Class 9 Social Science Forest Society and Colonialism Exam Notes

Class 9 Social Science Forest Society and Colonialism Exam Notes. Please refer to the examination notes which you can use for preparing and revising for exams. These notes will help you to revise the concepts quickly and get good marks.

Forests and forest societies were deeply changed by colonial rule in India and Indonesia. This CBSE Class 9 Social Science exam notes page on Forest Society and Colonialism covers deforestation in India, the economic and social causes of forest loss, plantations, the development of scientific forestry and the Indian Forest Act, the effects of forest policy on villagers and on shifting cultivation, hunting, the Bastar Rebellion of 1910, the forest policy of the Dutch in Indonesia, and the impact of the two World Wars on forests, along with the glossary and the exercise questions.

DEFORESTATION IN INDIA

Deforestation is the elimination of trees on a large scale from a forest, so much so that it causes damage to the plant and animal life (flora and fauna) of that forest. With a change in or tampering with an area's biodiversity, the protective and regenerative properties of the land are lost. This leads to a slow onset of disaster and triggers a chain of calamities. It is a major problem of concern for environmentalists today. Its main cause has been the indiscriminate felling of trees to satisfy immediate needs, without awareness of the long-term effects of such actions.

There is a clear connection between deforestation and vulnerability to famine. Forests served as a buffer for the peasant population, providing some sustenance in the event of crop failure. When forest land became cropland, this buffer vanished, and crop failure meant deadly famine.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS LEADING TO DEFORESTATION

The causes of deforestation can be many and varied, such as the spread of agriculture, unregulated timber harvesting and indiscriminate collection of firewood. In India, however, the reality is quite different because of its colonial past. Due to its exploitative nature, the cutting of trees became aggressive under British rule. The main reasons for the expansion of cultivation and increasing deforestation were:
(i) The growing demand for raw material by English industries, especially in the 19th century. This raw material was supplied by Indian farmers, who not only placed more and more land under commercial crops like sugar, cotton, indigo and jute, but also started reclaiming more forest land.
(ii) The prevailing misconception that forests were wasteland of no use. Therefore, they should be cleared and used for growing crops, so that their utility would be enhanced.
(iii) Increasing building activity by the British, both at home and in India, which also increased the demand for Indian timber, causing greater logging.

Uncontrolled deforestation is usually a symptom of a society's inability to deal with other fundamental development problems: agricultural stagnation, grossly unequal land tenure, rising unemployment, rapid population growth, and the inability to regulate private enterprise to protect the public interest.

The colonial requirements of shipbuilding and the expanding railway network, both at home and in the colonies, led to further denuding of forests in India. To meet the demands of the ever-expanding Royal Navy of England and the railway tracks that carried raw material to the harbours, more and more trees were felled.

PLANTATIONS

Mainly tea, coffee and rubber plantations were grown during the colonial period. The choice of what was to be grown was based on European preference and not on the suitability of Indian conditions. The cultivation of large areas for one commercial crop was bad for the soil and affected foodgrain production in the area. But the worst effect was on the forests. Large forest areas were converted into plantations by clearing them and then selling them off to Europeans.

In 1850 there was only one large tea plantation in British India, producing 2,00,000 pounds of tea annually. By 1871, the number of tea estates had risen to 295. As India became more tightly linked to British industrial needs and markets, more plantations and plantation-based industries in tea and coffee developed. The plantation area was also extended considerably by 1920, and the government aimed at afforestation of ravine lands. These plantations became not only a major source of revenue but also 'a way of life' for the Europeans. Even after independence, the legacy they left became an asset for the indigenous trade. The impact of plantations on Indian lifestyle and culture should not be underestimated.

DEVELOPMENT OF FORESTRY IN INDIA

The increasing British demand for wood and other forest products had to be fulfilled urgently. To meet this requirement, the imperialist rulers of India devised a system by which it became easy, and legal, to take away as much wood as possible from India. They worked out a plan for streamlining the various activities linked with the forests and for conserving forest wealth, which was under threat from timber merchants and local inhabitants.

