India is one of the major users of wood in the Asia-Pacific region and till recently had the privilege of having abundance quantity of timber from several tropical hardwoods. Despite industrial and technological advancement for development of many new generation materials and products , wood continues to be an indispensable material for several economically vital end use applications. As .the domestic production of timber is not adequate to meet the growing demand imports are permitted under Open General License.

During my tenure as Divisional Forest Officer in Mahasamund Forest Division, I came across the oldest teak plantation of Chhattisgarh. The Gidhpuri beat of Lavan Range of Raipur Forest Division is proud of having the oldest Teak plantation of Chhattisgarh state. The teak plantation is now 111 years old.

Use of food crops such as corn, rapeseed, sugarcane etc for production of biofuels by developed countries might endanger the food security of the world. Therefore attempts have been made to use the no edible oil yielding plants, such as Jatropha for generating substitute of diesel.