CLASS 9

NCERT Solutions for Class 9 History Chapter 4 – Forest Society and Colonialism.

Q.1 Discuss how the changes in forest management in the colonial period affected the following groups of people:

1. Shifting cultivators
2. Nomadic and pastoralist communities
3. Firms trading in timber/forest produce
4. Plantation owners
5. Kings/British officials engaged in shikar (hunting)

Solution:

(I) Shifting cultivators: European colonists regarded shifting cultivation harmful to the existence of forests. Also, it stood in their way of commercial timber forestry. There was always the chance of fires spreading out of control and burning down all the precious timber. Thus, keeping these factors in mind, the colonial government banned shifting cultivation. Many of these cultivators lost their livelihood in the process and most were also displaced from their homes in the forest.

(II) Nomadic and Pastoralist Communities: Nomadic and pastoralist communities like the Korava, Karacha and Yerukula from the Madras Presidency lost their livelihoods. They were designated as ‘criminal tribes’ by the British authorities and were forced to work in factories, mines and plantations under government supervision.

(III) Firms trading in timber/forest produces: The British gave European timber trading firms the sole right to trade in forest products in particular areas. Grazing and hunting by the local population were restricted by law.

(IV) Plantation owners: Vast tracts of natural forests were cleared to make way for tea, coffee and rubber plantations in order to fulfil the demand for these commodities in Europe. Plantation owners, who were overwhelmingly European, were given land at a cheap rate. They were enclosed and cleared of forests and plated with tea or coffee.

(V) Kings/ British officials engaged in hunting: The forest laws deprived forest dwellers their means of livelihood. Before the enactment of these laws, the forest dwellers practised hunting as a means to sustain themselves. After their enactment, they were forbidden from hunting. Hunting instead became a sport where kings and British officials equally hunted big game in huge numbers, bringing some of them to the very brink of extinction.

Q.2 What are the similarities between colonial management of the forests in Bastar and in Java?

Solution: Forest management of Bastar in India was under the control of the British, while in Java, it was under Dutch management

(I) Just like the British, the Dutch required timber to make sleepers for railway tracks.

(II) The British and Dutch colonial authorities enacted their own version of the forest laws that gave them total control over the forests and depriving the customary rights of the forest dwellers.

(III) Both the Dutch and the British put a ban on shifting cultivation on the grounds that they were dangerous to the existence of forests

(IV) The villagers of Bastar were allowed to stay in the forests on the condition that they provide free labour to the forest department. While in Java, the Dutch exempted those villages from paying taxes when they provided free labour to the forest department

Q.3 Between 1880 and 1920 forests cover in the Indian subcontinent declined by 9.7 million hectares, from 108.6 million hectares to 98.9 million hectares. Discuss the role of the following factors in this decline:

1. Railways
2. Shipbuilding
3. Agricultural expansion
4. Commercial farming
5. Tea/Coffee plantations
6. Adivasis and other peasants users

Solution:

a) Railways:

Railways were an important asset that was essential in maintaining trade through the transport of goods and the domination of the colonies through the transport of troops. Wood was needed to lay the sleepers for railway tracks. The sleepers are what held the tracks from breaking apart. For one kilometre of railway track anywhere between 1760 and 2000 sleepers were required. Thus, vast tracts of forest were cut down to provide the materials for the railways

(b) Ship Building

Before the coming of the industrial revolution, the ships of the early 19th century were made of wood. Britain maintained its colonial possessions through the Royal Navy with its huge number of naval fleets. But in order to maintain them vast tracts of oak forests in England were cut down.

This caused a logistical problem for the Royal Navy as a regular supply of timber was required to build new ships and maintain the old ones. It was easily remedied by cutting down forests of its colonies. Huge acres of forests disappeared as a result with some areas seeing almost complete deforestation.

(c) Agricultural Expansion

As the population rose, so did the demand for food. Forestlands were cleared in order to make way for new agricultural tracts. The colonial authorities believed that they could produce more food if they clear the forests. In addition, forests were considered unproductive, to begin with, so they had little qualms in cutting them down in huge numbers. Agricultural land rose by 6.7 million hectares between 1880 and 1920. It can be safely said that agricultural expansions contributed the most towards deforestation.

