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Java is now famous as a rice-producing island in Indonesia.

The Dutch first imposed rents on land being cultivated in the forest and then exempted some villages from these rents if they worked collectively to provide free labour and buffaloes for cutting and transporting timber. This was known as the blandongdiensten system. Later, instead of rent exemption, forest villagers were given small wages, but their right to cultivate forest land was restricted. 

Grazing and hunting by local people were restricted. In the process, many pastoralist and nomadic communities like the Korava, Karacha and Yerukula of the Madras Presidency lost their livelihoods. 

Some of them began to be called ‘criminal tribes’, and were forced to work instead in factories, mines and plantations, under government supervision. 

With the coming of the British, trade was completely regulated by the government. The British government gave many large European trading firms the sole right to trade in the forest products of particular areas. Grazing and hunting by local people were restricted.  

In the 1970 s, the World Bank proposed that 4,600 hectares of natural sal forest should be replaced by tropical pine to provide pulp for the paper industry. It was only after protests by local environmentalists that the project was stopped. 

New opportunities of work did not always mean improved wellbeing for the people. In Assam, both men and women from forest communities like Santhals and Oraons from Jharkhand, and Gonds from Chhattisgarh were recruited to work on tea plantations. Their wages were low and conditions of work were very bad. They could not return easily to their home villages from where they had been recruited. 

In India, hunting of tigers and other animals had been part of the culture of the court and nobility for centuries. 

They gave rewards for the killing of tigers, wolves and other large animals on the grounds that they posed a threat to cultivators. over 80,000 tigers, 150,000 leopards and 200,000 wolves were killed for reward in the period 1875-1925. Gradually, the tiger came to be seen as a sporting trophy. The Maharaja of Sarguja alone shot 1,157 tigers and 2,000 leopards up to 1957. A British administrator, George Yule, killed 400 tigers. 

1.People began to gather and discuss their issues in their village councils, in bazaars and at festivals or wherever the headmen and priests of several villages were assembled. 

2.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. 

3.In 1910, mango boughs, a lump of earth, chillies and arrows, began circulating between villages. These were actually messages inviting villagers to rebel against the British. 

4.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. 

5.Most of those who were attacked were in some way associated with the colonial state and its oppressive laws. 

1. When the colonial government proposed to reserve two-thirds of the forest in 1905, and stop shifting cultivation, hunting and collection of forest produce, the people of Bastar were very worried. 

2. Some villages were allowed to stay on in the reserved forests on the condition that they worked free for the forest department in cutting and transporting trees, and protecting the forest from fires. Subsequently, these came to be known as ‘forest villages’. 

3. People of other villages were displaced without any notice or compensation. For long, villagers had been suffering from increased land rents and frequent demands for free labour and goods by colonial officials. Then came the terrible famines, in 1899-1900 and again in 1907-1908. Thus the colonial laws disturbed their life and they protested.  

This was a traditional agricultural practice in many parts of Asia, Africa and South America. In shifting cultivation, parts of the forest are cut and burnt in rotation. Seeds are sown in the ashes after the first monsoon rains, and the crop is harvested by October-November. Such plots are cultivated for a couple of years and then left fallow for 12 to 18 years for the forest to grow back. A mixture of crops is grown on these plots. In central India and Africa it could be millets, in Brazil manioc, and in other parts of Latin America maize and beans. 

In South-East Asia, shifting agriculture is known as Lading.

As population increased over the centuries and the demand for food went up , peasants extended the boundaries of cultivation, clearing forests and breaking new land. 

The British directly encouraged the production of commercial crops like jute, sugar, wheat and cotton. 

In the early nineteenth century, the colonial state thought that forests were unproductive. They were considered to be wilderness that had to be brought under cultivation so that the land could yield agricultural products and revenue, and enhance the income of the state. 

1. Shifting agriculture or Sweden agriculture is a traditional agricultural practice in many parts of Asia, Africa and South America. It has many local names such as ‘lading’ in South-East Asia, ‘milpa’ in central America, ‘chitemene’ or ‘tavy’ in Africa, ‘chena’ in

SriLanka, dhya, Penda, bewar, nevad, jhum, podu, khandad and kumari in India.

2. In shifting cultivation, parts of a forest are cut and burnt in rotation, seeds are sown in ashes after the first monsoon rains and the crop is harvested by October-November. Such plots are cultivated for a couple of years and then left fallow for 12 to 18 years for the forest to grow back.

