1. Saranda forest is a dense forest in the hilly region of West Singhbhum district in the Indian State of Jharkhand. The forest covers an area of 820 square km (16431 htm). Saranda literally means seven hundred hills. Thalkobad is a scenic village at a height of 550m (1,800 ft) in the heart of the forest. Thalkobad is about 46 km (29 mi) from Manoharpur, and about 160 km (99 mi) from Jamshedpur. Ho people inhabit the area, which is dotted with iron ore. There are 42 revenue villages and 10 forest villages that are located in the Saranda forest area. The villages most dependent on the forests for their livelihood earning through collection of NTFP’s and few are employed in forestry operations. The agriculture is mostly rain fed as there are no major irrigation facilities available to the villagers.

2. In order to bring about growth in the area, Union of India launched a series of developmental projects – Saranda Action Plan/Saranda Development Plan. It is reported in the Hindustan Times dated May, 14, 2014 that though the plan opened up opportunities for development, many of the programmes envisaged and launched around three years ago have not translated into reality. It is repo