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History of government greed…
So it is easy to understand why the government or the state administration—has never been in favour of these indepen-dent- spirited tribals. The shifting cultivators openly asserted their ‘rights’ over forest lands and resources. And this irked the authorities—right from the colonial period. Before that, the Mughal rulers had barely any control over the inaccessible forest terrains. The Pahariatribals in Santhal Parganas, for instance, were completely free of the diktats of the Mughals—whose
authority ended where the forests began.

But all that changed under the British regime. The colonial rulers were now eager to enter and establish control over the remote forest zones. Primarily for two reasons: because they were keen to bring more and more land under rice cultivation; and because they were greedy for timber. The timber industry had just started to spread its roots in the 19 th century. Then, the two World Wars triggered a massive rise in demand for wood.

So taking charge of the forest dwellers and the resources they had so far used as their own, became the core state policy—a matter of utmost importance! The result was the enactment of the forest laws, (see Box) which aimed at swiftly curbing and then completely eradicating shifting cultivation. Baden Powell, one of the pioneers of colonial policy on forests, declared that the freedom ‘to slash and burn’at will could no longer be allowed.

So the colonisers blatantly ignored the tribals’ claims to land rights and evicted them, in a bid to legitimise the taking over of the vast forest tracts. And they only wanted to grow timber-yielding plants like sal, teak and seeshamthere, while the tribal technique promoted a magnificient diversity of species. No wonder the tribal farmers were coming in the way! The Indian Forest Act (1878) introduced the concept of ‘reserved forests’ for the first time. These were tracts that were virtually government-owned, where it had the authority to ‘settle, transfer or commute the rights of communities’. The authority of the state was further fortified by the Indian Forest Act, 1927, which gave the government the right to charge levy on timber and all other forest produce. The takeover was complete.

Unfortunately things did not get any better after Independence. In 1952, the Indian government came up with the National Forest Policy, the primary objective of which was to ‘generate maximum annual revenue from the forests. This remained the dominant theme of all our policies for a very long time. And inevitably, this approach spelt doom for the tribal people—who were driven further and further away from their land. Even as the money and muscle-weilding commercial users and private contractors made inroads into India’s resource-rich forests. Sometimes with legal permits, sometimes surreptitiously.

OUTLAWED!!
Under the colonial regime

The Government Forest Act (1865)- gave the government the right to declare any forest as a reserve, but had to ensure that this did not disrupt existing ‘rights of communities’ were living in or near forests.

The Forest Regulations (1867)- prohibited the practice of shifting cultivation in the Central Provinces.

The Indian Forest Act (1878)- divided the forests into three categories, reserved forests, protected forests, and village forests. The government now also had the right to declare a forest reserved and move tribals from them.

Indian Forest Act (1927)- Further reduced access of forest-dwellers into the forest by changing the phrase ‘rights of communities’ to ‘ rights and privileges of
persons’.

After 1947…

The National Commission on Agriculture decided that shifting cultivation was wasteful of timber and marketable forest resources and did not merit consideration as a form of cultivation and land use (1976).

The Forest Bill (1978)- states objectives that include, prevention of forestland for agricultural activities and regulation of customary rights of forest people. The bill also states that any land the government declares as ‘forest’ is reserved. Many new offences were added to the list including, ‘gathering of forest products’. Shifting cultivators were pushed even farther away from their land, and into poverty.

The Forest (Conservation) Act (1980): Sought to restrict ‘use of forest land for non-forest purposes’ but treated the tribals on the same footing as ‘outside communties’, when it came to relocation and encroachment of forest
lands.

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