By the end of the 19th century, a small group of dedicated British and German forest officers recognised the value of forests as indispensable assets. They were led by Sir Dietrich Brandis, who also became the first Inspector General of Forests in India. An organisation was set up in 1864 to look after these objectives and much more. This service is known as the Indian Forest Service and is still functional. It took up the task of streamlining forestry in India, which came to be known as 'scientific forestry'. It involved planting tree saplings along with cutting down trees. This type of tree plantation involved a lot of planning and management, and a lot of calculation went into assessing how many trees, what type and how much of the area was to be used for planting. There is a lot of dispute as to whether this type of forestry was really scientific.

Another major achievement of the new system created by the British imperialists was the imposition of a legal framework over the forests, so that their use and misuse both became difficult. The former made life difficult for forest dwellers, while the latter helped in a big way in forest protection. The Indian Forest Act was devised in 1865 and was subsequently amended in 1878 and 1927 to meet the changing needs of colonial demand. The main provision of the Act of 1878 was to classify forests into three groups according to their utility: reserved, protected and village forests.

Today, not even a single tree can be felled without prior approval from the concerned authorities, in both rural and urban areas. The main reason is ecological and environmental, rather than the utility of forest products as in the case of rural or village societies.

The Imperial Forest Research Institute was founded in 1906 at Dehradun. Its aim was to spread the notion of scientific forestry, with a view to providing better communication between man and forest.

Features of scientific forestry:
Natural forests, which had many different types of trees, were cut down. In their place, one type of tree was planted in straight rows. This is called a plantation. Forest officials surveyed the forests, estimated the area under different types of trees and made working plans for forest management. They planned how much of the plantation area was to be cut every year. The area cut was then replanted so that it would be ready to be cut again after some years.

EFFECTS OF FORESTRY ON VILLAGERS

People live in different circumstances and have different needs, so their expectations from forests are also different. The changes in the system of forestry affected them differently.
1. It brought about changes in the occupations related to forests, such as cultivation, hunting, logging and firewood gathering. The areas closest to the forests were the most affected. These included the nearby villages, pastoral groups and tribal areas.
2. The rural areas close to forests were the main consumers of forest products. But with more efficient and quicker transport, even perishable forest products could reach far-off cities.
3. Forest yields such as fruits, edible roots (tubers), tendu leaves, semur and mahua, and products for making bidis, cooking and lighting oil, herbs and wooden tools were available from the forests. These formed the mainstay of the villages and settlements around them, which literally subsisted on them.
4. The daily life of several groups of people, mostly tribals, was totally dependent on forest produce. But with the enactment of laws protecting the forests, these people were the worst sufferers.
5. Firewood collection, cattle grazing, hunting and other routine activities were declared illegal. This made forest inhabitants 'thieves in their own land', as they were bound to undertake activities that were perfectly natural for them.
6. It was common for policemen and forest guards to harass people by demanding bribes.

EFFECT OF FOREST POLICY ON CULTIVATION

The major type of cultivation practised in forest areas of the world is known as slash and burn, shifting or swidden agriculture. It has been practised by forest societies in almost all regions and climates of the world.
1. Under this system, the plots to be burned are identified, and all the plants and foliage in them are cut down and left to dry. The dry vegetation is then burnt after a month or so. Burning removes the vegetation and releases nutrients that fertilise the soil. The plot is then used for cultivation for up to 5 years, after which it is left fallow for the soil to regain its fertility or for the forest to regrow. This method is more effective when two or more crops that complement each other are grown. Slash and burn requires a low population density, as the recovery of the forest may take decades.
2. An increase in population causes ecological problems and may lead to increased pressure on land. This method has been used in different parts of the world, from Northern Europe to Southeast Asia and South America. But it has been replaced by other methods almost everywhere. It is still practised in some isolated parts of Mexico, Colombia, India, Indo-China and Madagascar. Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines aim to identify alternatives to slash-and-burn by providing viable policy, institutional and technological land-use options that can improve local livelihoods and preserve the region's remaining forests.
3. European foresters regarded this practice as harmful to forests. They felt that land used for cultivation every few years could not grow trees for railway timber. When a forest was burnt, there was the added danger of flames spreading and burning valuable timber. Shifting cultivation also made it harder for the government to calculate taxes. Therefore, the government decided to ban shifting cultivation. As a result, many communities were forcibly displaced from their homes in the forests. Some had to change their occupations, while others resisted through large and small rebellions.

