The researchers aim to consider three vital issues such as education, occupation, and access to food (food sufficiency) for analysis on the basis of household surveys conducted among 15 forest-dwelling communities in two eastern Indian states, namely, Jharkhand and Odisha. The sample size included 598 households that distributed across 21 villages including nine villages in the four districts of Jharkhand and 12 villages in four districts of Odisha. The total sample size included approximately 60% PVTGs and 40% non-PVTGs, such as other scheduled tribes and traditional forest dwellers, selected from the same village or from other adjoining villages for the survey. Data were collected from the selected household samples via the questionnaire survey method. In addition, the qualitative data were also collected through observation, informal interviews and interaction, and focused group interviews. We used descriptive statistics for the analysis and also used Spearman’s correlation test to examine the nature of the relationships between different ordered or ranked variables, such as occupation, education and food access (sufficiency). Furthermore, we used ANOVA to compare more than two groups and determine the relationships between the groups. It was found that approximately one-third of the total households, mainly landless or with few or meager landholdings, faced food deficits during some months of the year. The degradation of forest resources and lack of access to forestland and agricultural land are among the primary reasons for food insufficiency. Households with forest-based occupations as their primary source of livelihood accounted for a greater proportion of households with food insufficiency than those who were primarily engaged in agriculture and other occupations. While engagement in daily wages is an adaptive mechanism, food security schemes and other social protection measures are important livelihood support systems, mainly for landless households and forest dwellers. This study emphasizes quality education and better land access to improve the livelihood of forest-dwelling communities.