Scientific Forestry and Social Change in Uttarakhand

Author(s): Ramachandra Guha

Reviewed work(s):
Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 20, No. 45/47, Special Number (Nov., 1985), pp.
1939-1941+1943+1945-1947+1949+1951-1952
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4375015 .
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 Scientific Forestry and Social Change
in Uttarakhand
Ramachandra Guha
This paper, a study of the dievelopment of forestry science in the hill districts of Uttar Pradesh collectively
known as Uttarakhand, addresses itself to three sets of issues; (1) the utilisation of forests in the indigenous social
system; (ii) the specific forms of state intervention, and the interpretationof scientific techniques in terms of tradi-
tional patterns of resource use; and (iii) the social changes that were a consequence of scientific forestry.
In contradistinction to other studies, this paper focuses on the content of colonialforestry science, with a view
to understanding its social and cultural underpinnings. It is argued that the structure of forestry science was
predicated on its "other"'-viz the cultural and social meaning traditionally ascribed to the forests in different
parts of India. Having disrupted existing forms of resource utilisation, scientific forestry had to contend with
recurrentand widespreadprotest. This led to the evolution of sophisticated techniques, described in this paper,
that could meet the often conflicting aims of commercial timber production and the preemption of peasant pro-
test. Not surprisingly, this lead to a major dislocation in agrarian relations in Uttarakhand.
I plement working plans is lacking-thus; forests in different parts of India. An appre-
even in terms of its self image, forestrycan ciation of the importance of forests and the
The Forestry Debate in India hardly be said to constitute a "science".It social institutions which regulated their
THE nature of 'scientific' forestry has is also arguedthat the trends,commercially management, in the life of forest based com-
figuredprominentlyin the currentdebateon induced, towards forest monoculturehave munities, is integral to the study of the
the century-oldhistory of deforestationin inducedirreversiblechanges,disturbingthe specific forms taken by state forest manage-
India. It is axiomatic in governmentcircles ecological stability of several forest zones.5 ment and the technical strategies elaborated
that the German foresterscalled in to start One can also approachthe issue from a to achieve its ends. By contrastiag the indi-
the Imperial Forest Department laid the differentperspective,that of the sociology genous and colonial notions-one may even
foundationsof 'scientifie'forestryin India, of science.It may be pointed out that in the say sciences-of the forest, we can interpret
and that futuremanagementhas adheredto quotationsused in the precedingparagraphs, the manifold social changes which resulted
the 'scientifie'prescriptionslaid down by the as in every day usage, the use of the word from the takeover of forest area by the state
system of working plans, covering each 'science' has several value-loaded conno- and their subsequent management on com-
forestdivision,whichwereintroducedby the tations-viz that the activity so describedis mercial lines.
first InspectorGeneralof Forests,Dietrich a value-freeand 'objective'wayof apprehen- These are some of the questions we hope
Brandis. This is a recurringtheme in the ding knowledge into practice. As such, to grapple with in this paper. The geo-
literature-thus an official with unrivalled 'science'is viewedas intrinsicallyprogressive graphical region covered by our study-the
experienceof the silviculturaltreatmentof as well as superior to other forms of hill districts of Uttar Pradesh collectively
Indian forests averred "Dr Brandis' ap- knowledgeoriginatingoutsidethe sphereof known as Uttarakhand8-has been in the
pointment marks the dawn of scientific organised scientific activity.6 forefront of the debate on deforestation and
forestryin India"''.In contradistinction,it Such a readingof 'science'.traditionally its causes. We have dealt with that debate
is believedthat forestsunderother forms of dominantin the sociologyof science,has in- elsewhere.9 The present article addresses
management-i e, managed by other state fluenced the terms of the debate on the itself to three issues: (i) the utilisation of
departments or corporate bodies-are nature of Indian forestry science as well. forests in the indigenous social system; (ii)
poorly stocked owing to the excessive,use This article,on the contrary,focuses on the the specific forms of state intervention, and
ratesof the surroundingpopulation.2In the content of forestry science, with a view to the interpretation of scientific techniques in
midst of the controversy evoked by the understandingits social and culturalunder- terms of traditional patterns of resource use;
Chipko Andolan, an eminent journalist pinnings. The investigationthat follows is and (iii) the social changes that were a con-
stated: "The Uttar Pradesh ForestDepart- informed by the belief that the use of the sequence of scientific forestry. The particular
ment has been working the Uttarakhand word 'science' should not, as is often the focus is on the development of forestry
forests from as far back as 1875 according case, bar social scrutinyof the content and science in the colonial period.
to scien ifically determined working workings of individual sciences.7
plans".3And for another commentator,as In the case of Indianforestry,these social II
the Forest Department became "more determinantsoperateat two distinct levels.
sophisticatedin forestryscience its hostili- On the one hand, they influence the direc- Forestry and Social Institutions in
ty to commercialforestryhardened".4 tion of laboratoryresearchand the temporal the Indigenous System
The scientificprotestationsof forestryex- and spatial dimensions of forest manage- In the mountainous terrainof Uttarakhand,
perts have been disputed by independent ment-i e, the timing and extent of the with cultivation restricted to small strips
researcherswho have pointed to the yawn- takeoverof forestsin differentregionsby the along the river valleys or on terraces cut out
ing gulf between the theory of 'sustained state.On the other hand, technicalstrategies of the hillside, an abundant forest cover was
yield' whichis the sine qua non of scientific fashioned to manage blocks of forest essential to the successful practice of agri-
forestryand the actual practiceof commer- towardsdistinct ends (usually commercial culture and animal husbandry. Thus the
cial timber operations, whereinthe output timberproduction),that aregovernedby the forests provided fodder, fuel, manure,
of logged materialoften exceeds the incre- arestronglyinfluenc-
scienceof 'silviculture', building timber, fuel wood, and agricultural
ment.to growing stock. Recent researchat ed by the -social and ecological setting in implements. The peasant looked to the forest
the Indian Institute of Science-ironically, which it operates. for medicines, and in times of scarcity, for
commissioned by the forest department- In fact, one could arguethat the structure food as well. 10
has highlightedthe imperfectstatisticalbase of Indian forestryscience, especially in its It is important to recognise that this
and arbitraryprescriptionsthat arecharacf- evolution during the colonial period, was dependence of the hill peasant on forest
eristicof Indian forestry.It has been shown predicatedon its 'other' viz the culturaland resources was institutionalised through a
that the requisitedata base fo properlyim- social meaningtraditionallyascribedto the variety of social and cultural mechanisms.
Economic and Political Weekly Vol XX, Nos 45, 46 and 47
Special Number November 1985 1939
Special Number November 1985
Through religion, folklore and tradition, the
village communities had drawn a protective
ring around the forests. Across the region
covered by our study, there existed a highly
sophisticated system of conservancy that
took various forms. Often, hill tops were
dedicated to local deities and the trees
around the spot regarded with great respect.
Many wooded areas were not of spontaneous
growth and-bore marks of the hillman's in-
stinct for the plantation and preservation of
the forest-indeed "the spacious wooded
areas extending over the mountain ranges
and hill sides (bore) testimony to the care
bestowed upon them by the successive gene-
rations of the Kumaunies".1 Particularly in
eastern Kumaun and around temples,
deodar plantations had become naturalised,
some way east of the trees' natural habitat.
Temple groves of deodar varied in extent
from a few trees to woods of several hundred
acres.12 As late as 1-953,it was reported that
the finest stands of deodar were found near
temples, venerated and prote.cted from
injury."3 Commenting on the numerous
sacred places in deodar forests, an official
observed that "such spots are frequently pro-
minent places where a good view is obtain-
ed, or a beautiful glade in the forest, or
where there is some unusual natural pheno-
mena, as a large rock split with a tree grow-
ing between the two halves". Sacred spots
were normally marked with cloth or
coins. 14 In these sacred groves, the "tradi-
tional form of forest preservation"15 (one
found all over India), no villager would
injure the vegetation in any way. In fact, the
planting of a grove was regarded "as a work
of great religious merit'".16 In parts of Tehri,
even today, leaves are offered to a goddess
known as Patna Devi (goddess of leaves)-
this being only one of several examples of
the association of plants with gods. '7 Cases
were not unknown of open land being left
uncultivated as it was dedicated to the fairies
of the forest who were believed to come there
at night to play.'8 And in the Tons valley,
tubers and roots-the peasantry's food dur-
ing times of scarcity-are used only during
culturally specified times to inhibit
over-exploitation. 19
While sacred groves testified to the role
played by traditional religious beliefs in the
preservation of nature, in other instances it
was in-formal management practices that
regulated the utilisation of forest produce by
the community. A civilian newly posted to
the hills in the 1920s was struck by the way
communal action continued to survive in the
considerable areas serving as village grazing
ground and fuel and fodder reserves-walled
in and well looked after. Despite official
apathy, the old customary restrictions on the
use of the forests operated 'over large areas'
while there existed no formal management,
practical protection was secured by custo-
mary limitations on users. In many patches
of oak-forest, rules prohibited lopping of
leaves in the hot weather, while the grass cut
1940
ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY
by each family was strictly regulated.The ed by GW Traillin the Kumaunsettlement
penalty for the infringementof these rules of 1823(the so-called san assi boundaries).
includedboycott and/or the exclusionfrom Within these limits, inhabitants of each
the forest for the concerned offender.20 village exercised various proprietary and
manyvillageshad fuel reserves
Traditionally, other rights of grazingand fuel, securedby
even on gaon sanjait (common land) long usage and custom.28Quite remarkably,
measuredby government,whichthe villagers this cooperationexistedevenacrosspolitical
cut overin regularrotationby commoncon- boundaries-thus adjoiningvillagesof Tehri
sent..With planting of timber trees a fairly and Bashahr state amicably grazed their
common phenomena,the gunglespreserved flocks and fetched wood from common
within their boindaries were zealously forestand pastureland withoutany kind of
guardedby the nearbyvillages. Thus Tehri dispute.29
officials observed that peasants strongly The social utilisation of forest produce
assertedtheir claim to species like bhimal, was closely related to-the distinctive social
a valuable fodder tree usually found near structure of Uttarakhand. With most
habitations.2'1 In Garhwal, Chaundkot members enjoing a hereditary interest in
parganawas singled out for its oak forests land, thereexisteda firm basis for the sanse
withinvillageboundaries-called 'banis'or of solidaritywithinthe villagecommunities.
