A Forest History of India
1st Edition
Published on 8. November 2011
Book
Hardback
267 pages
978-81-321-0693-7 (ISBN)
Description
This collection of articles by noted environmental historian Richard P Tucker is an attempt to trace Indian forest history from the colonial era to its post-Independence legacy. It is a study of the evolution of forest policy at the national level, in counterpoint with management at the provincial and local levels, primarily in the Himalayan districts.
The book highlights the two main strains of conflict that characterize the evolution of professional forestry in India. First, the tension between the subsistence needs of the local population and the commercial needs of the colonial state, and second, the clash between the forest department, which sought to preserve and manage forests, and the revenue department, which was driven by the need to expand agriculture and industry.
Written mostly in the 1980s and 1990s, these articles were among the first environmental history studies in India and contribute significantly to the understanding of the colonial legacy for post-Independence management of India's natural resources.
The book highlights the two main strains of conflict that characterize the evolution of professional forestry in India. First, the tension between the subsistence needs of the local population and the commercial needs of the colonial state, and second, the clash between the forest department, which sought to preserve and manage forests, and the revenue department, which was driven by the need to expand agriculture and industry.
Written mostly in the 1980s and 1990s, these articles were among the first environmental history studies in India and contribute significantly to the understanding of the colonial legacy for post-Independence management of India's natural resources.
Reviews / Votes
A wide-ranging and valuable collection of essays from a pioneering historian of tropical forestry. -- Ramachandra Guha [The book] deepens our understanding of India's environment history within the broader analytical and global contest...The book is a useful reference for scholars of environment history in India as a compilation of a set of the author's main publications from the region. -- Current ScienceMore details
Edition
First Edition
Language
English
Place of publication
New Delhi
India
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Students/researchers/academics interested in environmental studies, environmental history, forest management, history and sociology; to government professionals involved in forestry and the environment; and to professionals in NGOs concerned with environmental issues.
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Weight
423 gr
ISBN-13
978-81-321-0693-7 (9788132106937)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Richard P Tucker is Adjunct Professor of World Environmental History at the School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan, USA. He is a specialist on the environmental history of India, which is a progression of his earlier work on the freedom movement in Maharashtra. His first book was Ranade and the Roots of Indian Nationalism (1977). Recently, he has studied the global neoimperial impacts of the United States in Insatiable Appetite: The United States and the Ecological Degradation of the Tropical World (2000). He is presently the coordinator of an international network on the environmental impacts of war and mass violence; his first work in this area was co-edited with Edmund Russell, Natural Enemy, Natural Ally: Toward an Environmental History of War (2004).
Content
Introduction
Forest Management and Imperial Politics: Thana District, Bombay, 1823-1887
The Forests of the Western Himalayas: The Legacy of British Colonial Administration
The British Colonial System and the Forests of the Western Himalayas, 1815-1914
The Historical Context of Social Forestry in the Kumaon Himalayas
The Evolution of Transhumant Grazing in the Punjab Himalaya
The British Empire and India's Forest Resources: The Timberlands of Assam and Kumaon, 1914-1950
The Depletion of India's Forests under British Imperialism: Planters, Foresters and Peasants in Assam and Kerala
The Commercial Timber Economy under Two Colonial Regimes in Asia
Resident Peoples and Wildlife Reserves in India: The Prehistory of a Strategy
Non-timber Forest Products Policy in the Western Himalayas under British Rule
Index
Forest Management and Imperial Politics: Thana District, Bombay, 1823-1887
The Forests of the Western Himalayas: The Legacy of British Colonial Administration
The British Colonial System and the Forests of the Western Himalayas, 1815-1914
The Historical Context of Social Forestry in the Kumaon Himalayas
The Evolution of Transhumant Grazing in the Punjab Himalaya
The British Empire and India's Forest Resources: The Timberlands of Assam and Kumaon, 1914-1950
The Depletion of India's Forests under British Imperialism: Planters, Foresters and Peasants in Assam and Kerala
The Commercial Timber Economy under Two Colonial Regimes in Asia
Resident Peoples and Wildlife Reserves in India: The Prehistory of a Strategy
Non-timber Forest Products Policy in the Western Himalayas under British Rule
Index