Why was deforestation increased during Brithish rule?
Answers
Answer:
The causes for deforestation in India during British rule were:
(i) Increase in population, leading to growth in demand for food, and extension of land under cultivation at the expense of forests.
(ii) Colonisation by the British encouraged production of commercial crops.
(iii) Increased demand for timber due to expansion of railways and for ship building purposes.
(iv) Large areas of forests were also cleared to make way for plantation crops.
Answer:
HERE IS YOUR ANSWER!!
Deforestation increased rapidly under British rule due to following reason
(i) Cultivation : The British encouraged the cultivation of commercial crops like jute, sugar, wheat and cotton because these crops had high demand in
Europe during nineteenth-century where food grains were needed to feed the growing urban population and raw materials were required for industrial
production. Also the colonial state thought that forests were unproductive and wilderness that needed to be brought under cultivation and could yield
agricultural products and revenue and contribute in the income of the state. Therefore, between 1880 and 1920, 6.7 million hectares of forest area brought under the cultivation.
(ii) For ship building : By the early nineteenth century, oak forests in England were vanishing. This led to the shortage 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 felled recklessly on a massive scale and huge quantities of timber were exported from India.
(iii) For railways : There was another demand created with the expansion of railways from the 1850s. For colonial trade and the movement of imperial
troops railways were required. Wood was needed as fuel to run locomotives and as sleepers to lay railway lines and to hold the tracks together. 1,760 to 2,000 sleepers were required to lay each
mile of railway track. From the 1860s, the railway network expanded rapidly. By 1890, about 25,500 km of track had been laid. In 1946, the length of the tracks had increased to over 765,000 km. The government hired individuals on contracts to supply the required woods. These contractors indiscriminately felled trees. Forests around the railway tracks fast started disappearing.
(iv) For plantations : The plantations of tea, coffee and rubber were setup by clearing large areas of natural forests. It was done 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, cleared of forests and planted with tea or coffee.
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