'banjanis' wherebranchesor treeswerecut Whilethe systemof land tenuredistinguish-
only at specified times, and then with the ed between owners of land and those who
permission of the entire village communi- enjoyedhereditaryrightsof cultivationonly,
ty.22In remote areas untouched by com- withthe ultimateright of possessionvesting
mercialexploitationof forests,one can still in the state, in both Tehri Garhwal and
come acrosswell maintained'banjanis'con- KumaunDivision well over 80 per cent of
tainingoak treesof a qualityrarelyobserved the population enjoyed the status Q-
elsewhere.23 cultivating proprietors. This distinctive
Undoubtedlythis situationwas facilitated agrarianstructure,and its institutionalform
by the near-totalcontrolexercisedby villages the villagepanchayat-an institution quite
overtheir forest habitat.As "the waste and different from the caste panchayat of the
forestlands neverattractedthe attentionof plains-can help explain the widely preva-
former(i e, pre-British)governments",24 the tent system of the social management of
peasantcommunitiesenjoyedan untramel- forests in Uttarakhand.30
led use overtheir produce.While the native Although the above account consists
kings did subjectthe producesof the forests largelyof fragmentsreconstitutedfrom of-
(such as medicinalherbs)to a small cess as ficial discourse,it is apparentthat the role
and when they wereexported,the products of forests in hill life was highlightedby the
of the forestsconsumedby the peoplethem- existenceof social and culturalinstitutions
selves werenot taken into account.25It can which enabled the peasantry to reproduce
be conceptualisedthat the specificquantum its existence--this notwithstandingthe later
of cess and the terms of payment were construction of an ideology which viewed
arrivedat as an equilibriumthrougha pro- the usurpation of state monopoly over
cess of conflictbetweenthe 'feudal'stateand forests as a logical corollary of the lack of
the Khasacommunitiesunderits aegis,This 'scientific'managementpracticesamongthe
equilibriumentailed the payment of a cer- original inhabitants of forest areas.31
tain tribute by the peasantry to the state Similar cultural constraints on resource
authority which in turn recognisedthe ex- utilisationwerewidespreadin other areasas
istence and continuation of certain com- well-thus in tribal India even today, "it is
munallyheld rights,notabjywith respectto strikingto see how in manyof the mythsand
forests and waste land (and other natural legends the deep sense of identity with the
resources).26 As commercialisation had forest is emphasised".32In tribal forest
hardly penetratedinto an economy largely areas,not only did the forestshavea tremen-
orientated towards subsistence, different dous influence in moulding religious and
forest products were yet to acquire the spirituallife,33but the inhabitantsexhibited
strategicimportanceof lateryears.Thus the a deep love of vegetation, often acting
freedom enjoyed by the peasantry was "exitirelyfrom a sense of responsibility
extensive-according to an official hand- towards future. generations" by planting
book of the Forest Department under the species whose span of maturityexceededa
"OrientalGovernments"that precededthe human lifetime.34
Raj, "anyonewas accustomed, without let
or hindrance,to get what he wanted from III
the forest, to graze his cattle wherehe liked
and to clear jungle growth for cultivation Social Imperatives of State Forestry
whereverhe listed".27 The formation of the Indian Forest
In such circumstances,where they exer- Departmentin 1864 was contingent on its
cised full control over their forest habitat, servingstartegicimperialneeds.In an abrupt
cooperation of a high order was exhibited reversalof its policy of extendingcultivatiQn
by adjoining viUages. Every village in the at the expense of forests,the colonial state,
hills had fixed boundaries,existingfrom the faced with an acute shortage of usable
time of the pre-Gurkharulers.and recognis- timber at the time of railway expansion,
ECONOMICAND POLITICAL WEEKLY Special Number November 1985

recruitedGerman experts to supervisethe faceof both ecologicaland socialconstraints. frost) and wild animals-the technical
scientificmnanagement of Indianforests.The Thirdly,it should be noted that the legal reports of the profession thereby institu-
following decades saw intensive debates and scientific techniquesthat servedas the tionalising the conflicts between the forest
witbin the new departmentas it sought, on underpinningsof state forestry were uni- dwellerand the urban-industrialcomplex.40
the one hand, to fashion a comprehensive formly in operationin the princelystate of
legislation to enforce its authority,and on TehriGarhwaland the British-ruledKumaun
IV
the other, to evolve scientific strategiesto Division, and continue to be in use today. Forestry and Agrarian Relhadons:
deal with forestswhose speciescomposition While the pressureof industrialand com- Science as Counter-Insurgency
was radicallydifferent from the temperate mercialclassesmay have,since 1947,replac- Aiming at a radical reorientationof ex-
forests of Europe. ed strategicimperialneedsas the cornerstone isting patternsof resourceutilisation, com-
Wehaveelsewheredealtat lengthwith the of state forestry practice, in both periods mercial forestry was to initiate a major
historical evolution of forest policy and 'successful' implementation of policy has transformationin agrarianrelations.In the
legislation in India.35This section briefly been at the expenseof the hill peasantryand years following the introduction of forest
highlightsthe social imperativesof commer- their life support systems.38The use of management,protestat the onerousregula-
cial forestryin Uttarakhand.It maybe noted silvicultural and other strategies of tions was a recurrentfeaturein Uttamrkhand.
that the coniferous forests of the hill were manipulationand control(elaboratedbelow) While the contravention of forest laws
in termsof extentand readyaccess,possibly designedto limit and carefullyregulatethe representedthe most tangible evidence of
the most valuable forest property in the accessof the surroundingpopulationto the such protest, peasant movements against
country. forest have been remarkably invariant forest managementtook place in Kumaun
Tobeginwith, statemonopolyoverforests throughout this time span. As a conse- Division during 1916,1921,1930, and 1942,
was safeguardedby the elaborateprovisions quence,the ForestDepartmenthas not only and in TehriGarhwalduring1904, 1906and
of the Indiaii ForestAct of 1878. The con- been able to meet the steadily rising com- 1930. Expressed through the medium of
stitution of compact blocks of forest as mercialdemand (Table1) but has provided social protest were conflicting notions of
'reserved' in order to fcilitate sustained a ready source of surplus revenue to the property and resource use that virtually
timberproductionrequiredlimitationof the state.39 amounted to alternateworldviews,This is
customaryrights exercisedby the surroun- Finally, as both laboratoryresearchand clearly brought out by the symbolism
ding population. This was accomplished silvicultural methods have been oriented religious or otherwise-that accompanied
through forest settlement operations that towardsthe demand for different types of peasantprotest.Claimning "fulland exdusive'
specified the extent and limits of rights forest producein the dominant sections of rights,Tehripeasants "objectedto any state
granted,and the particularblock of forests society,the class bias of forestrysciencehas interferencewith forests"and the imposition
where they could be exercised.In order to been imprinted in its very language. The of "unaccustomed forest customs and
enforce its monopoly, the state totally pro- multifarious benefits which broad-leaved regulations".Duringthe forestmovementof
hibited the barteror sale of forest produce species render to the hill economy are 1921, the Kumaunpeasantry believed that
takenby rightholders.At the sametime,the renderedinconsequentialfor forestryscience "God had sent Gandhiin the form of Bania
Act equipped the forest settlement officer in the eyes of which oak representsan im- to fight Bania Government" as the
with a tremendous flexibility to deal with pedimentto the propagationof pure coni- referenceto Gandhi'scasteindicates,the col-
contentious claims. The Act could thus ferous forests. 'Valuable' and 'desirable', onial state evokedimages of power as well
accommodate,at one extreme,the usurpa- commonly used to describecertainspecies, as deception.The use of the forest for sub-
tion of forestsby the statewithoutany legal are in everyinstanceeuphemismsfor "com- sistencewas contrastedwith the commercial
settlementof rights,and at the other,the ex- merciallyvaluableand profitable",whilethe orientationof the'state-as one leader put
tension of greaterconcessionsthan a strict- term 'inferior' bears no relation to the it, "in place of tins of ghee all we get now
ly legal procedurewouldallow.As the asser- ecological and other functions the species is tins of resin". In this manner, protest
tion of statemonopolyrightalso impliedthe thus describedmayperformfor the surroun- broughtto the fore, on the one hand, alter-
powerto assign that right forest legislation ding countryside.Workingplans, while in- nate conceptions of propertyright, and on
worked towards the reconciliation of the dicating possible sources of injury to the :he other, the strong emphasis on village
conflicting objectives of the maximisation forest crop, include 'man' in the same autonomyand the threatto this autonomy
of commercialtimber production and the categoryas naturalhazards(e g, snow and that scientific forestry represented.4'
preemptionof peasant protest.36
Secondly, the direction of scientific TABLE 1: OUrrURN OF SELECTEDSPECIESIN UTrARAKHAND, 1930-79
researchclosely influenced forest policy in (Cu m sawn wood)
two distinct ways. On the one hand, labo-
ratoryresearchon the potential usefulness, Year Deodar Fir and Spruce Kail Chir
in a commercialsense, of different species 1930-31 2,917 - 14,191 31,885
cruciallyaffectedthe takeoverand working 1934-35 4,333 - - 30,299
of the hill forests. Thus two scientific 1948-49 7,561 4,616 595 59,041
developments-the antiseptic treatmentof 1950-51 9;542 10,987 5,135 87,415
chir timberfor use as railwaysleepers,and 1955-56 9,316 14,923 - 99,761
the distillationof the chir extractknown as 1960-61 9,571 39,502 5,380 1,07,435
oleo-resin-directly led to the reservationof 1965-66 10,531 20,010 4,727 1,34,587
the Kumaunforests in the early decades of 1970-71 11,612 39,766 5,166 2,00,030
this century.Morerecently,the suitabilityof 1971-72 67,379 29,722 8,362 1,59,930
chir for pap'ermaking, when confirmed by 1972-73 48,623 60,106 5,162 2,06,645
pilot planttrialsat the ForestResearchInsti- 1973-74 10,830 28,926 8,983 2,30,787
tute,gavea fillip to the sale of the largearea 1974-75 15,464 37,463 9,742 1,86,114
of chirafflictedby twistedfibreand of other 1975-76 29,971 71,493 10,895 2,95,745
wood previouslyunsaleable.37On the other 1976-77 14,712 37,980 5,632 2,67,458
1977-78 8,863 67,682 5,077 2,64,509
hand, as desribed in -sectionIV, sciencewas 1978-79 7,965 84,954 6,023 3,19,081
harnessedin the difficult task of promoting
commerciallyvaluabletimberspeciesin the Source: UP Forest Statistics, 1978-79 (Lucknow, nd).

