Questions and Answers : Forest Society and Colonialism, Class 9, SST PDF Download

• Forests help in maintaining  quality of air. They absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen. 
• Forests prevent soil erosion, droughts and floods. 
• They maintain the fertility of the soil. 
• They provide us with paper; wood for desks, tables and other furniture; dies, spices, gum, honey, coffee, oil, medicinal herbs rubber, timber. 
• They provide bamboo wood for fuel, grass,charcoal, packaging, fruits, flowers . 
• They provide shelter and habitat for animals. 
• They maintain biodiversity through food webs. 

Quest. 2 What did the British need to clear the forests? 

• They needed food grains to feed the growing European population. So,they cut forests and encouraged production of commercial crops – jute, sugar, wheat, cotton. 
• They needed area to cultivate raw materials- cotton for industrial production. 
• They thought that forests were unproductive, just wilderness which had to be brought under cultivation to yield agricultural products. 
• By the early 19th century, oak forests in 
• England were disappearing creating a problem for timber supply used for the English ships of the Royal Navy. For this Indian forests were felled and the timber was exported. 
• The Railways also spread from 1850s creating a new demand for wood – to be used as fuel and timber – to lay railways line and sleepers essential to hold the tracks together. 
• Forests were also cleared to make way for tea, coffee and rubber plantations to meet Europe’s growing need for these  commodities. The colonial government gave vast forest areas to European planters at cheap rates to clear forest and plant tea or coffee. 

• Brandis realized that a proper system had to be introduced to manage forests and people had to be trained in the science of conservation. 
• This system would need legal sanctions 
• Rules about the use of forest resources had to be framed. 
• Felling of trees and grazing had to be restricted to preserve forests for timber production. 
• Anybody cutting trees without following the system had to be punished. 
• Brandis set up the Indian Forest Service in 1864 and helped formulate the Indian Forest Act of 1865. 
• The Imperial Forest Research Institute was set up at Dehradun in 1906 where ‘Scientific forestery’ was taught. 
• The Forest At was ammended twice in 1878 and 1927. 
• The 1878 Act divided forests into reserved, protected and village forests. 

• It encouraged scientific forestry – A system of cutting trees controlled by the forest department in which old trees are cut and new ones planted. 
• The act was ammended twice, once in 1878 and then in 1927. 
• The 1878 Act divided forests into three categories – reserved, protected and village forests. 
• ‘Reserved forests’ were the best forests from where villages could not takes anything, even for their own use. 
• In protected forests some villagers could enter as the rules were not so strict there. 
• The ‘village forests’ were for the villagers’ use from where they could take wood for house building or fuels. But actually these forests were of no use, they just had thorns and scrubs. 

• Agricultural expansion – The British encouraged the production of commercial crops like jute, sugar, wheat and cotton. The demand for these crops increased in 19th century . Europe to feed the growing population and for industrial production. So forests were cleared and agriculture expanded. 
• Commercial farming:- In expanded scientific forestry, the different forests were cleared and one type of trees were planted  in single rows for commercial purposes and profits. 
• Tea/Coffee plantations:- Large areas of natural forests were also cleared  to make way for tea, coffee plantation to meet Europe’s growing need of these commodities. The colonial government gave vast forest areas to planters who cleared forests indiscrimiminately. 
• Adivasis and other peasant users:- The adivasis and the other local people used the forest resources for all their everyday practices – cutting wood for building their houses, grazing their cattle, collecting fruits and roots, collecting fuel wood as a fuel resource. 

• They blamed that the Indian traders who are using the forests for different resources are destroying them. 
• The British prohibited the customary hunting practices of tribal people, saying it was destroying the resources. 
• The villagers cut wood and collected timber for their houses, grazed their cattle, hunted, collected fuel wood as a fuel. All this was considered by the British as destroying forests. 

• British greatly encouraged production of commercial crops – sugar, wheat, cotton for industrial production and food. For this deforestation was done. 
• They thought forests to be unproductive so they fell trees massively. 
•  For timber used for ships and railways large sections of forests were destroyed. 
• For tea, coffee plantations. 
• In ‘scientific forestry’ forests were cut and one type of trees were planted in straight rows. 
• Excessive trade in forest resources depleted them. 
• Railways needed space to run for which again forests were cut. 
• Villagers took wood, fuel wood and cut timber for their daily purpose. 

• Large number of trees were cut and timber was exported from both the countries. 
• Forest laws were passed restricting villagers access to forests. 
• New villagers could enter only a  few parts  of the forests. 
• Later when the colonial powers realized that they would need labour to cut trees and transport them, some villagers were allowed to stay in the reserved forests for free labour for helping the forest department in cutting and transporting trees. 

• Shifting Cultivators: After the government decided to ban shifting cultivation, many communities were forcibly displaced from their homes in forests. Some had to change occupations while some resisted through large and small rebellions. 
• Nomadic and pastoralist communities - The British restricted grazing and hunting by local people. In the process, many pastoralist and nomadic communities like Korava, Karacha and yerukala of the Madras presidency lost their livelihoods. They were forced to work instead in factories, mines and plantations under government supervision. 
• Firms trading in timber / forest product – With the coming of the British ,however ,trade was completely regulated by the government. The British government gave many large European trading firms the sole right to trade in forest products of particular areas. Now they had huge profits. 
• Plantation owners: The colonial government took over forests, gave vast areas to European planters at cheap rates. The owners now had greater profits because of vast areas of lands. They exploited the Indian workers greatly who worked with very low wages and very bad work conditions. 
• Kings / British officials engaged in Shikar- While the forest laws deprived people of their customary rights to hunt, hunting of big game became a sport. The scale of hunting increased rapidly. The Maharja of Sarguja alone shot 1, 157 tigers and 2000 leopards up to 1957. A British administrator- George Yule, killed 400 tigers. 

• When the colonial government proposed to reserve 2/3 of its  forests, stop shifting cultivation, hunting and collection of forest produce, the people were very worried. 
• People were displaced without any notice or compensation. For long, villagers had been suffering from increased land rents and frequent demand for free labour. 
• Then came the terrible famines in 1899 – 1980 and again in 1907-08.  
• Revolt by the people: 
• These issues were widely discussed to start revolting against the colonial government. 
• Gunda Dhur, from the village Nethaner emerged as ‘an important leader. 
• Bazaars were looted, the houses of officials and traders, schools and police stations were burnt and robbed. 
• To all this, the British sent troops to suppress the rebellion. The adivasi leaders tried to negotiate, out the British surrounded their camps and fired. 

Result: 

• In a major victory for the rebels, work on reservation was temporarily suspended, and the area to be reserved was reduced to roughly half of that planned before 1910. 

• Now wood could only be cut for specified purposes and only from specific forests under close supervision. 
• Villagers were punished for grazing called in young stands, transporting wood in travelling on forest roads with horse carts or cattle. 

Revolt: 

• Around 1890, Surantiko Samin of Randublatung village, a teak forest village, began questioning state ownership of forest. 
• He argued that the state hadn’t created wind, water, earth, and wood. It could not own it. 
• Soon a widespread movement developmed. Samin’s sons –in-law helped it organize. 
• By 1907, 3000 families were following his ideas. 
• They protested by lying down on their land when the dutch came to survey it, while the others refused to pay taxes or fines or perform labour.