It was regarded as harmful by the British for the forests. They felt that land which was used for cultivation every few years could not grow trees for railway timber. When the forest was burnt there was the danger of the flames spreading and burning valuable timber.

1. The First World War and Second World War had a major impact on forests. In India, working places were abandoned and trees were cut freely to meet British demand for war needs.

2. In Java, just before the Japanese occupied the region, the Dutch followed the ‘scorched earth policy’ destroying sawmills, burning huge piles of giant teak logs so that they could not fall into Japanese hands.

Before the laws were passed, people who depended on forests hunted birds and small animals for food. After the laws were passed, hunting of big game became a sport. Under colonial rule the scale of hunting increased so much that many species became extinct. Rewards were given for killing tigers, wolves, etc., on the pretext that they were a threat to human life. Certain areas of the forests were reserved for hunting.

(a) (1) Railways: The spread of railways from 1850s created a new demand. Railways were essential for successful colonial control, administration, trade and movement of troops. Thus to run locomotives, 

(a) wood was needed as fuel 

(b) and to lay railway lines as sleepers were essential to hold tracks together. As the railway tracks spread throughout India, larger and larger number of trees was felled. Forests around the railway tracks started disappearing fast.

(2) Shipbuilding: UK had the largest colonial empire in the world. Shortage of oak forests created a great timber problem for the shipbuilding of England. For the Royal Navy, large wooden boats, ships, courtyards for shipping, etc., trees from Indian forests were being felled on massive scale from the 1820s or 1830s to export large quantities of timber from India. Thus the forest cover of the subcontinent declined rapidly.

(b) Commercial Farming: Large areas of natural forest were also cleared to make space for the plantations or commercial farming. Jute, rubber, indigo, tobacco etc. were the commercial crops that were planted to meet Britain’s growing need for these commodities. The British colonial government took over the forests and gave of a vast area and exported it to Europe. Large areas of forests were cleared on the hilly slopes to plant tea or coffee.

This also contributed to the decline of the forest cover in India.

(a) The colonial government proposed to reserve two-thirds of the forest in 1905 and stop shifting cultivation, hunting and collection of forest produce. The people of Baster were very worried. Some villages were allowed to remain on in the reserved forests on the condition that they worked free for the forest department in cutting and transporting trees and protecting the forests from fires. Subsequently these came to be known as forest villages. People of other villages were displaced without any notice or compensation. For long the villagers had been suffering from increased land rents and frequent demands for free labour and goods by colonial officials. Then came the terrible famines in 1899-1900 and again in 1907-1908. Reservations proved to be the last straw.

(b) People began to gather and discuss these issues in their village councils, in bazers and at festivals or wherever the headmen and priests of several villages were assembled. The initiative was taken by the Dhruvas 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 actually messages inviting villagers to rebel against the British. Every village contributed something to the rebellion expenses. Bazars were looted, the houses of officials and traders, schools and police stations were burnt and robbed and grain redistributed.

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. It took three months 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 that planned before 1910. Adivasis were forcibly displaced from their homes in the forests. Some had to change occupations, while some resisted through large and small rebellions.

1. Commercial forestry became important during the British rule. By the early nineteenth-century oak forests in England were disappearing. This created a problem of shortage of timber supply for the Navy.

2. How could English ships be built without a regular supply of strong and durable timber? How could imperial power be protected and maintained without ships?

3. Because of the factors have given above, before 1856 the commercial forestry was considered important in India. By the 1820s, search parties were sent to explore the forest resources of India.

4. These parties gave them green signal for commercial forestry in India. Within a decade trees were being felled on a massive scale and large quantities of timber were being exported from India.

5. The spread of railway from the 1850s created a new demand. In India, the colonial government felt that railways were essential for effective internal administration, for colonial trade, for the quick movement of imperial troops.

1. Bastar is situated in the southern part of Chhattisgarh and borders Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. The river Indrawati flows from east to west across Bastar. The central part of Bastar is a plateau. To the north of this plateau is the Chhattisgarh plain and to its south is the Godavari plain.

2. The people of Bastar believe that each village was bestowed land by the earth and hence they offer something in return during agricultural celebrations. Apart from the earth the people of Bastar show reverence to the spirits of rivers, forests and the mountains.

3. Different communities such as Maria and Muria Gonds, Dhurwas, Bhatras and Halbas practise common customs and beliefs but speak different dialects. Each village is well aware of its boundaries. They look after and preserve their natural resources.