1941
ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY
The mechanisms of protest-the con-
travention of rules concerning the lopping
of trees and grazing, and the burning of the
forest floor for a fresh crop of grass-were
in effect an assertion of traditional rights
whose'exercise was now circumscribed by the
imperatives of scientific forestry. By its very
nature, commercial forestry-which divides
the forests into blocks which are complete-
ly closed after the trees are felled disrupts
existing patterns of resource utilisation. In
order to enable regeneration to take place
in the logged areas, closure to men and cattle
is essential. Likewise, in the areas under
reproduction, fire is to be avoided as a
hazard to young saplings. Thus the mecha-
nisms of protest mentioned above repre-
sented a.major threat to commercial timber
operations. This was especially true of the
firing of the forest, in contravention of the
Forest Act, which sometimes resulted in a
total annihilation of young regeneration.
Faced with recurrent and widespread pro-
test, forest officials in Uttarakhand had to
develop and perfect a set of silvicultural
strategies which could simultaneously exer-
cise control over the customary use of the
forest and enable the reproduction of
favoured species of trees. In the circum-
stances, the earlier emphasis on ensuring
regeneration and enforcing control over large
areas of forest came under close scrutiny. A
change of focus, from extensive to intensive
methods of forest management, was ad-
vocated as the only solution. Drawing on the
lessons gleaned from a tour of European
forests, an eminent silviculturist observed:
.. . everything points to the concentration
rather than to diffusion of work as the
groundworkof successful forest management
in India. Concentration implies more effi-
cient and economical work on natural and
artificial regeneration with subsequent ten-
ding operations, more economical and
thorough exploitationunder a definite system
of roads or other export works, the possibili-
ty of using fire in effecting regeneration, the
conduct of special fire protective measures
in definite areas where protection is most
urgently required, a more economical use of
the staff and better supervision over it, a
more workable arrangement as regards
closure to grazing, and, what is of great im-
portancein the mixed forests of India, special
facilities for regulating the proportion of
valuable species to what is economically and
silviculturally desirable.42
The concentration of regeneration opera-
tions, as exemplified by the technology of
fire protection described below, was there-
fore a constraint imposed by social factors-
viz, popular protest-not under the control
of the silviculturist. By the same token, a
total ban on customary agrarian practices
was rejected as impractical. Thus, at the level
of ideology, "grazing and lopping are
declared enemies of the forester".41 Yet the
impossibility of adopting an inflexible
attitude on the ground led to the adoption
of strategiesthat could minimisethe threat
to rationalised timber production. Sum-
marising the experienceof over a hundred
years, the official manual of silviculture
remarkedthat forestershad, overtime,learnt
to "turnto good effect the various destruc-
tive (sic) influencesthreateningthe forest"
the essential point "being that the' silvi-
culturistshall have them under the control
instead of having to fight them as declared
enemies".44
Integral to the successful workings of
forest managementin Uttarakhand,there-
fore,was the manipulationof agrarianprac-
tices to subserve its ends.45 Let us look
more closely at the workings of forestry
science and managementin the context of
traditionalpatternsof resourceuse. Below,
we haveexaminedthe silviculturaltreatment
and manipulation of the three important
elements of the customary use of the
forests-grazing, lopping and the burning
of the forest floor.
Grazing:The National Forest Policy af-
firms: "all grazing in forests, particularly
unlimited and uncontrolledgrazing, is in-
compatible with scientific forestry".46
However,the impact of grazing on young
regenerationhas been a subject of debate
among Indian forestersfor over a century.
Through the trial-and-errormethods of ex-
perimentation characteristic of forestry
science, it was found that grazing did help
regenerationin severalcases. It was reported
from -Berarinl 1886 that the protection of
forests from fire had led to a tall and dense
cropof grasswhichhinderedreproduction-
therefore, grazing was resorted to as an
"economical and practicalmeans of over-
comingthe difficultieswhichbesetreproduc-
tion in these parts".47In the hills, it was
foundthat forestsof deodar,one of the most
valuable of commercial timbers, did not
benefit from being closed to grazing. Here
too the thickgrowthof grassand brushwood
impededreproduction-it was thus felt that
in the months before the deodar was felled,
the forestscould "advantageously be thrown
open to grazing".48Similar opinions were
expressedon the effect of grazing on chir,
which came to replacedeodar as the most
importanttimnber species.Interestingly,while
grazingwas injuriousto chir only when ex-
cessive,oak regenerationsufferedevenfrom
light grazing.49The realisation that con-
trolled grazing benefited deodar regenera-
tion later led to the British bringing in
Gujarsor nomadicgraziersto the hills.With
the enhancedgrazingratethe Gujarshad to
pay, at one stroke forest revenue was
augmentedand the regenerationof favoured
species helped.50
The changeoverto the concentrationof
regenerationoperations would help divert
grazingawayfromareasclosed for reproduc-
tion and towardsthe restof the forestwhere,
"far from being a curse the grazing would
in many cases be a blessing in tending to
Special Number November 1985
keep down inflammable undergrowth"."1
However, even where grazing was found
beneficialon silviculturalgrounds,it would
introducean elementof 'insecurity'in forest
operations,particularlyas "all forest rights
tend to get more onerous".52Offices were
thereforecautionedthat whileallowinggraz-
ing underfavourablesilviculturalconditions.
