LIFE IN THE WOODS: An Emotional Note from the Heart of Kutia Kondhs of Kandhamal District of Odisha

Most of the forest dwellers in India in general and Odisha in particular lead a toilsome, materially poor spartan life, in spite of multiple natural resources in abundance along with strong community ties, even under difficult and adverse circumstances. Subsistence livelihood pattern of these forest dweller/ forest tribes are mainly based on shifting cultivation and some practice sedentary agriculture in forest regions, supplemented by hunting, foraging and pastoral activities simultaneously, exploiting three main natural resources i.e. land, forest and animals. However, when any problem arises for their livelihood, these communities exercise all possible precautions for the conservation of the biodiversity, or else it could pose a serious threat to their survival and continuity. Even though, in the contemporary world, tribal culture is changing rapidly, research says that the rate of deforestation in indigenous and tribal territories are significantly lower. (FAO, 2021) . The FAO report says that, tribal areas in the Amazon Basin lost an average of 0.17 per cent of carbon stored in their forests each year between 2003 and 2016, due to deforestation and forest degradation, in contrast, forests outside the tribal territory and protected areas lost 0.53 per cent each year, which is 0.36 per cent more than tribal territories. This shows the tribal people follow some management practice which directly and indirectly sustaining their ecosystem. Therefore, the present paper tries to enquire into the tradition symbiotic relationship between forest tribes and its ecosystem, in order to understand their attitude towards the environment and how their culture, beliefs and practices are geared to maintain a balance between human and ecological needs. In broader sense, it is intended to explore man-nature relationship, which most often exists in their thought process and it also provides an understanding of how modern and developmental aspects value the natural environment and to assess in what ways they are likely to participate in and engage with their natural environment.