Geo-Analyst, ISSN December, 2015

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1 FOREST MANAGEMNT IN INDIA SINCE ANCIENT TIME Gopa Ghosh*, Abstract From the creation of the planet earth, forests are the part and parcel of living creatures. India is such a country that has vast forest land from ancient time. In different religious books and epics forests have been described as one of the main features of the land. Indian socio cultural history provides excellent examples of the preservation of forest resources from the ancient thoughts of religious injunctions. If we consider the relationship of trees and living creatures, then we see that from the early period of this planet both are living with harmony. This paper discusses the implications of different forms of forest management on protection mechanism and forest regeneration. It also discusses the implications of these structures for policy making. Keywords : Forest management, JFM, CFM, Preservation of forest Classical Forest Management Before the introduction of iron on a large scale, after all, forests and its product were the major ingrediants that made human existence possible. Man was born in the forests and till a few thousand years was completely dependent on it for shelter, food, medicine etc. From ancient period forests have occupied an important position in India. The Mahabharata and the Ramayana give picturesque descriptions of forest life in Dandakaranya and Nandavana. Some kings like Ashoka and Shivaji issued orders encouraging the planting of trees along the roads and on camping sites and prohibiting the culting of fruit trees. Forest Management - Mughal Period The Mughals made no attempts on forest conservation. They came from dry arid lands so they had no idea of forestry and forest conservation. Only during the time of Shershah Suri plantation of trees along the Delhi- Patna Highway was done. Mughals were not forest minded but they created some beautiful gardens. Emperor Jahangir introduced the famous chinar tree in the valley of Kashmir. At the same time Marathas and the Gonds planted mangoes and other useful trees along their marching routes and halting places, some of which are still surviving. From the side of environment conservation there was a significant contribution of Mughal emperors has the establishment of magnificent gardens, fruit orchards and green parks round about their palaces, *Assistant Professor,Department of Economics, Netaji Subhas Mahavidyalaya, West Bengal 33

2 central and provincial head quarters, public places, on the banks of the rivers and in the valley and dates which they used as holiday resorts or places of retreat or temporary head quarters during the summer season. Nur-i-Afsan in Agra, Shalimar garden and Nishat Bagh in Srinagar are some such types of the imperial Mughals. Akbar ordered the planting of trees in various parts of his kingdom. Jahangir was well known for laying of beautiful gardens and planting trees. The administration provided special incentives of tax relief for a few years to the people who would cut down jungles and forests to establish agricultural land. At that time people in the forest land used lands as if it s their own lands and continuously using forest products as their customary right. Therefore the Gupta period ( AD) witnessed a distribution of forests whereas the Mughal period ( ) was characterized by the continuous destruction of both flora and fauna in the subcontinent for timber and clearance of green cover for cultivation. Forest in the - Company Raj Period And British Period There was unsustainable extraction and reckless exploitation of the commercial products of the accessible forests (Brandis 1897 reprinted 1994, p. 36). In British period forest was liquidated to build British ships and lay extensive railway lines. Mixed forests were replaced by single species commercially valued trees, such as teak, sal and deodar. The British wanted to retain India as a supplier of cheap raw materials and a market for higher priced manufactured goods. During 1770 to 1820, the East India Company struggle to stabilize its rule in the jungle areas. Between 1795 to 1850, the East India Company continued the practice of selling blocks of forests or individual trees to Indian merchants for a fixed down payment that encouraged great destruction and waste in their extraction. (Sivaramakrishnan 1999 p 132). During the early part of British rule, trees were felled without any thought. Large numbers of trees such as the sal, teak and sandal wood were cut for export. So when British came to India they had already destroyed the forests in their country. They saw Indian forests as an important resource to be exploited for the purposes of revenue and export. In British period captain Watson appointed as a conservator of forest in 1806 and he was assigned the duties of procuring maximum quantity of Indian timber for building the ships of British Navy. This so-called conservator post of forest was abolished in At that time there was no conservation policy the Indian forest was used for the supply of wood for export for British Navy. Private contractors, Indian and European, were chiefly responsible for the devastation of forests. By around 1840 the British Govt. began to realize that the forests in India were reducing (Brandis 1897, reprinted 1994) and were loosing many of the commercial trees, which they needed for revenue, internal use and export. They also realized that this was occurred due to the increasing population, extending cultivation in forest land, that practice which was encouraged by them. In 1839 and 1840, the Government of Bombay Presidency issued orders to stop Teak cutting in Government land (Brandis 1897). So the British began to regulate and conserve. They appointed a commissioner to look into the availability of teak in the Malabar forests. The first action to 34