the termsand conditionsunderwhichit was
regulated were most important. Although
villagers had to be told that grazing was
being allowedmerelyas a favourand not as
a matter of right, there existed a very real
danger, viz, "it is difficult to subsequently
restrictthat which has once been conceded
to the people".53
Lopping: Loppinig, one government
manual advised, "should be restricted to
species which do not give timberor to trees
which will shortly be felled".54One of the
primary aims of forest management,
enumeratedin everyworkingplan, is to in-
crease the proportion of 'valuable'species
in the forest crop. In Uttarakhand,the airp
has beento convertthe mixedforestsof oaks
and conifers to pure coniferous strands,
Working plans prescribed detailed silvi-
culturaloperations, coveringthousands of
hectares;in orderto help the conifersin the
strugglewith otherspecies-these operations
included the felling or killing by ringing
(girdling)of the non-coniferoustrees.'5 We
are told by one writer that "with the fact
beforeus that deodar is the only treeof any
value in these forests, the importance of
aiding it in its strugglefor existencewith its
neighboursis self-evident".56In the forests
to the east of the deodar zone, at a time
when the successful chemical treatmentof
chir pine for use as railwaysleeper was an
accomplishedfact, futuremanagementwas
advised: "Chir will be retainedand helped
against banj and other miscellaneous
species".57In general, "whereverpossible,
the inferior broad leaved species will be
replacedby valuable ones".58
The 'cultural'operations prescribedfor
the removalof 'inferior'speciesoften proved
insufficient, due to the lack of adequate
funds and staff. In the circumstances,-it
was
decided to allow unrestrictedlopping by
villagers of banj and other broad leaved
species over largeparts of the hills.59It was
later reported with satisfaction that this
selective lopping of banj by villager's,
coupled with the girdling of other miscel-
laneous species, was likely to transformthe
mixed forests into pure stands of chir.60
The official view of lopping thus under-
went a change as the possibilitiesof utilis-
ing it in the servicesof commercialforestry
cameto be realised.Whilein 1907it washeld
that as long as lopping was restrictedto the
oak zone there was "practicallyno harm
done",61 cA'ertime it,came to be efficiently
used in the bid to increasethe percentageof
coniferousspeciesin the mixedforestsof the
hills-and not merelyrestrictedto unremu-
1943
EICONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY
nerativeforests.Needlessto say,this attitude rethinking among scientific forestry experts
furtherencouragedthe growing alienation on the desirability of extensive fire protec-
of man from forest (cf Section V below). tive measures. Incendiarism "left a deep and
Fire protection: One of the most impor-
tant technologicalinnovationsin the history
of Indian silvicultureis the system of fire
protection, developed to combat the cen-
turiesold custom of burningthe chir forests
for pasture.The needles of chir falling on
to the forestfloor both suppressedthe grass
and rendered the hillside dangerous for
cattle. Thus in late April or early May,
villagers resorted to the time honoured
remedy of fire to obtain a fresh crop of
grass-and "whenno restrictionsexist bur-
ning (was) resorted to everywhereat this
season".62Although mature chir trees are
remarkably resistant to fire, continuous
reproductionin areasof commerciallogging
operationsrenderedthe young growthpar-
ticularlyvulnerableto fire. Fire protection
was at once."the most importantas well as
the mdst difficult question concernedwith
the managementof our (ForestDepartment)
chir forests'Lmore particularlyas villagers
were "very averse to this measure".63Not
accustomed to any interferencewith their
customarypractices,it was evidentthat for
the peasantsuniversalfire protectionwould
"alwaysbe a source of complaint"A64 The
resolutionof this problexnassumeda grow-
ing importancewith the growthof the resin
industry and the perfection of antiseptic
treatment of railway sleepers. Initially,
foresterstried to totally ban the practiceof
annual firing by placing large tracts of
forests under protective measures. These
operationsenjoyedmixedsuccessin the early
years of forest administration.The figures
given in Table 2 highlight the fluctuating
ratesof successin Kumauncircle.Both 1916
and 1921wereexceptionallydry fireseasons,
coinciding with outbreaks of 'planned
incendiarism.
A closer look at what the state called 'in-
cendiarism'is illuminating. For arson was
rarely indiscriminate. During the wide-
ranging campaign of 1916 and 1921 in
Kumaun Division, there was no damage
reportedfrom the largeareaof broadleaved
forests also under the control of the state.
In fact, as the analysisof court cases clearly
reveals, 'incendiary' fires were usually
directedat carefully chosen targets, where
the state was particularly vulnerable-
notably chir forests workedfor commercial
purposesand resindepots.Once a blaze had
started. villagers, instead of helping to ex-
tinguishit (as they wererequiredto do under
the ForestAct), often directedtheir energies
towardsspreadingit to other areas. In this
manner,thousandsof hectaresof youngchir
saplings were destroyed. The 'incendiary'
campaignsthus represented,as the Commis-
sionerof Kumaunacknowledgedin 1921,"a
directchallengeto governmentto relaxtheir
control over forests".65
The major disastersof 1916and 1921in
Kumaun Division led to considerable
lasting impression on the mind of the silvi-
culturist,,compelling him to think on new
lines about ways and means of preventing
the recurrence of such wholesale destruction,
past methods of placing excessive trust in the
people having conspicuously failed".66 In
Kumaun, fire protection was verily "the
stumbling block of (forest) management".67
Areas that had been protected for many
years accumulated much grass and debris-
here, regeneration was totally wiped out by
unforeseen outbreaks of fire. And where
trees were being tapped for resin, fire ignited
the open resin channels and consequently
the tree itself.68 An additional fire hazard
was the large amounts of waste wood that
accumulated in forest newly felled for
railway sleepers.69 Several years earlier,
similar operations in the foothills of Punjab
had conclusively proved that the "Forest
Department is quite helpless to cope with a
serious outbreak of incendiarism.' Fire lines,
fire guards, special night patrols, etc, have
been tried in vain and there is no doubt that
once the villagers have made up their minds
to burn the forests the Forest Department
is powerless to prevent them".?0 As a result,
the Inspector General of Forests and other
senior foresters convened several meetings
that investigated proposals for the firing of
forests by the agency of the department
itself, combined with regeneration opera-
tions which could be concentrated in specific
areas-to aid protection-rather than widely
dispersed.
The results of these investigations were
summarised in a masterly. monograph
authored by R S Troup.Troup's proposals
showed a remarkable grasp nQt merely of
silviculture but of the social and.cultural en-
vironment on which the workings of col-
onial forestry science were predicated.
Departmental firing, he pointed out, was ad-
vocated not "as a measure directly beneficial
to the forests, but as the lesser of two evils,
TABLE2: FIREPROTECTION
IN KUMAUN
CIRCLE1909-1921
Year Area Attempted
(Acres)
1909-10 186,117
1910-11 247,637
1911-12 269,772
1912-13 330,770
1913-14 397,409
1914-15 375,187
1915-16 533,638
1916-17 371,113
1917-18 377,263
1918-19 395,660
1919-20 401,451
1920-21 404,455
Total 4,270,475
Note: * Kumaun Circle did not exactly correspond with Kumaun Civil Division.
Source: Computed from CG Trevorand E A Smythies, Practical Forest Management (Allahabad
1923).
Special Number November 1985
in cases wyhereuniversalfire protection en-
dangers the area under regeneration"'
indeed"regulatedburningmay be absolutely
necessaryto save the areasunder regenera-
tion".7' Troup's detailed prescriptions,
which are widely in operation even today,
envisaged a system of controlled burning.
Thus areasunderregenerationweredivided
into blocks, and separatedfrom the rest of
the forest by "fire lines" -of width of upto
100 feet. These lines were cleared of tree
growth and burnt annually, under depart-
mental control, during winter or early
spring preferably after a spell of rain.
When this had been successfully accom-
plished, villagers were allowed to burn the
rest of the open forest-subject to certain
controls-before the end of Marchand the
onset of summer.Occasionally,supplemen-
tarynarrowlines of upto 1520 feet in width
wereclearedof grass-in the eventof a fire
these were employed as bases for counter-
firing. The size of the fire-lines and the
blocks which they,protected would, Troup
emphasised,have to vary with local condi-
tions. For "whereincendiarismis common
broad clearedlines merelyreducethe forest
area without affording any real safeguard;
under such conditidns narrow lines as
counter-firingbases are equally effective".72
To supplementdepartmentalcontrolbur-
ning, the detailed silvicultural techniques
recommendedby Troupwere:.(i)Toabandon
the selection system, the most popular one
in Indianforestry,in favourof a silvicultural
system which would grow even-agedcrops
-i e, to concentrateratherthandisperselog-
ging operations.Underthe selectionsystem,
treesof a certainage wemfelledas and when
they occurred-the scatterednatureof fell-
ings thus made it impossible to pay the
requisite attention to the continuous
reproductiontaking place. It had therefore
to be abandonedas impracticalinithe case
of the hill coniferous forests." Now, logg-
ing of all growth in specified-areas was be-
ing recommended;(ii) lb lowerthe regenera-
tion period and thereby decrease the area
Area Burnt Success
(Per Cent)
49,008 73.67
479 99.81
6,179 97.71
4,830 98.45
7,800 98.04
9,567 97.45
192,400 63.95
239 99.94
1,484 99.61
3,673 99.07
33,769 91.59
272,865 32.54
582,563 86.36
1945
underregeneration;(iii) To multiplythe fell-
ing series to such an extent that the blocks
underregenerationin any place werenot too
large; (iv) In the event of a fire, to remove
dead and damaged trees and other inflam-
mablematerialand quicklyrestockthe area
throughsowingsif naturalreproductionwas
not likely; (v) To disallow timber contrac-
tors from working in the forest in the "fire
season" (April to June), but keep a few
gangs of resin coolies in the forest to aid in
extinguishingfires-resin tapperswouldthus
serve as a buffer and an 'importantsafe-
guard' against incendiarism; (vi) Before
initiatingdepartmentalfiring, both grazing
and grass cutting could advantageouslybe
usedto minimisethe dangerfrom fire,"pro-
vided therewas no risk of incendiaryfiring
by the graziers"'(vii) In mixed-forestsof chir
and banj-where fire protectionhelped the,
spread of oak-the larger oaks could be
removed before the fellings, to facilitate
better chir reproduction.74Alternatively,
where chir areas ran into extensive banj
foreststhe clearingof grassin the banj area
would allow for an extension of the chir
following fire protectiveoperations.75
These proposals soon gained acceptance
among foresters. Departmental burning
which "reducedthe damage done to forests
... and rendered the villagers more contend-
ed with forest management",76spread to
TehriGarhwaland is in fact widelyin opera-
tion eventoday. Troup'streatiseon the chir
pine exemplifiedthe sociologicallyoriented
natureof Indiansilviculture.AppointedPro-
fessor of Forestryat Oxford on his retire-
ment from the Indian ForestService,Thoup
was to be awardedthat supreme scientific
accolade,a Fellowshipof the RoyalSociety.
