Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: India is enriched with all kinds of geographical definitions. Forest is one amongst others. Tribes are aboriginal; their individual traditional methods of sustaining livelihood identify their socio-economic condition and cultural heritage. The then ruler realizing the immense commercial potentiality of Indian Forest, amalgamated with better knowledge of the tribal community in the regard, ushered the Indian Forest Act in 1865 to establish absolute supremacy and control over the forest. The Lodha were indigenes, innocent, illiterate, hunter-gatherer forest dwelling primitive tribe and forest was their principal source of sustaining livelihood and domain. By dint of the Act without knowing any implications they were totally dislodged from the forest, which could not stop them from forest collections, since the forest was their basic source of sustaining livelihood. Repeated such actions identified them law offenders and restrained them by the Criminal Tribes Act 1871, though it was repealed in 1952, still the stigma to be foster even today. Thus, the ignorance of law and never ending dependence of the forest compelled them in capricious socioeconomic, sociobiological interpretation through malnutrition at present day scenario. The quest was quenched at Lengamara, a Lodha village under Khagra Beat, Hijli Range of Kharagpur Forest Division revealing facts and figures iterated in the sequel.
Authors: Suparna Sanyal Mukherjee, Saikat Kumar Basu
Institution: Seacom Skills University
Language: English
Subfield: Anthropology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4399541954