Forest Ecology in India: Colonial Maharashtra, 1850-1950

284 Pages·2007·13.248 MB·English

by  Neena Ambre Rao

FOREST ECOLOGY IN INDIA
COLONIAL MAHARASHTRA
1850-1950
Neena Ambre Rao
fOUNDATION
B O O KS
Delhi • Bangalore • Mumbai • Kolkata • Chennai • Hyderabad
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Published by:
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© Cambridge University Press India Pvt. Ltd.
First Edition 2008
ISBN: 978-81-7596-839-4
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Published by Manas Saikia for Cambridge University Press India Pvt. Ltd.
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Contents
Preface v
Glossary vii
Maps ix
1. Introduction 1
2. Pre-Colonial Maharashtra 20
3. Early British Management of Forests 40
4. Evolution of Forest Policy and Forest Acts of 1865 and 1878 64
5. Implementation of 1878 Act 109
6. Forest Policy During 1900-1950 135
7. People's Resistance 156
8. Conclusion 211
Appendix -1 224
Appendix - II 236
Bibliography 243
Index 272
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Preface
Human life being closely dependent on the natural resource base for
its survival, conservation and exploitation of natural resources have
been an age-old phenomena. Consequently, every society has a natural
resource use strategy that has evolved over thousands of years. The
natural resource use strategy that evolved in India before the pre-
colonial period had some distinct features specific to the region, the
same being a derivative of factors such as the level of contemporary
technology, population, demand pattern, political conditions and socio-
cultural attitudes of the society towards nature. A number of foreign
invasions and the consequent integration of migrant groups from other
civilisations into Indian society as well as the changing ecological
realities of the region influenced and altered these strategies time and
again.
This book also traces strategies in the specific geographical region
of Maharashtra, which was a part of the erstwhile Bombay Presidency.
It further analyses the change in these strategies during the British
colonial period and the impact on the people of this region, which
gave rise to discontent in society. The colonial history is grounded in
the socio-economic conditions of rural Maharashtra during the
eighteenth century, particularly the nature of the relationship between
rural communities and their living environment, the customary rights
of the community, the usage pattern of natural resources such as forests
and the cultural attitudes of people.
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vi Forest Ecology in India
The study of evolution of colonial forest policies is the basic thrust
of the book, especially British forest policies and their influence on the
rural communities in Maharashtra. The ideological underpinnings that
influenced colonial forest policies have been examined in detail. The
environmental history of British India was closely interwoven with
the bitter struggles organised by peasants and tribals to regain control
of their living environment. The book also offers a brief story of the
struggles of local communities against British colonial forest policies
and their influence on the anti-colonial struggles in the early part of
the twentieth century.
I wish to thank the Maharashtra State Archives, Bombay; Peshwa
Daftar, Poona; Bharat Itihas Samshodhak Mandal, Poona; Deccan
College, Poona; Servants of India Society Library, Poona; Andhra
Pradesh State Archives, Hyderabad; Forest Departments of Poona and
Hyderabad for their cooperation.
I thank Professor Atlury Murali, my supervisor, for his guidance
and support. I also extend my gratitude to all those who helped me
complete this monograph specially my colleagues Dr. Abdul Thaha
(Hyderabad), Dr. Laxman Satya (Pennsylvania), and Suzanne Benally
(Boulder, CO) for their constant support and encouragement.
Last but not the least, I thank my husband Suyodh for being a
source of inspiration and my son Harshu for his loving presence in my
life. Finally, I dedicate this work to my parents, Mr. Manohar Ambre
and Mrs. Rajani Ambre. Without their inspiration and encouragement
I could not have brought such a daunting task to fruition.
Neena Ambre Rao
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Glossary
Gairan (Deccan) and Gurucharan (Konkan) - Land set apart for the free
grazing of the village cattle.
Gaobhag - The portion of the forest area within the limits of any village
set apart before the passing of the Forest Act to supply the local wants
of the village, as distinguished from the imperial reserves.
Kharif- Kharif land in Konkan means land growing rice as used in the
Bombay Forest Commission Report, 1887.
Knees - These are curved teak logs.
Kuran - Grass meadow yielding grass for fodder, unassessed and
unoccupied but sold by yearly auction for grass and grazing or reserved
for fodder by the government.
Parigh - Parigh is used to denote the area of unassessed waste, varkas
land, wherever situated within the village boundaries which remains
after all the land included in private holdings and all the land set apart
for special purposes such as forest, grazing, village site etc. has been
separately measured.
Varkas - This term is generally used to denote kharif, rabbi, garden or
salt marsh land. It includes Parigh.
Malki number - Refers to any survey number in which the occupant
has property rights. In practice it is now used in the Konkan to denote
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viii Forest Ecology in India
any survey number whether rice, varkas or garden land, held under
the survey tenure.
Rab - This was a practice of burning layers of cow-dung tree-loppings,
shrubs, leaves, grass and hay and various combinations in the fields
before the commencement of rice cultivation.
Rabbi - Not used, as in the Deccan, to denote the late that is cold whether
harvest but to distinguish from rice land to varkas land, a variety of
alluvial formed dry crop land.
Shindad - This is that portion of varkas which is uncultivated and kept
for the production of rab material.
Tahal - The loppings of the trees and shrubs used for rab cultivation
were termed as tahal.
Vancharai - Refers to grazing.
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FORESTS
Percentage area in each district.
Forest Map of Bombay Province,
1943-44 Season and Crop Report: Department of Agriculture.
'O-3O*
SO-SO*
>5OV.
Source: Maharashtra State Archives, Bombay. Forest Map of Bombay Province.
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PERCENTAGE VARIABILITY
OF RAINFALL AND FAMINE ZONES
BOMBAY PROVINCE
Source: Climatological Tables: India Metereological Department,
Government Photozinco Press, Poona, 1950.
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