HUNTING

Who could hunt?
Hunting was considered a natural forest right of forest communities. So it was naturally resented when laws were made that imposed a ban on this birthright of the foresters. Hunting also included fishing and a variety of indigenous contraptions, such as the bamboo trap and the rabbit trap, which were devised to facilitate the activity, and which involved a lot of festivity. Most forest communities, like the Baiga, Maria and Munda of Central and East India, were so dependent on forests that they were on the verge of starvation when the new forest rules came into practice.

Large-scale hunting of big forest animals was a more recent phenomenon of the colonial period. Even in the medieval period, hunting was a royal pastime for the Mughals and other ruling dynasties. But hunting became almost an obsession in the British period, so much so that some species, like the tiger and leopard, almost became extinct. Only later were laws made against large-scale killing and poaching of animals in the forests.

The main reasons for this behaviour of the colonists were:
(i) They regarded wild animals as dangerous to human survival, unlike the tribals, who believed that such animals were a part of nature.
(ii) Attached to this were the notions of a civilised society versus a savage society. This belief was an extension of the idea of the 'white man's burden', which legitimised all the wrongdoings of the British in the name of religion and charity.
(iii) Hunting soon became a pastime and hobby for the Europeans, who at times had nothing much to do except kill.

EMERGENCE OF NEW OPPORTUNITIES AND BENEFITS

The process of adjustment, and the necessity to evolve in changing circumstances, brought out the best among the foresters. New trade in forest products by the colonisers, in collaboration with the locals, created new opportunities and generated employment in forest areas. This was a worldwide phenomenon and had its negative side too. The simple forest people were at the mercy of their foreign employers, who used all means, including force and torture, to extract the maximum from them.

The rubber plantations of Brazil and Putumayo in the Amazon area, involving the Munduruku and Huitoto Indians respectively, during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are instances of how growing demand for rubber changed the lifestyle of a traditional society.

The adivasis or forest tribes of India were equally badly affected. The use of jungle products such as animal hides and horns, spices, herbs, wood and its products for trade was nothing new for them. But foreigners as traders and officials were a new development for them, and so were the trading regulations introduced by the British on forest products. Many tribes and pastoral communities lost their occupations because of changing economic patterns, which affected their earlier vocations of hunting, gathering and grazing. Even the Banjaras, the nomadic salesmen, lost their work, as their products were either not in demand or, due to restrictions, they could not procure them. The criminalisation of certain tribes, a feature of colonial India, was a natural outcome of the changing economic conditions during the British period. The plantation industry also played havoc with people's lives, as many were displaced from their homes to work in faraway areas. The tea gardens of Assam attracted migrant labour from Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, as tribals provided cheap labour to the planters. With nothing to do in their native places, they could at least earn their bread, albeit in bad working conditions.

FOREST COMMUNITIES OF INDIA

The history of Indian tribes is full of protests and rebellions against the imposition of rules and regulations that not only changed their lives but also increased their hardships. Some of the more famous tribal revolts were the Munda rebellion led by Birsa Munda of Chotanagpur, the Santhal rebellion led by Sidhu and Kanu, and revolts in southern states, such as the one led by Alluri Sitarama Raju. All of these raised their voices against the curbs imposed on their natural rights to forests by an alien authority. Through a case study of the tribal revolt of Bastar in 1910, an attempt has been made to explain the diverse factors that caused unrest among forest societies.

