Prior to the British occupation, the native rulers, or rajahs, laid
claim to a certain proportion of the produce from all cultivators of the
soil. They also reserved absolute right to the forests, and to all
unseated or waste lands, although usually the people were allowed to
supply their needs from these. The English government, by right of
conquest, fell heir to these rights as well as to the properties, but,
without care in asserting its rights, the unimpeded use of unguarded
forest property led to the assertion of rights of user by the people,
and such were also sometimes granted by the government. “Joint village”
communities in some parts, i.e., settlements which occupy contiguous
areas, claimed and occupied large areas of forest and waste as commons,
and in general the original property rights of the government became
uncertain.
The necessity of bringing order into this question led to various
so-called settlements, by which the rights were defined, properties
de-limited, and payment in kind changed into cash payments.
After attempts to regulate these matters by local rules, the first
general Indian Forest Act, passed in 1865, modified by the Forest Act of
1878, laid down the basis upon which the rights of forest property were
to be settled. These acts divide the forests into three classes, namely,
those in which the right of the State is absolute; those in which the
State has property rights, but which are burdened with prescriptive or
granted rights of user; and those which are private property, but on
which the State reserves the right to cut certain kinds of trees for
government use, Teak, Sandalwood, and in some parts Deodar, these being
considered “royal trees.” The forest act being throughout applicable
only at the choice and under the construction of the provincial
governments, modified acts, applicable to different parts of the Empire,
and different in details, were passed from time to time, and many
different local rules were issued by the provincial governments, but all
agree in fixing one definite policy, namely declaration or demarcation
of government forests, after inquiry into all existing rights, and
division of the declared government forests into three classes, reserves
or permanent state forests, protected forests, and unclassed, the latter
two still open to change in ownership, and adjustment in rights of user,
etc.
The absolute and relative areas of government property, therefore, are
continuously changing. In 1900 the reserve forests comprised 81,400
square miles, or 8.6% of the total territory controlled by the British
government; the protected forest 8800 square miles, and the demarcated
but unclassified area, 117,000 square miles. These figures had, in 1904,
changed to 91,567 for permanent reserves (58 million acres), 9865 for
protected, and 131,269 for unclassed, showing the rapid change now
taking place in the status of classification.
The name of B. H. Baden-Powell, at one time conservator of the Punjab
and Acting Inspector-General of Forests during 1872-4, is closely
connected with placing this forest legislation on a sound basis. The
object of this legislation was mainly to settle the question of
ownership and rights, hence reserved forests are not necessarily set
aside for forest purposes like the forest reservations in the United
States, although ultimately this will probably be their condition.
Rights of user were under this legislation regulated or commuted. In
some parts, even on the reserved forest areas, there are still retained
rights to cut _taungyas_, i.e., to make partial clearings for temporary
agricultural use, under the restriction of not destroying teak trees
over 18 inches in diameter, and with the right of the cultivators to
supply their domestic needs, under obligation to cut out fire traces,
burning the brush, and instituting similar protective measures.
The title to the forest property having been secured, its permanent
demarcation and a survey of the same were the next steps; the first
having gradually been nearly accomplished, the latter being still far in
arrears.
The area of private and communal forests is not precisely known, but,
including waste land and lands of uncertain conditions, there are at
least 500,000 square miles so owned, including those of feudatory rulers
within the provinces. Of these, some 500 square miles or more of forest
are leased to the government and under its control; and in some cases
forest administrations are instituted by the rajahs themselves.
In the Act of 1878, there was a clause calling for protection of private
forest property against trespass and encroachment, but this remained a
dead letter. By later legislation the government is entitled to exercise
control over private forests and lands, if it appears necessary for the
public weal, or if the treatment which such forests have received from
their owners affect the public welfare or safety injuriously; but in
such cases the owner can require the government to expropriate the land
in question.
The forest act also provided that the government may assign to village
communities from the reserved forest area so-called village forests, and
make rules for their protection, use and management. How far this policy
has been applied does not appear.
There are still areas the ownership of which is not settled, and rights
which are still in doubt, the work of the so-called forest settlements
still going on, several thousand square miles being annually changed in
status, and several thousand dollars annually spent to quiet rights of
user.