There can be a number of bases for the classification of Indian forests. Based on (A) administrative point of view Indian forests were classified under following three categories during the British rule:
1. Reserved forests-These forests were under the direct supervision of the government where no public entry was allowed for collecting timber and grazing of cattle. About 53 per cent (40.1 millionth.) of forest area fell under this category.
2. Protected forests-These forests were looked after by the government but here local people were allowed to collect timber/fire wood and graze their cattle without causing serious damage to the forests. These occupy about 29 per cent (21.5 million ha) of the total area of forests in the country.
3. Unclassified forests-These are unclassified forests where there is no restriction on the cutting of trees and cattle grazing. About 18 per cent (13.1 million ha) of the country’s forests fell under this category.
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(B) According to the Constitution of India the forests in India have been classified under the following three categories for the sake of their ownership, administration and management.
1. State forests-these are under the full control of the government (state/central) and include almost all the important forest areas of the country. About 93.8 per cent (area: 70.4 million ha.) of the country’s forest area belong to this category.
2. Communal forests-these forests are owned and administered by the local bodies (municipal corporation, municipal board, town area, district board, village panchayat etc.) and occupy about 4.9 per cent (area: 3.7 million ha.) of the country’s forest area.
3. Private forests-these are under the private ownership and cover only 1.3% (area: 9 lakh ha.) of the forested area of the country. Many of these forests are degraded and in bad condition and have been converted into waste lands. Such forests are mainly found in Orissa (1600 sq. km), Meghalaya (1040 sq. km.), Punjab (880 sq. km.) and Himachal Pradesh (51 sq. km.).
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(C) On the basis of merchantability the Indian forests may be grouped under two categories: (1) Merchantable-which are accessible. About 82% of forests belong to this group, (2) Non-merchantable- these are inaccessible mostly situated in high hills. About 18% forests, mostly conifers fall under this category.
(D) Based on exploitability the forests in India may be classified under three major groups: (1) Exploitable covering the total area of 43 million hectares (57.64% of the forest area), (2) potentially I exploitable-which are reserved for future utilisa-1 tion. These forests cover 16.3 million hectares of forest area (21.85% of the country’s forest area), and I (3) other forests-these cover 15.3 million hectares (20.51% of total forest area) upon which there is no restriction on their utilisation.
(E) Based on composition (types of leaves) the Indian forests fall in two broad groups: (1) Coniferous forests-these are temperate forests occupying 4.8 million hectares of area (6.43% of total forest area) over the Himalayan ranges. (2)1 Broad leaf forests-about 93.57% of the country’s forest area (69.8 million hectares) belong to this category. These are tropical and sub-tropical forests occupying the plains, plateaus and hill slopes and yielding good quantity of timber and forest products.
(F) Geographical Cassification-many scholars have attempted to classify Indian forests using different criteria. Prain (1874) was the first to identify vegetation zones in Bengal on the basis of humidity/rainfall characteristics. Brandis divided India into a number of rainfall zones while L.D. Stamp identified four major vegetation types on the basis of annual distribution of rainfall:
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Vegetation type
1. Evergreen forests
2. Monsoon forests
3. Dry forests
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4. Desert forests
He has also given separate identity to forests in the hilly and deltaic regions. H.G. Champion (1936) made a detailed survey of the forest areas of the country and suggested a scientific classification of the Indian forests. Following Warming (1909) and Schimper (1923) he first divided India into four major vegetation zones on the basis of temperature and later on identified 15 main and 136 sub vegetation types on the basis of rainfall and humidity. It was later on modified by G.S. Puri in 1960.
A. Tropical Forests
(a) Moist Tropical Forests
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1. Tropical Wet Evergreen
Zones Humid Semi-humid Dry
Very dry
2. Tropical Moist Semi-evergreen
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3. Tropical Moist Deciduous (b) Dry Tropical Forests
4. Tropical Dry Evergreen
5. Tropical Dry Deciduous
6. Tropical Thorn
B. Sub-tropical Forests
7. Sub-tropical Moist
8. Sub-tropical Pine
9. Sub-tropical Dry
C. Temperate Forests
Average annual rainfall (cm) above 200 100-200 50-100 below 50
10. Wet Temperate
11. Moist Temperate
12. Dry Temperate
D. 13. Alpine Forests
E. Other Forests
14. Coastal/tidal
15. Riverine
16. Desert
For the sake of present study the forests of India have been classified into 5 major categories which arc further divided into 14 broad types.