(i) Railways: The spread of railways from the 1850s created a new demand. Railways were essential for colonial trade and for the movement of imperial troops. To run locomotives wood was needed as fuel, and to lay railway lines, sleepers were essential to hold the tracks together. Each mile of railwaRead more
(i) Railways: The spread of railways from the 1850s created a new demand. Railways
were essential for colonial trade and for the movement of imperial troops. To run locomotives wood was needed as fuel, and to lay railway lines, sleepers were essential to hold the tracks together. Each mile of railway track required between 1,760 and 2,000 sleepers. From the 1860s, the railway network expanded rapidly. By 1890, about 25,500 km of track had been laid. 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.
(ii) Shipbuilding : By the early nineteenth century, oak forests in England were disappearing. This created a problem of timber supply for the Royal Navy. So to build English ships and to protect and maintain the imperial power, the supply of timber was essential. Search parties were sent to explore the forest resources of India. As a result of it, trees were felled on a massive scale and vast quantities of timber were being exported from India.
Threshing machines were opposed by the poor. in England due to the following reasons: (i) Over the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the English countryside changed dramatically. open fields and common lands were replaced by enclosures that were created by the individual landlords. ThiRead more
Threshing machines were opposed by the poor. in England due to the following reasons:
(i) Over the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the English countryside changed dramatically. open fields and common lands were replaced by enclosures that were created by the individual landlords. This change was encouraged by more demand for food grains due to rise in population’ The landlords brought more and under cultivation by taking control over pasture lands, cutting up forest commons and taking over marshes.
(ii) The poor peasants, on the other hand, were displaced from the land. They moved to southern counties in search of work as agricultural labourers. But during the Napoleonic wars, prices of foodgrains rose. There was expansion of agriculture but fearing a shortage of labour, the farmers began using threshing machines. Ai the same time they complained of the insolence of labourers, their drinking habits, and the difficulty of making them work. They thought that machines would help them reduce their dependence on labourers. Under these conditions, machines deprived workmen of their livelihood. For the poor, the machines had become a sign of bad times. They tramped from village to village and those with uncertain jobs lived in fear those with uncertain jobs fear of a loss of their livelihood. So, they opposed the threshing machines.
Two examples of changes similar for Indian pastoralists and the Maasai herders are as follows: (i) Loss of grazing land and expansion of cultivation: The colonial government in India wanted to transform all grazing land into cultivated farms to increase its revenue. Waste Land Rules were enacted inRead more
Two examples of changes similar for Indian pastoralists and the Maasai herders are as follows:
(i) Loss of grazing land and expansion of cultivation: The colonial government in India wanted to transform all grazing land into cultivated farms to increase its revenue. Waste Land Rules were enacted in various parts of the country. By these Rules uncultivated lands were taken over and given to select individuals. The lands taken, over were actually grazing tracts. So, the expansion of cultivation meant the decline of pastures.
In East Africa also, the colonial government encouraged local peasant communities to expand cultivation. As cultivation expanded, pasture lands were turned into cultivated fields
(ii) Reservation of land/forests: Various Forest Acts were passed. Some forests which produced commercially valuable timber like deodar or sal were deciares, Reserved’. No pastoralist was allowed access to these forests. In protected forests, some customary grazing rights were granted but their movements were severely restricted.
on the other hand in East Africa, large areas of grazing land were turned. into game reserves like the Maasai Mara and Samburu National Park in Kenya and Serengeti park in Tanzania’ Pastoralists were not allowed to enter these reserves. They could neither hunt animals nor graze their herds in these areas. These reserves were in areas that had tradition- ally been regular grazing grounds for Maasai herds.
While the forest laws deprived people of their customary rights to hunt, hunting of big game became a sport. Kings and British officials were allowed to hunt in the reserved forests. Under the colonial rule the scale of hunting increased to such an extent that various species became almost extinct.Read more
While the forest laws deprived people of their customary rights to hunt, hunting of big game became a sport. Kings and British officials were allowed to hunt in the reserved forests. Under the colonial rule the scale of hunting increased to such an extent that various species became almost extinct. The British saw large animals as signs of a wild, primitive and savage society. The Maharaja of Sarguja alone shot 1,157 tigers and 2,000 leopards up to 1957. A British administrator, George Yule. killed 400 tigers. Initially certain areas of forests were reserved for hunting’ only much later did environmentalists and that conservators begin to argue all these species of animals needed to be protected, and not killed.
