the recent ruling by the Supreme Court (sc), based on the assessment of timber and forest produce and forest mining in the northeastern states, has left the timber and affiliated industries in the region in a limbo. The impor-tance of preserving the forest wealth of the states seems to have suddenly assumed a new meaning in the wake of the sc order imposing a ban on all forest activities throughout the country even as governmental and non-governmental agencies voice concern on the decision.

Regarding the symbiotic relationship between tribal peoples and forests, the national forest policy states that illegal practices like felling and cutting by contractors and others should be stopped by institutions like tribal cooperatives and government ventures. It also stresses upon protection, regeneration and optimum collection of minor forest produce along with institutional arrangements for marketing produces. But laxity in following these guidelines seems to have prompted the sc order.

Assam has 52 plywood mills, 552 sawmills, one match factory, three match splint units, two paper mills and one timber treatment and research plant which are in the process of closing down following the sc directive. ngos have urged that the sc order should also ban mills which are located along the boundary between Meghalaya and West Bengal, where mushrooming saw and veneer mills have been smuggling out huge quantities of timber.

The affected forests have been categorised as alluvial, plain and semi-evergreen, interspersed with mixed deciduous and sal trees