In his classic manual on chir, principlesof
scientific investigation are harassed in the
service of counter-insurgencyoperations
through the preemptionof customarypat-
terns of forest use. Before outlining the
prescribedtechniques-techniques embody-
ing decadesof researchin the hill forestsof
Punjaband UttarPradesh-he observes:"In
forest administrationgenerally,and in fire-
protectiveoperationsin particular,the value
of enlisting the sympathies of the local
populationand the undesirabilityof impos-
ing irksome restrictionsof an unnecessary
character are matters of common know-
ledge".For in districts "wherethe popula-
tion is particularlytruculentany degreeof
success in universal fire protection is now
recognisedafter yearsof fruitlessendeavour,
to be unattainable,and the concentrationof
protectivemeasureson blocks underregene-
ration, with carefulannual or periodicbur-
ning of the remainingareas, is considered
to be the only possible means of effecting
successful reproduction".77
V which 35,000 acres wereburnt with unpaid
Forestry and Social Change:
Alienation of Man from Nature
What one may now ask, was the
cumulative impact of these strategies of
management and control on the relations
1946
between man and forest in Uttarakhand?
As expressedthrough the various move-
ments of social protest, scientific manage-
ment crucially affected the "subsistence
dilemma" of the hill peasantry. In the
ecologicalsettingof Uttarakhand,commer-
cial forestrystruck at the very root of pea-
sant society. Moreover, it operated on
radicallydifferentprinciples,and for quite
different reasons, from the customary use
of the forestsby surroundingvillages. And
as the Commissionerof Kumaunput it, the
recurrentconflicts were a consequence of
"the struggle for existence between the
villagers and the Forest Department: the
former to live, the latter to show a surplus
and what the departmentlooks on as effi-
cient forest management".78 Perceivingthat
their subsistencewas threatenedby the loss
of control over forests, several villages in
British Garhwal petitioned the Kumaun
ForestGrievancesCommittee(formedin the
aftermathof the 1921movement)to restore
full rights over the surroundingforests, to
be managed by their panchayats.79
Whiledeterminedto maintainstatemono-
poly, the GrievancesCommitteedividedthe
reservedforests of Kumauninto two cate-
gories:Class I, containingforesLof little or
no commercial importance, and Class II,
containing forests stocked with chir, sal,
deodar, kail and other commercially
valuablespecies. While the managementof
Class II forest continued to vest with the
ForestDepartment,the Class I forestswere
put underthe controlof the civil administra-
tion.80Now, althoughthe area underwhich
the old restrictions operated fell away
sharply,better supervisionwas possible in
the commercialClass II foreststo which at-
tentionwas now confined.A comparisonof
the breaches of forest law in the period
beforeand afterthe committee'srecommen-
dations,as summarisedbelow,is instructive.
While there is an increaseof 17 per cent
in the second period in terms of the cases
instituted,thereis a correspondingdecrease
of 40 per cent in convictions obtained. A
plausible inference one can make is that
while better supervisionenabled detection
of individualcases of infringement,such as
fuel and fodder collection, collective or
groupinfringementswereno longerso com-
mon. The latter would include collectiv,
grazingof village cattie, the burningof the
forest floor, and the failure to inform the
authoritieswhena forestfireoccurred.'With
the largearea of Class I under light super-
vision, these activities were no longer as
liableto be deemedinfringementsof the law.
Another contributoryfactor would be the
introductionof controlleddepartmentalbur-
ning (described in section IV above). In
1928-29, for example, 81,000 acres were
departmentallyburntin KumaunCircle,of
voluntary labour.8'
This transition from collective to indi-
vidual use of the forest be'spokeof a fun-
damental change in the agrarian life of
Uttarakhand. For the loss of community
ownership had effectively broken a well-
establishedand socially codified link bet-
ween man and forest.Although the govern-
ment had in certainareas,made overlimited
tractsof foreststo the villages(the so-called
'thirdclass' or 'village'forests) the proviso
in the ForestAct that these forestsmust first
be declared'reserved'strengthenedthe suspi-
cion of the state's true intentions.82Many
officialswereconvincedthat if villagerswere
assigned a properlegal title to forest land,
and assuredboth of the productsgrownand
the management, they would continue to
preserve tree growth as zealously as
before.83In the absenceof such assurances,
villagersin Garhwal,apprehensivethat the
demarcationof reservedforests -ould be
followed by the government tak ng away
otherwooded areasfromtheircontrol,were
in certaincases deforestingwoodland.84In
the ecologically comparable pargana of
Jaunsar Bawar (which bordered Tehri
Garhwal on the West) a similar process
followedsettlementoperations-thus, "not
altogether without reason, the villagers
believethat any self-denial or trouble they
may exercisein preservingand improving
theirthirdclass forestswill end in appropria-
tion of the forestsby the (forest)department
as soon as they become commercially
valuable".85
The erosionof the socialbondswhichhad
regulatedthe customary use of the forests
thus led to what can be described as an
alienation of man from nature. The concept
of alienationused here drawsdirectlyfrom
the work of Marx on the alienation of the
worker under conditions of industrial
capitalism.86 While the application of
Marx'stheory,formulatedin an entirelydif-
ferent context, must be done with some
degree of caution, we would argue that in
both instances we are dealing with the
growth of a social system (industrial
capitalism/colonialism) that replaced
another (craft production/subsistence
agriculture)whose social relations did not
produce conditions of alienation and
estrangement.87
Capitalismproducesan atomise society,
one that is in conflict with communal acti-
vity and communalconsumption-defined
by Marx as activity and consumption that
"confirmthemselvesdirectlyin real associa-
tion with other men".88By analogy, state
control was a negation of the communal
appropriationof naturein Uttarakhand.Not
only did forests constitute an important
means of subsistence,but its productswere
treated, as in other peasant societies, as a
free gift of Nature to which all had equal
access.89The assertion of state monopoly
ran contrary to traditional management
TABLE 3: BREACHES OF FOREST LAW IN KUMAUN
Averagefor Cases Per Convictions
Period Year Per Year
1916-22 2053 9986
1926-33 2401 4990
Source: Computedfrom Annualprogress
reportsof the UP ForestDepartment,
relevantyears.
ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY
practices. These practices were at once an
affirmation of communal action oriented
towards production and of the unity between
man and nature. Colonial forest law, which
recoghised only individual rights of user
(this was true of Tehri Garhwal as well), in-
itiated the fragmentation of the community
and the erosion of social bonds-processes
hastened by the commercialisation and
capitalist penetration of later years. Further,
the produce of the forests no longer belong-
ed to the hill villagers, but were appropriated
by the state for the use of the classes it
represented. Despite the spatial gulf, the in-
terests of these classes were sharply oppos-
ed to those of a peasantry alienated from
the forest growth it had helped to nurture.
Other writers have, in different cultural
and historical contexts, commented on
similar processes of the alienation of man
from nature. Verrier Elwin has talked of the
'melancholy' effect forest reservation had on
the tribals of Central India, for whom
nothing aroused more resentment than the
taking away of the forests they regarded as
"their own property".9 Indeed the Gonds,
although they possessed an extensive medical
tradition, were convinced that these remedies
did not operate in this age of darkness,
Kaliyug, which began when the government
took away their forests.91 In Europe, too,
the takeover of woodland for hunting or for
timber production was deeply resented by
the peasantry, for whom "the law, almost
any law but forest legislation particularly,
appeared alien and destructive". Resorting
to extensive forest fires at state incursion into
their rights, the French peasantry "had come
to hate the forests themselves, and hoped
that if they ravaged them enough they would
get rid of their oppressors".92
As this last citation makes evident, in its
extreme form alienation occassionally forced
the peasant to degrade the surroundings he
once lived in symbiosis with. The lack of in-
terest that has, at times, been exhibited by
forest communities in preserving vegetation
on land that is no longer vested in them may
be traced to the loss of community control
consequent on state intervention. Such
alienation manifested itself in different
forms. In eastern Kumaun, the reservation
of large tracts of forests adjoining cultiva-
tion and the constant harassment of forest
patrols had even led to villagers losing in-
terest in their cultivation.93 Elsewhere,
forest reservation evoked the fear that if the
villagers looked after the forests as of yore,
"a passing forest official will say-here is a
promising bit of forest-government ought
to reserve it. If on the other hand, they ruin
their civil forest, they feel free from such reser-
vation".94 Today, in, an ironical but entirely
predictable development, villagers in parts
of Garhwal look upon the reserved forest as
their main enemy, harbouring the wild
animals that destroy their crops.95 This is of
course a classic form of alienation wherein
the forest now appears as an entity opposed
to the villager.Aboveall, alienationsignifies
a mode of life in whichcircumstancesdistort
man'sinnatequalitiesand compelhim to act
in a self-destructivefashion.%
VI
Fragments of a Pristine
Consciousness: 'Community'
Management
At the time of the reservationof the hill
forests,settlementofficers,in the belief that
the managementof the forests not reserved
would be made over to the village, in con-
sequence restrictedrights in many cases.97
In anticipationof protest, villagerswerein
fact told that while the reserved forests
would be in the strict control of the Forest
Department,"theywouldbe givencomplete
freedomof operationin the remainingareas
. . ."98 Although proposals were mooted at
various times, there was howeverno con-
certedattemptto establishvillage forestson
land not vestedwith government.In British
Kumaun,after the forestmovementof 1921
the GrievancesCommitteedid considerthe
establishmentof villageforestson landtaken
away from the Forest Department. An
officialsentto Madrasto examinethe system
of communal management there strongly
recommendedthe creationof similarreser-
ves, to be controlledby villagers,in Kumaun.
