The Van Gujjars and the Taungyas have lived in the forests of the Uttarakhand Terai for countless generations. They have been caretakers of the trees, the land and their animals. Through intimate conversations in image and word, Uprooted invites us to bear witness to the changing relationship that the Van Gujjars and the Taungyas have with the forests around them – as they live, laugh and struggle in the face of exclusionary conservation, state antagonism and encroachment under the guise of “development”.

Excerpted with permission from Uprooted: A Graphic Account of the Struggle for Forest Rights, Ita Mehrotra, Context/Westland.