Between 1880 and 1920, forest cover in the Indian subcontinent declined by 9.7 million hectares, from 108.6 million hectares to 98.9 million hectares. Discuss the role of the following factors in this decline: (i) Railways (ii) Shipbuilding
(i) Railways: The spread of railways from the 1850s created a new demand. Railways were essential for colonial trade and for the movement of imperial troops. To run locomotives wood was needed as fuel, and to lay railway lines, sleepers were essential to hold the tracks together. Each mile of railwaRead more
(i) Railways: The spread of railways from the 1850s created a new demand. Railways
See lesswere essential for colonial trade and for the movement of imperial troops. To run locomotives wood was needed as fuel, and to lay railway lines, sleepers were essential to hold the tracks together. Each mile of railway track required between 1,760 and 2,000 sleepers. From the 1860s, the railway network expanded rapidly. By 1890, about 25,500 km of track had been laid. 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.
(ii) Shipbuilding : By the early nineteenth century, oak forests in England were disappearing. This created a problem of timber supply for the Royal Navy. So to build English ships and to protect and maintain the imperial power, the supply of timber was essential. Search parties were sent to explore the forest resources of India. As a result of it, trees were felled on a massive scale and vast quantities of timber were being exported from India.
Why were threshing machines opposed by the poor in England?
Threshing machines were opposed by the poor. in England due to the following reasons: (i) Over the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the English countryside changed dramatically. open fields and common lands were replaced by enclosures that were created by the individual landlords. ThiRead more
Threshing machines were opposed by the poor. in England due to the following reasons:
See less(i) Over the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the English countryside changed dramatically. open fields and common lands were replaced by enclosures that were created by the individual landlords. This change was encouraged by more demand for food grains due to rise in population’ The landlords brought more and under cultivation by taking control over pasture lands, cutting up forest commons and taking over marshes.
(ii) The poor peasants, on the other hand, were displaced from the land. They moved to southern counties in search of work as agricultural labourers. But during the Napoleonic wars, prices of foodgrains rose. There was expansion of agriculture but fearing a shortage of labour, the farmers began using threshing machines. Ai the same time they complained of the insolence of labourers, their drinking habits, and the difficulty of making them work. They thought that machines would help them reduce their dependence on labourers. Under these conditions, machines deprived workmen of their livelihood. For the poor, the machines had become a sign of bad times. They tramped from village to village and those with uncertain jobs lived in fear those with uncertain jobs fear of a loss of their livelihood. So, they opposed the threshing machines.
There are many similarities in the way in which the modern world forced changes in the lives of pastoral communities in India and East Africa. Write about any two example of changes which were similar for Indian pastoralists and the Maasai herders.
Two examples of changes similar for Indian pastoralists and the Maasai herders are as follows: (i) Loss of grazing land and expansion of cultivation: The colonial government in India wanted to transform all grazing land into cultivated farms to increase its revenue. Waste Land Rules were enacted inRead more
Two examples of changes similar for Indian pastoralists and the Maasai herders are as follows:
See less(i) Loss of grazing land and expansion of cultivation: The colonial government in India wanted to transform all grazing land into cultivated farms to increase its revenue. Waste Land Rules were enacted in various parts of the country. By these Rules uncultivated lands were taken over and given to select individuals. The lands taken, over were actually grazing tracts. So, the expansion of cultivation meant the decline of pastures.
In East Africa also, the colonial government encouraged local peasant communities to expand cultivation. As cultivation expanded, pasture lands were turned into cultivated fields
(ii) Reservation of land/forests: Various Forest Acts were passed. Some forests which produced commercially valuable timber like deodar or sal were deciares, Reserved’. No pastoralist was allowed access to these forests. In protected forests, some customary grazing rights were granted but their movements were severely restricted.
on the other hand in East Africa, large areas of grazing land were turned. into game reserves like the Maasai Mara and Samburu National Park in Kenya and Serengeti park in Tanzania’ Pastoralists were not allowed to enter these reserves. They could neither hunt animals nor graze their herds in these areas. These reserves were in areas that had tradition- ally been regular grazing grounds for Maasai herds.
Describe the effects of Forest Acts on Kings/British officers engaged in shikar.
While the forest laws deprived people of their customary rights to hunt, hunting of big game became a sport. Kings and British officials were allowed to hunt in the reserved forests. Under the colonial rule the scale of hunting increased to such an extent that various species became almost extinct.Read more
While the forest laws deprived people of their customary rights to hunt, hunting of big game became a sport. Kings and British officials were allowed to hunt in the reserved forests. Under the colonial rule the scale of hunting increased to such an extent that various species became almost extinct. The British saw large animals as signs of a wild, primitive and savage society. The Maharaja of Sarguja alone shot 1,157 tigers and 2,000 leopards up to 1957. A British administrator, George Yule. killed 400 tigers. Initially certain areas of forests were reserved for hunting’ only much later did environmentalists and that conservators begin to argue all these species of animals needed to be protected, and not killed.
See less