Social Forestry

The history of exploitation and destruction of forests in India goes back to the British period when the forests wealth were consumed for commercial gains. The trend continued even after independence and the forests were used not for imperative economic growth but for other various reasons. The denudation of forest land, however, had now slowed down in recent years despite human and commercial pressures due to efforts made by various agencies. The main hot spots which are thretened in India are Himalayan regions and Western Ghats which are assumed as paradises for valuable gains. The growing population, one of the main factors for deforestation, increases the need of land for more food production to feed the growing number of people causing environmental degradation.

In view of the above and other facts, the Govt.of India and other agencies have launched various promotional schemes all over the country for afforestation and fresh plantations to increase the forest cover in which the participation of local people is also taking place. However, due to lack of a centralised database, these agencies are sometimes not in a position to plan their projects in an efficient way. The National Informatics Centre (NIC), Sultanpur had taken initiative to resolve this problem first time, though partially, by undertaking a project to create a sectoral database of social forestry in district Sultanpur and prepared a report 'Social Forestry in Distt. Sultanpur'. The report deals with the consolidation of the plantation work of various kinds of trees done by different agencies in different years graphically. Following are some important sample results.

Sr.No.	Name of the Block	BSA (Gomti)		D.F.O.		D.H.O.		I.F.F.D.C.		U.P.L.D.C.		Total Trees
		No.	Hect.	No.	Hect.	No.	Hect.	No.	Hect.	No.	Hect.	No.	Hect.
1.	Shukul Bazar	0	0.00	86400	53.25	0	0.00	109081	79.55	0	0.00	195481	132.80
2.	Jagdishpur	10550	167.50	154080	95.55	0	0.00	498502	335.45	0	0.00	663132	598.50
3	Musafir Khana	15000	214.00	13500	10.00	1070	12.50	0	0.00	0	0.00	29570	236.50
4	Baldirai	0	0.00	0	0.00	0	0.00	299287	248.27	0	0.00	299287	248.27
5	Shahgarh	0	0.00	17400	11.50	1000	10.00	181465	139.75	16464	26.51	216329	187.76
6	Jamo	0	0.00	0	0.00	0	0.00	0	0.00	0	0.00	0	0.00
7	Gauriganj	0	0.00	36350	28.50	0	0.00	0	0.00	0	0.00	36350	28.50
8	Amethi	0	0.00	8000	5.00	1200	12.00	0	0.00	0	0.00	9200	17.00
9	Bhetua	0	0.00	0	0.00	0	0.00	0	0.00	31450	49.52	31450	49.52
10	Bhadar	0	0.00	99600	55.25	0	0.00	133922	68.10	1560	2.55	235082	125.90
11	Sangrampur	0	0.00	104700	60.00	0	0.00	0	0.00	0	0.00	104700	60.00
12	Dhanpatganj	0	0.00	16000	10.00	850	10.00	0	0.00	0	0.00	16850	20.00
13	Kurebhar	0	0.00	0	0.00	0	0.00	0	0.00	0	0.00	0	0.00
14	Jaisinghpur	0	0.00	78400	43.25	0	0.00	75512	83.04	0	0.00	153912	126.29
15	Kurwar	29100	453.00	95600	53.25	0	0.00	133134	93.62	0	0.00	257834	599.87
16	Dubepur	0	0.00	132200	80.50	0	0.00	102145	74.20	555	0.89	234900	155.59
17	Bhadaiyya	10900	154.00	0	0.00	700	7.00	81933	57.25	5340	8.55	98873	226.80
18	Dostpur	0	0.00	20000	12.50	1350	13.50	0	0.00	0	0.00	21350	26.00
19	Akhandnagar	0	0.00	0	0.00	850	8.50	0	0.00	0	0.00	850	8.50
20	Lambhua	0	0.00	32000	70.00	630	9.00	297627	270.80	4140	7.20	334397	357.00
21	P.P.Kamaicha	0	0.00	0	0.00	525	7.50	0	0.00	0	0.00	525	7.50
22	Kadipur	5325	67.00	9200	5.00	940	10.00	0	0.00	0	0.00	15465	82.00
Total	value	70875	1055.50	903430	593.55	9115	100.00	1912608	1450.03	59509	95.22	2955537	3294.30