3 improve the forest in the country came in The plantations were highly successful and over the years became world famous. In 1855 systematic forest policy was beginning when the Governor General Dalhousie issued a memorandum on forest conservation. Teak plantations were raised in the Malabar hills and acacia and eucalyptus in the Niligiri Hills. He suggested that teak timber should be retained as state property and trade in teak should be strictly regulated. In Bombay the conservator of forest, Gibson, tried to introduced rules prohibiting shifting cultivation and plantation of teak forest. In 1856, Dietrich Brandis, a German Botanist was appointed as the first Inspector General of forests to the Government of India. It was under his guidance, that the forest department was organized and the first forest act was enacted. Forest Act of 1865 To regulate forest exploitation this forest act had been made. Not only that, this act also include management and preservation. For the first time an attempt was made to regulate the collection of forest produce by the forest dwellers. Thus the local people were to be restrained by law. The act was applicable only to the forests under control of the government and no provision was made to cover private forests. Forest Act 1878 The government of India thought it necessary to increase its control over forests and a new act was passed. In that act forests were divided into i) Reserved forests ii) Protected forests iii) Village forests Trespass and pasturing of cattle were prohibited in that act. Provision was made to impose a duty on timber. Some provisions were also made for private forests. Forest related offence and imprisonment and different types of fines for different types of offence were described in that act. In the 1860s, forest conservation began in West Bengal. The government had given these forests on the basis of ongoing long-term lease for tea cultivation. These areas were dense forest arlier. According to Griffiths, the whole of the district Jalpaiguri was covered with dense forest,the timber was magnificient and the oil splendid. (quoted by Griffiths 1967, p 116). At that time government started to offer jungle land for tea cultivation at liberal terms to boot up growth of tea industries (Ibid, page 116). Through this process the area covered by tea garden was 38,805 acres in the year The first forest school was opened in Dehradun in The provincial forest service was inaugurated in Thereafter, technical education and training were organized. 35

4 Forest Policy Resolution 1894 In this resolution it was declared that the sole object with which the state forests were to be administered was the public benefit. When the advantage to be gained by the public was great then and only then these regulations and restrictions were justified. The cardinal principle to be observed was that the rights and privileges of individuals must be limited, otherwise than for their own benefit, only in such degree was absolutely necessary for securing that advantage. Forests were divided into four classes- (a) forests, the preservation of which was essential on climatic or physical grounds. (b) forests which afforded a supply of valuable timbers for commercial purposes. (c) minor forests (d) pasture lands It was categorically declared that the claims of cultivation were stronger than the claims of forest preservation and that whenever an effective demand for cultivable land could be supplied from forest area it would be ordinarily granted without hesitation. In case of wastelands some suggestions were also made and not declared a forests. This resolution was made for increasing finances from the forests. The imperial Forest Research Institute was established in 1906 in Dehradun. In 1910, the Board of Forestry was created at the national level under the chairmanship of the Inspector- General of Forests. The national character in forest administration was considerably diluted with political changes in 1921 when forests became a provincial subject and their administration came to ret in the govt. of the concerned provinces.(dr. Desai Vasant:1991). Indian Forest Act-1927 The Indian Forest Act 1927 was an attempt to regulate further people s rights over forest land and produce. The Government increased its control over the forest and the forest department was strengthened with policy to regulating people s rights over forest lands and produce. Revenue comes from forest was steadily increased. There was the same division of forest which was in Act of (a) Reserved forests. (b) Protected forests. (c) Village forests. In that forest Act state control over forest were made to extend. Provisions were also made for taking over the management of private forests in certain cases. Review of British Policy Two British scholars criticized forest policy and its implementation. one consulting chemist Mr. Voelcker of the agricultural society wrote, when the forest department began its work its chief duties were the preservation and development of large timber forest..its success was gauged mainly by fiscal consideration. Mr. Robert Wallace, professor of agricultural economy in the university of Edinburgh criticized the forest policy during British rule. He also commented that large areas of India had been wastefully and shamefully denuded of valuable timber.till

