The Green Frontier: Environmental Histories and Colonial Exploitation in Chhotanagpur
Abstract
The Chhotanagpur region is known for its dense forests and Adivasi population. These forests have provided the basis for the socio-cultural, spiritual, and economic lives of the Adivasi people. This paper tries to explore the long environmental history of the region. Particularly, it looks at the impact of colonial forest policies and resource extraction. The paper argues that the core objective of the colonial forest policies was to generate state revenue. This process turned the forests into a global commodity and a source of raw materials for the industries. Further, it effectively separated the Adivasi communities like Munda, Oraon, and Santhal from their ancestral lands with the help of legal and physical force. The study analyses the shift from traditional Sarna (sacred grove) culture to state-controlled forestry during the 19th and 20th centuries. It also highlights the systemic roots of the ecological crisis in modern Jharkhand, including groundwater depletion and soil toxicity. Finally, it examines the continuous resistance of indigenous movements against exploitation during and after the colonial period.
Keywords: Chhotanagpur, Colonial Exploitation, Sarna, Adivasi, Forest
References
- Baviskar, A. (2004). In the belly of the river: Tribal conflicts over development in the Narmada Valley. Oxford University Press.
- Corbridge, S. (1988). The ideology of tribal economy and society: Politics in the Jharkhand, 1950–1980. Modern Asian Studies, 22(1), 1–42.
- Gadgil, M., & Guha, R. (1992). This fissured land: An ecological history of India. Oxford University Press.
- Guha, R. (2000). The unquiet woods: Ecological change and peasant resistance in the Himalaya. University of California Press.
- Jewitt, S. (2008). Environment, knowledge and agency: Joint forest management in India. Routledge.
- Munda, R. D. (2002). Adi-Dharam: Religious beliefs of the adivasis of India. Sarini.
- Padel, F., & Das, S. (2010). Out of this earth: East India adivasis and the aluminium cartel. Orient BlackSwan.
- Prasad, A. (2003). Environmentalism and the left: Contemporary debates and future possibilities in tribal India. LeftWord Books.
- Sivaramakrishnan, K. (1999). Modern forests: Statemaking and environmental change in colonial eastern India. Stanford University Press.
- Skaria, A. (1999). Hybrid histories: Forests, frontiers and wildness in western India. Oxford University Press.
- Sundar, N. (2007). Subalterns and sovereigns: An anthropological history of Bastar, 1854–2006. Oxford University Press.
- Xaxa, V. (2008). State, society, and tribes: Issues in post-colonial India. Pearson Education India.