Lessons from Management of Forest Resources in Maharashtra

Many states in the country have initiated various measures to protect their forest resources. Maharashtra is no exception to this phenomenon. An attempt, therefore, has been made in this paper to examine the extent to which this state is successful in comerving and managing its forest resources. The main foci of attention of this study are on evaluating various forest related indicators of Maharashtra such as distribution of forest area, oullurn of major and minor forest produce, income and expenditure pallern on state forestry, extent of social forestry, and afforestation, etc. The study revealed very interesting observations. One of the major observations of this study was the sharp decline in revenue receipts from state forestry, especially after the late eighties period. Very slow growth in total value of forest produce harvested and a sharp increase in total expenditure of state forestry were found to be the major causative factors responsible for this decline in revenue receipts. Although the Government has banned felling of trees in many parts of the state, it has also adversely affected not only the harvesting of forest produce and thereby revenue receipts from state forestry but also the working of Forest Labourer's Co-operative Society (FLCS) in the state. The study provides certain policy suggestions that will not only help the state to increase its revenue receipts from state forestry but also in respect of achieving its goal of maintaining ecological balance in the state.