5 the Government of India Enacted The forest act. In 1935, the British parliament created provincial legislature which is known as the dual system of Govt. came into operation. Through this provincial legislature, the subject of forest was included in the provincial list. After that, many provinces made there own laws to regulate forest. Advent of Taungya Cultivation In West Bengal specially in North Bengal British Government offered jungleland for tea cultivation at liberal terms to boost up growth of tea industries. Thus in this period there was reckless explanation of the accessible forests. Not only for cultivation purpose but also for growing commercial interest forest was being increasingly suffered. For regenerating it British Administration introduced Taungya cultivation around 1920s. Taungya is a method of artificial regeneration of forest. This is a form of agro-forestry in which agricultural crops were raised between the young forest seedlings or sown in rows in year after felling the natural forests and cultivation continued in years 2 and 3 as well as or until the forest seedlings grew to cover the pace between the rows to make cultivation not worth while. The forest department established forest villages near the forest blocks where reforestations were planned. In 1935, the forest Acts were enacted by the government of India. At that time, in India dual system of government came into operation. The subject of forests was included in the Provincial list under the Act ( item 22 ). Thereafter several province made their own laws to regulate forests, most of which were within the frame work laid down in the 1927 Act.Taungya sytem continued even after two decades of independence and remained the crux of forest conservation and regeneration until the historic movement put an end to this exploitative exercise of production forestry. That is the protest movement started when the villagers demanded that other things being unchanged they have to be paid the normal wages for looking after the plantation. They also wanted more cultivation land for increased number of families. Government, did not agree to the demand of more agricultural land for the increased families. At that time vandalism, smuggling of valuable timber, and theft appeared particularly by the tea garden labour living in the gardens on the fringe of the forests and by some mafia gangs. When forest degraded it affected both the economy and the ecology. Major Use of Forest in Different Ages We could trace the major uses of forests from ancient India to the end of the British rule in the following steps : 37

6 Table-1: Use of Forest in Different Ages Period Major Use of Forest 2000 BC 300 BC i. Meditation ii. Religious studies iii. Hunting 300 BC 650 A.D i. Hunting ii. Procuring of elephants iii. Grazing by domesticated elephants 650 A.D 1700 A.D i. Hunting ii. Shelter to victims of internal wars and foreign invasions iii. Revenue to local rulers from sale of timber of selected species (royal trees) 1700 A.D 1850 A.D i. Production of timber for building of fighting ships of the British Navy ii. Reserves for expansion of cultivation 1850 A.D 1900 A.D i. Production of timber for railway sleepers and firewood for steam engines ii. Reserves for expansion of cultivation iii. Available lands for tea and coffee plantations iv. Hunting A.D 1914A.D i. Regulated production of timber for commercial and social needs ii. Revenue of Government iii. Hunting 1914 A.D 1918 A.D i. Production of timber and hay for war supplies 1918 A.D 1940 A.D i. Regulated production of timber to meet commercial and social needs ii. Revenue to government i. Production of timber in very large quantities for war 1940 A.D A.D supplies 1944 A.D A.D i. Revenue to government ii. Regulated fellings to meet social and industrial demand Iii Grazing by cattle Source ; Lal. J. B. 38

7 Post Indepndence Period In 1947 India became independent. Then almost all the British officers of the erstwhile Imperial Forest Service left India and Indian officers assumed charge. In early 1950s, most of the states enacted new legislations affecting land tenure systems and large areas of privately owned forest came to rest with the Forest Departments of the states. At that time the country adopted a national festival of tree planting, Vanamahatsav, wildlife conservation, soil conservation etc. in 1950 and resolved a new forest policy in National Forest Policy 1952 There are four major draw backs of the forest policy resolution which was made in the year ) This policy allowed forests no intrinsic right to space, and in land use subordinated forestry to agriculture. 2) This policy did not give adequate emphasis to protective and regulative services which wa produced by forests. 3) Lastly and finally this policy did not suggest protection of forests from harmful practices of shifting cultivation and excessive grazing. Apart from that, while this policy advocated the meeting of people s need it did not stipulate the management of forests on the principle of sustained yield. There are three main objectives of forest policy under the five year plans. 1. To develop forest as a support to rural economy. 2. To increase the productivity of forest. 3. To link-up forest-development with various forest-based industries. To fulfill these main objectives special importance were given in the following five specific areas. (i) Afforestation measure. (ii) Social forestry. (iii) Promotion of methods to increase production. (iv) Set up of forest development corporations. (v) Set up of national waste lands development board (NWDB). National Commission on Agriculture The commission dedicated part ix of its report to forestry. The commission pleaded commercialization of forests at any cost and recommended regularization of forest dwellers rights over forest produce. According to the commission all forest lands should be classified in to three major parts i.e. a) protected forests, b) productive forests, c) social forests. a) Protected forests : This kind of forests include forest on hill slopes and other localities vulnerable to erosion and degradation. 39

