Forests, the important renewable resource on the earth have gradually been transformed to a non renewable resource mainly by the individuals in the urge of a better life. Generally the socio economic impacts of forests are pushed backward by its ecological effects. As a result of this a special group and their lifestyle also

remains in periphery. Their ineffectiveness in organization of the demands for protection of the specific forests based culture has left them in a situation where on the one hand they are not getting the modern facilities which the government guarantees them and on the other hand they are unable to practice their traditional ways of lives. Medicinal plants constitute important NTFPs on which life of the people living in the adjacent areas of forests depend to a great extent. With the depletion of the plants with medicinal values, status of health of those people has come under severe threats. The present study is an attempt to examine the role of medicinal plants in the lives of the fringe villagers of Kaziranga and Manas National Park of Assam, two important World Heritage sites of the state.