This article attempts to analyse the colonial forest policy and its impact on the environment and tribals in Madras Presidency during the post-Forest Act period (1882–1947). During this period, the colonial regime has actively encouraged commercialisation of forest resources while several restrictions were clamped up on the tribals and other forest users. Here it is argued that the initiatives of the state towards conservation were primarily intended to curtail the access enjoyed by tribals and other forest users to facilitate commercial exploitation. Plunder of forest wealth continued unhindered in a systematic manner leading to denudation of vast stretches of green cover and a drastic decline in the living conditions of the tribals in Madras Presidency.
Colonialism and conservation: Commercialisation of forests and decline of tribals in Madras Presidency, 1882–1947☆
The earlier version of the article was presented at the workshop on the Nature in the Raj: Colonial Environments and Indigenous Knowledge organized by the Centre for Studies in Science Policy (CSSP, Jawaharlal Nehru University), Centre for World Environmental History (CWEH, Sussex University, UK) and Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML, New Delhi), held at New Delhi on August 18–19, 2006. My sincere thanks are to Mahesh Rangarajan, Rohan D’Souza, Richard H. Grove and Vinita Damodaran for their kind encouragement. I thank anonymous referee for his/her insightful comments which helped me to enrich my arguments. However the usual disclaimers do apply.
Saravanan V (2011), "Colonialism and conservation: Commercialisation of forests and decline of tribals in Madras Presidency, 1882–1947☆". Journal of Forest Economics, Vol. 17 No. 4 pp. 337–362, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfe.2010.12.001
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