The Rationale

The state sustains tropical moist deciduous forests with patches of forests of  evergreen  species and a substantial area under bamboo brakes. At least 19 species of bamboos are commonly found in the State while the Melocanna baccifera (muli bamboo) has maximum area. There are five hill ranges in the State running from the north to the south with valleys in between through which all the rivers have meandered before they met the river Brahmaputra in Bangladesh. The pattern of the hills ranges and their locations are such that they look like waves when one moves from the west  of the state to the east with increase in general elevation. When one  looks at the map, wit could be found that the State is located in such a manner that it is almost completely surrounded by Bangladesh, a foreign country, with which the state shares 856 km long border.

Because of historical reasons, a very large no. of people has migrated into this state from erstwhile East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) during and after partition (1947) of the country i.e during independence. The forest land and the natural resources had to bear the brunt of this sudden population explosion, influx of people and a as result many habitations grew up overnight inside the forest areas and now the forests of the state are characterized by honeycombing with interspersed settlements all around, exposing the resource base to degradation and decimation.
The state also has 19 different tribes, population in percentage of which would be about 31% of the total population of about 3.2 million, who traditionally practice shifting cultivation inside the forests. This deleterious practice has been going on in the hills of the forests for centuries.

The shifting cultivation (slash & burn of forests) has also taken its toll and as a result the forests have degraded, the hills are denuded, the forests have decimated, weeds have invaded the once high forests and soil has been rendered pulverized and infertile. The recurrent fire in the forests have ravaged the forest floor and as a result soil micro flora and fauna and wildlife as whole has become endangered and rare. Many species of plants and animals are feared extinct.

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