History
Why Deforestation?
वनों की कटाई क्यों?
In this Class 9 History topic from “Forest Society and Colonialism,” students examine why forests were cleared and how colonial policies transformed forest use. They learn how railways, shipbuilding, commercial timber, plantations and expanding agriculture increased demand for wood and land. The topic also explores the effects on forest communities, shifting cultivators and pastoralists, including restrictions on customary rights, loss of livelihoods and resistance to state control. It helps students connect deforestation with colonial economic interests and social change.
Practice questions
Why is deforestation under colonial rule seen as an economic policy rather than only an environmental event?MediumLevel 50Why did the British government reduce forests by expanding cultivation?MediumLevel 50What was the main result of the colonial idea that forests were waste land?MediumLevel 50How did railway expansion speed up deforestation?MediumLevel 50Why did timber demand for shipbuilding increase pressure on Indian forests?MediumLevel 50Why did Indian forests become more important after oak forests declined in Britain?MediumLevel 50Why did expansion of tea plantations increase deforestation?MediumLevel 50Which relation between coffee and rubber plantations and deforestation is correct?MediumLevel 50What double benefit did the colonial government expect by controlling forests?MediumLevel 50How should the role of land revenue in deforestation be understood?MediumLevel 50How did commercial farming affect forests?MediumLevel 50Why did deforestation directly affect the livelihood of forest dwellers?MediumLevel 50Why was clearing forests for fields called development in colonial thinking?MediumLevel 50Why is timber demand for railways considered a major cause of deforestation?MediumLevel 50Which statement correctly shows the relation between colonial trade and deforestation?MediumLevel 50Why were teak and sal timber important for colonial rule?MediumLevel 50Why is it incomplete to explain deforestation only by population growth?MediumLevel 50What effect did forest clearing have on fuel and fodder of local people?MediumLevel 50Why can deforestation increase the risk of soil erosion?MediumLevel 50How was the colonial policy of controlling forests different from local communities' use of forests?MediumLevel 50