conserve water resources

• To safeguard ourselves from health hazards

• to ensure food security, continuation of our livelihoods and productive activities

• to prevent degradation of our natural ecosystems.

Over exploitation and mismanagement of water resources will impoverish this resource and cause ecological crisis that may have profound impact on our lives.

Forest and Wildlife Resources Class 10 Geography Notes

Dam

A dam is a barrier across flowing water that obstructs, directs or retards the flow, often creating a reservoir, lake or impoundment.“Dam” refers to the reservoir rather than the structure.

Advantages of Dams( Multiplepurpose projects)

• impound rivers and rainwater that could be used later to irrigate agricultural fields.

• built not only for irrigation but also for electricity generation.

• Water supply for domestic and industrial uses• flood control

• Recreation

• inland navigation and fish breeding.

Hence, dams are now referred to as multi-purpose projects where the many uses of the impounded water are integrated with one another.

Development and Multipurpose Projects

Multi-purpose projects, launched after independence with their integrated water resources management approach, were thoughtof as the vehicle that would lead the nation to development and progress, overcoming the handicap of its colonial past. Jawaharlal Nehru proudly proclaimed the dams as the ‘temples of Modern India’; the reason being that it would integrate development of agriculture and the village economy with rapid industrialisation and growth of the urban economy.

Negative Consequences of Multipurpose Projects and Dams

• Regulating and damming of rivers affect their natural flow causing poor sediment flow.

• excessive sedimentation at the bottom of the reservoir, resulting in rockier stream beds and poorer habitats for the rivers’ aquatic life.

• Dams also fragment rivers making it difficult for aquatic fauna to migrate, especially for spawning.

• The reservoirs that are created on the floodplains also submerge the existing vegetation and soil leading to its decomposition over a period of time

• cause of many new environmental movements like the ‘Narmada Bachao Andolan’ and the ‘Tehri Dam Andolan.

• Local people often had to give up their land, livelihood and their meagre access and control over resources for the greater good of the nation

Reason for opposition of Multiple purpose projects

• Triggered floods due to sedimentation in the reservoir

• Also caused extensive soil erosion.

• Induce earthquakes, caused water-borne diseases and pests and pollution resulting from excessive use of water

Rainwater Harvesting

Water harvesting is a system of collection and storage of rain water that runs off from roof tops, open grounds, et that is either stored or recharged into the groundwater. Water harvesting system was a viable alternative, both socio-economically and environmentally . People had in-depth knowledge of rainfall regimes and soil types and developed wide ranging techniques to harvest rainwater, groundwater, river water and flood water in keeping with the local ecological conditions and their water needs.

•In Hill and mountainous regions, people built diversion channels like the ‘guls’ or ‘kuls’ of the Western Himalayas for agriculture.

•‘Rooftop rainwater harvesting’ was commonly practised to store drinking water, particularly in Rajasthan.

• In the flood plains of Bengal, people developed inundation channels to irrigate their fields.

• In arid and semi-arid regions, agricultural fields were converted into rain fed storage structures that allowed the water to stand and moisten the soil like the ‘khadins’ in Jaisalmer and ‘Johads’ in other parts of Rajasthan

• In Rajasthan, particularly in Bikaner, Phalodi and Barmer, almost all the houses traditionally had underground tanks or tankas for storing drinking water.

• Rainwater, or Palar pani, as commonly referred to in these parts, is considered the purest form of natural water.

Important Facts

• Rooftop rainwater harvesting is the most common practice in Shillong, Meghalaya

• Cherapunjee and Mawsynram situated at a distance of 55 km. from Shillong receive the highest rainfall in the world, yet the state capital Shillong faces acute shortage of water.

• Tamil Nadu is the first state in India which has made rooftop rainwater harvesting structure compulsory to all the houses across the state.

Forest and Wildlife Resources Class 10 Geography Notes

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This article deals with the Forest and Wildlife Resources Class 10 Geography Notes which is a part of latest syllabus of class 10 geography for the board exam 2025.It is quite knowledgeable content that has covered each topic of chapter 2 geography forest and Wildlife Resources of Class 10 SST.It would help students to cover this forest and Wildlife Resources chapter 2 geography in an comprehensive manner.