8 b) Productive forests : Productive forests are those kind of forest which are eentially commercial forests comprise economically valuable timbers. c) Social forests : Social forests on wastelands were for meeting the needs of the rural community. The commission advised that the revised national forest policy of India should stand on two main points. 1) the requirement of goods 2) the satisfaction of the present and future demands for protective and recreative functions of the forests. Lastly, the commission advised a drastic reduction in peoples rights over forests as a conclusion to save the forests because unscropulus use of forests by poor villagers and free supply of forest produce to the rural people and their rights and privileges have brought ultimate destruction to the forests and so it is essential to reverse the process. The Forest (Conservation) Act 1980 An Act to provide for conservation of forests and the matters connected there with or ancillary or incidental thereto. The Parliament of India enacted this Act as follows: (i) (ii) (iii) Deforestation causes ecological imbalance and leads to environmental deterioration. Deforestation had been taking place on a large scale in the country. With a view to checking further deforestation, the President promulgated on the 25 th October, 1980, the Forest ( Conservation) Ordinance, The Ordinance took prior approval of the Central Govt. which was necessary for De- Reservation of reserved forests and for use of forest land for non-forest purposes. There was a provision in the ordinance to constitute an advisory committee for advising the Central Govt. with regard in grant of such approval. The Bills seeks to replace the aforesaid ordinance. There were some restrictions on the de-reservation of forests or use of forest-land for non-forest purpose. (a) That any reserved forest or any portion thereof, shall cease to be reserved; (b) That any forest-land or any portion thereof may be used for any non-forest purpose; (c) That any foret-land or any portion thereof may be assigned by way of lease or otherwise to any private person or to any authority, corporation, agency or any other organization not owned, managed or controlled by government; 40

9 (d) That any forest-land or any portion thereof may be cleared of trees which have grown naturally in that land or portion, for the purpose of using it for reafforestation.(forest Consservation Act Resolution, 1980). There are some explanation of the term, Non-Forest purpose ----(i) For the cultivation of tea, coffee, spices, rubber, paints, oil bearing plants, horticultural crops or medicinal plant (ii)for any purpose other than reafforestation, but does not include any work like establishment of check-post, fire lines, wireless communications and construction of fencing, bridges and culverts, dams, waterholes, trench marks, boundary marks, pipelines or other like purposes. Under this Act The Central Government may constitute an Advisory Committee for conservation of the provisions of the Act and Offences by authorities and Government departments. National Forest Policy-1988 The 1952 Forest policy had failed to stop the serious depletion of forest wealth over the years. Accordingly, it became imperative to evolve a new strategy of forest conservation. The Ministry of Environment and Forests of the government of India announced its new forest policy in December In 1988, the Central Govt. issued the new forest policy. This policy recognized that the first change of the forest was to the tribal and the poor people living near or in the forest and the forests should meet their needs. By this policy the Govt. recognized the entitlements of the people in the forests or adjoining to them. Thus was born Joint Forest Management in India.The important features of this policy are:- (i) Role of Tribals in forests recognized.- (ii) Depletion of Forest area and the target for green cover. (iii) Discouragement to forest-based industries. (iv) End the system of private forest contractors. (v) Forest land not to be diverted to non- forest uses. Present Status of Forest in India The National Forest Commission report 2006 indicated that around 41% of total forest in the country is already degraded, 70% of the forests have no natural regeneration, and 55% of the forests are prone to fire (MoEF,2006). In India according to ISFR-2011 forest cover has declined by ha. compared to the forest cover in the preceding ISFR But tree cover outside forest areas is assessed to be 9.7 million ha. increase over the last few assessments year. Forest degradation is a serious environmental, social and economic problem. The degradation is not indicated by crown density decline but also soil erosion, lack of natural regeneration. Between 1950 to 1980 India lost about 4.3 million ha. of forest land for non-forest use like development of agriculture, heavy industries and other development processes. In addition to this there are serious problems of encroachment, grazing, forest fire, shifting cultivation and illegal felling. 41