(d) Commercial Farming of Trees

(i) Forest are diverse not just in fauna, but also flora. So when they were cleared to make way for commercial farming, many species of trees were lost in the process as commercial farming only uses one specific type of trees in commercial farming, depending on the type of plantation.

(e) Tea/Coffee Plantation

In order to meet the growing demand for tea and coffee colonial authorities sold huge hectares of forest land to mostly European plantation firms. These firms then cut down the forests to make way for tea and coffee plantations. As a result, many acres of forest were lost.

(f) Adivasis and Other Peasant Users: Adivasis and other peasant communities practised shifting cultivation It involved cutting down parts of forest area are cut and burning the tree roots. Seeds were then sown into the burnt patch and come the monsoon season they were harvested. When fertility declined in that particular area, the same practice was repeated in a different location. So along with losing some of the forest tracts, there were fewer chances of the trees growing back due to loss in soil fertility

Q.4 Why are forests affected by wars?

Solution: Forest are affected by wars as they are valuable strategic resources. Battlefield assets like towers, guard posts, army camps are made of wood as they can be easily maintained and can be easily pulled down should the need to shift these assets arise. More so the scorched earth policy are enacted should it become apparent that forests will fall under enemy hands.

This is done with regards to area and resource denial. Such was the case with the Dutch when the Japanese invaded their colony in Indonesia during World War II. The Dutch burned huge acres of forests in order to prevent them from falling into Japanese hands.

When they did, however, the Japanese set about recklessly exploiting the timber forests to fulfil their own war demands. This practice would severely impact the local ecology in a negative way for decades to come.

 

                                                CLASS 10

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 History Chapter 5 – Print Culture and the Modern World.

Page No. 128

Q.1 Give reason for the following:

1. Woodblock print only came to Europe after 1295.
2. Martin Luther was in favour of print and spoke out in praise of it.
3. The Roman Catholic Church began keeping an Index of prohibited books from the mid-sixteenth century
4. Gandhi said the fight for Swaraj is a fight for the liberty of speech, liberty of the press, and freedom of association.

Solution: (a) Marco Polo, the Italian explorer, visited China and learnt the technology of woodblock printing. When he returned to Italy in 1295, he brought this knowledge back with him. Gradually this knowledge spread from Italy to other parts of Europe.

(b) In 1517, Martin Luther, the religious reformer, wrote ninety-five theses that criticised the corrupt practices of the Catholic Church and pasted these on the church door in Wittenberg. Very soon, thousands of copies of Luther’s theses were printed, spreading his ideas among people. Martin Luther was deeply moved by realizing the power of printing, which brought about the reformation movement and the eventual birth of Protestantism.

(c) Print and popular literature encouraged many distinctive interpretations of religious faiths and ideas. In the 16th century, Manocchio, a roller in Italy, began to read books available readily in his locality. He gave a new interpretation of the Bible and formulated a view of God and creation that enraged the Roman Catholic Church. As a result, Manocchio was hauled up twice and ultimately executed when the Roman Catholic Church began its inquisition.

(d) Mahatma Gandhi said these words in 1922 during the Non-cooperation Movement (1920-22). According to him, without the liberty of speech, the liberty of the press and freedom of association, no nation can even survive. If the country was to get free from foreign domination, then these liberties were quite important.

Q.2 Write short notes on what you know about:

1. The Gutenberg Press
2. Erasmus’s idea of the printed book
3. The Vernacular Press Act

Solution: (a) The Gutenberg Press was the first printing press of Europe. It was invented by Johannes Gutenberg of Strasbourg. He grew up in a large agricultural estate and had knowledge and experience in operating olive and wine presses. He invented the printing press around the year 1448 with the Bible being the first book to be printed.

(b) Erasmus, the Latin scholar, was not happy with the printing of books because he was afraid that this would lead to the circulation of books with rebellious ideas. He felt that although a few books may give useful information, the majority of books may just be irrelevant or illogical through which scandalous of irreligious ideas will spread, ultimately leading to incitement of rebellion.

(c) The Vernacular Press Act was passed in 1878 by the British government in India. This act provided the government with extensive rights to censor reports and editorials in the Vernacular Press. If a Vernacular Paper published any seditious material, the paper was banned, and its printing machinery was seized and destroyed.

