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 did the colonial government consider forests as empty land?What effect did the expansion of settled cultivation have on shifting cultivation?Whose habitat was most directly affected by deforestation?What effect did clearing forests for plantations have on local people?What effect did expansion of new towns and settlements have on forests?What was needed for roads and construction works in the colonial period?What can be one environmental result of deforestation?Which resource was taken more from forests due to railway network expansion?Why did colonial rule create forest departments?Which was a main colonial cause of deforestation?Which sector created a large demand for timber from forests in the colonial period?What did colonial officials want by converting forests into fields?What of forest dwelling communities was affected by deforestation?Why was the area under cultivation expanded due to rising population?Commercial use of forests in the colonial period was linked with what?What effect can deforestation have on biodiversity?Which kinds of plantations were grown by clearing forests in the colonial period?What policy did British rule adopt to control forests?Why were local peoples needs often ignored in colonial forest policy?What was one effect of deforestation on rural life?