10 Genesis of Joint Forest Management (JFM) The increasing depletion of India s forest resources has occurred due to growing human and livestock population pressures, industrialisation, urbanisation and overall economic development. Prior to 1988, the forest management objectives were commercial forestry and revenue generation. But the 1988 Forest policy was considered for conservation of soil and environment, subsistence requirements of the local people etc. As per the provisions of National forest policy 1988, the Government of India, vide letter No. 6.21/89-pp dated 1 st June, 1990,outlined and conveyed to State Govt. a framework for creating massive people s movement through involvement of village committees for protection,regeneration and development of degraded forest lands. Govt. issued guidelines and adopted Joint Forest Management (JFM) under the national afforestation program. JFM is a concept of developing partnerships between fringe forest villagers and Forest Department for forest protection and development. This policy was motivated by a desire to both reduce environmental degradation and also reduce rural poverty. The effective and meaningful involvement of local communities has been attempted under the JFM system in India by linking socio-economic incentives and forest development. JFM was a radical departure from the earlier command and control approach of forest management practiced since 1865.The JFM strategy sought departure from earlier conventional mode in the following manner as given in table-2 Table 2 : What was and What are (Forest in India) From To Centralised Management Decentralised Management Revenue orientation People orientation Large working plan Micro plan Target orientation Process orientation Unilateral decision making Participatory decision making Controlling people Facilitating people Department Peoples institutions Plantation as first option Low input management and regeneration Fixed procedures Experimentation and flexibility Source: Biswas. P. K. Forest Rights Act, 2006 The Forest Rights Act, 2006 was passed by the Government of India to rectify the historical injustice to forest-dwelling and forest fringe communities.it provides for a variety of rights in state forests and includes a provision for Community Forest Rights (CFRts) and Community Forest Resources(CFRes). 42

11 The Community Forest Rights (CFRt) can be viewd to be a natural development wherein communities can take over management of their local forests that they have been protecting and the department of forest can move into a supporting and regulatory role. National Afforestation Program (NAP) The multiple forestry programs were consolidated into the National Afforestation Program (NAP). To implement the program the NAP required formation of JFMCs at the field level. This will increase in the number of JFMCs from around 36,000 in 2000 to over 1,00,000 in As government funds are involved in the program so the NAP also requires that the secretary of the JFMC must be a forest department staff. Green India Mission The Green India Mission (GIM) aims to promote adaption and mitigation measures that increase sequestration in well managed forests and other eco-systems, adaption of vulnerable species/ecosystems and of forest dependent communities. The objectives of the mission are: Increase forest/tree cover (afforestation) over 5 million ha, as well as improve quality of forest cover on another 5 million ha (a total of 10 million ha). Improved ecosystem services including biodiversity, hydrological services and carbon sequestration as a result of treatment of 10 m ha. Increased forest-based livelihood income for 3 million forest dependent households Enhanced annual CO2 sequestration of million tons by 2020 National Forest Policy, 2016 The draft of the National Forest Policy, 2016 has been prepared by the Indian Institute of Foret Management, Bhopal (IIFM) based on village level focus group discussions, regional and national level consultations, inputs from various stakeholders and datasets of 2015 &2016 year. Though there was National Forest Policy of 1988 where prioritized forests for maintaining environmental stability and ecological balance, participatory forest management, provided the local communities with the first charge on forest produce and others. But we saw from last few decades there was a decline in the quality of forests, impacts of climate change, rising human- wildlife conflict, intensifying water crises, growing air pollution in one side and on the other side there was multistakeholder oversight in forestry decision making, rights based framework to empower forest dependent communities, new technological advancements and higher levels of environmental 43