Situated in the heart of India and surrounded by the states of Odisha, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, Bastar is now located in the state of Chhattisgarh. It is home to several tribes, such as the Gonds, Murias, Bhatras and Dhurwas. Its chief river is the Indravati, while the Godavari runs along its southern border.

THE BASTAR REBELLION OF 1910

The 150-year history of protests and rebellion in Bastar culminated in the Bhumkal rebellion of 1910, meaning 'the great people's upsurge'.

Several other policies of the state at that time proved extremely oppressive for the tribals of the region and became focal points of the Bhumkal rebellion. Extensive forest areas were declared reserved forests, and the tribals felt that their inalienable right over forests had been subverted. A 1905 proposal by the government to reserve two-thirds of the forests and ban tribal activities in the reserved area caused bitterness among them. The situation grew worse with the famines of 1899-1900 and again in 1907-08. Due to the excessive revenue demands of colonial rule, several tribal villages were given on lease to thekedars, who adopted extremely oppressive means to collect revenue from the tribals. The monopoly on liquor brewing was also a cause of unrest. The tribals considered liquor the prasad of the gods, and the order banning liquor brewing amounted to interference in their religious affairs.

People began to gather and discuss these issues in their village councils, in bazaars and at festivals, or wherever the headmen and priests of several villages were assembled. The initiative was taken by the Dhurwas of the Kanger forest, where reservation first took place. Although there was no single leader, many people speak of Gunda Dhur, from village Nethanar, as an important figure in the movement. In 1910, mango boughs, a lump of earth, chillies and arrows began circulating between villages. These were 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 was redistributed. Most of those attacked were in some way associated with the colonial state and its oppressive laws.

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 jungles. It took three months (February to May) for the British to regain control. However, they never managed to capture Gunda Dhur. 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 what had been planned before 1910.

FOREST POLICY OF THE DUTCH IN INDONESIA

The Indonesian experience in the nineteenth century was quite similar to the Indian episode in terms of forestry and forest management. The increasing involvement with the East Indies, as the Indonesian islands were known, both commercial and territorial, led to the formation of a forest service in Indonesia.
1. Firstly, the Dutch were propelled by the need for more timber for the railways and maritime activities of their ever-expanding network in the colony.
2. Secondly, territorial expansion led to the enactment of forest laws, by which the access of natives to forest wealth, which was their birthright, was reduced to a bare minimum.
3. Even their daily activities, such as taking wood for construction or fuel and grazing cattle, were confined to specific areas and under strict supervision.
4. Another similarity with the Indian experience was the imposition of taxes and fines on the use of forest land.
5. Lastly, those who provided free labour and transport facilities to the Dutch rulers were exempted from such dues. This practice came to be known as the blandongdiensten system.
6. Such a restrictive and oppressive policy was bound to have repercussions. Unrest soon spread far and wide. A major example of such disturbance was the movement of the Saminists, led by Surontiko Samin of a village with an abundance of teak wood, which soon went out of the reach of the villagers.
7. Tax boycotts were followed by open protests, which began in the last decade of the nineteenth century and continued into the twentieth century, till colonial rule came to an end in 1938.

WAR AND DEFORESTATION

The two World Wars aggravated the process of deforestation. In wartime, the need for timber is more than doubled, as timber is used in large amounts for war purposes. Most wartime wood was taken from the colonies, and India and Indonesia were no exceptions. This is true of all colonies that bear the burden of increased wartime requirements. In India and Indonesia, plans for forest management (exploitation) were dumped, and a system of open exploitation of forest wealth threw every caution to the winds. In Java, the situation was a little different. The 'scorched earth policy' that preceded the Japanese occupation involved the destruction of timber and mills everywhere, and the random destruction of forests by the Japanese, which consequently resulted in the extension of cultivable land. This trend became difficult to reverse once the war was over.