Q.3 What did the spread of print culture in the nineteenth century India mean to:

1. Women
2. The poor
3. Reformers

Solution: (a) Women: Women became as important as readers and writers. Reading habits improved among them. With an increase in literacy, women took great interest in reading and writing. Many journals started emphasizing the importance of women’s education. Many magazines and books were especially published for women. The print culture gave women some amount of freedom to read and develop their own views on various issues, especially those related to women.

(b) The Poor: As the literacy rate improved in Europe as well as in India, printed material, especially for entertainment, began to reach even the poor. In England ‘penny magazines’ were carried by peddlers and sold for a penny, so that even poor people could buy them. Those who could not read could listen to the stories and folklore. These stories and folklore could be read out to them by others. Books could be hired on a nominal fee from some book owners. Even in India, very cheap small books were brought to the market in 19th century Madras towns,  which allowed poor people to have access to print culture.

(c) Reformers: Reformers used newspapers, journals and books to highlight the social evils prevailing in the society. Raja Ram Mohan Roy published the ‘Sambad Kaumudi’ to highlight the plight of widows. From the 1860s, many Bengali women writers like Kailashbashini Debi wrote books highlighting the experiences of women, about how women were imprisoned at home, kept in ignorance, forced to do hard domestic labour and were treated unjustly by the menfolk they served.

Discuss

Q.1 Why did some people in the eighteenth century Europe think that culture would bring enlightenment and end despotism?

Solution:

1. The spreading of new ideas after the coming of print culture, the ideas of scientists and philosophers now became more accessible to the common people. Ancient and medieval scientific texts were compiled and published.
2. Books as Medium of Progress By the eighteenth century, books became a medium of spreading progress and enlightenment, which could change society and the world. It was also believed that the books could liberate society from despotism and tyranny.
3. Writings of Scholars: The writings of thinkers such as Jean Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Paine and Voltaire were also widely printed and could gain popularity. Thus their ideas about science, rationality and reasoning found their way into popular literature.
4. Scientific Discoveries: Maps and more accurate scientific diagrams were widely printed when scientists like Issac Newton began to publish their discoveries. They could influence a much wider circle of scientifically-minded readers.

Q.2 Why did some people fear the effect of easily available printed books? Choose one example from Europe and one from India.

Solution: Some people, especially from the upper class fear the effect of easily available printed books due to the spread of literacy among the common people. They feared that they might lose their position or authorities. Some people thought that it might lead to the spread of rebellions and irreligious thoughts.

Example:
(i) In Europe, the Roman Catholic Church tried to curb the printed books through the Index of Prohibited Books.
(ii) In India, the Vernacular Press Act imposed restrictions on Indian press and various local newspapers.

Q.3 What were the effects of the spread of print culture for poor people in nineteenth-century India?

Solution: Public libraries were set up from the early twentieth century, expanding access to books. These libraries were located mostly in cities and towns and at times in prosperous villages. For rich local patrons, setting up a library was a way of acquiring prestige.

From the late nineteenth century, issues of caste discrimination were written about in many printed tracts and essays.

Jyotiba Phule, the Maratha pioneer of ‘low caste’ protest movements, wrote about the injustices of the caste system in his Gulamgiri (1871). In the twentieth century, B.R. Ambedkar in Maharashtra and E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker in Madras (better known as Periyar) wrote powerfully on caste, and their writings were read by people all over India. Local protest movements and sects also created a lot of popular journals and tracts, criticising ancient scriptures and envisioning a new and just future.

At the very least, it made pooer people aware of their rights and their place in society and Print media showed the way in which they can improve their lot in life.

Q.4 Explain how the print culture assisted in the growth of nationalism in India.

Solution: Print culture assisted in the growth of nationalism in India in the following ways:

1. By the end of the 19th century, a large number of newspapers in Indian vernacular languages were published, making it easier to circumvent the language barriers among the various ethnic groups of Indians.
2. These newspapers published articles written by national leaders. Their ideas were communicated to the masses through these newspapers.
3. The people of different communities and places were thus connected by print media. Newspapers conveyed news from one place to another, creating a pan-Indian identity.
4. The nationalist newspapers exposed the colonial misrule and encouraged nationalist activities. As these were written in spoken languages of various regions, the common man could easily understand the content.
5. For example, when Punjab revolutionaries were deported in 1907, Balagangadhar Tilak wrote articles sympathising with them. He was arrested which provoked protest among the masses.