In the face of active opposition by forest
officials, who argued (quite falsely) that
village management of forests reflected a
lack of concern for the needs of future
generations,' these proposals were im-
plemented only in piecemeal fashion.
Despite official apathy, forestersin both
the colonial and post-colonial periods have
admitted that the panchayat forests in
Garhwal,though small in extent as a con-
sequence of governmenitpolicy were often
well maintained,'00with many havingdone
"exemplarywork in connection with forest
protection and development".'0 Where
ownershipwas still vestedin the community,
forests continued to be well looked after-
such as the twenty mile stretch between
Rudraprayag and Karanprayag in the
Alakananda valley where the government
had explicitly made over the forests to the
neighbouringvillages.'02In TehriGarhwal,
too, informal management practices con-
tinued to prevailover forestsnot takenover
by the Darbar.A recent survey concluded
that while some of the panchayat forests
there are in better condition than the re-
servedforestsin the area,they areuniformly
better maintained than forests under the
jurisdiction of the civil administration.'03
Duringfieldworkin the valleyof the Badyar,
a tributaryof the Alakananda,I cameacross
a panchayat forest, containing both banj
and chir, with profuse regenerationof the
two speciescomingup side by side.A village
school teacherexplainedhow extractionwas
carefully regulated, with monetary fines
being levied on offenders. Exceptions were
Special Number November 1985
made only in the case of religious festivals
or when timber was required for community
purposes such as the construction of the
panchayat ghar or a school.
In Uttarakhand, the age-old panchayat
system had been accustomed to handling
diverse issues of which forest matters,
though undoubtedly very significant. were
only one aspect.'10 The breakdown of tradi-
tional mechanisms of allocation and con-
trol were however a consequence of the corr-
mercial penetration of hill economy and
society that followed in the wake of state
forestry. Yet cases continued to be reported
of the lath panchayat of the village (an in-
stitution not recognised by law) managing
small blocks "for the common welfare of the
village community as a whole".105As forest
officials were constrained to admit, when
oak forests were entrusted to nearby viilages
who appointed their own chaukidars, lop-
ping was done systematically and the trees
well protected. 106 And in Kumaun,
numerous instances were reported of pan-
chayat land being closed to grazing by com-
mon consent-the copious regeneration in
these forests presenting a "striking contrast"
to the heavily browsed reserved forests.'07
In Ranikhet subdivision of Almnoradistrict,
a civilian reported in the 1960s, there were
a "large niumber of successful forest pan-
chayats" and in certain localities the only
forests that existed belonged to them.'08
Admittedly, there would be variations-in
Kumaun, where commercialisation had
penetrated earlier, the experience of forest
panchayats is a mixed one. Yet, given the
continuing history of alienation and protest,
the performance of van panchayats in parts
of Garhwal and Kumaun is instructive. One
may refer yet again to the distinctive social
structtUreof the hills. For it is where cohesive
and largely equalitarian village communities
have retained control over their forest habitat
that such a situation may prevail.
VII
The Sociology of Forestry Science
In recent years, the sociology of science
has moved away from the study of the
norms, values, and internal networks among
scientists, i e, of science as an 'institution'
and scientists as 'professionals'. It has in-
creaqingly been felt that science cannot be
seen as value-free and culture-free in any
meaningful sense. Not only do individual
sciences-not merely technologies-have
major social implications, but their content
and working are not themselves free from
social influences. The modes of generation
and utilisation of scientific knowledge in dif-
ferent cultures and historIcal epochs has of
late been major concern of the sociology of
science. 109
The study of Indian forestry science may
shed light on this extremely significant
debate, particularly as the prestige of science
has continually been used to legitimise ex-
1947
ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY Special Number November 1985

isting forestry practices. However, an the labour process achievedby F W Taylor Notes
analysisof its workingpoints to its context-to augment the productivity (and thereby [rhis paper forms part of a longer study sub-
laden character. Imposed in a situation profits) of industrial enterprises in the mitted as a Fellowshipdissertationto the Indian
wherepersistenthostilityhas been expressed United States. It is strikingthat the termin- Institute of Management, Calcutta. I am grate-
by the agrarianpopulationwho areultimately ventedby Taylorto describehis seminalin- ful to my guide, KaminiAdhikariand to Partha
to be affected by its workings, in both itsnovations-in the relations of production Chatterjee,Anjan Ghosh and Nirmal Sengupta
evolutionand its applicationforestryscience under industrial capitalism is identical to for helpful comments on an earlier draft. The
has had to be unusually sensitive to the that used by scientific forestry experts in usual disclaimers apply.]
socio-ecological setting in which it in- India-viz, 'scientific management'. Abbreviations Used
tervenes.The sociologicallysensitivenature Taylorismaims to control and manipulate
of Indian forestrywas well expressedby the the labourprocess(andlabouritself)to meet FD-Forest- Department
first InspectorGeneralof Forests,Dietrich certain specified goals of capitalist pro- For Div-Forest Division
Brandis: duction-in the case of forestry science, IF-Indian Forester
Forestmanagementmust alwaysbe essen- techniquesbased on a similar need to con- IFR-Indian Forest Records
tiallylocal;its operationsaregovernednot trol and manipulateareharnessedin the ser- UPSA-Uttar Pradesh State Archives,Lucknow
only by the peculiarclimateand charactervice-of commercialtimber production, the WP-Working Plan
of Forestgrowthof eachdistrictandprovince I R S Troup, "The Work of the Forest
'object'here being the population who live
but equallyso by the demandsof trade,the Department in India!"(Calcutta 1917),p 1.
in and around the forests.11' 2 P N Chopra (ed), "The Gazetteer of
landtenures,andthe customsregardingthe In its essence an industrial science, col-
use of the Forest on the part of the India!' Vol III (Delhi 1975), p 62.
agriculturalpopulationand by other con- onial forestrywas informedby a conception 3 B G Varghese quoted in "A Note on the
sumerswhich prevailin each district.110 of the 'rational'use of naturalresourcesin- UP Hill Forests' typewrittencopy submit-
The analysis of forestry techniques trinsic to industrial capitalism. When the ted to the Kaul Committee on the UP Hill
presentedin this articlebrings out the man- 'rational'productionof timberwas threaten- Forests, Lucknow, 1981, emphasis added.
ed by recurrentprotest on part of the sur- 4 Richard 'lcker, 'Forest Management and
ner in whichits workingswerepredicatedon ImperialPolitics: Thana District, Bombay,
roundingpopulation,scientificforestryhad
its social and ecological setting. The techni-
perforceto reorientits strategiesin orderto 1823-1887',Indian Economic and Social
ques of scientific forestry are designed to History Review, Vol 16 (1979), p 297.
reordernature and agrarianpracticesin its accommodatea constraintsocial ratherthan
Writers otherwise critical of colonialism
own image, as it were. Clearly,the need to ecological in nature.However,this reorien-
have been led to believe that "in the LDCs
develop such strategies arose from the tation was iogically preceded by a careful one of the better legacies of the colonialist
historical situation in which state forestrystudy of the components of village use of era has often been a technically competent
was first imposed in Uttarakhand.Having the forest and the mechanisms of peasant forest service", I G Simmons, "The
disruptedexistingforms of resourceutilisa- protest.This analysis-whose exemplarwas Ecology of Natural Resources" (London
tion, scientific forestryhad to contend withTroup'smonograph on the chir-enabled 1974), p 187.
the simmering discontent, occasionally scientific forestry to devise a new set of 5 See M Gadgil, S N Prasad, R Ali, 'Forest
breakingout into open revolt,that uniformly strategies, based like Taylorism on the Management and Forest Policy in India:
"Newtonianpredictabilityof the object"',"12 A Critical Review"Social Action, Vol 33
accompanied the constitution of state
forests: This led, on the one hand, to the that could deal with the often conflicting (1983), pp 127-55.
framingof a forest law that facilitatedcon- goals of the maximisation of commercial 6 Cf Paul Feyerabend, "Science in a Free
trol, and on the other, to the evolution of timber production and the pre-emptionof Society" (London 1978).
peasant protest. While these strategieshave 7 Cf K D Knorr-Cetinaand M Kulkay(eds),
silvicultural techniques of considerable "Science Observed" (London 1983),
been fairlysuccessfulwhenjudged fromthe
sophistication. Introduction.
