Livelihoods of Zeliangrong

Book excerpt: Forest resources are indispensable capital assets to the tribal. Since time immemorial they have been residing in the forest, cultivating within the forest, and collecting forest produces which are highly valued and often finding no substitution. Forest is not merely a resource to consume but rather a reflection of their life support system forming a crucial ingredient in shaping the socio-economic development. In times of risk or say tragedy of the common such as droughts, flood and natural calamities, forest resources have the enormous potentialities in sustaining the tribal livelihoods and daily survival needs. Tribal maintains the balance between extractions of forest resources at optimum level on need based not greed based and there is no wanton destruction of resources as reflected in the wisdom of resource management.