Forest Society and Colonialism

Q1. ‘The ship industry of England was also responsible for deforestation in India’. Give one reason.

ANS. Due to the high demand, oak forests in England were disappearing. This created i a problem of
timber supply for the Royal Navy which required to build ships. To get the supply of oak for the ship
industry, Britishers started exploring Indian forests on a massive scale.

Q2. How far the plantation agriculture was responsible for deforestation in India?

1. ANS. Large areas of natural forests were cleared to make way for tea, coffee and rubber
plantations to meet Europe’s growing need for these commodities.
2. The colonial government took over the forests, and gave vast areas to European planters at
cheap rates. These areas were enclosed and cleared of forests, and planted with tea or coffee.
Q3. Who was Dietrich Brandis? Why he was invited to India?
ANS. Dietrich Brandis was a German expert. He was made the first Inspector General of Forests in
India. He was invited to India by the Britishers to save the Indian forests.

Q4. What were reserved forests?

ANS. These were the best forests which produced commercially valuable timber. No individual was
allowed to access to these forests.

Q5. What were the result of the Bastar rebellion?

• ANS. Work on reservation was temporarily suspended.
• Area to be reserved was reduced to roughly half of that planned before 1910.

Q6. Where is Bastar located?

ANS. Bastar is located in the southernmost part of Chhattisgarh, and borders of Andhra Pradesh,
Odisha and Maharashtra.

Q7. Who was Gunda Dhur?

ANS. He was a tribal leader of the Dhurwas of the Kanger Forest. The tribal people revolted against
the unjust forest policies of the British under his able leadership.

Q8. Mention any two factors which prompted the people of Bastar to rebel against the Britishers.
• ANS. The British government’s decision to reserve two-thirds of the forest.
• To ban shifting cultivation.

Q9. Who was Surontiko Samin?

ANS. He was the tribal leader who was responsible for launching the Samin Movement against the
Dutch Government. He argued that the state had not created wind, water, earth and wood, so it could
not own it.
Q10. What was blandongdiensten system?
ANS. Under this system, the Dutch exempted some villages from the rent on land if they worked
collectively to provide free labour and buffaloes for cutting and transporting timber. Later, instead of
rent exemption, forest villagers were given small wages, but their right to cultivate forest land was
restricted.

Q11. Explain what is shifting cultivation. Why did European foresters regard this practice as harmful
for forests?
ANS. A method of farming in which a patch of ground is cultivated for a period of few years until the
soil is partly exhausted or r overrun by weeds, and after which the land is left to natural vegetation
while cultivation is carried elsewhere.

• Shifting cultivation made it harder for the government to calculate taxes. Therefore, the
government decided to ban shifting cultivation.
• European foresters regarded this practice as harmful for the forests. They felt that land which
was used for cultivation every few years could not j grow trees for railway timber.
• There was also the added danger of the flames spreading, and burning valuable timber.

Q12. Mention any four factors which prompted the Samins to revolt against the Dutch.
• ANS. The Saminists laid down on their land when the Dutch surveyors came to reclassify
communal and salary lands, and used to cry out, “Kanggo” (I own it).
• They cut teak despite Dutch efforts to guard the forest.
• They refused to pay taxes, fines to accept wages, and to leave rented or communal land when
their leases expired.
• Some piled stones on the roads which they had been ordered to build.

Q13. Explain the impact of various forest laws and policies which were adopted by the colonial
rulers over the colonial people.
• Various restrictions: The Forest Act meant severe hardship for villagers: across the country.
After the Act, all their forest activities like cutting wood for their houses, grazing their cattle,
collecting fruits and roots, hunting and fishing became illegal.
• Impact on cultivators: Shifting cultivation was the most common cultivation practiced by the
people. But this was banned because European foresters regarded this harmful for the forests.
• Displacement of the people: To protect the forests, the Europeans started displacing villagers
without any notice or compensation.
• Various taxes: The Europeans started imposing heavy taxes on the forest people.
• Loss of livelihood: The Europeans started giving large European trading firms, the sole right to
trade in the forest. Grazing and hunting by local people were restricted. In the process, many
pastoralists and nomadic communities lost their livelihood.

Q14. Explain the rebellion of Bastar people against the British.