CLASS 10 Geography Forest and Wildlife Resources Notes

Chapter 2 Forest and Wildlife Resources Class 10 Geography has touched every topic of latest syllabus of CBSE class 10 SST for 2024-25 session.This post discusses ecosystem, biological diversity, conservation of forest and wildlife, project tiger, wildlife protection Act,Govt initiatives for conservation, community and conservation,sacred and Joint Forest Management Programme in a descriptive manner that would enrich student’s knowledge about this chapter .It would help students to achieve good score in cbse board exam of class 10 SST.

Introduction

 This entire earth that we live in has immense biodiversity from small micro organisms to large blue whales. We humans along with all living organisms form a complex web of ecological system in which we are only a part and very much dependent on this system for our own existence.

Importance of Forest

 The plants, animals and micro-organisms re-create the quality of the air we breathe, the water we drink and the soil that produces our food without which we cannot survive. Forests play a key role in the ecological system as these are also the primary producers on which all other living beings depend.

Biological Diversity

Biodiversity or Biological Diversity is  richness in living beings including wildlife and cultivated species, diverse in form and function but closely integrated in a system through multiple network of interdependencies.

Flora and Fauna

There are some animals and plants which are unique in your area.  India is one of the world’s richest countries in terms of its vast array of biological diversity.  These diverse flora and fauna are so well integrated in our daily life but they are under great stress due to insensitivity to the environment.

Flora

The vegetation which is unique and specific to a particular region is flora for that region.

Fauna

The wildlife that are found in a specific region and unique for that region

Conservation of Forest and Wildlife in India

Conservation in the background of rapid  decline in wildlife population and forestry has become essential.

 Need to conserve forests and wildlife

  • Conservation preserves the ecological diversity and our life support systems – water, air and soil.
  • It also preserves the genetic diversity of plants and animals for better growth of species and breeding.
  • Fisheries too are heavily dependent on the maintenance of aquatic biodiversity.

Methods of Conservation of Forest and Wildlife

Inthe1960sand1970s,conservationists demanded a national wildlife protection programme.

  • The Indian Wildlife (Protection)Act was implemented in 1972, with various provisions for protecting habitats.
  • An all-India list of protected species was also published
  • Central and many state governments established national parks and wildlife sanctuaries
  • The central government also announced several projects for protecting specific animals, which were gravely threatened, including the tiger, the one-horned rhinoceros, the Kashmir stag or hangul, three types of crocodiles – fresh water crocodile, saltwater crocodile and the Gharial, the Asiatic lion, and others.
  • Even insects are beginning to find a place in conservation planning. In the notification under Wildlife Act of 1980 and 1986, several hundred butterflies, moths beetles and one dragon fly have been added to the list of protected species.

Inthe1960s and1970s,conservationists demanded a national wildlife protection programme.

Need of Wildlife Protection Act Programme

  • Protecting the remaining population of certain endangered species by banning hunting, giving legal protection to their habitats, and restricting trade in wildlife.
  • Most recently, the Indian elephant, black buck (chinkara), the great Indian bustard (godawan) and the snow leopard, etc. have been given full or partial legal protection against hunting and trade throughout India.
  • The conservation projects are now focusing on biodiversity rather than on a few of its components.
  • In 1991, for the first time plants were also added to the list,starting with six species.

Project Tiger

Tiger is one of the key wildlife species in the faunal web. .“Project Tiger”, one of the well-publicised wildlife campaigns in the world ,was launched in 1973.

Purpose of Project Tiger

Tiger conservation has been viewed not only as an effort to save an endangered species, but with equal importance as a means of preserving biotypes of sizeable magnitude.

Tiger Reserves in India

  1. Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand
  2. Sunderbans National Park in West Bengal
  3. Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh
  4. Sariska Wildlife Sanctuary in Rajasthan
  5. Manas Tiger Reserve in Assam
  6. Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala

The major threats to tiger population

  • poaching for trade,
  • shrinking habitat,
  • depletion of prey base species growing human population, etc.
  • The trade of tiger skins and the use of their bones in traditional medicines, especially in the Asian countries left the tiger population on the verge of extinction.