standpoint of the narrow conception of
Thesetechniques-describedabove-were 'rationality'they are imbued-with,the long- 8 From 1815-1949,Uttara3hand,was divided
developedto enablethe sustainedreproduc- term implications of this manipulation of into the Princely State of Tehri Garhwal
tion of favoured species of trees while natureand humanbeings,fromboth a social and the British administered Kumaun
minimisingthe threatto statemonopolythat and an ecological perspectives,have been Division.
peasantprotestentailed-ends which could 9 R Guha, 'Forestry in British and. Post-
little short of disastrous.
be achievedonly throughthe skilful mani- British India: A Historical Analysis, in
While restrictingitself to a well-defined TWoParts' EPW, October 29, 1983. Here-
pulation of customary agrarian practices.
of forest use. In the application of such ecological zone, the presentinvestigationis after Guha (1983).
amenableto extensionto other parts of the 10 For details of the close links between
techniques,considerationsof control were country. The strategies forged by forestry forests and agriculturein Uttarakhand,see
paramount-as evidenced both by the science to achieve its ends in different A Guha, "Forestry and Social Protest in
punitivesanctionsof the ForestAct and the culturalecological zones could fruitfullybe Kumaun, c 1893-19219,in Press in Rana-
elaborate provisions outlined in different studied bearing in mind the broadertheo- jit Guha, od, Subaltern Studies IV(Delhi
working plans. The strategies forged by reticalquestions raisedby recentdebatesin 1985). Hereafter Guha (1985).
forestrysciencemanipulatedagrarianprac- the sociology of science.In this manner,one 11 G B Pant, "The Forest Problem in Ku-
tices throughappropriatemechanismsthat could understandnot merelythe ideological maun" (Allahabad 1922), pp 30-1.
regulated the intrusion and exclusion of characterof science but how its evolution
12 S B Bhatia, "WP for the East Almora For
'man' classifed in workingplans as one of and application is contingent on particular
Div, UP, 1924-25 to 193-34" (Allahabad
the 'enemies'to the forest.Not surprisingly, 1926), pp 13, 22.
social and ecological contexts. Lastly, a 13 N L Bor, "Manual of India ForestBotany"
the dislocation of agrarian relations that
sociological perspectivemay help identify (Delhi 1953), p 18.
followed the imposition of state monopoly the manifold social changes-protest
was to have far reaching consequences. 14 E C Mobbs, "Life in a Himalayan Valley",
movements, changing land use patterns, Part IV, IF, Vol 61 (1935), pp 1-8.
The present article, which studies how alienation of man from nature, etc-that 15 D Brandis, "Indian Forestry" (Working
social relationsimpingeon scientifictechni- came in the wake of scientific forestry,and 1897), p 12.
ques, takesits cue from Harry Braverman's its relation to the widespreadand continu- 16 S M Edwardes, 'Tree Worship in India',
classic "Labour and Monopoly Capital". ing degradationof our plant, animal, soil EmpireForestry,Vol 1, No 1 (March 1922),
The analogy lies with the rationalisationof and water resources. pp 78-80.

1949
 17 R K Gupta, "The Living Himalayas:Vol 1,
Aspects of Environment and Resource
Ecology of Garhwal"(Delhi, 1983), p 295.
18 Mobbs (Note 14), pp 10-I1.
19 Sunderlal Bahuguna, Personal Communi-
cation.
20 Note by J K Pearson, December 1926, in
FD file 83/1909, UPSA.
21 H K Raturi, "Garhwal Varnan" (Bombay
1910), p 36.
22 Note by V A Stowell, D C epwal, n d,
prob 1907; note dated 13.8.MOTY by Dhar-
manand Joshi, late Depy Collector,
Garhwal, both in FD file 83/1909.
23 Observations in villages of Pithoragarh
district, October 1983.
24 E K Pauw, "Report on the Tenth Settle-
ment of the Garhwal District" (Allahabad
1896), p 53.
25 See E T Atkinson, "The Himalayan
Districts of the Northwestern Provinces",
Volume I (Allahabad 1884).
26 For a theoretical exposition of the con-
flict between feudal and communal
"modes of power"'see Partha Chatterjee,
'More on Modes of Powerand the Peasan-
try', in Ranajit Guha, ed Subaltern
Studies-II (Delhi 1983). The endemic
conflict between village communities and
the overlord in Uttarakhand has been
describedby L D Joshi, The Khasa Family
Law (Allahabad 1929).
27 Anon, "Forest Conservancy in India",IF,
Vol 19 (1893), p 262.
28 T D Gairola, "Selected RevenueDecisions
of Kumaun" (Allahabad 1936), pp 209f.
29 Joint report dated, 26.10.1910,of Darling,
Political Assistant Commissioner, Simla
and Dharmanand Joshi, (Retired Deputy
Collector, on Special Duty) in file No
210/1910, Political Department, UPSA.
30 See Guha (1985) for a more detailed treat-
ment of the social structure.
31 For details, see Guha (1983).
32 Anon, "Report of the Scheduled Areas
and Scheduled Tribes Commission",
Volume I, 1960-61 (Delhi 1967), p 125.
33 See M K Raha, 'Forest in Tribal Life,
Bulletin of the CulturalResearchInstitute,
Vol 2, No 1, 1963.
34 C Von Furer Haimendorf, "Himalayan
Barbary" (London 1955), pp 62-3.
35 See Cuha (1983),and sources cited therein.
36 For details, see ibid, Section III.
37 R S Pearson, 'Note on the Antiseptic Treat-
ment of Timber in India, with Special
Reference to Railway Sleepers', IFR,
Vol III, Part I (Calcutta 1912); Puran
Singh, 'Note on the Distillation and Com-
position of ThrpentineOil from the Chir
Resin and the Clarification of Indian
Resin' IFR, Vol IV, Part I (Calcutta 1912);
S R D Guha, 'ChemicalPulps and Writing
and Printing Papers from Chir, IF, Vol 84
(1958), pp 235-40.
38 These developments were in step with the'
'dynamic' production forestry approach
adopted since the 1960s,a strategy "whose
first element would have to be production
forestry for industrialproduction".Report
of the National Commission on Agri-
culture VolumeIX: Forestry(Delhi 1976),
p 39. See also Guha (1983), Section II.
39 See "Uttar Pradesh Forest Statistics,
1978-79" (Lucknow, n di) for details.
40 'Dynamic [Forest]ManagementShould En-
sure Effective Protection against Fire, Men
[and] Animals'. C R Ranganathan in
V P Mathur, Forest Management (Dehra-
dun 1968), p vi.
41 For a detailed account of the various forest
based movementsand guide to sources,see
Guha (1985) and my fellowship thesis,
"Forestry and Social Protest Movements
in Uttarakhand"' Indian Institute of
Management, Calcutta, 1985, Chapters V
and VI.
42 R S Troup, "A Note on Some European
SilviculturalSystems with Suggestions for
Improvements in Indian Forest Manage-
ment" (Calcutta 1916), pp 3-4.
43 F C Ford Robertson, "Our Forests",
(Allahabad 1936), p 28.
44 H G Champion and S K Seth, A General
Silviculture for India (Delhi 1968),
pp xix-xx.
45 On manipulations as a special relation of
power see Denmis Wrong, "Power"(Lon-
don 1979), pp 28, etc.
46 Anon, "The National Forest Policy of
India', (Delhi 1952),p 35, emphasisadded.
47 A Smythies and E Dansey, (ed), "A Report
on the Prr edings of the Forest Con-
ference He t Dehradun" (Simla 1887),
p 11.
48 See J C Tulloch, "WP for the Leased
Deodar Forestsin TehriGarhwal",(Allaha-
bad 1907), Atkinson while describing the
same forests in 1884 (note 25, p 876), had
stated that grazingwas "incompatiblewith
forest conservancy".
49 M N Bahuguna, "WP for the Tehri For
Div Tehri Garhwal Stftte, 1939-40 to
1969-70", (Tehri 1941), p 19; H G Cham-
pion, "The Influence of the Hand of Man
on the Distribution of Forest 1ypes in the
Kumaun Himalaya", IF, Vol 49 (1923),
pp 131-32.
50 See E A Smythies, Conservatorof Forests,
Western Circle, to Supdt, Dehradun,
No 947-C/X-2 dated May 4, 1936 in file
No 55, list No 7, Dept xxvi, Regional Ar-
chives, Dehradun.
51 Troup, "A Note"' p 4.
52 W F D Arcy, 'Grazing Rights in Forests',.
IF, Vol 9 (1883), pp 359-361.
53 See source cited in fn 47.
54 Anon, "AManual of ForestLaw Compiled
for the Use of Students at the Imperial
Forest College" (Dehradun 1906), p 32.
55 See A E Osmaston, "WP for the North
Garhwal For Div UP, 1921-22to 1930-31',
(Allahabad 1924), pp 65-67; E C Mobbs,
"WP for the Tons For Div, TehriGarhwal
State, 1925-46" (Allahabad 1926),
pp 117-18.
56 N Hearle, "WP for the Tehri Garhwal
Leased Forest, Jaunsar"'For Div (Allaha-
bad 1888), p 38, emphasis added.