12 awareness. So a need was felt to revise the National Forest Policy, 1988 for integrating the vision of sustainable forest management based on the principles of ecosystem approach, landscape level planning and the learnings from participatory forest management while building on our rich cultural heritage of co-existence and eco-centrism. Main goals of this National Forest Policy are to improve the health and vitality of forest ecosystems to meet the present and future needs of ecological security and biodiversity conservation with empowered and enabled communities. The vision of the National Forest Policy,2016 is, empowered communities, healthy ecosystems, happy nation. It aims to improve the health and vitality of the forest ecosystems to meet the present and future needs of ecological security, livelihood sustenance and conserving biological diversity. It endeavours to safeguard our natural heritage, cultural identity and social capital and bequeath it in full measure to our future generations. The national forest policy, 2016 marks a paradigm shift, by switching the focus from forests to landscapes, from canopy cover to healthy ecosystems, from substituting wood to promoting sustainable wood use, from participatory approaches to empowerment, from joint forest management to community forest management and from qualitative policy statement to a result based policy framework. It provides new policy directions on integrating climate change concerns in forest management, managing forest catchments and watersheds to revive streams, enabling the establishment of wildlife corridors, incentivizing sustainability in community managed, community owned and private forests, expanding urban greens and developing a national forest information system with emphasis on good governance, transparency, proactive disclosure and an effective on-ground translation of the policy following an implementation framework with periodic review. This policy has the potential to lift the forset dwellers out of poverty, breathe vitality back into our wilderness and accelerate inclusive growth of our nation. Conclusion The importance of the roles that forests play in livelihoods is now universally recognized and the need to involve rural users in forestry is also widely accepted. Exploitation of forests by the people and government during the British rule and open access system accelerated loss of forests, forced people to realize their mistake lading to the first steps towards government control of forest in The Indian Forest Act was passed in 1878 and the reserve and protected forests were constituted. The needs of communities will vary based on location and context, and thus policies at all levels should take into consideration the livelihood needs, as well as the value of resources and infrastructure. While many countries are still at an early stage in the process of developing and introducing forms of community forestry, community forestry in others is by now a wellestablished and integral part of the framework for management and use of forest resources. The policies that evolved over time also failed to recognize the role of local people in management of forests, keeping them out of the forests and even banning selective logging in protected areas. Tree-planting has often become an important component of rural household livelihood systems. At the same time, the experience has also highlighted problems and constraints. Strong promotion of community management by donors has frequently imposed pressures on forestry bureaucracies that they have found difficult to respond to. When Government started taking initiatives to involve 44

13 local communities in forest management then problem goes. Now community-based forest management systems operating in many states in India. JFM model does not fully recognize the unique needs and characteristics of forest dwellers including tribal, who are among the poorest groups in the society. CFM system is prevailing in India from time immemorial. Community Forest management institutions have contributed significantly to regeneration of forests, to conservation and promotion of biodiversity and to achieving moderate to high biomass productivity. Now India Govt. may want to implement CFM systems to state supported JFM areas through training programs and exposure trips for JFM committee members at the village level. The Govt. may also consult CFM institutions to assist in JFM areas. One need is to better understand the circumstances under which local control is, and is not, likely to succeed, thereby avoiding initiative in situations that are not conducive to collective management. Such understanding can lead to more situation specific and le formulaic approaches. Another is to address the difficulties that forest departments are encountering. Market-based approaches have become more popular in recent years, in tandem with the emerging focuson livelihood and sustainable development. These programmes are not yet well documented, but show promise to meet the varying goals of multiple actors in forests and natural resources management. Particularly, market-based approaches have great potential to connect forest communities with outside markets and networks, and in the few caes highlighted in this background paper, have contributed to job creation and infrastructure development. Finally, exaggerated expectations need to be avoided. There is a risk of overloading community forestry, and it I important to recognize the limits to how much change can be achieved within the framework of forest-oriented programme, and to keep community forestry in perspective. References Banerjee, A and Chowdhury, M (2013). Forest degradation and livelihood of local communities in India: A human rights approach. Journal of Horticulture and Forestry.Vol. 5(8), pp Banerjee, A.K.( 1997). Decentralisation and devolution of forest management in Asia and Pacific. Asia-Pacific forestry sector outlook study working paper series. Forestry Policy and Planning Division, Rome India s fourth National Report to the Convention on Biological Diversity (2009). Ministry of Environment and Forest.Govt. of India. Global Forest Resources Assessment (2010). Food and Agriculture Organization of the united nations, Rome 45