Role of NTFP in Tribals Life Style

 Tribes are considered as the most subdued category in India. These people constitute 8.6% of India’s total population, and this is the largest population of the tribal people in the world.(census of India,2001)1 Tribal people groups in India ordinarily called as 'Adivasi', it is an umbrella term for a heterogeneous arrangement of the ethnic and innate gathering thought about the native populace in India. The larger part of the clans customarily lived in the timberland and they thought about woodland as their salary for business. India has one of the biggest tribal focuses on the planet. Preceding the selection of Indian constitution the tribes were differently termed as aboriginals, Adivasi, forest tribes, slope tribes, primitive tribes and so forth. Up to 1919, the tribes were incorporated under the head of discouraged classes; the Indian Franchise Committee in 1919 agreed a different terminology for the evaluation reports in 1931 primitive tribes;1941 tribes and 1951 scheduled tribes. In spite of the fact that there are 537 tribal groups in India, just 258 groups have been told as tribes. STs as a classification of India's population, constituting 8.6 percent of aggregate population (Census, 2011), Tribes in India are not a homogeneous gathering as their way of life and qualities are particular from each other. The conditions of Maharashtra and Orissa share the biggest number of tribes in India. There is high variety in the spatial dispersion of tribes in India. Very nearly 82 percent of the tribes live in western and focal states where just 11 percent of them are situated in southern states. As to development rate of tribal population, clearly the quantity of tribe has been becoming throughout the years in spite of the fact that the rate of development of tribe population has been not as much as that of the all inclusive community. Tribal job frameworks fluctuate extensively between various regions as likewise among different ethnic gatherings, contingent upon biological, authentic and social elements. These tribal groups which to a great extent involve the Forest locales from time immemorial have lived in disconnection from the standard of national life however in concordance with nature. They have built up a harmonious association with Forest. In any case, the forests in India have endured throughout the years because of inordinate abuse and are confronting numerous dangers influencing bio assorted qualities, species piece, forest groups, physiognomy, stratification, imperativeness, tropic structure, vivacious and flow as forest assets get exhausted, and Forest groups relying on them get bankrupted. Subsequently, the conservation of forests is essential for managing biological adjust and is the most vital component to secure the earth and in addition the Forest groups living in and around the forest. Adivasis of Kerala are the indigenous populace found in the southern Indian province of Kerala. The majority of the tribal of Kerala live in the backwoods and piles of Western Ghats, flaking Karnataka and Tamil Nadu According to the 2001 census of India the Scheduled Tribe population in Kerala is 3,64,189.Wayanadhas the most elevated number of tribes (1,36,062). Idukki- (50973) and Palakkad (39665) districts are the next two that make the lion portion of the native tribal people groups in the state. Attappadi is among the biggest tribal settlements in Kerala at Palakkad district. It is an extension of mountain valley of 731 sq.km in the area lying at Western Ghats ranges. Attappadi located in the mid-eastern part of Kerala on the north east of Palakkad district adjoining Coimbatore and Nilgiri district of Tamilnadu.  Attappadi tribal area constituted by Agali, Pudur, and Sholayar tribal villages. Over 10,000 families are live in 187 ‘Ooru’ settled all over Attappadi. Muruga, Irula, and Kurumba are the three tribal groups in Attappadi. Tribal people groups who are food-gatherers, with diminishing population and very low or little literacy rates can be called as Primitive Tribes. Cholanaikkans, Kurumbas, Kattunaikans, Kadars, and Koragas are the five primitive tribal groups in Kerala. They constitute nearly 5% of the total tribal population in the State. Cholanaikkans can be said as the most primitive of them and found only in the Malappuram District. Only a handful of families are living inthe Mancheri hills of Nilambur forest division. Kattunaikans, another Lower-hill community related to Cholanaikkans, is mainly seen in Wayanad district and some in Malappuram and Kozhikode districts. Kadar population is found in Trissur and Palakkad districts. Kurumbas are living in the Attappady Block of Palakkad district. The Koraga habitat is in the plain areas of Kasaragod district. Forest and the forest resources, primarily non-timber forest products play an important role in the viability and survival of tribal households in Kerala and elsewhere in India. Non- Timber Forest Products(NTFP) are useful substances material and commodities obtained from forests which do not require harvesting of trees. They include game animals, nuts, seeds, berries, honey, oils, medicinal plants etc. The collection of Non- Timber Forest Products is the major occupation of more than 68% of tribal in Kerala (Shanker 1999)2 and that contribute 58% of the total income of tribes in Kerala.(Philip Thomas 1996)3Due to the deforestation and moving of tribes to urban areas made a wanting of Non- Timber Forest Products(NTFP) in our economy. These affairs made exploitation of consumer through the pioneering of duplicate products in the markets as the name of Non-Timber Forest Products. This emphasizes the need for conservation and marketing of NTFP spices. Proper functioning of the various marketing institutions and mechanisms are needed for ensuring a better livelihood to the indigenous people who are dependent on these forest resources. To save tribes from the squeezing of private traders and money lenders many committees and commissions recommended the cooperative of tribal economy. The main aim of the cooperatives was to bring a radical change in the socio-economic condition of the tribal population. The government of Kerala and central government providing various financial and non-financial assistance to the cooperatives, these schemes and policies make changes in the socio-economic aspects of the tribal economy but not up to the expected level.

Mr. Rohith. R, Head, Department of Commerce, Al Shifa College of Arts and Science, Kizhattoor, Perinthalmanna