History tells us that forests were absolutely important to the development of all empires and settled civilisations in India.
Metal ores like copper, gold and silver, coal and diamonds, invaluable timber, most medicinal herbs, animals and forest products and animals themselves, all came from the forests.
Even today, forests help recharge many of India's river and its quality of air and water.

Stereotyping means seeing and presenting a community of people in particular ways without having full knowledge of the reality of their lives. Adivasis, for example, are usually depicted in colourful costumes and headgear. Stereotyping is not good because it leads to wrong notions about a particular community and on that basis, discriminating against it.

Two reasons why Adivasis are becoming marginalised are:
(i) Their distinct culture and customs
(ii) They lived in areas rich in minerals and natural resources which should be controlled by government.

Marginalisation refers to the low social status of minorities and their unequal access to public resources. Members of minority communities face marginalisation because of their smaller numbers. Marginalisation can be social, economic, political and cultural.

Five forest based products that we use at home are:
(i) gum
(ii) lac
(iii) honey
(iv) fruit
(v) timber

Metals like iron and aluminium are important in present-day India.
They are required for building infrastructure including roads, bridges, rail-lines, aeroplanes ete. They come from the mines of iron ore and " aluminium ore under forest lands. Yes, there are Adivasi populations inhabiting those places.

They speak their own languages. The Gonds speak Gondi and the Bhils their own.

Dadu was forced to leave his village in Orissa because the companywallahs took away his ancesrralland there for mining the iron ore under it.

Groups may be marginalised because of the following reasons:
(i) Different spoken languages
(ii) Different customs and religions
(iii) Low social status

There are certain groups of people or communities in our society who experience exclusion from the mainstream in different ways Their exclusion may be because of their differe languages, customs, religions etc. This exclusi leads to those communities not having access resources and opportunities and therefore rnarqinalisation. Marginalisation can be economic, social, cultural and political and eve all of them together. All these factors compelt marginalised community to group together and live among their own as they feel secure. Thisi called ghettoisation. This leads to them becoming alienated from the rest of the society and thereby further marginalisation.

Adivasis, the term literally means original inhabitants. Adivasis originally lived in or near forest regions. They were engaged in cultivation, agriculture, hunting, gathering etc. They were aware of the different plant species available in the forest and their utilities. They lived in close harmony with nature.
However, with change in forest policies and intervention of government and private industries, the Adivasis were forcefully evicted from their land. Since the forest.areas were found to be rich in metal ores, tirriber, other forest products and also suitable for" agriculture, the tribals were evicted from there. They were then deprived of their place of living and livelihood and forced to move to cities in search of work.