RBSE Solutions for Class 9 Social Science History Chapter 4 Forest Society and Colonialism

Rajasthan Board RBSE Solutions for Class 9 Social Science History Chapter 4 Forest Society and Colonialism Textbook Exercise Questions and Answers.

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

RBSE Class 9 Social Science Forest Society and Colonialism InText Questions and Answers

Page No. 81
Activity 1

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.
Answer:
1. Average no. of sleepers required for one mile = \(\frac{1760+2000}{2}=\frac{3760}{2}=1880\)
2. Average no. of sleepers obtained from a tree = \(\frac{3+5}{2}=\frac{8}{2}=4\)
3. No. of trees to be cut to lay 1 mile of track which is 3 metres wide broad gauge = \(\frac{1880}{4}=470\) (Approx.)

Page No. 83
Activity 2.

Question 3. 
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?
Answer: 
I would have taken the following step :

1. Survey the forests.
2. Lay down rules about-use of forest resources.
3. Felling of trees would be restricted.
4. Felling of trees was to be permitted after proper inspection.
5. Involve the local people.
6. Introduce proper working plan to manage the forest.

Page No. 86
Activity 3

Question 4.
Children living around forest areas can often identify hundreds of species of trees and plants. How many species of trees can you name?
Answer:
Some of the species of trees and plants are as follows:

• Boubinaia vablii 
• Semur 
• Sal 
• Teak
• Mahua 
• Pine 
• Fir 
• Spruce
• Larch 
• Oak 
• Elm 
• Birch
• Cydress 
• Sandal 
• Ebony 
• Mango
• Walnut 
• Bamboo 
• Rose wood 
• Banyan

Page No. 96
Activity 4

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

1. The hunting of large animals has been banned but fishing and hunting of small animals have been continued.
2. The number of trees in the forest has increased.
3. The river flowing through the forest has been cleaned.
4. Forest guards have made check posts at various places in the forest.

Question  2
 Write a dialogue between a colonial forester and an adivasi discussing the issue of hunting in the forest
Answer: 

• Forest Guard: Who are you? What are you doing in the forest?
• Adivasi: Sir, I am an adivasi. I live in a nearby village. I have come for hunting a hare or two.
• Forest Guard: That I don’t care about! I just know that hunting in the forest is illegal. It is a crime. You will be punished.
• Adivasi: But Sir, these forests belong to us. If we can’t hunt here, who will?
• Forest Guard: You are arguing with me. You will have to pay heavily for this. Due to the fear of fine, he goes away.

RBSE Class 9 Social Science Forest Society and Colonialism Textbook Questions and Answers

Question  1. 

1. Discuss how the changes in forest management in the colonial period affected the following groups of people :
2. Shifting Cultivators
3. Nomadic and Pastoralist Communities
4. Firms trading in timber/forest produce
5. Plantation owners
6. Kings/British officials engaged in Shikar (hunting)

Answer: 
(a) Shifting Cultivators:
The colonial government put ban on shifting cultivation as it was regarded harmful for forests. Because of this, tribal communities were forced to leave their homes. Many had to change their occupations. Some took to trading in forest products or became laboures. There were some who took to protest the policies of colonial masters.

(b) Nomadic and Pastoralist Communities:
In the process, many pastoralist and nomadic communities like the Korava, Karacha and Yerukula of the Madras Presidency lost their livelihood. Some of them were dubbed as criminal tribes. They were forced to work in factories and plantations. It also created shortage of fodder and animal stock was reduced.

(c) Firms Trading in Timber/Forest Produce:
 In India trade in forest products was not new. We have records which show that adivasi communities trading in goods like hides, horns, silk cocoons, ivory, bamboo, spices fibres, grasses, gums and rising through nomadic communities like the banjaras. After the coming of the British, trade was completely controlled by the government.

The British government gave the European companies the sole right to trade in the forest products. The  Adivasi communities like Banjaras were reduced to starvation or forced to work as labourers. The plunder of forest resources by European Traders led to deforestation.

(d) Plantation Owners:
The European planters destroyed forests to make way for tea, coffee and rubber plantation. Plantation owners earned huge profit. Local forest communities were recruited at low wages. Indian traders and communities were working at the mercy of the European plantation owners.

(e) Kings/British Officials Engaged in Shikar :
While the forest laws deprived people of their rights to hunt, hunting of big animals became a sport. In India, hunting of tigers and other animals had been part of the culture of the court and nobility for centuries. However under colonial rule, hunting increased to such an extent that many species became extinct.