GLOSSARY

1. Biodiversity: Variety of plant and animal life in a given environmental setting. For example, the biodiversity of the Himalayas or of the Amazon refers to all the life that exists there.
2. Tropics: Areas with a hot, steamy and humid climate, usually near the equator.
3. Logging: Selective cutting of useful timber, as different from the wholesale clearance of forests. It usually involves not clear-cutting but the 'creaming' of the forest's small proportion of commercially valued species. However, the process of cutting and removing selected trees amid dense foliage and on delicate soils usually causes far more destruction of vegetation and wildlife than the statistics of extracted timber would suggest.
4. Terra Nullius: In its simplest sense, land belonging to no one. Antarctica is terra nullius.
5. Indispensable: Essential, necessary, crucial, very important.
6. Reclaiming: Making wasteland usable again.
7. Poaching: Taking game (animals) illegally from protected areas or forests.
8. Pargana: A cluster of villages, also an administrative unit.

EXERCISE

A. Very Short Answer Type Questions

1. Why are forests useful to us?
2. Who was Dietrich Brandis? What were his achievements?
3. What is meant by social forestry?
4. What were the provisions of the 1878 Forest Act?
5. Where is Bastar located?
6. Why did the Bastar Rebellion take place?
7. Who started the Bastar Rebellion?
8. Who were Kalangs? Why were they important?
9. What were the provisions of the forest laws passed by the Dutch?
10. What was the blandongdiensten system?
11. Who was Surontiko Samin? What did he do?
12. What is deforestation? Mention any two factors responsible for this.
13. Explain scientific forestry.
14. What was the impact of the Indian Forest Act on the people?
15. Why was scientific forestry introduced by the British?

B. Short Answer Type Questions

1. Why are forests affected by wars?
2. What is the importance of forests?
3. How did the Forest Act affect the villagers?
4. Describe some of the common customs and beliefs of the Bastar people.
5. How was the Bastar Rebellion organised and financed?
6. How was the Bastar Rebellion suppressed? What were the results of the rebellion?
7. What new developments have occurred in forestry in Asia and Africa in recent times?
8. Where were Kalangs? Mention any four features of this community.
9. "The introduction of railways had an adverse impact on the forest". Justify by giving examples.
10. Explain the impact of Dutch scientific forestry on the locals.

C. Long Answer Type Questions

1. Explain the major characteristics of forest movement in Indonesia.
2. Explain the methods used by the Saminists against the British.
3. Explain the major characteristics of forest movement in India.
4. Explain the impact of colonialism on forest society.
5. Why were forests called 'indispensable assets' by the British?

D. Multiple Choice Questions

1. The disappearance of forests is referred to as -
(A) Deforestation (B) Afforestation
(C) Shelterbelts (D) All of these

2. Who was the first Inspector General of Forests in India -
(A) George Yule (B) Dietrich Brandis
(C) Samin (D) Gundadhar

3. When was the Indian Forest Service set up?
(A) 1860 (B) 1862
(C) 1864 (D) 1866

4. Which kingdom of Java split into two kingdoms?
(A) Kalongs (B) Mataram
(C) Joana (D) All of these

5. Where was the Imperial Forest Research Institute set up in India?
(A) Lucknow (B) Bastar
(C) Delhi (D) Dehradun

6. Where is Bastar located?
(A) Chhattisgarh (B) Uttar Pradesh
(C) Delhi (D) Rajasthan

7. When did Surontiko Samin start a movement against state ownership of forests?
(A) 1887 (B) 1888
(C) 1889 (D) 1890

8. Where did the Bastar Rebellion start?
(A) Kalangas (B) Kanger
(C) Bhatras (D) All of these

9. Under which forest act was forest divided into three categories?
(A) 1875 (B) 1876 (C) 1877 (D) 1878

10. Gundadhar was an inhabitant of ....... village -
(A) Nethanar (B) Munda
(C) Kalanga (D) Matram

Answer Key
Q.No: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Ans: A B C B D A D B D A