The tea plantations of Assam, which constitute the country's 53.97 per cent tea area, 49 per cent tea worker population, and 52.04 per cent tea production, occupy an important place in the economy, culture and polity of the state. The onset of tea plantations during British colonial rule has not only changed the landscape of the upper Brahmaputra valley through green tea bushes being nourished by tea tribes from east-central India, but also evolved a distinct tea culture. Although formation of small tea growers has added a new dimension to the growth of tea industry of Assam in recent times, the culture that emerged due to the long continued interaction of British planters, tea worker tribes and indigenous Assamese is well reflected in the language, way of life, work culture, food habits and many other socio-cultural practices in most of the large tea estates in the state. In fact, the impact of tea culture is so penetrative that it has been able to bring about development in the form of tea festival, tea tourism, tea folk songs and dances, etc. in the state. An attempt is made in this paper to explore the role of tea plantation and the people associated with it to the socio-cultural transformation of Assam based on both secondary data and primary data through field study. The primary data have been collected from selected tea estates, tea garden worker colonies, tea-tribe villages and urban dwellers.

Forests constitute the largest ecosystem and habitat of valuable species of plants and animals on the earth surface. The increasing size of population combined with increasing diversity of human activities is continuously degrading the forest areas of the earth's surface causing great threat to it in respect of shrinkage of coverage, loss of biodiversity and disturbance in the ecological balance. The intense depletion of forest cover in various parts has also brought about large-scale environmental changes including disappearance of many valuable floral and faunal species. In the said context, the district of Goalpara, located in the western part of Assam, was dominantly covered with dense Sal (Shorea Robusta) forest, widely distributed in both the lowland and hills of the district. However, during last few decades the dense Sal forests of the district have experienced massive depletion because of excessive exploitations and encroachments transforming many patches of forestland treeless and now being used for other purposes. Even the reserved forests are also under acute degradation and encroachment. In this paper, an attempt is made to explore the nature and dimension of forest cover change alongside massive encroachments and associated implications in Gonbina Reserved Forest of Goalpara district, Assam during 1977-2010, with the help of Survey of India toposheet, satellite imagery, field survey and Geographical Information System.

The conflict between man and animal has been a problem since time immemorial. However, this problem has been increasing day by day with the advancement of technology like the construction of rail and road networks through the forest, establishing stone quarries near the forest, etc. and the increase of population. Human-animal conflict may occur with leopard, wild buffalos, tigers or even with rhinos. However, the most common encounter of human occurs with the largest mammal on earth, the pachyderm. Perhaps, a conflict with wild elephant kills more people than the others. The Asiatic elephant is gradually becoming an endangered species due to the fast decrease of its population. Human-elephant conflict is one of the major causes of decreasing elephant population. Moreover, loss of animal habitat even in protected area poses a threat to their habitat and also becomes a cause for a decrease of the elephant population. Sonai-Rupai Wildlife sanctuary is one of the most suitable abodes of Asiatic elephant. However, rapid deforestation has compelled the elephants to enter into the human settlements, which leads to human-elephant conflict. This study attempts to understand the nature of the human-elephant conflict in the fringe areas of Sonai-Rupai Wildlife Sanctuary and to explore the reasons behind such conflicts. It focuses mostly on those human-wildlife conflicts that result from a direct interaction among humans and wildlife.

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