CBSE 9TH HISTORY -Forest SOCIETY AND COLONIALISM

1
Forest society and Colonialism
2
Rebellion in the forest

• Many forest communities rebelled against the
  changes that were being imposed.
• Some of the leaders are
• Siddhu and Kanu Santhal Parganas
• Birsa Munda Chota nagpur plateau
• Alluri Sitaram Raju Andhra Pradesh
• One such rebellion took place in BASTAR in 1910.

3
The people of Bastar

• Southernmost part
• Borders Andhra Pradesh,
• Orissa and Maharashtra.
• Indravati river flows east to west.

N
CHATTISGARH PLAIN
E
PLAIN
W
S
GODAVARI PLAIN
4

• Various communities live like Maria ,Muria
  Gonds, Dhurwas, Bhatras and Halbas.
• They speak different languages but have common
  beliefs and customs.
• They believe land was given to them (each
  village) by the earth and in turn they take care
  of it and provide offerings during various
  agricultural festivals.
• Show respect to spirits of riverss,mountain and
  forests.
• Look after resources
• Want to take some wood pay a price called
  DAND,MAN,DEVSARI.

5

• Hire watchmen to guard the forest and villagers
  pay them in grains in return.
• Every year ,a big hunt where in the headmen of
  villages in pargana (cluster of villages) and
  discuss concerns incldng forest.

6
The fears of people

• People were worried when the britishers
• Reserved two third forest
• Banned shifting cultivation
• Banned hunting
• Banned collection of forest products
• FOREST VILLAGES
• Some people were allowed to stay in the village
  on conditions that they would help the forest
  department for free in cutting trees,
  transporting trees and protecting forests from
  fires.

7

• People were tired of
• Free labour that was demanded
• Increased land rents
• Some villager were displaced without any
  compensation
• Then followed the famines
• 1899 to 1900
• 1907 to 1908
• People started discussing issues in village
  councils, bazaars etc.

8

• Initiative was taken by
• DHURWAS of KANGER forest(reservations first took
  place here)
• GUNDA DHUR (tribal leader) of NETHANAR village
• In 1910 mango boughs(branches), arrows , chillies
  and lumps of earth started being circulated
  between villages( they indicated the villagers to
  rebel against the British)
• Bazaars were roobed, police stations and houses
  of officials were burnt and robbed.
• William Ward a missionary also observed the
  events.

9

• British sent troops to suppress the rebellion.
• The tribal leaders tried to negotiate however the
  British surrounded their camps and fired on them.
• They marched into the villages and punished all
  those who had participated in the rebellion.
• People fled to the jungles
• Were unable to capture GUNDA DHUR
• It took the Britishers 3 months to regain control
• (major victory ) Area that was to be
  reserved was to be roughly reduced to half.

10

• Even after independence they were tried to keep
  out of the forest.
• The world bank had decided to replace 4,600
  hectares of sal trees with pine trees for pulp to
  be provided for paper industry.
• Only after protests by the local environmentalist
  did it stop.

11
Java

• Rice producing island in Indonesia
• Once was covered with forest
• Colonial power Dutch
• Dutch started forest management here.
• Like British they wanted timber to build ship.
• in 1600 appx population was 3.4 million, many
  settled in the fertile plains, many also settled
  in the mountains and practiced shifting
  cultivation.

12
Kalangs of Java (woodcutters)

• They were highly skilled forest cutters and
  sifting cultivators.
• They were so valuable that when the MATARAM
  kingdom had split in Java ,6000 Kalang families
  were equally divided between the 2 families.
• In the eighteenth century even the Dutch tried to
  make the kalangs to work under them.
• In 1770 the kalangs resisted by attacking a Dutch
  fort at JOANA, but was suppressed.

13
Dutch Scientific Forestry

• In the nineteenth century, Dutch realised that
  they not only should have control over people but
  also on the land.
• They imposed forest laws, that restricted the
  access of the villagers into the forest.
• Wood could be cut in specific forests and for
  specific reasons (building river boats and
  houses)
• Villagers were punished
• 1.Grazing cattle on young stands
• 2. Transporting wood without permission
• 3. Travelling on forest road with horse cart

14
BLANDONGDEINSTEN SYSTEM

• Java alone exported a large amount of sleepes
  to(280,000)
• It required labour(to cut and transport logs)
• The dutch imposed rents on forest lands that were
  being cultivated ,they agreed to exempt them from
  the taxes if they would collectively provide free
  labour and buffaloes (for cutting and
  transporting).
• Later instead of exemption the forest villagers
  were given small wages however forest land
  cultivation was strictly prohibited.

15
SURONTIKO SAMIN

• Belonged from RANDUBLATUNG VILLAGE (teak forest
  village)
• He challenged the state ownership and said that
  the wind, earth and water was not created by the
  state, hence could not own it
• His son in laws helped him organise (1890)
• (1907) 3000 families supported his ideas
• Some protested by lying down on their land when
  the dutch came to survey
• Some refused to pay taxes, fines or perform labour

16
WAR EFFECTS

• In ww1 and ww2 (india) there was mass cutting of
  trees for timber to meet the demands of British
  war neds.
• In Java the dutch followed the SCORCHED EARTH
  POLICY and burn down all saw mills, giant piles
  of teak so they would not fall into the hands of
  Japaese (who had captured Indonesia)
• Many villagers saw it as an opportunity to expand
  their cultivation

17
New developments

• Conservation of forest
• People who live near forest must be involved