- published: 11 Apr 2011
- views: 5472
Forestry in India is a significant rural industry and a major environmental issue.
Dense forests once covered India. As of 2010, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates India's forest cover to be about 68 million hectares, or about 20 percent of the country's area. In qualitative terms, however, the dense forest in almost all the major Indian states has been reduced. Forest degradation is a matter of serious concern.
In 2002, forestry industry contributed 1.7 percent to India's GDP. In 2006, the contribution to GDP dropped to 0.9 percent, largely because of rapid growth of Indian economy in other sectors and Indian government's decision to reform and reduce import tariffs to let imports satisfy the growing Indian demand for wood products.
India produces a range of processed forest (wood and non-wood) products ranging from sawnwood, panel products and wood pulp to bamboo, rattan ware and pine resin. India's paper industry produces over 3 million tonnes annually from more than 400 mills, which unlike their international counterparts, mostly uses the more sustainable non-wood fiber as the raw material. Furniture and craft industry is another consumer of wood.
India (i/ˈɪndiə/), officially the Republic of India (Bhārat Gaṇarājya), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the south-west, and the Bay of Bengal on the south-east, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west;China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east; and Burma and Bangladesh to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; in addition, India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.
Home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation and a region of historic trade routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history. Four of the world's major religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism—originated here, whereas Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived in the 1st millennium CE and also helped shape the region's diverse culture. Gradually annexed by and brought under the administration of the British East India Company from the early 18th century and administered directly by the United Kingdom from the mid-19th century, India became an independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was marked by non-violent resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi.