







































Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal 5 (1): 139-176, January 2022 

 

RESEARCH PAPER 

The Erosion of  Biodiversity and Culture: Bankura 
District of  West Bengal as an Illustrative Locale  

Debal Deb* 

Abstract: The decimation of biodiversity at the species, genetic, and ecosystem 
levels as a direct consequence of the industrial resource use mode is well 
documented in human ecology and conservation literature. Not only wild biota but 
also domesticated crop landraces have been pushed to extinction by industrial land-
use systems. The process of biodiversity erosion impinges on, and is augmented by, 
the decimation of local cultural elements, such as food cultures, the vocabularies of 
local languages, house architecture, and an inchoate appreciation of the non-use 
value of biodiversity, i.e., beyond its instrumental value. This process of biocultural 
erosion is evident in the district of Bankura, West Bengal, India, and this article 
collates evidence from over two decades of my research on the biodiversity and 
cultural elements of the region. The replacement of a traditional eco-centric ethic 
with an industrial ethic, and its consequent impacts on biodiversity and local 
cultural traditions in this region, is illustrative of the global process of biodiversity 
loss 

Keywords: Biodiversity, Biophilia, Culinary art, Language, Tradition, West Bengal 

 

1. INTRODUCTION 

A plethora of studies have documented the process of the loss of 
biodiversity and traditional cultures as a consequence of the urban–
industrial mode of land use, economic growth, and market integration 
(UNEP 2005; Elmqvist et al. 2016; Irvine et al. 2016; Ceballos, Ehrlich, and 
Dirzo 2017; Aswani, Lemahieu, and Sauer 2018; Curtis et al. 2018; 
Brondizio et al. 2019; Sánchez-Bayo and Wyckhuys 2019; Rosin et al. 2020). 
The loss of the biotic components of local ecosystems, in turn, impinges on 
the local cultural fabric, which evolved alongside the direct and indirect use 
values of biodiversity. Industrial land use, and an industrial ethic, gradually 

 
* Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies 186A, Kalikapur Canal Road, Kolkata, India, 

debdebal@gmail.com  

Copyright © Deb 2022. Released under Creative Commons Attribution © NonCommercial 

4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC 4.0) by the author.  

Published by Indian Society for Ecological Economics (INSEE), c/o Institute of  Economic 
Growth, University Enclave, North Campus, Delhi 110007.  

ISSN: 2581–6152 (print); 2581–6101 (web).  

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37773/ees.v5i1.487  

mailto:debdebal@gmail.com
https://doi.org/10.37773/ees.v5i1.487


Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [140] 

 

displace biophilia (Fromm 1973)—love and respect for life—inherent in 
indigenous societies, characterized by an inchoate appreciation of the non-
use value of biodiversity, i.e., beyond its instrumental value (Kellert and 
Wilson 1993; Deb and Malhotra 2001). This process of loss of life forms is 
often not obvious and is not recorded in mainstream biodiversity research 
until certain species are lost from a local ecosystem. Owing to the 
complexity and multiplicity of biocultural interactions on the social, 
psychological, and ethical planes, the process of decay of local cultures is 
more insidious and seldom described in biodiversity research, although this 
decay may accentuate further loss of biodiversity. The process of biocultural 
decay is captured only in local case studies (e.g., Byers, Cunliffe, and Hudak 
2001; Pauchard et al. 2006; Amici et al. 2015; Elmqvist et al. 2016) on 
urban–industrial land-use change and its impacts on biodiversity and 
indigenous knowledge systems. In this essay, I present a case study of a 
southwestern district of West Bengal, India, to describe a long-drawn 
process of decay of biodiversity and local cultural heritage. In this effort to 
document the process of biocultural erosion, I describe biodiversity under 
two broad rubrics—wild and domesticated biota. However, the usage of the 
term “wild” warrants the following caveat. 

On the ecosystem level, there is hardly any entity that is purely “wild”, in 
the sense of “pristine” or “untrammelled” by human intervention. Rather, 
all existing forest and wetland ecosystems on all lived continents have either 
been created or modified by human activities. Nearly three-quarters of 
terrestrial nature has long been shaped by diverse histories of human 
habitation and use by indigenous peoples (Lombardo et al. 2020; Ellis et al. 
2021). The imagining of a “pristine” or “virgin” wild land is an old 
European construct, created to distinguish the “West as civilization” from 
the rest of the world as wilderness (Clement and Junqueira 2010; Fletcher et 
al 2021). As Ellis et al. (2021, 7) write,  

Depicting human use of nature largely as a recent and negative 
disturbance of an otherwise human-free natural world is not only 
incorrect but has profound implications for both science and 
policy. Across the vast majority of this planet, traditional, 
indigenous, and contemporary cultural natures, together with their 
interwoven peoples and histories, and not areas free from human 
influence, are essential for understanding and sustaining terrestrial 
nature, including its biodiversity and contributions to people. 

Dissociating “wild” ecosystems such as forests and wetlands from “the 
spiritual, economic, and cultural needs of past and present indigenous and 
local inhabitants” (Fletcher et al. 2021, 3) in any part of India would thus be 
unrealistic. I intend to discuss these human economic and cultural 



[141] Debal Deb 

 

interconnections with nature—both wild and domesticated—to describe 
the process of biocultural erosion in the district of Bankura.  

 

2. THE STUDY SITE  

The district of Bankura in the state of West Bengal, India (Fig. 1), is a part 
of the lateritic extension of the Chota Nagpur Plateau. It supports dry 
deciduous forest vegetation and is situated between 22° 38’ N and 23° 38’ 
N and between 86° 36’ and 87° 46’ E. The district is a part of an ancient 
land mentioned in historical texts as Rarh Bengal. The Tirumalai inscription 
of 1024 CE mentions four geopolitical units in the area—Tandabutti (also 
known as Dandabhukti in the historical literature), Takkanaldam, 
Vangaladesh, and Uttiraladam, of which Takkanaldam originally, Dakshina 
Rarha)—the southern portion of Rarh—consists of today’s Bankura, 
Birbhum, Bardhaman, and Hoogly districts (Ghosh 1992). The Bhaivishya 
Purana, composed between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries CE, 
mentions Tungabhum, which is today’s Raipur Community Development 
Block in the district. Mallabhum refers to the kingdom of the Malla dynasty 
of Bishnupur (sixteenth to seventeenth century), which spread over the 
current administrative blocks (hereafter blocks) of Bishnupur, Indas, 
Kotulpur, Onda, and most of Bankura (O’Malley 1996 [1908]).  

A major part of the district was once covered with dense forests inhabited 
by forest people. As the Açaranga Sutta, a Jain text of ca. fifth century BCE 
(Jacobi 1884) depicts, Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, had been travelling 
in the pathless country of Vajjabhumi and Subbabhumi of Ladha (Rarha), 
where forest people attacked him. 

The geographical features of the district are summarized in Table 1. More 
than a fifth of the district’s land area is under forest cover. Scheduled Tribes 
and Scheduled Castes comprise over 42% of the district’s population and 
constitute the region’s “ecosystem people” (sensu Gadgil and Guha 1995), 
who largely depend on agriculture and non-timber forest produce for their 
livelihoods. 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [142] 

 

Figure 1: Map Showing Community Development Blocks of  Bankura District 
in the State of  West Bengal 

 
Credit: Heerak Nandy, Kolkata, 2021 

Table 1: Geographical Features of  Bankura District 

Descriptor Statistical 
Figure 

Reference 

Total area  6,882 sq km  Bankura District Administration (2021a) 

Total state forest 
area  

1,482 sq 
km  

West Bengal Forest Department 
(WBFD 2019) 

% of forest cover  21.53  WBFD (2019) 

Conservation 
reserve  

43.70 sq 
km  

WBFD (2019) 

Reserved forest 80 sq km  WBFD (2019) 

Protected forest  1,311 sq 
km  

WBFD (2019) 

Unclassified 
forest  

91 sq km  WBFD (2019) 



[143] Debal Deb 

 

Descriptor Statistical 
Figure 

Reference 

Wasteland 2.38 sq km  RSP Green Development and 
Laboratories (2019)  

Water bodies 265.61 sq km  RSP Green Development and 
Laboratories (2019)  

Average annual 
rainfall 

130–160 cm  RSP Green Development and 
Laboratories (2019)  

Net area 
cultivated 

1,615.071 sq km  Bankura District Administration 
(2021a) 

Gross cropped 
area 

3,114.921 sq 
km  

Bankura District Administration (2021a) 

Cropping 
intensity 

192.86%  Bankura District Administration (2021a) 

Total population  35,96,674  CensusIndia (2011) 

No. of 
households 

7,66,902  Census India (2011) 

% Scheduled 
Caste 

32.65  Census India (2011) 

% Scheduled 
Tribes 

10.25  Census India (2011) 

 

3. METHODS AND DATA SOURCES 

Drawing on published literature and my research in the region over the past 
24 years, I collate the signs and evidence of the processes and consequences 
of the loss of biodiversity at the species, genetic, and ecosystem levels and 
the erosion of traditional cultural entities in this region as a paradigmatic, 
contemporaneous example. The data were collected during my field 
research in three ways:  
 
(a) Extensive survey in the region: Phased inventorying of biodiversity of 
forests, sacred groves, sacred ponds, rare trees, and extant crop and animal 
landraces between 1996 and 2017. Ecological inventories of forests and 



Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [144] 

 

sacred groves were compiled in multiple line transects, while belt transects 
(3 km × 50 m) were employed for inventorying roadside vegetations, as 
described in my respective publications (Deb 2007a; Deb 2014; Deb and 
Roy 2021; Deb et al. 2018). 
(b) Individual interviews and group discussions with local residents: I 
gathered their perceptions of various elements of biodiversity. Such 
interactions were mostly informal but also based on a structured 
questionnaire for recording people’s perception of the non-use value of 
forests and wildlife (Deb 2014).  

In addition, I drew on my field notes during farmer workshops, Year of 
Science Awareness (2004) programmes, and nature camps with local youth 
groups from 1997 to 2010 held in all parts of the district. 

(c) Participant observations: During the period 1996–2010, I lived in 
Bishnupur block to conduct my participatory research on the folk traditions 
of natural resource-use modes and cultivate folk crop landraces in my 
conservation farm. I accompanied women’s groups during their foraging of 
wild foods and participated in folk ceremonies held at sacred groves, ponds, 
and rice farms. 

The subject population in my interviews and the interactants in my 
participant observation exercises consist of rural farmers, including 
Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste families, who are largely dependent 
on the provisioning services of local ecosystems. 
 

4. BIOCULTURAL INTERFACES: A RESIDENT OBSERVER’S 
VIEW  

I describe here how the local people perceive different categories of 
biodiversity, the integration of local cultures with biodiversity, and the 
impact of modernization on both biodiversity and local cultures. This paper 
is essentially a review and integrative summary of my prior research work 
and experience gathered over three decades in the district. I discuss here the 
status of biodiversity in the context of local cultures in two broad 
categories—“wild biota”, which includes vegetations, wetlands, and 
undomesticated flora and fauna, and “agrobiodiversity”, comprised by 
domesticated biota.  

4.1 The Wild Biota 

The wildlife of the district includes forest lands, sacred groves and ponds, 
and the wild flora and fauna in the district. All the “wild” vegetations and 
wetlands in the district have in fact been managed by humans over 
centuries.  



[145] Debal Deb 

 

4.1.1  Forest 

The multi-tier mixed deciduous forests of the extended Chota Nagpur 
plateau, including the lateritic districts of Bengal, were destroyed in the 
second half of the nineteenth century, when the British colonial forest 
policy transformed all native forests into silvicultural timber farms—initially 
for building railroads and ships, from the late 1850s, and later and more 
importantly, for military use during the World Wars in 1914–1918 and 
1940–1944 (Flint 1998; Sivaramakrishnan 1999). The existing sal forests of 
southwestern Bengal are a consequence of the clearing of all commercially 
“inferior” species to ensure a sustained supply of class A timber from sal 
(Shorea robusta), teak (Tectona grandis), asan (Terminalia tomentosa), and sisu 
(Dalbergia sissoo). Seventy years after Independence, however, the country’s 
Forest Directorate continues with the same colonial forestry parlance of 
“inferior species” and “minor forest products” and the same colonial 
silvicultural agenda of maintaining “tree farms” of commercial value. 
Populations of native tree species have been replaced with exotic species, 
such as Eucalyptus tereticornis and Acacia auriculiformis, chiefly to feed paper 
mills and for pulpwood export. Although the new Forest Policy (2000) 
explicitly emphasizes conservation and prohibits clear-felling of any forest, 
the practice of rotational harvesting of sal forests in the state has not 
stopped, while the professed goals of conservation of local biodiversity and 
providing support to rural economies have been compromised. 

The state’s forest physiognomy and biodiversity improved with the 
evolution of joint forest management (JFM), begun in the early 1980s in 
West Medinipur district, and officially approved by government orders in 
1989 and 1990 (Deb 2013; Deb and Malhotra 1993). The task of forest 
protection was shared by villagers, who were motivated by the increased 
supply of non-timber forest products (NTFP) in the patches of forest they 
protected (Malhotra, Deb, and Vasulu 1992). More than 2,000 forest 
protection committees (FPCs) sprang up in the forest villages of the 
southwestern districts, mostly through the villagers’ own agency. A 
government order of 1989 placed local forest officials on top of the FPCs 
and arranged for 25% of the sale proceeds to be paid to FPC members after 
eight years of rotational harvest of sal poles (Deb 2013). However, this 
arrangement disgruntled many villagers—“why should we protect the forest 
with so much diligence if it is cleared after eight years, only to go back to 
the state of getting no NTFP?” Besides, bureaucratic high-handedness and 
corruption, often accompanied by collusion with panchayat heads (Banerjee 
2004; Deb 2007b; 2013), undermined the participatory nature of JFM, and 
relegated all decision-making power back to forest officials, for whom 
“participatory management” meant an “I do, you participate” policy (Deb 



Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [146] 

 

2009a, 413) aimed at enhancing forest revenue from commercial 
plantations. During 1989–2000, thousands of native dipterocarp species 
were extirpated for the plantation of exotic species, chiefly Eucalyptus 
tereticornis (Deb 2013; Deb 2014). With the continuation of state authority 
over forest usufructuaries, “the interests of primary collectors dependent on 
NTFPs have been ignored… for the sake of safeguarding the state 
revenue” (Palit 1999: 25).  

All the forests in the district are protected forests, where villagers have the 
right to collect selected NTFPs. A few forest habitats in the district host a 
wide range of faunal diversity. Owing to the large number of migratory 
birds visiting the area, Mukutmanipur has now been declared a conservation 
reserve.  

Neither the Forest Department (FD) nor the West Bengal State Biodiversity 
Board (WBSBB) has taken account of the conservation status of flora in the 
state. An indefinite number of rare floral species has been pushed into the 
Endangered (EN) and Critically Endangered (CR) categories of the IUCN 
(2001) Red List, as instanced by the extinction of Vitex glabrata from the 
state (Deb 2008; Deb 2019c).  

