Chapter-2

Profile of State, District and Respondents

 2.1    State Profile 

The new state of Jharkhand came into existence on 15^th November 2000 after the bifurcation of the state of Bihar. It consists of Chhotanagpur Plateau, which is a part of the Deccan Biographic province. It is one of the most important mineral producing states of the country. The state lies between 22’00’’ & 24’37’’ North latitude and 83’15’’ & 87’01’’ East longitude. It Shares its boundaries with Bihar in the North, Orissa in the South, West Bengal in the East and Chhatishgarh and Uttar Pradesh in the West. The geographic area of the state is 79714 sq. kms, which is 2.4 percent of the country’s geographic area. The total population of the state is 26.91 million, which is 2.6 percent of the country’s population. The proportion of rural and urban population is 77.8 percent and 22.2 percent respectively. The average population density is 338 sq. km. The tribal population is 26.3 percent of the total population. The state ranks 10^th among all the states and UTs in respect of area under forest cover.

 

The forests of Jharkhand region were once covered by dense forest growth with a variety of flora and fauna, which used to be the hunting reserves of the Jamindars and Rajas who owned them. The cultivation, grazing and exploitation of timber were strictly prohibited. At that time the forest consisted of thick vegetation of Sal, Khair, Bija-sal etc. with dense under growth of herbs and grasses. During early 20^th century, the Jamindar started exploiting the timber of the forest for their revenue earning and this stage in 1946, the forest department for the first time started the scientific management of these forests. Thereafter, due to the increasing demand for the forest produce mainly timber the forest crops were harvested and illegally felled by the people and in this process the thick forest cover started becoming thin and scattered. Similarly, grazing and fires also took their toll replaced by bare hill slopes with scattered thorny bushes. Serious soil erosion has become quite common and the once perennial streams became seasonal and torrential rain washing tons of sand and boulders down the hills and causing frequent floods in the plains. Landslides and land slips have also occurred on steep and precipitous slopes leaving them barren devoid of top soil and vegetative cover. Most of the villages in this tract are located near the forest areas and are dependent on them for fuel, fodder and timber requirements. The increase in human and cattle population has further led to the destruction of vegetation in the forests. The cases of degradation are a complex interrelation of vegetation of socio-economic, geological and biological factors. Continuous efforts are being made for the protection and conservation of forest resources through various means and measures though with limited results. Therefore, ecological degradation of rest of Jharkhand is continuing.

 

2.1.1 Current Status of Forest in Jharkhand

The recorded forest areas comprise about 23605 square kilometers, which is 29.61 per cent of the total geographical area. As per legal classification there are three types of forests in the state viz. Reserved, Protected and Un-classed. The distribution of area under each category is given below in table-2.1.

 

Table-2.1

Recorded Forest Area in the state

 

 

The proportion of forest area in the state is 29.61% of the state total geographical area while it is 3.1% of the country total forest cover. The forest department has defined the different categories of forest based on provision of control and protection by department and degree of freedom to community people to have entry into these forest areas. Thus RF is an area notified under the provisions of Indian Forest Act, having full degree of protection. In Reserved Forests all activities are prohibited unless permitted. PF an area notified under the provisions of Indian Forest Act, having limited degree of protection. In protected forests are permitted unless prohibited. Where as UF is an area recorded as forest but not included in reserved or protected forest category.  

 

Of the total recorded 81.3% belong to PF category followed by 18.6% RF and a meager 0.1 is under UF category.

 

Recorded Forest Area in Jharkhand under Different Category

 

 

As per FSI report 2001, the forest cover of the state is 28.4 per cent of the geographical area whereas Forest and Tree cover is 31.8 per cent of the total area of the state. The proportion of dense forest in the state is 14.8%, while open forest share is 13.65 and about two third areas is non forest (71.6%). The density of forest cover in the state has been shown with the help of pie-chart as given below. 

 

Density of Forest Cover in Jharkhand 

 

2.2    Districts Profile 

Presently there are 24 districts in the state of Jharkhand. But demographic and socio- economic data of the two newly created districts namely Ramgarh (carved out from Hazaribagh) and Khunti (carved out from Ranchi) have been analyzed with the parent districts. The data provided by Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Cell, Van Bhavan, Ranchi, Government of Jharkhand with regard to the current assessment of State Plan Plantation conducted during the period of 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 was on 22 districts only. Thus analysis of demographic indicators as well as plantation programme was done for whole districts (24) but Khunti was covered with Ranchi and Ramgarh with Hazaribagh. But the estimation of survival rate of species was conducted for all the 24 districts separately.

 

A glimpse of selected demographic indicators of each district along with state has been shown in table-2.2, which is given below. In terms of geographical area West Singhbhum was the largest district followed by Ranchi and Hazaribagh while district Lohardaga was the smallest in size followed by Pakur and Jamtara in the whole state.

