"Footprints in the forest : history and origins of forests,forestry and wild life in India"

Footprints in the Forest is one of the finest contemporary texts to document the history of forestry an wild life in the Indian Sub-continent. The book traces the development of vegetation, forests, forest types and wild of in the proto-historical and historical periods. Particularly fascinating are microcosmic forestry and wild life in the Neogene and Pleistocene eras, their close linkages with the geological evolution of the Indian Subcontinent and the resultant mass migration and redistribution of animals in parts of the globe.
This is an aspects of forestry that has often been ignored by non-Paleontologist foresters. Equally evocative is the historical reconstruction of the Vedic Period to forestry during Kautilya's time, through the Mughal Period, to the advent of Modern Forestry under the British rule and later post-Independence, in present day India. The faithful recreation of the state of the forests and the accompanying civilizations that existed during the various periods invoke beautiful word pictures of eras gone by enriching the book beyond mere forestry and wild life. The contributions in the anthology bring into focus men and women who people those times and manned the forests. The book also deals with modern day issues such as Joint Forest Management, wild life conservation in the current context, the legislative and policy changes including those related to rights and privileges of forest fringe people making it one of the most complete classic in the annals of forestry and wild life.