4.1.2 Vegetations Outside the Forest 

All over India, trees outside forests contribute to vegetation cover. An 
estimated 2.68 billion trees outside forests contribute an equivalent 
additional area of 9.99 M ha, contributing to about 13% of the country’s 
total area under tree cover (FSI 2003). Stands of vegetation outside forest 
lands constitute important elements of the rural landscape and portray the 
traditional Indian mode of living integrated with biodiversity. Clusters of 
non-forest vegetation exist throughout the district of Bankura in the form 
of home gardens, alongside roads and ponds, and as village sacred groves.  

Home Gardens 

Home gardens are a form of land-use system that involves managing the 
trees and shrubs within individual house compounds. The biodiversity and 
economics of the home gardens of southern India and the north-eastern 
states have received much attention (George and Christopher 2020; Das 
and Das 2005; Ramakrishnan, Das, and Saxena 1996), but the home 
gardens of Bengal remain neglected in biodiversity surveys. Almost every 
village homestead in Bankura district harbours diverse plants to meet 
household needs for fruits (mango, jackfruit, Aegle marmelos, and Moringa 
oleifera), cattle fodder (leaves of jackfruit, Feronia limonia, and Syzygium cumini), 
fuel (leaves of Acacia auriculiformes, twigs of A. nilotica), medicinals 
(Azadirachta indica, Aegle marmelos, Ocimum sanctum), wood for construction 



[147] Debal Deb 

 

(Syzygium cumini, Holoptelea integrifolia, Alangium lamarckii, and Gmelina arborea), 
and household articles such as mats and baskets (leaves of Borassus flabolifer 
and Phoenix sylvestris). Further, many plants are commonly raised for 
ornamental and religious uses. In addition, species of no direct economic 
use are also maintained (Deb 2014).  

Trees on Roadsides and Pond Margins 

An ancient tradition in most of Bengal is to line pond margins with 
numerous trees. Palmyra palm, date palm, drumstick (Moringa oleifera), and 
bamboos are the most commonly used trees for this purpose. Trees along 
pond banks used to be the primary source of palm wood for use in building 
the roofs of huts in every village. As the practice of planting palm trees has 
discontinued over the past few decades, villagers have been compelled to 
replace their traditional house architecture with expensive concrete 
structures. 

Roadside trees throughout the district are a rich bank of biodiversity. In 
many places, there is considerable species richness that supports a wide 
range of vertebrate fauna, including tree frogs, lizards, birds, and mammals 
like palm civets and bats. A study of two forest fringe villages in Bishnupur 
block, conducted along three belt transects (3 km x 50 m each) to inventory 
all trees outside the state forest, revealed that several indigenous hardwood 
trees (e.g., Cordia macleodii, Crateva nurvala, Ficus krishnii, Vitex glabrata, and 
Ternanthera monopetala) existed in non-forest habitats but not in the adjacent 
forest stands managed by the FD (Deb 2014). The absence of these native 
tree species in the state forest tracts was corroborated by our extensive 
inventory of rare trees conducted afresh in 2017 (Deb et al. 2018) as well as 
unpublished data obtained from forest range officers and the conservator 
of forest (research) in the district. Moreover, a few native floral species (e.g., 
Cordia dichotoma, Crateva nurvala, and Ventilago maderas-patana) are found in 
higher densities in non-forest vegetations than in the state forest patches 
(Deb 2014).  

Many of the trees on roadsides and pond margins have no direct economic 
use value. While economists can surmise some indirect use value for such 
trees, including carbon sequestration, albedo reduction, soil binding, and 
biodiversity enrichment, villagers had not been aware of these global 
ecological services while planting them. Rather, the existence value and 
bequest value of the trees with “no uses” are prominent. Trees like Crateva 
nurvala, Haldina cordifolia, Oroxylum indicum, Soymida febrifuga, and Streblus asper 
are never harvested for food, fuelwood, or medicinal purposes and are not 
popularly known for distinctive ecological services such as soil binding or 
albedo reduction (Deb and Malhotra 1993, 2001). Yet, they are frequently 



Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [148] 

 

maintained on roadsides, pond margins, and even on homestead lands (Deb 
2014). This testifies to our conjecture that people in these villages planted 
these trees because they value the existence of diverse trees in their 
surroundings rather than their instrumental value.  

Sacred Groves 

Sacred groves (SGs) constitute natural or near-natural patches of vegetation 
in or on the outskirts of villages (Deb 2007a; 2008b), where harvesting of 
any living matter is generally prohibited. These SGs constitute a glorious 
example of traditional cultural institutions fostering biodiversity 
conservation and helping conserve a range of rare and endemic life forms 
(Gadgil and Guha 1992; Deb and Malhotra 2001).  

In Bankura district, every block, and almost every panchayat area, has a 
sacred grove that is known by the generic name “than”. Most of these 
groves are a legacy of ancient tribal SGs. All Santal hamlets contain sacred 
groves called Baram-than, Salui-than, and Jaher-than. Many of the older SGs 
have come under the pale of subaltern Hinduism and are named after 
subaltern Hindu deities, such as Bhairab, Dharmaraj, Chandi, Sitala, 
Manasa, and Buri-Ma, and represent the historical transformation of belief 
systems, while retaining the sanctity of the grove. An SG in Dariapur 
village, Sonamukhi block, contains an image of a Jain tirthankar (saint and 
spiritual guide), although the grove is named Bhairab-than. This image is 
worshipped as an incarnation of Bhairab, a deity of the Hindu pantheon. 
Several sacred groves in the district are consecrated for a female deity 
named Sini, who is traditionally worshipped by tribal and Scheduled Castes. 
Choudhury Kamilya (1992) has discussed in detail the origin of, and the 
rites associated with, Sini-thans across Rarh Bengal and given a list of 95 
Sini-thans in the district. No image of any deity exists in these old SGs. 
Byaghrasini-than in Boidhya village of Bishnupur block, Berasini-than and 
Jadusini-than in Panchal, and Kutasini-than in Kanaipur village, Sonamukhi 
block, and Madana-than in Chhandar village, Barjora block, are examples. 
However, Jina Sini of Bankura town and Bamni Sini of Shukla village of 
Sonamukhi block are warrior goddesses on horseback, whose exquisite 
idols are worshipped. Such images are a legacy of the continuous process of 
“Sanskritization” (Srinivas 1956), by which Brahminical Hinduism 
subsumes and transforms indigenous, non-Brahminical cultural elements. 
Some of these “Sanskritized” groves have concrete platforms, roofs, and 
images of the deity. The removal of wood for use in the construction of 
temples is an important cause for the thinning of several SGs.  

The construction of highways, railways, and power-line extension, along 
with industrial growth, has expunged many SGs from the district. In 



[149] Debal Deb 

 

addition, the erosion of the belief system associated with SGs has led to 
wood theft for commercial use in several villages (Fig. 2A). Uncontrolled 
cattle grazing has in many cases stopped the process of regeneration of SG 
vegetation, leading to the decimation of the grove (Fig. 2B). In many places, 
the SG has been replaced with a temple with one or two trees (Fig. 2C) or a 
concrete platform on an empty parcel of land (Fig. 2D).  

Most of the SGs in the district are small, spanning less than 500 m2 area, 
rarely exceeding 2,000 m2 (Deb 2017a). It appears that the taxic diversity of 
the SG biota is independent of the grove area. Diverse plant families 
corresponding to more than eight species occur in most of the small SGs, 
whereas Tapoban Pahar SG in Gangajalghati block, covering 6,700 m2, 
contains only a single species of Eucalyptus tereticornis (Mitra et al. 2017). 
Such exotic plantations are a result of modern commercial plantation 
drives. Except for such exotic plantations, many of these SGs are rich in 
biodiversity, hosting rare and endangered life forms such as Vitex glabrata, 
whose last specimen in the state was recorded in a perforated SG at a 
crossroads in Chhandar village (Deb 2008; 2014). 

Owing to the customary ring of protection around these groves, many 
animals tend to prefer SGs for nesting and breeding. Deb, Deuti, and 
Malhotra (1997) recorded in the neighbouring district of West Medinipur 
that many birds, including the threatened species, large Indian parakeet 
(Psittacula eupatria), distinctly prefer SGs for nesting. My survey has also 
recorded (Deb 2008; 2021a) that apart from the SGs, the nesting habitats of 
birds and bats also receive cultural protection in indigenous cultures. For 
instance, Khejurbediya village of Bankura-2 block is famous for a cluster of 
old trees that are a breeding habitat of egrets (Ardea alba). In Majdiha village 
in Onda block, a cluster of trees is a permanent roosting habitat for greater 
Indian fruit bats (Pteropus medius). In both places, villagers consider the 
groves as sacred and never harm the animals. This care and empathy toward 
all life forms used to be an inherent characteristic of all indigenous cultures 
(Kellert and Wilson 1993), and Bankura’s cultural tradition is no exception. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [150] 

 

Figure 2: Stages of Dilapidation of Sacred Groves. A: Removal of Trees: 
Kuchishol, Onda Block (2006). B: Thinning and Grazing in the Grove: Bonkati, 
Bishnupur Block (2002). C: Trees Displaced by a Temple: Beliatore, Borjora Block 
(1998). D: An Altar with No Tree in the Grove: Panchal, Sonamukhi Block (2003).  

 

Photo credit: Author 

Numerous SGs were clear-felled by the FD during the colonial period, and 
there are hardly any SGs remaining inside the forest lands managed by the 
department. In line with the historic colonial attitude, a large section of the 
FD continues to treat the forest as commercial “tree farms” at the expense 
of the stated goal of conservation. While old-growth trees are now 
extremely rare in the forest, due to the rotational felling of sal trees since 



[151] Debal Deb 

 

the 1970s, corruption in the FD, in collusion with a few political heads in 
the village-level administration, has destroyed many village forests outside 
the FD’s jurisdiction. An explicit example is the clear-felling of 130 old-
growth sal (Shorea robusta) trees in Rajarbandh SG in Bhalukkhulya mouza of 
Radhanagar forest range, Bishnupur block, in early 2005. This SG is a priest 
family’s property, exempt from land tax by a royal edict several centuries 
ago, and contained over 200 old-growth sal trees and a multitude of other 
species, including Madhuca longifolia, Lagerstroemia parviflora, Diospyros 
melanoxylon, and a rare species, Tamilnadia uliginosa. During a felling 
operation as a part of the District Working Plan of 2005, the FD 
encroached into the SG and removed 130 mature sal trees without 
informing the landowner. The FD officials, in collusion with a handful of 
executive members of the village FPC, did not pay heed to the objections of 
the hired labourers and villagers. As the destroyed SG was not in the 
jurisdiction of the FD, the harvest was off the FD’s official records and the 
booty was shared among the officials. My protest letters to the highest 
echelons of the state FD, demanding disciplinary measures against the 
erring officials and compensatory reafforestation in the SG, failed to elicit 
any official response. Subsequently, in 2006, the FD filed two suits (No. 4 
C/2006 and No. 5 C/2006) at Bishnupur Sub-Divisional Court, accusing 
me and my associates of wood theft from the forest (Deb 2007b). The suits 
continue after 15 years, while the unique ecosystem of the ravished SG has 
disintegrated. 

In addition to clearing of trees, extension of roads and industrial growth are 
a major threat to the existing SGs, most of which are already derelict. 
Numerous groves have been perforated by roads, and some have been 
cleared off: the fragmentation of an ancient SG at the crossroads of 
Chhandar village (Deb 2014) is an example of the first kind, and a small SG 
at the bus stand in Pakhanya village is an example of the second.  

The existence of SGs is also threatened by the modern educational 
curriculum, which fosters a repudiation of traditional modes of customary 
land use as retrogressive and inculcates an industrial ethic that reduces the 
value of biodiversity to a price tag. Thus, sacred habitats in the district are 
considered little more than an institution of superstition, which may be 
disposed of for an immediate economic benefit. In some cases, outside 
agents (like a road contractor) initiate such destruction, but, in many others, 
the local youth do not mind depleting the SGs of their villages for a quick 
buck.  

4.1.3 Wetlands 

A large number of wetlands have been “reclaimed” or filled up for 



Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [152] 

 

urbanization and highway projects. Of the existing ponds and small lakes, 
many have been adapted for the pisciculture of exotic carp and predatory 
African sharptooth catfish (Clarias gariepinus). Prior to the release of fish fry 
for rearing into the pond, “pond preparation” with a saponin-rich mahua 
(Madhuca longifolia) oil cake (Deb and Banerjee 1987) eradicates all 
zooplanktonic species, amphibia, and “weed fish” species. Consequently, 
the native aquatic ecosystem structure is irretrievably lost. Moreover, the 
voracious African catfish (Clarias gariepinus), introduced in the 1980s in the 
district, devours all aquatic crustaceans, molluscs, amphibia, and even 
domestic ducks. Though the Government of India issued an order on 29 
June 2000 prohibiting the rearing of this fish in ponds and tanks, the order 
is not effectively enforced in the district. 

A few unique biodiversity-rich ponds still exist in Bankura. In the village of 
Chhandar, Bodher Pukur is an ancient sacred pond that is not used by 
villagers for bathing, washing, or fishing. The name is a corrupt derivation 
of “Bouddher” (pertaining to Buddhists), indicating that it was originally 
associated with a Buddhist shrine by the pond. The Buddhist influence in 
the district during the Pala imperial dynasty, until the consolidation of the 
Malla dynasty in Rarh Bengal sometime between 1298 and 1350 CE, is 
evidenced by the Buddhist stupas in the region (Sanyal 2018). Bodher 
Pukur, therefore, seems to be at least 600 years old.  

The pond surface is covered with floating vegetation (Fig. 3) comprised by 
a complex assemblage of diverse grasses and herbaceous flora. The pond 
water contains many photosynthetic bacteria that can survive in the 
atrophic water, eight fish species, two frog species, and a population of a 
large leech, Poecilobdella manillensis (Deb 2003; 2008b). Villagers report that 
until the 1970s, a few turtles could also be found in the pond. The 
description of the turtle (olive shell with a central ridge and thin stripes) 
matches with the Kachuga tentoria flaviventer, which is a species never reported 
from the southwestern districts of Bengal. However, this turtle no longer 
exists in the pond. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



[153] Debal Deb 

 

Figure 3: The Bodher Pukur Sacred Pond with Floating Vegetation, in Chhandar 
Village  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo credit: Author, 2003 

Another sacred pond exists in Belboni village by the Durgapur–Bankura 
State Highway. All the households of two nearby hamlets depend on this 
pond for drinking water, although there are tube wells as well in the village 
(Deb 2008). The pond ecosystem was in the past constituted by a unique 
composition of organisms, including an otter family that was exterminated 
in the early 1980s. As of 2008, the zooplankton community of this pond 
included the protist Difflugia sp. and Bdelloid rotifers, which presumably 
kept the pond water free from pathogenic microbes (Deb 2008). However, 
this unique ecosystem disintegrated in 2010 when the villagers pumped out 
the water and removed the bottom sediment from the pond for 
“renovation”—an activity that removed the littoral plankton and benthic 
fauna (Deb 2021a). An examination of the pond water after the 
perturbation revealed the disappearance of Difflugia sp. and the dominance 
of Mesocyclops spp. in the planktonic community. 

4.1.4  Endangered Plants 

Over centuries, various elements of folk religious tradition and customs 
were assimilated into the mainstream Hindu religion. In this process of 



Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [154] 

 

Sanskritization, new meanings, messages and significance have been 
attached to folk deities and customs, even by restructuring or incorporating 
the Brahminical mythology into folk stories of local deities and rituals 
(Xavier 2010). Thus, several trees (such as Aegle marmelos, Ficus benghalensis, 
F. religiosa, and Crateva nurvala) and animals (barn owl, hanuman langur) held 
sacred in native animistic traditions are also considered sacred in 
mainstream Hindu culture (Deb and Malhotra 2001). Many of these trees, 
such as the banyan (F. benghalensis), mahua (Madhuca longifolia), and sal 
(Shorea robusta) are keystone species in the local ecosystem. Several trees 
with no direct economic use have been incorporated into indigenous 
ceremonies. Thus, karam (Haldina cordifolia), rohin (Soymida fabrifuga), and 
manasa (Euphorbia neriifolia) are essential in the eponymous ceremonies in 
the indigenous cultures of Rarh Bengal (Deb and Malhotra 2001).  

Deb (2014) reported the threatened status of Crateva nurvala, Cordia macleodii, 
Ficus krishnii, Tamilnadia uliginosa, and Vitex glabrata (Tables 2a and 2b), 
surviving in a few old SGs and inferred to be Critically Endangered (CR) in 
the state, based on the IUCN (2001) Red List criteria: B1 (extent of 
occurrence estimated to be <100 sq km), B2 (habitat severely fragmented; 
observed, inferred, or projected decline in area, extent and/or quality of 
habitat), C (number of mature individuals <250), C2 (no subpopulation 
containing >50 mature individuals), and D (population size estimated to 
number <50 mature individuals). Among these CR trees, V. glabrata was 
represented by the last specimen in the state in an SG perforated by a 
crossroads at Chhandar village. In 2016, this tree was cut down by a stall 
owner under the tree (Deb 2019c; 2021a). However, the CR status inferred 
from the surveys conducted in West Bengal and adjacent states may not 
conform to the global status of the species, as the same species may exist in 
a few other states of India and other countries. 

Cordia macleodii is another CR tree in the district, which was first recorded in 
the district by Sanyal (1994). The National Herbarium collection contains a 
few specimens from the district of West Medinipur. However, the Bengali 
and Santali names of the tree, Sitapatra and Jugia, respectively, are not 
mentioned in any taxonomic literature, and thus, as the botanical identity of 
the tree was unknown to the local residents, botanists were unable to 
identify the tree from its vernacular names. Furthermore, the taxonomic 
literature does not mention some of its important characteristics. One of 
the morphological characteristics of Sitapatra is that scratches on the upper 
surface of the leaf elicit permanent black marks (Fig. 4), which is a feature 
so prominent that local folklore includes a story of an exiled Sita writing her 
message on the leaf of this tree to send to her husband, Rama—hence the 
Bengali name of the tree—"Sita’s letter” (Deb et al. 2018; Deb 2019c). 



[155] Debal Deb 

 

While Sitapatra is now identified as C. macleoidii, the occurrence of flowers 
with five (pentamerous) and six (hexamerous) petals and stamens on the 
same tree (Fig. 4) contrasts the tetramerous and pentamerous flowers of C. 
macleoidii recorded in taxonomic literature. Furthermore, none of the earlier 
texts describing C. macleodii mentions the occurrence of male and female 
flowers on different trees. Therefore, Sitapatra appears to be a likely 
subspecies of C. macleodii, previously undescribed (Deb et al. 2018). My 
extensive survey, conducted from 2002 to 2014 and in 2017, recorded the 
existence of only five mature individuals of Sitapatra in two discrete 
locations of Bankura district and nowhere else in the entire state of West 
Bengal (ibid.). 

Table 2a: A Brief  List of  Threatened Wild Taxa in Bankura District (Flora) 

Vernacular 
Name 

Botanical 
Name 

Location of 
Occurrence 
(Block) 

No. of 
Mature 
Individuals 

Status in 
District* 

Reference 

Bhadu 
Vitex 
glabrata 

Barjora 

Last 
specimen 
felled in 

2016 

EW 
Deb 

(2019c) 

Sitapatra 
Cordia 
macleodii 

Bishnupur, 
Sonamukhi 

6 CR 
Deb et al. 

(2018) 

Bharna 
Crateva 
nurvala 

All blocks  <800 EN 
Deb 

(2014) 

Krishna bat 
Ficus 
krishnii  

Bishnupur, 
Onda, 
Patrasayar, 
Ranibandh, 
Taldangra  

4 CR 
Deb 

(2014) 

Pidra 
Tamilnadia 
uliginosa 

Bishnupur, 
Onda, 
Ranibandh, 
Sonamukhi, 
Taldangra  

<200 EN 
Deb 

(2014) 

Leda 
Ternanthera 
monopetala 

All blocks, 
except 
Bankura-I 

<1000 R 
Deb 

(2014) 

 



Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [156] 

 

Table 2b: A Brief  List of  Threatened Wild Taxa in Bankura District (Fauna) 

Vernacular 
Name 

Botanical 
Name 

Location of 
Occurrence 
(Block) 

No. of 
Mature 

Individuals 

Status in 
District* 

Reference 

Tricarinate 
hill turtle  

Melanochelys 
tricarinata 

Chhatna, 
Ranibandh, 
Bishnupur, 
Sarenga 

<500 CR 
Unpublished 

data 

Bon rui 
Manis 
crassicaudata 

Bishnupur, 
Ranibandh, 
Sarenga, 
Taldangra 

<100 EN 
Unpublished 

data 

Bhondar 
Lutrogale 
perspicillata 

Bishnupur, 
Ranibandh, 
Sarenga 

<50 CR 
Unpublished 

data 

Shajaru 
Hystrix 
indica 

Chhatna, 
Onda, 
Taldangra, 
Ranibandh, 
Sarenga 

< 2 
sightings in  

25 years 
EN 

Unpublished 
data 

Chita biral 
Prionailurus  
bengalensis 

Chhatna, 
Ranibandh, 
Sarenga 

n.d. R 
Unpublished 

data 

* IUCN (2001) criteria applied to each species in the state of West Bengal. 
CR = Critically Endangered; EN = Endangered; EW = Extinct in the wild; R = 
Rare.  
Source (for Tables 2a & 2b): Author’s compilation, 2021 
 
 

 

 



[157] Debal Deb 

 

 

Figure 4: Sitapatra (A) Mature Leaf Showing Permanent Mark after Writing (B) 
Twig (C) Dry Flowers, Without and With the Calyx (D) Pentamerous Corolla (E) 
Hexamerous Corolla  

 

Photo credit: Author, 2018 

4.1.5 Endangered Fauna 

Several animals mentioned in folklore and zoological records, such as the 
leopard, are no longer found in the district of Bankura. Tiger hunting is 
depicted in the terracotta images on the walls of Jor Bangla temple (built 
possibly in the seventeenth century), and folklore commemorates King Bir 
Hambir for having slain a tiger, but the animal has been extinct from the 
southwestern districts altogether since the eighteenth century. The wolf is 
the largest predator that still exists in the district forest. 

Birds in Mukutmanipur Conservation Reserve include winter visitors like 
the lesser whistling teal, red-crested pochard, gadwall, common coot, 
swallows, wagtails, darters, spot-billed duck, grebes, buntings, rufous-tailed 
lark, and different terns. The honey buzzard (Pernis ptilorhynchus ruficaulis), 
which preys on the honey and larvae of the wild honeybee, Apis dorsata, is 
rarely sighted, but a nesting pair was recorded in 2008 in Binodbati village 



Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [158] 

 

of Bishnupur block. Following conservation efforts at Basudha farm in 
collaboration with villagers, the number of breeding pairs increased by 2020 
to six, nesting in the village and the neighbouring forest area.  