The British saw big animals as a sign of primitive society. They believed that by killing big animals, the British would civilise India. Tigers, wolves and leopards were killed because they posed a threat to cultivators. Rewards were given for killing these big animals. British administrator George Yule killed 400 tigers. Only after a long time environmentalists and conservators began to argue that these animals had to be protected.

Question  2. 
What are the similarities between colonial management of the forests in Bastar and in Java?
Answer: The forest area of Bastar was managed by the British colonial power where as forest area of Java was managed by the Dutch colonial power. But there are many similarities in the laws for forest control in Bastar and Java.
(i) Like the British, Dutch wanted timber from Java to build ships. Dutch colonial power restricted villagets from practising shifting cultivation and their access to forests.

(ii) Both colonial power enacted forest laws in order to control territory.

(iii) The forest laws imposed by both colonial power was too strict for villagers. These laws deprived people from their customary rights to forest products. Villagers were punished for grazing cattle in young stand, transporting wood without a permit, or travelling on forest roads with horse carts or cattle.

(iv) The policies of forest laws made by British and Dutch was too harsh. Because
 of the harsh policies the villagers start opposing it in due course. They
 began to resist them through large and small rebellions. The astrocities
of the managers led to increasing despair among the forest communities which forced them to rebel. But these rebels were crushed.

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

Answer: 
1. Railways:
Railways were essential for colonial trade and movement of troops. To run locomotives, wood was needed as fuel. To lay the railway lines, sleepers were essential to hold the tracks together. One mile of railway tracks needed about 2000 sleepers. From the 1860s, the railway network expanded rapidly. By 1890, about 25,500 km of tracks were laid. In 1946, the length of the tracks had increased to over 765,000 km.

As the railways tracks spread through India a larger and larger number of trees were felled. In Madras Presidency alone 35,000 trees were being cut ‘ annually for sleepers.The Government gave out contracts to individuals to supply wood for sleepers. These contractors cut trees indiscriminately to get more and more profit. Forests around the railway tracks started disappearing fast.

2. Ship-building:
Ship-building was one of the major factor responsible for declining of forest. Ships could not be built without regular supply of strong and durable timber. Ships were very much important for protection and maintainance of imperial power. But in England, from the early 19th century, oak forests were disappearing. It created a shortage of timber for the Royal Navy. By the 1820s search parties were sent to explore the forest resources of India. Within a decade, trees were cut on a large scale and timber was exported from India.

3. Agricultural Expansion:
In the early nineteenth century. The colonial government believed 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 enhace the income of the state. So between 1880 and 1920, the cultivation increased by 6.7 million hectares. Expansion of cultivation was seen as a sign of progress. But we should not forget that for land to be brought under the plough, forests had to be cleared.

4. Commercial Farming:
The British encouraged the production of commercial crops like jute, sugar, wheat and cotton. The demand for these crops increased in the 19th century Europe, where food grains were needed for growing population and raw material were required for industries.

5. Tea/Coffee Plantations:
Large areas of natural forests were cleared to make way for tea, coffee and rubber plantations to meet Europe's growing need for these commodities. The colonial government took over the forests, and gave vast areas to European planters at cheap rates. These areas were enclosed and cleared of forests, and planted with tea or coffee.

 
6. Adivasis and Other Peasant Users:
Adivasis and other peasants users were also responsible for declining of forest. In forest areas people use forest products - roots, leaves, fruits and tubers. This affected forest cover. Many adivasis in India practised shifting cultivation. 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. For this cultivation adivasi used to clear the forest area. This practice is considered as harmful for forest. When a forest was burnt, there was the added danger of the flames spreading and burning valuable timber.  

Question  4.
Why are forests affected by wars?
Answer: 
The first world war and the second world war had a major impact on forests.

1. In India, working plans were abandoned at this time, and forest department cut trees freely to meet British war needs.
2. In Java, just before the Japanese occupied the region, the Dutch followed 'a scorched earth' policy, destroying saw mills, and burning huge piles of giant teak logs so that they would not fall into Japanese hands.
3. The Japanese then exploited the forest recklessly for their own war industries, forcing forest villagers to cut down forests.
4. Many villagers used this opportunity to expand cultivation in the forest.
5. After the war, it was difficult for the Indonesian forest service to get this land back.
6. In India, people's need for agricultural land has brought them into conflict with the forest department's desire to control the land and exclude people from it.