Question

discuss how the changes in forest management in the colonial period affected the java people

Answer 1

  Shifting cultivators -  Shifting cultivators practise slash and burn agriculture.In this practise, parts of the forest are cut and burnt in rotation. European foresters regarded this practice as harmful for the forests. They felt that such land could not be used for growing trees for railway timber and was dangerous while being burnt as it could start a forest fire. This type of cultivation also made dificult for the government to calculate taxes. Thus, Colonial government banned shiftinf cultivation. As a result, many communities were forcibly displaced from their homes in the forests. Some had to change occupations, while some resisted through large and small rebellions.

2.  Nomadic and pastoralist communities -  The reservation of forest areas by the British Government also sealed the fate of many nomadic and pastoral communities like the Korava, Karacha and Yerukula of the Madras Presidency lost their means of livelihood. Earlier these people and their cattle depended totally on the forest from which they were deprived because of the new forest management. Some of these communities began to be called ‘criminal tribes’ and were forced to work in factories, mines, and plantations under government supervision. Thus, these people were forced to operate within new systems and reorganize their lives.

Answer 2

1.  Shifting cultivators

2.  Nomadic and pastoralist communities

3.  Firms trading in timber/forest produce

4.  Plantation owners

5.  Kings/British officials engaged in hunting.