Page 103 - Understanding NCERT Histroy 09th

3. How are forests useful for the villagers?
Ans. l The forest people use forest products—roots, leaves, fruits and timbers—for many
different uses. Fruits and roots are nutritious and good for health, especially during
the monsoons before the harvest starts.
Goyal Brothers Prakashan
l Herbs are used for medicine, wood for agricultural implements like yokes and ploughs,
bamboo makes excellent fences and is also used to make baskets and umbrellas.
l A dried scooped-out gourd can be used as a portable water bottle. Almost everything
is available in the forest. Leaves can be stitched together to make disposable plates
and cups, the siadi (Baubiniauablii) creeper can be used to make ropes, and the thorny
bark of the semur (silk-cotton) tree is used to grate vegetables.
l Oil for cooking and lighting lamps can be taken by pressing the fruit of the mahua
tree.

4. Where is Bastar located? How did the people of Bastan react against the British forest
policies?
Ans. Bastar is situated in the southern part of Chhattisgarh and borders Odisha, Andhra Pradesh
and Maharashtra. The river Indrawati flows from east to west across Bastar. The central
part of Bastar is a plateau. To the north of this plateau is the Chhattisgarh plain and to its
south is the Godavari plain.
The people of Bastar were very worried when the colonial government proposed to reserve
two-thirds of the forest in 1905, and stop shifting cultivation, hunting and collection of
forest produce.
l People began to gather and discuss these issues in their village councils, in bazaars and
at festivals or wherever the headmen and priests of several villages were assembled.
l In 1910, mango boughs, a lump of earth, chillies and arrows, began circulating between
villages. These were messages inviting villagers to rebel against the British.
l Every village contributed something to the rebellion expenses. Bazaars were looted,
the houses of officials and traders, schools and police stations were burnt and robbed,
and grain redistributed.
l Most of those who were attacked were in some way associated with the colonial
government and its oppressive laws.
5. Mention the causes of deforestation in India under the colonial rule.
Ans. During the colonial rule deforestation was more systematic and extensive. During the
colonial period, cultivation expanded rapidly for various reasons.
l The British encouraged the production of commercial crops like jute, sugar, wheat
and cotton. The demand for these crops increased in the 19th century and forests
were cleared to meet the foodgrains and raw materials needed for industrial growth in
Europe where foodgrains were needed to feed the growing urban population and raw
materials were required for industrial production.
l The spread of railways from 1850 created a new demand. To run locomotives, wood
was needed as fuel and to lay railway lines sleepers were necessary to hold the tracks
together.
l The government gave out contracts to individuals and the contractors began cutting
down the trees recklessly. Forests around the tracks disappeared.
l Large areas of natural forests were cleared for tea, coffee and rubber plantations to
meet Europeans growing demand for these commodities.

H-94 History Class IX