Page 3 - Jan-Mar 2017

VOl. 14 No. 1
FORESTS IN HISTORY DID YOU KNOW?

In 1576, after Maharana Pratap
Forests have played an important role both in Indian history and mythology. lost the battle with Mughal Emperor
The Epics Ramayana and Mahabharata give an attractive description of Akbar, he hid in the Aravali forests
forests.Ancient Hindu culture is said to have evolved in Aranyas (Forest to save his life.
books). Manvi Vatas, V, Bridgeford School,
– Anmol Kilani, X-A, All Saints Senior Secondary School, Ajmer Tupudana, Ranchi

aNciENt PERiOD BRitiSH PERiOD

The earliest indication of forestry administration in india During british period, forests were used for commercial
is found in 300 bC, during the reign of Chandragupta purposes. Certain regulations were put in place for the
Maurya. he realised the importance of the forests and conservation of forests. in 1855, lord Dalhousie framed
appointed an officer to look after the forests. regulations for conservation of forests in india and in
1864 the imperial Forest Department was founded.
During the reign of ashoka, it was stated that wild
animals and forests would be preserved and protected. The Indian forest act of 1927 established by the
he launched programmes to plant trees on a large british brought forests under centralised sovereignty.
scale. These rules The act aimed at consolidating and reserving areas with
continued during the significant forest cover or wildlife. For the first time forests
gupta period. were classified into reserve and Protected forests.
Rishal Naik, X, Delhi Public K Prerna , IX, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Public School, Jubilee Hills,
School, Vishakhapatnam Hyderabad and Nandita, X, Indian Public Senior Secondary School,
Radaur, Yamuna Nagar
in the hindu
tradition there
are three types of aFtER iNDEPENDENcE
forests:
after independence, the task of consolidation of forests,
• Tapovan is a forest associated with penance unification of forest laws and extension of scientific
• Mahavan forests give shelter to all species. management became important. The new Forest Policy
• Shreevan are forests of prosperity. of 1952 recognised the protective functions of the forests
Abinand L. ,X, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Public School, Jubilee Hills, and aimed at maintaining one-third of india’s land area
Hyderabad; Shivangi Singh, IV A, Global Indian International School, under forest cover. The government of india also passed
Noida; Shreya Sahal, IX B, Dundlod Vidyapeeth, Jhunjhunu
an act named “The Scheduled Tribes and Other
MEDiEvaL PERiOD Traditional forest rights act” in the Year 2006. This act
was critical to the rights of tribals and other forest dwellers
The medieval invaders were all keen hunters and and included conservation of forests and bio-diversity.
therefore had to have patches of forests where they
could go hunting. This ensured that the trees in these Dhruv Agrawal, IX-E, Gwalior Glory High School, Gwalior
areas were not felled, and the forest ecology was not
hampered. The Mughals looked upon the forests
as game reserves. They were interested in trees for activity: FaMOuS FOREStS
gardening. They also showed interest in plantations
on either side of avenues. according to the uNesCO, the natural sites of outstanding
universal value from the point of view of science, conservation
or natural beauty in india are given below.
Can you name the kind of forest they belong to ?
1. great himalayan National Park, 2. Kaziranga and
Manas National Parks, 3. Keoladeo National Park, 4. Nanda
Devi and Valley of Flowers, 5. sunderbans National Park,
6. western ghats

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