Question

What were the differences between colonial management of forest in Bastar and Java?

Answer 1

Forest management of Bastar in India was in the hands of British and Java was in the hands of the Dutch.

1. The Dutch, like British wanted the timber to build ships and to make sleepers for railway tracks.

2. Both the governments enacted forest laws to control the forests and put restrictions on the customary rights of the local people there.

3. Both the governments banned shifting cultivation.

4. Both the British and Dutch introduced Scientific Forestry.

5. When the exploitation by the British in Bastar and the Dutch in Java became too much, the forest communities in Bastar and Java revolted under Gunda Dhur and Surontiko Samin respectively.