The last frontier: people and forests in Mizoram details the relationship between the people and their environment, and between the environment and development. It is set in Mizoram, one of the seven states of the ecologically complex north-eastern region, a land where society and culture present a fascinating blend of tradition and modernity whose history and polity varies from that of most other parts of India. The book traces the environmental history of Mizoram, beginning in the nineteenth century, through colonial rule and into the post-Independence period. It examines the nature of biophysical resources and the influence of human activities on them. Finally, the management of forests by people and the state is analysed, including a detailed discussion on the system of shifting cultivation.
Table of Contents:
List of figures
List of tables
Foreword by Dr T N Khoshoo
Preface
Introduction: The last frontier
Part I: An environmental history of Mizoram
Chapter 1: The regime of village republics
Settlement in the Lushai hills
The supremacy of the village chief
Forests: abode of the spirits
Shifting cultivation or jhum
The influence of people on their environment
Parameters of resource use
Chapter 2: British occupation of the Lushai Hills
Compulsions for conquest
Economic importance of the Lushai Hills
Instruments of insulation
The system of administration
The new socio-religious order
Ecological implications of political events
Chapter 3: Forests and fields: colonial land use policy
State control over forests
The system of commercial extraction of forest produce
Revenue from forests
The traders’ lobby
Game versus vermin
The continuance of shifting cultivation
New farming methods
The drift of public policy
Chapter 4: The creation of Mizoram
The route to self rule
A limited taste of freedom
The struggle for Independence
From Union Territory to State
Isolation, alienation, and regionalism
Public participation in governance
Legitimizing shifting cultivation
Forests for the people
Implications for resource use
Chapter 5: The roots of environmental change
Religion
Education
Community relations
Growth and distribution of population
Occupational mobility
Urbanization
Land use policies
Part II: Management of resources: between people and the State
Chapter 6: Physiography, land cover, and land use
Geomorphology
Land forms
Climate
Soils
Types of vegetation cover
Land use
Chapter 7: Forests, their form and features
The extent of forests
Basic characteristics
The quality of forest resources
The wood and bamboo balance
Chapter 8: Keepers of the forest
The existence of village forest reserves
Norms governing village forests
Changes in area of village forests
Availability of forest produce
Control by the village council
Imperatives of local management
Forests in the hands of the State
The incidence of encroachment
Regulating commercial use of forests
Afforestation programmes
Imperatives of governmental management
Chapter 9: How shifting cultivation works
The element of collectivity
Community management of shifting cultivation
Preferred sites for j humming
Allotment of jhum plots
Clearing the forest
Burning
Sowing
Weeding
Harvesting
The element of uncertainty
Chapter 10: The tenacity of shifting cultivation
The village scenario
The dependence on shifting cultivation
The duration of jhum cycles
Levels of productivity
Chapter 11: The environmental impact of shifting cultivation
The post-jhum ecosystem
Effect on biodiversity
Climatic change due to deforestation
Floods in the plains
The role of fire -
Soil erosion and run-off
Sustainability of productivity
Myth, conjecture, and reality
Chapter 12: The new land use policy
· A review of past strategies
· The old New Land Use Policy
· The Jhum Control Project
· Changes in the New Land Use Policy
· The alternative to shifting cultivation
Conclusion: People and forests in Mizoram
Appendices
1. Reserved tree species in the Lushai Hills
2. Domestic animals killed by wild animals in the North Lushai Hills as reported by village writers
3. The Lushai Hills District (Jhumming) Regulation, 1954
4. The Mizo District (Forest) Act, 1954
5. Socio-economic data of Mizoram
6. Agricultural statistics
7. Distribution of slope categories for select river catchments
8. Physical characteristics of soils in Mizoram
9. Tree species found in major forest types
10. Nature of slopes used in shifting cultivation
11. Percentage shares of land use categories in Mizoram
12. General characteristics of vegetation cover in Mizoram
13. Vegetation cover by strata
14. Growing stock per hectare by strata
15. Percentage distribution of stems per hectare by diameter class
16. Major species contributing to basal area in each stratum
17. Wood and bamboo consumption
18. The existence of village forest reserves
19. Changes in the extent of village forest reserves
20. Availability of trees and bamboos for domestic use
21. Detection of offences committed in safety and supply reserves
22. Revenue from forests
23. Carrying capacity of land under shifting cultivation: Mampui and Sairep village (1962)
24. Jhum cycles in Mizoram
25. Shifting cultivation in sample villages
26. Pattern of secondary succession after jhumming at Burnihat
27. Soil and water losses due to shifting cultivation
28. Farming systems research by ICAR RCNEHR (Shillong) at Burnihat: 1976-89
29. Rice production in Mizoram
30. Promising crops for cultivation in the north-eastern region
References
Index
List of figures
1. The location of Mizoram and the north-eastern region in India
2. Territories occupied by Mizo tribes before the British rule
3. The location of places mentioned in chapter 2 and chapter 3
4. Mizoram: geology
5. Mizoram: rivers
6. Mizoram: soil nutrient status
7. Mizoram: forest reserves
List of tables
Revenue obtained from the hill areas of Eastern Bengal and Assam, 1903-04
Receipts from forests of the Lushai hills district (in rupees, annas, paise)
Number of wild animals killed for which rewards were paid: 1943-44 to 1947-48
Percentage of literacy by sea
Percentage distribution of total main workers * (approximate estimate based on 1991 census)
Area under different categories of slope
The pattern of land use in Mizoram (1987-89)
Average soil loss and affected area (estimated for five catchments)
Extent of vegetation cover in Mizoram (1975-76)
Land use and land cover by thematic mapping (1989)
District-wise extent of forest (1987-89)
The extent of forests by different sources
The extent of vegetation cover by type
Growing stock of trees and bamboo by strata
Species diversity of strata
The legal status of forest
Family labour involved in clearing forest
Gross village income by source in Hmunpui (1964-65)
Output-input ratios of cultivation
Early succession at Burnihat and Sesawng
Coverage of the New Land Use Policy
