Main Article Content
Abstract
Forest is the dominant terrestrial ecosystem on the earth and a great source of livelihood of the dwellers of the region concerned. In fact, forest is a lifeline of a nation because the prosperity and well-being of the civilization directly associated with the healthy and required forest cover of a nation. Forest is a very useful property for a country like India because it provides raw materials and works as a base to the cottage industries. The study area i.e. the district of Purulia is located in the western most part of the state West Bengal. The latitudinal and longitudinal extents are from 22º42´35´´ to 23º42´0´´ north and from 85º49´25´´to 86º54´37´ east respectively. The industry which are won and run by individuals for a small group of people and which employ a tiny number of labors are called cottage industry. The major forest based cottage industries are Lac industry, Beedi industry, Basket making industry etc. As far as the cottage industry in Purulia district is concerned, the establishment of such industry is strongly related to the availability of raw materials, traditional skill, climatic condition and a number of cases the specialization in the organized factory sector. The lac culture is mainly practiced in the tribal belt of the Jhalda I, Jhalda II, Balarampur, Arsha, Baghmundi, Kashipur, Manbazar I, Manbazar II, Bandowan, Barabazar, Jaipur, Hura, Puncha, Raghunathpur I, Raghunathpur II, Purulia I, and Purulia II community development blocks of the Purulia district .The study area is highly blessed with the specific host trees viz., Palash (Butea Monsesperma), Kusum (Schleichera-Oleosa), Kul or Ber (Zizyphus Mouritiana) etc. Apart from that, deforestation,changing rainfall pattern,availability of synthetic resin and some other factors also plays pivotal role in the distribution of the concentration of the lac culture and industry in the area under study. But, most of the raw materials are imported from other states for the last few decades. The present paper aims to find out the reason of the concentration of lac industry in the study area,and reasons of unavailability of raw materials at present as well as the solution of the problems facing by the industry.