Most of the district forests are habitats for elephants and constitute parts of 
eastern India’s elephant corridors. However, the Ranibandh-Sutan forest 
tract is currently out of the elephant migration route, and the Mayurjharna 
Elephant Reserve, spanning across southern Bankura and West Medinipur 
districts, is now a “dead project” (Bankura District Administration 2021b). 

The conservation status of faunal biodiversity is hardly mentioned in 
official district survey reports. These reports are often based on older 
reports, seldom match the current status of species, and are replete with 
largely unreliable information about rare and endangered flora and fauna. 
For example, the District Survey Report of Bankura (RSP Green Development 
and Laboratories 2019) mentions the prevalence of the American porcupine 
(Erethizon dorsatum) “throughout the area” (p. 19). The reports of the FD 
likewise give fictitious reports of the distribution of some animals that have 
not been sighted in the region over the past two decades. In contravention 
of the spurious official data about the district’s fauna, I describe the status 
of animals based on my own surveys in the district following the IUCN 
(2001) Red List criteria, regardless of their status published in the national 
database. For instance, the Indian porcupine (Hystrix indica) is rarely sighted 
in the district. Over the past three decades, our extensive survey failed to 
record either a direct sighting of the animal or indirect evidence of its 
existence (such as its quills), indicating that the animal is likely EN in the 
district.  

The smooth-coated otter (Lutrogale perspicillatas) is Critically Endangered 
(Possibly Extinct)1 in the district (Table 2b), primarily due to extermination 
by people in their zeal to protect the fish in their ponds. The tricarinate hill 
turtle, (Melanochelys tricarinata), found in and around Susunia hill and the 
southern Bankura forests, is now extremely rare and probably CR. The 
Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) is also EN in the district and was 
occasionally sighted in the Bishnupur and Ranibandh forest ranges over the 
past 20 years. Sadly, on each sighting, the local youth in Bishnupur block 
were unable to name the animal; I was only able to record these sightings 
after the youth came to me to confirm the animal’s identity. Although 
official reports of the state FD mention the existence of the wild cat (Felis 

 
1  “Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct) […] is not a new IUCN Red List Category, but is 

a flag developed to identify those Critically Endangered species that are in all probability 
already extinct but for which confirmation is required; for example, through more extensive 
surveys being carried out and failing to find any individuals” (IUCN n.d.). 



[159] Debal Deb 

 

chaus) and the fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) in the district, there is no 
evidence of the former’s existence in the 21 forest ranges of the district 
over the past 20 years, while the latter is rarely sighted in the southern 
blocks of the district (unpublished records).  

4.2 Agrobiodiversity 

This section is meant only to indicate the trend in the decline in 
domesticated biodiversity in the district. I will highlight a few special 
instances that are scarcely mentioned in scientific literature. 

4.2.1 Agroecosystems 

Beginning with the advent of the Green Revolution in the late 1960s, 
traditional multiple cropping practices were replaced with a monoculture of 
cereals and vegetables, leading to low crop diversification, with a 
predominance of rice monoculture, in the southwestern districts of West 
Bengal (Chakraborty and Mistri 2017; Das et al. 2016; De and 
Chattopadhaya 2010; GRBNEP 2011; Paul et al. 2020). Farm architecture 
across West Bengal has also been homogenized with the removal of large 
trees from farm fields, which used to serve as breeding and nesting habitats 
for a multitude of fauna such as owls, nightjars, open billed storks, lizards, 
frogs, and other natural enemies of crop pests. An increasing number of 
modern rice farmers are also applying a range of highly toxic insecticides 
(Banerjee et al. 2016). In addition, the national agricultural research 
institutions promote widespread use of herbicides (e.g., Pathak et al. 2019), 
which the farmers of Bengal, including Bankura district, are increasingly 
applying to their farms (Kumar 2020). Herbicides are known to eliminate 
grasses, broadleaved flora, frogs, birds, and pollinators (Annett, Habibi, and 
Hontela 2014; Relyea and Jones 2009), thereby truncating several trophic 
levels of the farm food web and reducing long-term farm productivity (Deb 
2009b; 2020).  

4.2.2 Crop Genetic Diversity 

A multitude of crops and animals have been domesticated in India (Fuller 
2011; Larson and Fuller 2014), expanding the region’s biodiversity with 
thousands of landraces that are adapted to local environmental conditions 
and “are named, selected and maintained by the traditional farmers to meet 
their social, economic, cultural and ecological needs” (Teshome et al. 1997, 
256). Each crop landrace and each domesticated animal breed is a unique 
genomic assortment that reveals the astounding genetic diversity of the 
species. Nevertheless, just as the human-made landscapes are excluded 
from the mainstream understanding of “nature conservation”, the genetic 
diversity of domesticated biota is often excluded from the conventional 



Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [160] 

 

discourse of biodiversity.  

Until the early 1970s, 5,556 rice landraces were grown in West Bengal, most 
of which are now extinct from farm fields (Deb 2005; 2019a). With the 
advent of the Green Revolution, thousands of folk rice landraces have been 
replaced with a handful of high-yielding varieties (HYVs). As of date, no 
more than 320 landraces are in cultivation across West Bengal (Deb 2019a; 
updated records of Vrihi, unpublished), implying the loss of ca. 93% of 
indigenous rice genetic diversity. Many of the landraces extant in Bankura 
district have remarkable osmotic stress tolerance (Karmakar et al. 2012). 
The current records of Vrihi (1997–2021, unpublished), the country’s 
largest folk rice seed bank, indicate that the number of landraces currently 
in cultivation in Bankura does not exceed 22, which is a rapid reduction 
from the 45 recorded till 2005 (Deb 2005).  

The aesthetic appeal of lemma and palea colour, bran colour, aroma, and 
the culinary qualities of many rice landraces are important for their 
cultivation in indigenous food cultures. Several landraces are also known for 
their therapeutic properties in folk medicine. In traditional medicine, the 
pink starch of Kelas, an upland variety, is a diet for lactating women to cure 
their peripartum anaemia (Deb 2017; 2019a). Dudheswar was known to 
enhance growth in children, and Paramai-sal was believed to be a diet for 
good health (Deb 2017). Recent studies (Deb, Sengupta, and Pradeep 2015; 
Sen Gupta et al. 2017) reveal that grains of Kelas contain a high amount 
(34.6 mg/kg) of iron, while Parmai-sal rice is rich in manganese (124.60 
mg/kg) and zinc (20.7 mg/kg), which are all important dietary 
micronutrients. The bran of the Parmai-sal and Khas Dhan rice varieties 
also contain high amounts of arachidonic acid and docosahexaenoic acid, 
essential for neonatal brain development (Ray et al. 2021). A large range of 
vanishing rice landraces, such as Gopalbhog, Kharishabhog, and Sada Kaya, 
are rich in B1, B5, and B6 vitamins (Roy et al. 2020; Mondal, Datta, and 
Deb 2021). These findings highlight the need for conservation of folk crop 
varieties for the nutritional security of the poor. 