57 R N Brahmawar,"WP for the GarhwalFor
Div, 1930-31to 1939-40"(Allahabad 1924),
p 47. Banj oak was the most common
associate of chir and particularlyvaluable
to the village economy.
58 K P Pant, "WP for the Tons For Div (Non-
Leased Forests), Tehri Garhwal State,
1939-40 to 1969-70" (Dehradun 1948),
p 23.
59 See Osmaston, "North Garhwal WP",
pp 89ff.
60 Brahmawar, "Garhwal WP" p 57, also
R .S Troup, "The Silviculture of Indian
Trees' (Oxfo.rd 1921), p 1123.
61 Tulloch, "Tehri Garhwal WP" p 7.
62 See C G Trevorand E A Smythies, "Prac-
tical Forest Management" (Allahabad
1923), pp ix-xi.
63 N Hearle, "WP of the Deoban Range,
JaunsarFor Div, NWP"(Allahabad 1889),
p 22.
64 E A Smythies, 'Some Aspects of Fire Pro-
tection in Chir Forests'.IF, Vol 37 (1911),
p 59.
65 For details see Guha (1985).
66 J E C Turner,'Slash in Chir Pine Forests:
Causes of Formation, Its Influence and
Treatment',IFR, Vol xiii, Part VII (Cal-
cutta 1928), pp 22-23.
67 See review of 'Annual Progress Report of
the UP Forest Department' (hereafter
APFD), 1922-23. in IF, Vol 50 (1924),
pp 265-66.
68 H G Champion, 'Observations on Some
Effects of Fires in the Chir Forests of the
West Almora Division'. IJFVol 45 (1919),
pp 353-63.
69 See Turner,"Slash in Chir Pine Forests",
for details.
70 H M Glover, 'DepartmentalFiring in Chir
Forests in the Rawalpindi Division, Pun-
jab', IF, Vol 39 (193), pp 568-71.
71 R S Troup, 'Pinus Longifolia Roxt: A
Silvicultural Study', The Indian Forest
Memoirs, The Silvicultural Series, Vol 1,
No 1 (Calcutta 1916), p 72.
72 Ibid, p 73.
73 M R K Jerram,'The CommercialConcen-
tration of Regeneration,Operations in the
Punjab Himalayas', IF, Vol 47 (1921),
pp 229-33.
74 Troup, "Pinus", pp 72-77, 99.
75 Osmeston, "N Garhwal WP", p 95.
76 Bahuguna, "Tehri WP", p 61.
77 Troup, "Pinus".
78 DO No 67/11-21, dtd 27/2/1921, from
P Wyndham,Comm KumaunDivision, to
H S Crosthwaite,FD file 109/1921,UPSA.
On the subsistencedilemma, see JC So
"The Moral Economy of the PeasaW'
(New Haven 1976).
79 'Garhwal Janta Ki Janglat Sambandi
Mang'YGarhwali (Dehradun), 18.6.1921.
I am grateful to Lalita Devi Vaishnav for
allowing me access to the files of the news-
paper Garhwali, edited by her late father,
Bishambar Datt Chandola.
80 This was in consonance with the policy of
allowing the civil administration to act as
an benevalent arbiter between the Forest
Department and the peasantry. See Guha
(1983), Section I.
81 APFD, 1928-29, p 5.
82 Cf B Ribbentrop, "Forestry in British
India" (Calcutta 1900), p 126.
83 W H Lovegrove,'The Formation of Com-
munal Forests' IF, Vol 34 (1908), pp 590-1;
Notes by J K Pearson an(d V A Stowell
(cited above) in FD file 83/1909, UPSA.
84 T D Gairola to Secy to Govt UP dated
8.1.1918, in ibid.
85 Supdt, Dehradun, to Comm, Merrut Divi-
sion, dated 22/5/1897, in file No 244, list
No 2, Regional Archives, Dehradun.
865The classic text is Karl Marx, 'Economic
and Philosophical Manuscripts' (EPM),
1951
 in Lucio Colleti, ed, Karl Mar) Early
Writings(Harmondsworth 1975), pp 280-
400.
87 Cf Lewis Feller, 'What is Alienation? The
Career of a Concept', in Maurice Stein and
Arthur Vidich, eds, Sociology on rial
(Englewood Cliffs 1963).
88 Marx, "EPM", p 350.
89 One may also recall that in severalarticles
written in 1842, Marx had condemned the
encroachment of rich landlords on the
common rands of the peasantry. The lat-
ter's recourse to the theft of wood was ac-
cording to Marx, a consequence of a
systemwhereinthe "customaryrightof the
poor had been turned into a monopoly of
the rich". See 'Debates on the Law on
Thefts of Wood', in Karl Marx and
Frederick Engels, Collected Works,
Volume I (Moscow 1975), p 235, and
passim (emphasis in original).
90 V Elwin, "A Philosophy for NEFA"(Delhi
1960), pp 86f.
91 Idem, Leavesin the Jungle (1936;rprtLon-
don 1968), p 57.
92 Eugene Weber,'Peasants into Frenchmen'
(Stanford 1976), pp 59-60 cf George
Perkins Marsh on the period immediately
following the French Revolution: "In the
popular mind, the forest was associated
with all the abuses of feudalism, and the
evils the peasantry had suffered from the
legislation which protected both it and the
game is sheltered, blinded them to the still
greater physical mischiefs which its
destruction was to entail upon them. No
longer protected by law the crown forests
and those of the great lords were attacked
with relentless fury, unscrupulously
And for us the art lies in meticulous care
Thiscare is vital,justas
medicines are vitaland health is
vital.We lavishitan everyEIPW
praduct.Thraughcontinuaus
research Thraugheverystage af
manufacture.Andwh~at'smare,
aur praductsare easily
available ta you. Thanksta aur
distributiansystem.
C-EIPPR-1
CLARION
1952
plundered and wantonly laid waste, and 102 Note by D Joshi (cited above) in F D file
even the rights of propertyin small private 83/1909, UPSA.
woods were no longer respected"Man and 103 Gadgil et al, "Forest Management", per-
Nature, edited by David Lowenthal(Cam- sonal communication from Madhav
bridge Press 1967; first published 1864), Gadgil, dtd 25.7.1981.
p 244. 104 Cf Garhwali, dtd 14.2.1920.
93 S D Pant, "Social Economy of the Himala- 105 Census of India, 1961, Vol XV, Part VI,
yans"' (London 1935), p 86. "Village Survey Monograph", No 5,
94 Note by H S Crothwaite,Secy to G-Jovt,to Village Thapli, Tahsil Pauri, district
Governor UP, dated April 2, 1922 in FD Gar4wrl, p 2.
file 109/1921, UPSA. 106 Uttashi Working Plan, quoted in
95 P H Gross, "British, Death and Migration Sunderlal Bahuguna, 'The Himalaya:
in the Himalaya", (Delhi 1982), pp 174-5. Towardsa Programmeof Reconstruction',
96 Feuer, "What is Alienation", p 131. As an in K M Gupta and Desh Bandhu, eds Man
indication of how far alienation has pro- and Forest (Delhi 1979).
ceeded in some areas, I may recall a con- 107 V P Singh, "WP of the West Almora For
servation with the Chipko leader Chandi Div, Kumaun Circle, 1966-67 to 1975-76"
Prasad Bhatt in October 1983.When I told (Nainital 1967).
him that colonial administrators in the 108 Prakash Kishan: "The Broad Spectrum"
1920shad singled out Chaundkot Pargana (Delhi 1973), p 58.
for its well tended oak groves,he remarked 109 For some recent studies situated within the
that this part of Southern Garhwal was 'Science and Culture' perspective;see JPS
now notable only for its lack of tree cover. Uberoi, "Science and Culture" (Delhi
97 No 3681/XXVI-2, dtd 4.5.1915, from 1978; Idem, "The Other Mind of Europe:
Comm, KD, to Chief Secy UP, in FD file Goethe as a Scientist" (Delhi 1985); Shiv
83/1909, UPSA. Visvanathan, "Organisingfor Science:The
98 See note by JRW Bennet, dtd 26.8.1919, Making of an IndustrialResearchLabora-
in ibid. tory", (Delhi 1985).
99 Cf A E Osmaston, 'Panchayat Forests in 110 See D Brandis, "Reviewof the Forest Ad-
Kumaon', IF, Vol 58 (1932), pp 603-08. ministrationin the SeveralProvincesunder
100 C M Johri, "WP for the GarhwalFor Div, the Government of India for the Year
Kumaon Circle, UP, 1940-41 to 1954-55", 1977-78" (Simla 1879), p 1.
(Allahabad 1940),p 20; D N Lohani, "WP 111 For the crucial importance of control in
for the North and South Garhwal Divi- management systems, see Harry Braver-
sions, UP, 1958-9 to 1972-3" (Allahabad men, "Labour and Monopoly Capital"
1962), p 35. (New York 1974), p 68 and Passim.
101 Anon, "Reportof the KumaunForestsFact 112 Cf Shiv Visvanathan,"AtomicPhysics:The
Finding Committee" (Lucknow 1960), Career of an Imagination", Alternatives,
p 37. Vol 10, No 2, 1984, p 210.
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