 

According to population Dhanbad district was at number one in the state with 23.97 lakhs and followed by Ranchi and East Singhbhum. Lohardaga had the lowest population (3.64 lakhs) among the districts. Regarding density of population Dhanbad district was again at number one with 1147 persons per square kilometers. On the other hand the district of Simdega had the lowest density with 133 persons per square kilometers.

 

The highest sex ratio with 1004 females per thousand males was found at Simdega district followed by Kodarma district with 1001 females per thousand males. The lowest sex ratio of 874 females per thousand males was observed in the districts of Dhanbad and Bokaro with less than 900 females per thousand males.

 

The highest literacy rate was found at Dhanbad district with 67% and Ranchi was at second position with 64.60%. In the district of Pakaur the lowest literacy rate of 30.60% was found. Dhanbad has the highest female literacy in the state with 52.40% while Pakaur district had the lowest female literacy with a meager 20.60%. For details refer table-2.2 as given below.

 

 

Table-2.2

Demographic Indicators of the Districts

Sl	District	Population	Density	Sex Ratio	Literacy	Female Literacy	Main Worker
1	Ranchi & Khunti	2270,744	362	938	64.60	51.70	26.96
2	Lohardaga	364,521	244	976	53.60	39.60	27.69
3	Gumla	1346,767	148	993	51.70	40.00	33.19
4	Simdega	541,320	133	1004	51.68	41.11	35.35
5	West Singhbhum	1233,945	210	975	50.20	34.40	25.69
6	East Singhhbum	1982,988	561	930	68.80	57.30	22.97
7	Saraikela Kharsawan	848,850	314	960	51.83	34.13	26.15
8	Hazaribagh & Ramgarh	2277,475	382	950	57.70	42.90	23.40
9	Dhanbad	2397,102	1147	874	67.00	52.40	20.55
10	Bokaro	1777,662	617	894	62.10	46.30	18.91
11	Chatra	791,434	214	959	43.20	30.20	23.86
12	Kodarma	499,403	334	1001	52.20	33.60	21.90
13	Palamu	992,491	241	935	44.90	29.90	21.20
14	Latehar	1105,868	290	945	44.10	29.66	22.14
15	Garwa	1035,464	256	934	39.20	22.90	22.31
16	Dumka	1106,521	283	961	47.90	32.40	26.73
17	Deoghar	1165,390	470	914	50.10	32.00	24.34
18	Jamtara	653,081	371	961	50.00	33.48	24.73
19	Giridih	1904,430	387	982	44.50	26.60	17.90
20	Godda	1047,939	497	926	43.10	27.40	22.78
21	Sahibganj	927,770	580	942	37.60	26.60	30.01
22	Pakaur	701,664	389	957	30.60	20.60	29.85
Total of the State		26,945,829	338	941	53.60	38.90	25.28

Source: Census of India, PCA, Jharkhand, 2001.

            

2.2.1 Geographical Distribution of Forests in the State

         The geographical distribution of forests cover in the state is not uniform. On the basis of      density of forest cover the entire districts of the state have been divided into three groups.   It is given below:

        

 

 

 

 

 

2.3    Respondents’ Profile  

 

2.3.1 Forest Officials  

         Both quantitative and qualitative level information were collected from different forest divisions in all the 24 districts of the state during the process of evaluation of state plan plantation programme for the stipulated reference period of 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06. In this regard 52 forest divisions and 73 forest ranges were covered with 244 plantation sites of different plantation schemes. In each district the evaluation team interviewed a number of forest officials especially DFOs, ACFs, RFOs and foresters to get their view points on different aspects of plantation programme.

 

         In this regard the evaluation team interacted and interviewed with 27 DFOs, 5 ACFs, 14 RFOs and 8 foresters (total 54). A number of forest officials could not be interviewed in spite of several efforts made by the evaluation team. It was due to their business as well as laid-back approach towards an important issue of evaluation of the plantation programme. The district-wise details of summary of interviews conducted have been given in Annexure under district level analysis findings of the current assessment study.

 

2.3.2 Beneficiaries (JFMC Members and Community People)

         In the entire state comprising 24 districts a total number of 224 beneficiaries were interviewed through purposes sampling method based on their availability. The beneficiaries in this study consisted of JFMC members and community people. Among the total beneficiaries 64.73% were community people of the villages while 35.27% were JFMC members. The interviews were conducted with the help of semi-structured questionnaires to get necessary information and view points on different issues of plantation programme. The sample beneficiaries had significant variation across the different districts in terms of number of interviews of conducted. It was highest (35) in Hazaribagh district including Ramgarh. The lowest number of interviews (3) was conducted in Bokaro district. While conducting the interviews special attention was paid to female members. For more details refer table-2.3 as given in below. The demographic profile of beneficiaries interviewed has been presented with the help of pie-diagrams and bar diagrams.