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→Environmentalism
===Environmentalism===
===Environmentalism===
Deforestation has developed in the central Western Ghats of India over the last two hundred years. A consciousness of the ecological dangers of uncontrolled deforestation existed in official circles during the first half of the 19th century. In order to meet the requirements of the colonial state a centralized system of forest management was instituted in the 1860s. Forest regulations drastically curtailed the rights of access of the local populations to the forests for collection of forest produce and grazing. The Forest Department, being considered as a source of surplus revenue for the Imperial government, had to give priority to commercial exploitation and the cultivation of valuable species of trees over the interests of the local peasants. The Forest Department pursued a policy of gradual eradication of shifting cultivation. The traditional equilibrium between agriculture and forest was jeopardized, as the area of forest that was conceded to the village communities proved too small for a growing population. Periodic outbursts of mass resistance to forest regulations occurred, especially from the 1920s when popular discontent tended to merge with nationalist agitation.
Dietrich Brandis was the first Inspector General of Forests (IGF) of British India (1862-1881) and founder of the Indian Forest Department. He tried to set the policy regarding forest management and the regulation of forest use. His view was that state control over the forests should be limited to forest areas of high commercial value, the management of the rest being left to village communities in the form of village forests. Howeverr he was overruled and the prevailing view favored an extensive state monopoly of forest control combined with a strict regulation of forest use by the local people. It is this view that was embodied in the Indian Forest Act of 1878, which is still in force today. The hardships local populations have to face on this account have, however, stimulated local initiatives in a great many places in recent times, and through these efforts the century-old views of Brandis are now regaining ground in India.
Deforestation has developed in the central Western Ghats of India over the last two hundred years. A consciousness of the ecological dangers of uncontrolled deforestation existed in official circles during the first half of the 19th century. In order to meet the requirements of the colonial state a centralized system of forest management was instituted in the 1860s. Forest regulations drastically curtailed the rights of access of the local populations to the forests for collection of forest produce and grazing. The Forest Department, being considered as a source of surplus revenue for the Imperial government, had to give priority to commercial exploitation and the cultivation of valuable species of trees over the interests of the local peasants. The Forest Department pursued a policy of gradual eradication of shifting cultivation. The traditional equilibrium between agriculture and forest was jeopardized, as the area of forest that was conceded to the village communities proved too small for a growing population. Periodic outbursts of mass resistance to forest regulations occurred, especially from the 1920s when popular discontent tended to merge with nationalist agitation.
==War and Independence==
==War and Independence==
During the First World War (1914-18) millions of Indians had served with honor and distinction in the British armed forces. During the Second World War (1939-45) there was far less volunteering. Although Britain used India as a base for its war in Burma, it was a minor front. Gandhi and Nehru led a programme of passive resistance, meaning refusal to help the British war effort. In response the British withdrew commercial shipping, diverting it to the war effort. Major famines swept India during the war, killing millions. Neither the British government nor the Congress shadow government moved to alleviate the famine.
During the First World War (1914-18) millions of Indians had served with honor and distinction in the British armed forces. During the Second World War (1939-45) there was far less volunteering. Although Britain used India as a base for its war in Burma, it was a minor front. Gandhi and Nehru led a programme of passive resistance, meaning refusal to help the British war effort. In response the British withdrew commercial shipping, diverting it to the war effort. Major famines swept India during the war, killing millions. Neither the British government nor the Congress shadow government moved to alleviate the famine.