Page 93 - Understanding NCERT Histroy 09th

l Villagers were not allowed for grazing their cattle, transporting wood without permission,
or travelling inside forest roads with horse carts or cattle.
l Firstly, the Dutch imposed rents on land which was cultivated in the forest and then some

villages were exempted from these rents and if they worked collectively and provided
Goyal Brothers Prakashan
free labour and buffaloes for cutting and transporting timber.
l This was known as the blandongdiensten system.

4.3 Samin’s Challenge
l Surontiko Samin, a resident of the teak forest village Randublatung village.

l He questioned the government’s ownership of the forest and argued that the state had
not created the wind, water, earth and wood, so how they could claim ownership on it?
l A widespread movement started.

l They protested by lying down on their land when the Dutch came to survey it, refused
to pay taxes or fines or to perform as labour.

4.4 War and Deforestation
l Forests were badly affected during both the World Wars.

l In Java, the Dutch followed ‘a scorched Earth policy’, by destroying saw mills and
burning huge piles of giant teak logs.
l The Japanese after occupying Indonesia exploited the forests recklessly for their war
needs.

l After the World War, it was difficult for the Indonesian forest service to get control over
this land.

4.5 New Development in Forestry
l Conservation of forests has become a more important goal.

l In many places, across India, from Mizoram to Kerala, dense forests have survived only
because villages protected them in sacred groves known as sarnas, devarakudu, kan, rai,
etc.

Source G (Page no. 94)
Dirk van Hogendorp, an official of the United East India Company in colonial Java said:
‘Batavians! Be amazed! Hear with wonder what I have to communicate. Our fleets are destroyed,
our trade languishes, our navigation is going to ruin – we purchase with immense treasures,
timber and other materials for ship-building from the northern powers, and on Java we leave
warlike and mercantile squadrons with their roots in the ground. Yes, the forests of Java have
timber enough to build a respectable navy in a short time, besides as many merchant ships as
we require … In spite of all (the cutting) the forests of Java grow as fast as they are cut, and
would be inexhaustible under good care and management.’
Dirk van Hogendorp, cited in Peluso, Rich
Forests, Poor People, 1992.

H-84 History Class IX