Humans are essentially a part of nature, and it is impossible to separate human affairs from what is happening to the
forests and animals. Cultural adaptations to
nature have taken place in the past, and even today human
history includes the history of the earth and its ecosystem, the history of economic production and consumption, and the history of culture.
The simplistic notion of history presumes that those who did not record their history did not have one. But the oral history and traditions of tribes and other indigenous groups has to be taken seriously.
For tribes all over India, worship of trees was a common practice, and forests have always been associated with forest deities.
Harappan towns depended on crops cultivated on the alluvium of the Indus and its tributaries. The region became increasingly arid around 1700 BC. Agriculture expanded, forests were logged, and available water used incautiously, resulting in the collapse of the civilization. As the arid ecology of the Indus Valley could no longer sustain large sedentary populations, they began migrating towards the densely forested region in the Gangetic plain (the land between the Ganges and the Yamuna). The lesson to be learnt is that whenever a population increases beyond the carrying capacity of the local ecology, it dies out.
It is no coincidence that the later scriptures (such as the Puranas) included instructions on the
conservation of nature, and even prescribed punishments for offenders. The most comprehensive social code of the times, the Manu Smriti (circa 1000 BC) stipulates that "For cutting down fruit trees, shrubs, creepers or flowering plants, a person should be made to mutter the prescribed Vedic mantra a hundred times for his atonement!"
The people living in northern India often adopted
popular eco-friendly practices. Protecting sacred forests (chaityas) was one such practice, such chaityas were popular cult objects. The Buddhist places of worship even came up in these forests. The famous edicts of Emperor Ashoka also refer to the protection of forests and wildlife. This foresight perhaps explains why forests and wilderness in India remained intact for centuries despite urbanization and the spread of agriculture, until the systematic exploitation by the British in the early 19th century.
Village communities in pre-British India enjoyed almost total rights over their natural resources. Under the British,
commercial forestry practices became widespread in India for the first time. Forests were categorized on the basis of their commercial value. Traditional forests were replenished with commercial species, and this lead to the overexploitation of forests. British land and forest laws overruled tribal rights and practices, and this lead to revolts in the tribal areas.
History provides us with important lessons in conservation to be learnt from the past, as the
practice of conservation has been supported by traditional customs and religious beliefs in India for ages.
But what is the role of the modern Indian state in the management of the environment? Gandhi''''s plea for Swaraj (self-rule) was ignored after Independence. The Government of India works on only two basic principles - the first is to nationalize a resource, and the second is to create a rigid bureaucracy to manage that resource.
But, perhaps, there is still some cause for hope. After 50 years of "planned failures" in rural development, the people are beginning to organize themselves, and they are striving to take control of their own destiny.
More summaries about the Article: Relevance of history