STUDIES ON DEPENDENCE OF TRIBAL COMMUNITIES IN AND AROUND AYODHYA AYODHYA HILLS, PURULIA DISTRICT, WEST BENGAL ON NONNON-TIMBER FOREST PRODUCE (NTFP) THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN SCIENCE (BOTANY) OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BURDWAN 2012 SOMA CHANDA UGC CENTRE FOR ADVANCED STUDY DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY THE UNIVERSITY OF BURDWAN BURDWAN-713104 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I express my inexplicable reverence to my teacher Prof. Ambarish Mukherjee of the Department of Botany, Burdwan University for his valuable guidance and untiring help which has enabled me to learn and develop the concept necessary for preparing this thesis. There is no befitting language to express my gratitude for the inspiration that I have received from him. I am indebted to Dr. Jai Prakash Keshri, of the Department of Botany, Burdwan University for providing facilities and encouragement during the course of this work. I also owe a special debt of gratitude to all the teachers of this department, who have always been helpful to me. I wish to place on record my gratitude to Dr. Dulal Chandra Pal, Retired Senior Scientist of the Botanical Survey of India for his valuable suggestions and advice regarding the work. I must acknowledge the help and inspiration received from my teacher Dr. DebnathPalit, Head of the Department of Conservation Biology, Durgapur Government College, Durgapur. I avail this opportunity to extend my thanks to Mr. Ram Mandal, Beat Officer of Balarampur Forest Office, and other forest staff of Matha, Jhalda, Bagmundi and Ayodhya Forest Office for their enormous help and cooperation I received during the tenure of fieldwork in different forest areas. I am also thankful to Dr. Saswati Sen, State Director of WWF-India, West Bengal State Office for her kind help during the course of study. I wish to extend my special thanks to myseniors Smt. Srilata De, Smt. Irani Biswas, Dr. Goutam Bala, Dr. Archan Bhattacharya, Mr. Sujit Kumar Mondal and friends Smt. Tripti Bouri, Smt. Rimi Roy, Smt. Anasua Roy, Sri Animesh Maji, Sri Joydeep Acharya, Sri Mr. Bikash Jana, Sk. Sayantan and all others of the Ecotaxonomy Laboratory where I could work with great pleasure for their enormous help and cooperation. Last but not the least I would be failing in my duties if I do not mention the encouragement and blessingsI received from my father Sri Ajit Kumar Chanda and mother Smt. GouriChandaand Father-in-law Sri Manindra Chandra Barman, mother- in- law Smt. Usha Barman. I am also thankful to my beloved husband Mr. Manoj Kumar Barman for constantly encouraging me to complete the work. …………………………………… SOMA CHANDA Ecotaxonomy Laboratory UGC Centre of Advanced Study Department of Botany, Burdwan University. CONTENTS Pages INTRODUCTION 1-2 CHAPTER 1: GENERAL RÉSUMÉ 1-19 CHAPTER 2: PURULIA DISTRICT AT A GLANCE 21-36 CHAPTER 3: REVIEW OF LITERATURE 37-46 CHAPTER 4: MATERIALS AND METHODS 47-55 CHAPTER 5: RESULTS 57-198 CHAPTER 6: DISCUSSION 199-231 CHAPTER 7: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 233-245 CHAPTER 8: REFERENCES 247-254