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THIS book provides multi-layered analysis of the environmental impacts on India under the British colonial rule. Presenting detailed case studies from across the Indian subcontinent, it discusses different aspects of the Empire-environment encounters like imagination of environment; politics of natural resource management; irrigation and flood control projects; cultural negotiations; and forest and ecological changes.
Aparna Vaidik’s The Wild Andamans — Island Imageries and Colonial Encounter describes the fantastic islands in great details, including their historical background, heritage, fables, travel narratives, colonial imagery, and so on. Daniel Rycroft has vividly explained the colonial authority during Sherwill in 1851 and its administrative perception of the "Santal industry". Christopher V. Hill has elaborately portrayed imperial design of the Royal Indian Engineering College and Public Works in colonial India. B. Eswara Rao has carried out a study of the Godavri Anicut, while Peter L. Schmitthenner has analysed colonial hydraulic projects in South India. Finally, S. Abdul Thana discusses the Hyderabad state (1867-1948), its forest policy and ecological change. The volume documents the shifts in recent environmental history of the subcontinent. Examining key debates on the subject, it also underlines the need to revisit the role of the British Empire as an apt conceptual template for the writing of global environmental history. It also reviews several key debates and shifts in recent writings on environmental history in South Asia. The book can be useful to teachers and students of ecological and environmental history. Forest Laws and
Policies in India The forest policy of
India is based on the principle that sustainability is not an option but
an imperative (Planning Commission, 2001). While the maintenance of
ecological balance remains an important objective of forest management,
contributions that forests make to the livelihood needs of the rural
poor, especially tribal communities, are a primary consideration (MOEF,
1988). Forest management in India must address biodiversity and
environmental conservation, assist in meeting the livelihood needs of
around 350 million rural poor, expand forest cover and increase
productivity in accordance with national and international commitments. The authors have brought out that forests are very important in the social, cultural, historical, economic and industrial development in any nation as they play a crucial role in maintaining the ecological balance. The book has analysed in great detail the Wildlife (Protection Act), 1980. Three chapters deal with the history and evolution of forest policies and laws in India. The Forest Act, 1865, and the Indian Forest Act, 1878, have been analysed along with the Forest Policy of 1894. The development of forest policies in India from 1894 to 1988 has been traced in the course of first five chapters. Chapter VI looks into afforestation programmes of the Central and state governments, while Chapter VII discusses international conventions concerning conservation and protection of natural resources.The next four chapters take up the issues of wildlife conservation; joint forest management; rural banking and rural credit; and forest offences. The twelfth chapter takes up certain other issues in forest laws such as timber transit rules. The book discusses every
socially relevant piece of legislation governing forests in India
because the forest laws and policies in the country are very important
for every Indian to ensure environmental protection for their future
health and even sustenance.
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Divided
into five parts, the book contains 11 essays that explore the nature of
global environmental transformations in the 19th century, complex and
varied inter-colonial exchanges, techniques and technologies, and the
institutionalisation of various environmental imaginings.