 

http://cintdis.org/vrihi/


[161] Debal Deb 

 

Table 3: Endangered Crop Landraces and Animal Breeds of Bankura District  

Crop Plant Landrace Animal Breed 

Khero  

(Citrullus lanatus) 
Unnamed 

Cow  

(Bos indicus) 
Birbhuiyan 

Mustard  

(Brassica oleracea) 

Tori Chicken  

(Gallus gallus 
domesticus) 

Selection from 
Chittagung 

Jhanti# Selection from Aseel 

Ekangi kasturi (Kaempferia 
galanga) 

Unidentified# 

Aubergine  

(Solanum melangena) 

Lurka 

Kalo tuni 

Rice  

(Oryza sativa ssp. indica) 

Ash gangajal* 

Gangajali* 

Khaskani# 

Mihi nagra# 

Punjab-sal# 

Sada Kalma# 

Sada Kaya# 

Sada Kelas* 

Tetku# 

* Extinct from entire Bengal     
# Conserved on Basudha farm, Odisha 
Source: Author’s compilation, 2021 

The traditional farmers of Bankura used to grow a multitude of millets and 
several landraces of aubergine, bottle gourd, mustard, and sesame. All these 
landraces are forgotten, along with the knowledge of mixed cropping. Until 
the early 1990s, traditional Bankura farmers in Onda and Bishnupur block 



Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [162] 

 

used to grow at least 20 different crops on their vegetable farms in the same 
season (personal observation). This practice has given way to monocultures 
of a few selected crops, entailing a permanent dependence on exogenous 
seeds and agrochemicals, and several crops have become obsolete in the 
process. An example is Khero, the white-flesh watermelon (Citrullus lanatus). 
Mohanta and Mandal (2019) have examined the agronomic properties of 
several Khero genotypes, which only a handful of modern farmers in 
Bankura are cultivating. With the advent of several hybrid varieties, 
traditional landraces are becoming scarce. Several local landraces of 
aubergine, sesame, and mustard have become CR, grown in only a handful 
of small farms in the district (Table 3). The ancient practice of growing the 
mustard landraces, Jhanti and Tori, between rows of rice in the Rabi season 
(Deb 2020) has also become obsolete, owing to the prevalent practice of 
rice monoculture. 

4.2.3 Domesticated Animal Diversity 

FAO’s Domestic Animal Diversity Information System (FAO n.d.) records 
80 Indian breeds of cattle, while the National Bureau of Animal Genetic 
Resources (NBAGR) has registered 50 breeds of domestic cattle in India. 
However, neither list includes the Birbhuiyan breed of Rarh Bengal. This 
breed is characterized by its short stature, relatively small distance between 
the horns, and low milk yield (Table 4). This breed, with an outstanding 
ability to survive on low water uptake, shows a remarkable adaptation to the 
dry summers of the region. Unfortunately, no research and documentation 
of this cattle breed are yet published. The breed was common in most tribal 
villages of Bankura until the 1980s. However, with the increasing trend of 
adopting modern hybrid cattle breeds, the Birbhuyan faces imminent 
extinction (Table 3). 

In Ranibandh block, an unnamed, distinctive breed of fowl was noticed in 
the Santal hamlets in the Ranibandh forest beat. This breed, apparently a 
native selection of the indigenous Aseel breed, has not been recorded 
elsewhere and is nearing extinction. Another breed of fowl was recorded in 
Saltora block. This breed is similar to the Chittagong breed but has a larger 
and heavier build, probably attained through local selection over 
generations. It is imperative that the WBSBB as well as the State University 
of Animal Husbandry undertake the task of documenting their genetic 
characteristics and taking appropriate measures to conserve these 
endangered animal breeds. 

 

 



[163] Debal Deb 

 

Table 4: Key Morphological Characters of the Birbhuyan Breed of Cattle 

Breed Descriptors Mean Value  

Head length (cm) 380 

Body length (cm) 1,440 

Tail length (cm) 760 

Front leg length (cm) 630 

Hind leg length (cm) 570 

Distance between horns at base (cm) 120 

Distance between ears (cm) 190 

Ear length (cm) 200 

Ear width (cm) 70 

Distance between udders, front (cm) 70 

Distance between udders, rear (cm) 50 

Calving interval (days) 438  

Milk yield per day (L) 1.16 

Source: Author’s compilation, 2021 

5. THE CULTURAL IMPACTS OF BIODIVERSITY LOSS 

Because biodiverse landscapes are the historical product of human 
intervention to maintain the direct and indirect use values of biodiversity 
(Jackson and Palmer 2015; Fletcher et al. 2021), the loss of species and 
genetic diversity has adverse effects on diverse aspects of the local cultures, 
including social norms and perceptions. Fromm (1973) argued that 
degradation of the biotic landscape serves to evaporate biophilia, leading to 
expressions of psychopathology in individual members of the society. 
Culture includes “the setting and language that people use to describe their 



Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [164] 

 

environment and their relationship with the land” and implies “the 
underlying concepts of their words and the corresponding actions” 
appropriate for the use and maintenance of biodiversity (Gómez-Pompa 
and Kaus 1992: 277). The disappearance of life forms from the indigenous 
landscape therefore not only leads to the abrogation of several use values of 
those biota, but also the loss of their names, social functions, ecological 
services and cultural significance from public memory. I discuss a few 
aspects of the cultural impacts of biodiversity loss on different levels.  

5.1  Degeneration of Biophilia  

The degeneration of biophilia and the confinement of the value of life 
forms to their instrumental value is evident in most of the villages of 
Bankura. In Boidhya village of Bishnupur block, a small group of open 
billed stork (Anastomus oscitans) used to nest in an old tamarind tree, which 
the villagers cut down in 2017, on the pretext of keeping the place “clean”.  

The ancient institution of sacred groves is collapsing in many places, 
including in tribal villages. Around the industrial township of Barjora, all the 
SGs have been stripped of old-growth trees for timber. Removal of trees 
for commerce is becoming a frequent occurrence in many remote tribal 
villages too. 

5.2  Loss of the Cultural Value of Life Forms 

Numerous ceremonies associated with seed sowing and harvesting marked 
the agrarian culture of Bengal (Deb 2021b). In Bankura, the Nal Sankranti 
ceremony was observed on the last day of the month of Ashwin (mid-
September), when most rice varieties start flowering. This ceremony 
involves planting a few seedlings of nal grass (Phragmytes karka) and a few 
wild rice (O. rufipogon) plants in the north-western margin of a plot of 
cultivated rice. This ceremony is a ritual expression of the farmers’ 
celebration of the flowering of rice, in expectation of a good harvest. As 
industrial agriculture has become a market-driven activity, bereft of any 
cultural significance, ritual ceremonies have disappeared from the cultural 
calendar of the region.  

Local food cultures pivot on local food crops. Several rice landraces of 
Bankura district were traditionally used to make muri (crisped rice) and chireh 
(beaten rice). Several rice landraces were preferred for cooking specific 
culinary delicacies. For example, Kaya rice was traditionally preferred for 
making aské pithé. Jhinge-sal and Danaguri were preferred for preparing 
patisaptah. Small-grained, aromatic rice varieties, such as Khaskani and 
Khudi khasa, were used to prepare rice pudding. With the disappearance of 
these landraces, many of these culinary delicacies have been lost and 



[165] Debal Deb 

 

forgotten (Deb 2021a; 2021b). Farmers have also abandoned the cultivation 
of a special aromatic rhizome crop, ekangi kasturi (Kaempferia galanga), 
traditionally used in making a special kind of chutney, whose recipe is now 
forgotten.  

5.3  Loss of Words and Knowledge Base 

With the disappearance of an animal or a crop landrace, the names and uses 
of these life forms are eventually lost from the collective memory. The 
example of the villagers of Arjunpur and Sonamukhi forgetting the Bengali 
and Santali names of the pangolin mentioned above implies a cultural decay 
that is as deplorable as the loss of species. As the vocabulary used to 
describe ecosystem components forms the foundation for the resulting 
knowledge base that evolves, the loss of species is soon followed by the loss 
of words, eventually leading to severe erosion of the biocultural knowledge 
base (Frainer et al. 2020; Maffi and Woodley 2010). A majority of modern 
youth of Bankura do not know the Bengali and Santali names of not only 
rare trees like Cordia macleodii but also of many relatively common trees like 
Crateva nurvala and Soymida fabrifuga. Consequently, these trees no longer 
enjoy traditional cultural protection, and some of the eponymous festivals 
are devoid of the use of these trees, which remain unidentified in the 
villages. This phenomenon represents a “generational amnesia”, which 
occurs when older individuals fail to pass their experiences to future 
generations (Papworth et al. 2009).  

