# JAC Class 9 Social Science Solutions History Chapter 4 Forest Society and Colonialism

## JAC Board Class 9th Social Science Solutions History Chapter 4 Forest Society and Colonialism

JAC Class 9th History Forest Society and Colonialism InText Questions and Answers

Activity (Page No. 81)

Question 1.
Each mile of railway track required between 1,760 and 2,000 sleepers. If one average sized tree yields 3 to 5 sleepers for a 3 metre wide broad gauge track, calculate approximately how many trees would have to be cut to lay one mile of track.
Average number of sleepers required to lay one mile railway track = $$\frac{1760+2000}{2}=1880$$
Average number of sleepers made by 1 tree = $$\frac{3+5}{2}=4$$
Thus, number of trees would have to be cut to lay one mile of track = $$\frac{1880}{4}=470$$
Approximately, 470 trees would have to be cut to lay one mile of track.

Activity (Page No. 83)

Question 1.
If you were the Government of India in 1862 and responsible for supplying the railways with sleepers and fuel on such a large scale, what were the steps you would have taken?
if I were the Government of India in 1862 and responsible for supplying the railways with sleepers and fuel on such a large scale, I would have taken the following steps:

1. I would have planned a systematic utilisation of the forest wealth; rules about the use of forest resources would have been framed.
2. Instead of using wood, iron or stone would have been used for making sleepers. Coal is used as fuel for running the railways engines.
3. Along with cutting down the forests, a plan for afforestation on a large-scale would have been initiated simultaneously.

Activity (Page No. 86)

Question 1.
Children living around forest areas can often identify hundreds of species of trees and plants. How many species of trees can you name?
Fruiting Trees: Mango, Guava, Lemon, Banana etc.
Medicinal Plants: Tulsi, Neem, Babool, Sarpagandha etc.

Activity (Page No. 96)

Question 1.
Have there been changes in forest areas where you live ? Find out what these changes are and why they have happened.
Yes, there have been many changes in forest areas where I live. These changes are as follows :

1. There have been strict restrictions on the hunting of wild animals.
2. A tremendous increase in the number of wild animals could be seen in these areas.
3. There have been many check posts of forests protection offices established.
4. Smuggling of elephant’s teeth and skin of tiger has been strictly prohibited.
5. There have been cleaning of rivers flowing through the forest areas. These changes have been made to protect the environment.

Question 2.
Write a dialogue between a colonial forester and an adivasi discussing the issue of hunting in the forest.
A Sample dialouge is given below:
Colonial Forester: Who are you? What are you doing in this forest?

Adivasi: Sir, I am an adivasi. I live in nearby village. I came here to collect fruits and for hunting rabbits.

Colonial Forester: Don’t you know about the prohibition of hunting in forests?

Adivasi: But Sir, my children are hungry since five days. I came here to fulfill their food requirements.

Colonial Forester: I don’t care about it. I just know that hunting in forest is illegal. It is a crime and you will deserve a punishment for this.

Adivasi: But sir, this is our forest. Means if we, advasis, are restricted from hunting, then what other work we people will do? How will we care our family and our daily needs? Our family will die of starvation.

Colonial Forester: Look, you are arguing with me

Adivasi: Sir, we are dependent on these forests. Please let us do hunting. We will give you a share of our hunt.

Colonial Forester: Shut up! No, not at all. I have to report about you to our Forest Officer. Come with me.
Colonial forester arrests the adivasi and takes him away to his officer.

JAC Class 9th History Forest Society and Colonialism Textbook Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Discuss how the changes in forest management in the colonial period affected the*) following groups of people:
1. Shifting cultivators
3. Firms trading in timber/forest produce.
4. Plantation owners
5. Kings/British officials engaged in shikar (hunting).
1. Shifting cultivators:
Restriction on shifting cultivation resulted in displacement of many communities from their homes in the forests. Many were reduced to the level of starvation. Many changed their occupation and some became labourers.

The forest laws deprived people of their customary rights and that meant severe hardship for the Nomadic and Pastoralist communities. They could not cut wood for their houses could not graze their cattle or collect fruits and roots, and hunting and fishing were declared illegal. Some of the nomadic communities began to be called ‘Criminal Tribes’ and were instead forced to work in factories, mines and plantations under government supervision. They were also recruited for work in plantations. Their wages were low and conditions of work were very bad.

3. Firms trading in timber/forest produce:
Under the new forest laws, lucrative opportunities opened up in the trade of forest products, specially timber. However, the trade was completely regulated under colonial government. The British governments gave many large European trading firms the sole right to trade in the forest products of particular areas.

4. Plantation owners:
Changes in forest management favoured the plantation owners who were mostly Europeans. They were given free land to destroy natural forests to make way for tea, coffee and rubber plantation, to meet the Europeans’ growing need for these commodities. But the workers on these plantations were paid very low wages. They had to live in very bad conditions;

5. Kings/British officials engaged in shikar (hunting):
Hunting of tiger and other animals had been a part of the culture of the court and nobility for centuries. The British saw large animals as a sign of a wild, primitive and savage society. Therefore, they provided strong incentives to encourage people to take guns and kill these dangerous animals. This hunting as a game for pleasure flourished under the new forest laws.

Question 2.
What are the similarities between colonial management of the forests in Bastar and in Java ?
Bastar is located in the southernmost part of Chhattisgarh in India, while Java is located in Indonesia. The colonial power in India was the British, while in Java it was the Dutch. The similarities between colonial management of the forests in Bastar and Java are as follows :

1. A large number of trees were cut down for shipbuilding and railways.
2. There was restriction on hunting at the both places.
3. Nomads and pastoralists were restricted to enter the forests.
4. In both of the places defaulters of forests laws were punished, harassed and
5. Both Bastar and Java witnessed rebellion against rulers.
6. Both the governments displaced the local communities from their traditional livelihood in order to make full use of the forest produce.
7. Both restricted the villagers from practising shifting cultivation.

Question 3.
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 :
1. Railways
2. Shipbuilding
3. Agricultural expansion .
4. Commercial farming
5. Tea/Coffee plantations
6. Adivasis and other peasant users.

1. Railways:
Colonial rulers needed sleepers to lay railway lines which were made of hard wood. Each mile of railway track required more than 1800 sleepers. 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. Forests around the railway tracks started disappearing fast. Wood was used as a fuel to run the locomotives.

2. Shipbuilding:
By the early nineteenth century, there was shortage of oak
trees in England which were the basic input for ship industry. This created a problem of timber supply for the Royal Navy. By the 1820s, search parties were sent to explore the forest resources of India. Within a decade, trees were being felled on a massive scale and vast quantities of timber were being exported from India. ‘

3. Agricultural expansion: In 1600, approximately one sixth of the total of India’s land area was under cultivation but now it is 42% because of the increasing population. 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. So, between 1880 and 1920, cultivated area rose by 6.7 million hectares.

4. Commercial farming:
Commercial farming was also responsible for deforestation. The Britishers directly encouraged the production of commercial crops like jute, sugar, cotton, tea, wheat etc. They encouraged their production because these crops were required as raw material and cereals were required to feed the growing urban population of Europe. Thus, forests were cleared for growing commercial crops.

5. Tea/Coffee plantations:
Large areas of forests were also cleared to make way for plantation crops like tea, coffee and rubber. These crops were grown to meet the Europeans’ growing demand. Plantation owners made big profits, making the workers work for long hours and at low wages.

6. Adivasis and other peasant users:
Adivasis and peasants cleared forests for shifting cultivation and commercial farming. Apart from this, they cut down the trees for fuel.

Question 4.
Why are forests affected by wars?