(1) Reasons for rebellion:
 • In 1905, the British Government proposed to reserve two-thirds of the forests.
• To ban shifting cultivation.
• To ban hunting, and collection of forest produce. All these steps forced the locals to revolt
against the British.
(2) Course of rebellion:

• People began to discuss all these issues in their village councils, in bazaars, markets and at
festivals. The initiative was taken by the Dhurwas of the Kanger Forest, where reservation first
took place.
• In 1910, mango boughs, a lump of earth, chilies and arrows, began – circulating between
villages. These were actually messages inviting villagers to rebel against the British. Every
village contributed something to the rebellion expenses.
• Bazaars were looted, the houses of officials and traders, schools and police stations were burnt
and robbed, and grain redistributed. Most of those, who were attacked were in some way
associated with the colonial state, and its oppressive laws.
(3) Leaders: Although there was no single leader, many people speak of Gunda Dhur, from village
Nethanar, as an important figure in the movement.

(4) Suppression of the revolt: The British sent troops to suppress the rebellion. The Adivasi leaders
tried to negotiate, but the British surrounded their camps, and fired upon them. After that, they
marched through the villages flogging and punishing those who had taken part in the rebellion. Most
villages were deserted as people fled into the jungle forests. It took three months (February-May) for
the British to regain control. However, they never managed to capture Gunda Dhur.

(5) Consequences of the rebellion: 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. The
revolt also inspired the other tribal people to rebel against the unjust policies of the British
Government.

Q15. Explain any five causes of deforestation in India under the colonial rule.

• Increase in population: AS the population increased over die centuries and the demand for food
went-up, peasants extended the boundaries of cultivation, clearing forests and breaking new
land.
• Commercialization of agriculture: The British encouraged the production of commercial crops
like jute, sugar. The demand for these crops increased in 19th century. For this they cleared
forests.
• Unproductive forests: The colonial government thought that forests were unproductive. They
cleared forests for cultivation.
 • Introduction of railway: The spread of railway from the 1850’s created a new demand. As the
railway tracks spread through India, a larger and larger number of trees were fell down.
• Tea/ Coffee plantation: Large areas of natural 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 took over the forests, and gave vast areas to European planters at
cheap rates. These areas were enclosed and cleared of forests, and planted with tea or coffee.
Q16. “The First World War and the Second World War had a major impact on forests.” Explain the
statement with five facts.

ANS. Forests are affected by wars due to various reasons. The chief among them is the following:

• In the modem times, the defending armies hide themselves and their war materials under the
cover of the thick forests to avoid detection. As such, the enemy forces target forest areas to
capture the opposing soldiers and their war materials.
• Because of pre-occupation of the participant countries in the war, many proposals for
promoting the forest culture have to be abandoned half way and as such, many forests became
a prey of neglect.
• To meet war needs, sometimes forests are cut indiscriminately, and as a result forests vanished
within no time, one after the other.
• Fearing the capture of forest areas by the enemy, sometimes, the existing governments
themselves cut down the trees recklessly, destroy the saw mills 1 and bum huge piles of great
teak logs. Such a thing happened in Indonesia when the Dutch Government felt that the area
under their control would fall to the Japanese.
• Sometimes, the occupying forces recklessly cut down trees for their own war industries as was
done by the Japanese during the occupation of Indonesia in the Second World War.
• Finding the forest staff in difficulty during war times, some people expand their agricultural land
at the cost of the forest land. Some people who were excluded from the forest areas, once
again tried to reoccupy their lands.
Q17. How was the introduction of railway responsible for deforestation under the colonial era?
Or The introduction of railways had an adverse impact on the forests. Justify by giving examples.

• Need for sleepers: Sleepers were the basic inputs required for constructing a railway line. Each
mile of a railway track required between 1700 to 2,000 sleepers. To meet this demand, large
number of trees were fell down.
• Fuel: To run locomotives, wood was needed as fuel. As railway was being spread throughout
India, more and more wood was required which could be used as fuel.
• Expansion of railway tracks: From the 1860 s, the railway network expanded rapidly. By 1890,
about 25,500 km of track had been laid. Up to 1946, the length of the tracks had increased to
over 765,000 km. As the railway tracks spread throughout India, a larger and larger number of
trees were fell down. As early as the 1850 s, in the Madras Presidency alone, 35,000 trees were
being cut annually for sleepers.
• Contract to private individuals: The government gave out contracts to individuals to supply the
required quantities. These contractors began cutting trees indiscriminately. Forests around the
railway tracks started disappearing fast.