Since India and Nepal provide habitat to about two-thirds of the surviving tiger population in the world, these two nations became prime targets for poaching and illegal trading.

Types of Forest

In India, much of its forest and wildlife resources are either owned or managed by the government through the Forest Department or other government departments. These are classified under the following categories.

Reserved Forests

More than half of the Total forest land has been declared reserved forests. Reserved forests are regarded as the most valuable as far as the conservation of forest and wildlife resources are concerned.

  • Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh,Uttarakhand, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Maharashtra have large percentages of reserved forests of its total forest area

Protected Forest

Almost one third of the total forest area is protected forest, as declared by the Forest Department. This forest land are protected from any further depletion.

  • Bihar, Haryana, Punjab,HimachalPradesh,Odisha and Rajasthan have a bulk of it under protected forests.

Unclassed Forest – These are the other Forests and wastelands belonging to Both government and private individuals And communities.

  • All North eastern states and parts of Gujarat have a very high percentage of their forests as unclassed forests managed by local communities.

Reserved and protected forests are also referred to as permanent forest estates maintained for the purpose of producing timber and other forest produce, and for protective reasons.

 Madhya Pradesh has the largest area under permanent forests, constituting 75 percent of its total forest area.

Community and Conservation. 

In India, forests are also home to some of the traditional communities, local communities are struggling to conserve these habitats along with government officials, recognising that only this will secure their own long-term livelihood.

Role of Community in Conservation

  • In Sariska Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan, villagers have fought against mining by citing the Wildlife Protection Act.
  • In many areas, villagers themselves are protecting habitats and explicitly rejecting government involvement.
  • The inhabitants of five villages in the Alwar district of Rajasthan have declared 1,200 hectares of forest as the Bhairodev  Dakav ‘Sonchuri’, declaring their own set of rules and regulations which do not allow hunting, and are protecting the wildlife against any outside encroachments.
  • The famous Chipko movement in the Himalayas has not only successfully resisted deforestation in several areas but has also shown that community afforestation with indigenous species can be enormously successful.
  • Attempts to revive the traditional conservation methods or developing new methods of ecological farming are now widespread.
  • Farmers and citizen’s groups like the Beej Bachao Andolan in Tehri and Navdanya have shown that adequate levels of diversified crop production without the use of synthetic chemicals are possible and economically viable.
  • In India joint forest management (JFM)programme furnishes a good example for involving local communities in the management and restoration of degraded forests.

Joint Forest Management Programme

The programme has been informal existence since 1988 when the state of Odisha passed the first resolution for joint forest management. JFM depends on the formation of local(village) institutions that undertake protection activities mostly on degraded forest land managed by the forest department. In return, the members of these communities are entitled to intermediary benefits like non-timber forest produces and share in the timber harvested by‘ successful protection’.

 local communities everywhere have to be involved in some kind of natural resource management. Local communities are at the centre-stage in decision-making. Accept only those economic or developmental activities, that are people centric,environment-friendly and economically rewarding.

Sacred Grooves

Nature worship is an age old tribal belief based on the premise that all creations of nature have to be protected.Such beliefs have preserved several virgin forests in pristine form called Sacred Groves (the forests of God and Goddesses). These patches of forest or parts of large forests have been left untouched by the local people and any interference with them is banned.

  • Mundas and the Santhal of Chota Nagpur region worship mahua (Bassia latifolia) and kadamba (Anthocaphaluscadamba)trees
  • tribal of Odisha and Bihar worship the tamarind(Tamarindus indica)and mango(Mangiferaindica)trees during weddings.
  •  To many of us, peepal and banyan trees are considered sacred.

 Sacred qualities are often ascribed to springs, mountain peaks, plants and animals which are closely protected. In and around Bishnoi villages in Rajasthan, herds of blackbuck,(chinkara),nilgai and peacocks can be seen as an integral part of the community and nobody harms them.

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