4. There exists a give and take relationship among the communities. If a village wants some forest produce from another village a small price is paid before taking it. This price is called ‘dhand’ or ‘man’ or ‘devsari’. Villagers engage watchmen to look after their forests for a price.

5. This price is collected from all the families. There is a large annual gathering — a big hunt where the headmen of all the villages in a ‘pargana’ (a group of villages) meet and discuss matters that concern them.

1. Since the 1980s governments across Asia and Africa have begun to see that scientific forestry and the policy of keeping forest communities away from forests has resulted in many conflicts. Conservation of forests rather than collecting timber has become a more important goal.

2. The government has realised/recognised that in order to meet this goal, the people who live near the forests must be involved.

3. In many cases, across India, from Mizoram to Kerala, dense forests have survived only because villagers protected them in sacred groves known as sarnas, Devarakudu, Kau, rai, etc. Some villages have been patrolling their own forests, with each household taking it in turns, instead of leaving it to the forest guards. Local forest communities and environmentalists today are thinking of different forms of forest management.

The people of Bastar were self-dependent and took care of natural resource within their boundary. But the Colonial Government introduced reserved forest and imposed restriction on shifting cultivation, hunting and collection of forest produce.
Villagers were allowed to stay only if they provided free labour but others were displaced without any notification or compensation.

Organisation of Rebellion

Initiative was taken by Dhurwas of the Kanger forest to organise people.
It is said that many people protested under leadership of Gunda Dhur. They looted Bazaars, houses of officials and traders, schools and police stations were burnt and robbed and grains were redistributed among the people. They attacked anyone who were in some way or other associated with colonial state and its oppressive laws.

The colonial government imposed new forest laws according to which two-thirds of the forests were reserved. Shifting cultivation, hunting and collection of forest produce was banned. Most people in forest villages were displaced without notice or compensation. In the same way, when the Dutch gained control over the forests in Java, they enacted forest laws, restricting villagers' access to forests. Now wood could only be cut for specific purposes and from specific forests under close supervision. Villagers were punished for grazing cattle, transporting wood without a permit or travelling on forest road with horse-carts or cattle. This was the similarity between the British (in Bastar) and Dutch (in Java) management of forests.

1. The people of Bastar showed respect to the spirits of the river, the forest and the mountain. Since each village knew its boundary the local people looked after all the natural resources within their boundary.

2. If the people from a village wanted to take some wood from forests of another village, they paid a small fee called 'devsari,' 'dand' or 'man' in exchange.

3. Some villagers also protected their forests by engaging watchmen and each household contributed some grain to pay them.

4. Every year there was one big hunt where the headman of villages in a 'pargana' met and discussed issues of concern, including forests.

Forests are affected by wars because forest products are used for fulfilling various needs and requirement during war. In the case of India, during the First World War and the Second World War the forest department cut trees freely to meet British war needs. During the Second World War in Java just before the Japanese occupied the region, the Dutch followed 'a scorched Earth policy', destroying sawmills and burning huge piles of giant teak logs so that they did not fall into Japanese hands. The Japanese exploited the forests recklessly for their war industries, forcing villagers to cut down forests. Many villagers took this opportunity to expand cultivation in the forests. Thus, wars also led to destruction of forests.

Shifting cultivation is also known as Swidden agriculture. This is a traditional agricultural practice in many parts of Asia, Africa and South Amercia.

Main features of Swidden agriculture are as follows:

(i) Parts of forest are cut and burnt in rotation. 

(ii) Seeds are sown in the ashes after the first monsoon rains. 

(iii) Such plots are cultivated for a couple of years and then left fallow for 12 to 18 years for the forest to grow back. 

(iv) A mixture of crops is grown on these plots. 

(v) In central India and Africa, it could be millets, in Brazil manioc and in other parts of Latin America maize and beans.

1. Since the 1980s the governments of Asia and Africa have begun to see that scientific forestry and the policy of keeping forest communities away from the forests has resulted in many conflicts. Conservation and preservation of forests have become the major goal.

2. Collection of timber is a secondary objective. The governments emphasise that in order to conserve and preserve forests the involvement of people is important.

3. These are perfect examples to quote here — across India, from Mizoram to Kerala, dense forests have survived only because villagers protected them in sacred groves known as 'sarnas', 'devarakudu', 'kan', 'rai', etc. Some villagers have been patrolling their own forests, with each household taking it in turns, today are thinking of different forms of forest management.