Page 99 - Understanding NCERT Histroy 09th

2. Assertion (A): By the early 19th century, there was huge shortage of timber supply for
Royal Navy.
Reason (R): During the same period, oak forests were fast dwindling in England.
Ans. (a)
Goyal Brothers Prakashan
3. Assertion (A): As railway tracks spread through India, a larger and larger number of trees
were felled.
Reason (R): Each railway track required around 2000 sleepers made of wood.
Ans. (a)

4. Assertion (A): Large areas of natural forests were cleared to make way for tea, coffee and
rubber plantations.
Reason (R): The Colonial government took over the forests, and gave vast areas to
European planters at cheap rates.
Ans. (b)

III. Case Study Based Questions
l ‘The new line to be constructed was the Indus Valley Railway between Multan and Sukkur, a
distance of nearly 300 miles. At the rate of 2000 sleepers per mile this would require 600,000
sleepers 10 feet by 10 inches by 5 inches (or 3.5 cubic feet apiece), being upwards of 2,000,000
cubic feet. The locomotives would use wood fuel. At the rate of one train daily either way
and at one maund per train-mile an annual supply of 219,000 maunds would be demanded.
In addition a large supply of fuel for brick-burning would be required. The sleepers would
have to come mainly from the Sind Forests. The fuel from the tamarisk and Jhand forests
of Sind and the Punjab. The other new line was the Northern State Railway from Lahore to
Multan. It was estimated that 2,200,000 sleepers would be required for its construction.’

1. Describe the new railway line to be constructed.
Ans. The new railway line was called Indus Valley Railway between Multan and Sukkur.

2. Why did railway lines require felling of large number of trees?
Ans. Wood was required for making sleepers, as fuel to feed locomotives and brick-burning.
3. Which areas supplied sleepers and fuel for railways?
Ans. The sleepers mainly come from the forests of Sind. The fuel wood was supplied from
tamarisk and Jhans forests of Sind and the Punjab.

l Baigas are a forest community of Central India. In 1892, after their shifting cultivation was
stopped, they petitioned to the government: ‘We daily starve, having had no foodgrain in our
possession. The only wealth we possess is our axe. We have no clothes to cover our body with,
but we pass cold nights by the fireside. We are now dying for want of food. We cannot go
elsewhere. What fault have we done that the government does not take care of us? Prisoners
are supplied with ample food in jail. A cultivator of the grass is not deprived of his holding,
but the government does not give us our right who have lived here for generations past.’
1. What was the main cause of misery for Baigas?
Ans. Their shifting cultivation was banned by the government. Their main source of livelihood
was snatched away.

2. What was the only wealth the tribals possessed?
Ans. The only wealth they had were axes with which they cut trees and shrubs.

H-90 History Class IX