The loss of biocultural knowledge may elicit apprehension of evil from 
unfamiliar organisms and facilitate the process of further biodiversity loss. 
For instance, in 2010, the youth in a forest fringe village in Bishnupur block 
tried to kill a python fearing that it was a deadly venomous snake. Likewise, 
local youths no longer recall the names of many rare flora and fauna.  

5.4  Disintegration of the Communitarian Ethos  

This dissolution of the cultural ring of protection around biodiversity 
signals the erosion of the traditional perception of the intrinsic value of 
biodiversity and of the communitarian ethos. The communitarian ethos 
shaped resource-use ethics in indigenous societies to protect their resource 
base. The foundation of this conservation ethic associated with customary 
biodiversity use is the user community’s drive to ensure the long-term 
availability of resources over generations. Any exhaustive or “profligate 
resource use” (Gadgil and Guha 1992) would draw community 
disapprobation, which is known to strongly deter individual selfish 
behaviours against the common good (Faber, Petersen, and Schiller 2002; 
Deb 2009a). Thus, the wild food gatherers (mostly women) of Bengal 
villages used to leave at least a few mushrooms on the forest floor to ensure 



Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [166] 

 

that some spores of the fungi would replenish the stock in the next season. 
Likewise, after extirpating wild tubers, the women used to either replant the 
vine or leave a piece of the tuber intact underground. No individual was 
allowed to extract a quantity of items exceeding what would suffice her 
family for the day. The “customary harvesting quotas” of Bengal’s rural 
cultures are recorded to have persisted till the 1990s (Deb and Malhotra 
2001). With the rapid spread of modernization and market integration, 
customary gathering norms have largely disappeared from local cultures. 
Most of the old ponds, traditionally maintained as sources of drinking water 
for the entire hamlet, have now been converted into pisciculture ponds of 
private households. Villagers near industrial towns often extract old-growth 
trees from SGs for a quick earning from the wood sale. In 2010, a Santal 
young man in Bonkati hamlet in Bishnupur block, cut down the only 
specimen of an 80-year-old Ventilago maderaspatana from his village SG to 
buy a bottle of spirit (Deb 2021a). The last known specimen of bhadu 
(Vitex glabrata) tree in the state (Deb 2014), recorded to have existed in 
Chhandar village of Barjora block, was cut down in 2016 (Deb 2019c). Such 
violations of customary conservation norms no longer elicit resistance or 
remonstration from the village community.  

Crop seeds in all agrarian cultures used to be a commons, shared among 
members of the community and exchanged with other communities (Bray 
1994; Sajise et al. 2012; Song et al. 2019; Deb 2019b, 2021a). In all agrarian 
societies until the 1970s, hundreds of rice landraces were developed by 
unnamed, unknown farmer-breeders who shared their creations with all 
members of the community. The farmers of Bankura, who had created the 
aromatic rice landrace Khudi khasa, and the farmer(s) who had discovered 
the health benefits of Kelas rice never claimed intellectual proprietorship 
over their innovations. More recently, in the 1990s, Mr. Asit De, a farmer in 
Bankura district, developed a new rice variety named Asit Kalma (Deb 
2005; Deb 2021a) and distributed its seeds for free among numerous 
farmers in the district. Like all traditional innovations, which are widely 
accepted by the community and transmitted across generations, this new 
variety was incorporated into the region’s agricultural repertoire as a 
common property of all farmers. However, the rapid expansion of seed 
commerce in the district marked the decay of the seed commons. The 
abolition of the seed exchange custom has since led to a loss of self-respect 
among indigenous farmers, who now rely entirely on the commercial supply 
of seeds and wait on statutory agricultural institutions for knowledge about 
new seeds and markets. This process has further contributed to the 
abolition of hundreds of farmer landraces and farmer markets for the sale 
of farm produce and artisanal crafts.  



[167] Debal Deb 

 

A significant mark of the disintegration of the cohesive bond within the 
community is the disappearance of gânta - a reciprocal labour exchange 
tradition that existed in all villages of Bankura, which was akin to ayni in 
Peru, bez in Ladakh, and parma in Nepal (Deb 2009a). Until the early 1980s, 
hired labour in agriculture was unknown in the region, because farmer 
neighbours used to share the tasks of land tilling, seed sowing, 
transplanting, crop harvesting, and housebuilding. After the 1980s, 
however, socio-political changes in the state accentuated the industrial ethic 
in production systems, highlighted private gains, introduced hired labour in 
agricultural lands, and fractured the autonomy of the rural community.  

 

6. CONCLUSION 

Despite my attempts to give an objective depiction of the status of 
biodiversity and associated local cultural traditions, this narrative fails to 
conceal my despair and consternation at the tempo and extent of 
biocultural loss and decay in the region, which I feel is irreversible. This 
despondent view is bolstered by the failure of statutory institutions to 
conserve the state’s wealth of biodiversity (Deb 2007a; 2008b; 2013). 
Specifically, the state forest directorate has, over the past four decades, 
raised plantations of commercially valued exotics in all state forest lands at 
the expense of indigenous biodiversity (Deb 2013; 2014). In parallel, the 
state’s promotion of cereal monocultures (Eliazar Nelson, Ravichandran, 
and Antony 2019), combined with perverse subsidies in agrochemicals and 
electricity (Aktar, Sengupta, and Chowdhury 2009; Shah and Verma 2014), 
has caused local extinctions of numerous organisms and disintegration of 
agroecosystems. The replacement of community control of water resources 
with individually owned pump sets has encouraged ad libitum withdrawal of 
groundwater for irrigation, resulting in a rapid decline of the water table 
(Deb 2009a). The forestry and the agricultural development agenda in all 
states continue to deplete the biodiversity of forests and agroecosystems 
throughout the country (Deb 2009a; Deb and Malhotra 1993; Gadgil and 
Guha 1995), oblivious to all evidence of the biodiversity loss that is leading 
to the decline of ecosystem productivity and resilience (Brzezina, 
Kopainsky, and Mathijs 2016; DuVal, Mijatovic, and Hodgkin 2019; Hector 
2011; Liebman and Schulte 2015; Tilman, Reich and Isbell 2012; 
Vandermeer and Perfecto 2016); Bankura district is no exception. Neither 
the FD nor the WBSBB has taken any initiative to conserve the endangered 
biota and biodiversity-rich sacred groves and ponds. My decade-long 
communications with these statutory institutions about the threatened 
status of biodiversity in the sacred ponds in Belboni and Chhandar and 
about the last specimen of Vitex glabrata (eventually destroyed in 2016) are 



Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [168] 

 

evidence of the bureaucratic lethargy and nonchalance towards biodiversity 
conservation. 

In view of this deplorable role of custodian institutions in biodiversity 
conservation, citizens’ action is the only option for effectively safeguarding 
the district’s wealth of biodiversity, which constitutes the foundation of 
local cultures, biocultural knowledge bases, and the food and livelihood 
security of the poor. However, given the continuing industrial enclosure of 
the commons and the evaporation of the communitarian ethos, I feel it 
imperative to conclude with this note of despair that the prospect of 
citizens’ action restoring the biocultural integrity and biodiversity-based 
economy in the region is bleak.  

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 
I am thankful to Prof. Sheeladitya Pal of Christian College, Bankura, for his 
encouragement to write this article. I am grateful to my research associates, 
Debdulal Bhattacharya, Shanti Roy, and Debashis Mukherjee of Bankura, 
for their help with the collection and verification of several data, and to Mr. 
Arindam Chakraborty of Tribeni, Hooghly, for his help with the 
identification of animal breeds. 

FUNDING 
The author declares no funding support for this work. 

CONFLICT OF INTEREST 
The author declares no conflict of interest. 

 

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