Tag: forest society and colonialism

A reserve forest or a reserved forest is a specific term for designating forests and other natural areas, which enjoy judicial or constitutional protection under the legal systems of many countries.

India was one of the first countries in the world to introduce scientific forest management. In 1864, the British Raj established the Imperial Forest Department. In 1864 Dr Dietrich Brandis, a German forest officer, was appointed Inspector General of Forests.

As the railway tracks spread through India, a larger and larger number of trees were felled. The government gave out contracts to individuals to supply the required quantities. These contractors began cutting trees indiscriminately. Forests around the railway tracks fast started disappearing.

A protected forest is a forest with some amount of legal or constitutional protection, or where the habitat and resident species are legally accorded protection from further depletion. Protected forests of India were introduced in the Indian Forest Act, 1927 in British India and were retained after Indian independence.

The railway network started expanding rapidly during the second half of the 19th century. By 1890, the length of the railway track was about 25,500 km. It touched the figure of 7,65,000 km in 1946.

Adivasis and villagers sold forest produce to buy salt, iron, medicines, cloth and tabacco.

The wood for sleepers was cut from the forests in Himalayan and Terai regions.

Forests having trees suitable for building ships and railways were preferred by the Forest Department. The wood for these sleepers was cut from the forests in the Himalayan and Terai regions. Wood was also cut and sold in huge quantities for buildings, mines and ships. This work was done by workers hired by timber traders and forest contractors.

Shifting cultivation is an agricultural system in which plots of land are cultivated temporarily, then abandoned and allowed to revert to their natural vegetation while the cultivator moves on to another plot.