EMPIRE, ECOLOGY AND CONTROL: COLONIAL FOREST POLICY AND THE EARLY DISCOURSE ON WILDLIFE PRESERVATION (1865-1887)

Abstract

This paper examines the contradictory forest and wildlife policies of the British colonial administration in late-nineteenth-century India. While the state pursued systematic extermination of wild animals through the vermin eradication programme, it simultaneously introduced measures for forest conservation and selective species protection. These policies were driven less by ecological concern than by the material demands of the empire, railways, naval construction, and infrastructural expansion, as well as the political imperative of consolidating control over forest-dependent communities. As Guha notes, organized forestry in colonial India primarily served imperial interests and revenue extraction. To this end, vast tracts of forests were cleared for agricultural and plantation expansion, while wild animals deemed obstacles were systematically eliminated through state-sponsored bounty schemes (Gadgil, 1995). This contradictory regime not only reinforced colonial authority but also produced lasting ecological imbalance.