From Abundance to Scarcity: Deforestation, Forest Protection Laws and Famine Outbreak in Chotanagpur, 1850-1950

• In Event: Forest Commodification and Protection in the US and India, 17th - 20th Centuries

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between the commercialization of forests, forest protection laws and frequent famine outbreaks in colonial Chotanagpur from 1850 to 1950. In the early part of the 19th century, the commercialization of agriculture and construction of railways by the colonial government led to the deforestation in Chotanagpur region. And to ‘cover’ this massive deforestation, forest protection laws were imposed by the colonial government which again turned out to be a ploy to control the forest and its resources.
Before Chotanagpur came under the attention of the British Empire for its immense provision of natural resources, the tribal economy and their food habits were heavily dependent on forest resources. But with forest protection laws, the ‘customary rights’ of the indigenous peoples to access these forests were restricted and they were left to perish around the borders of these very same forests during the scarcity. Hunger deaths and outbreak of epidemic diseases like Cholera, specifically during famine period channelized heavy migration, as it was the only option left for the people.
Chotanagpur underwent a sharp ecological change in colonial period as its economy based on mixed agro-forestry to one based more on mono culture of rice made it vulnerable to the climatic crisis of “Victorian Holocausts” (Mike Davis). The diversified agro-forestry system was transformed as Chotanagpur became the largest source of indentured labour migration working to produce global food crops ranging from indigo, rice to sugar and tea. I am interested in questions concerning indigenous crops and forest-food supply, gendered activities of food procurement and sale, shifts in food habits due to ecological changes and forced migration. This paper also hopes that newer ways of studying indigenous resistance may emerge by connecting issues of food-access, colonial law and, ecological change to a larger canvas of global capitalism and colonialism.

Author

• Vinita Vinita, University of Delhi