By B. R. SEN
THE time has come to revise the entire outlook on the utilization of forests in India. Past policy, though based on essentially sound principles, appears to have been rather static. Now it must be more dynamic. The existing forest policy was laid down in 1894, with these main principles: (a) the need to prevent floods, soil erosion, and desiccation must be the first consideration in forest management; (b) preservation of the minimum amount of forests necessary to satisfy the wants of the local population for fuel and building must come next; (c) exploitation of forest resources for commercial purposes is permissible only after these needs are adequately satisfied.
The essential soundness of this policy will hardly be challenged. The question arises whether, under the new conditions in India, the administration of that policy needs any change. To deal with this question, certain essential facts about Indian forests must be taken into account.
In the interest of the country- as a whole, what proportion of a country ought to be forest land? Various opinions have been expressed. Sir Herbert Howard, late Inspector-General of Forests, expressed the view that 20 to 25 percent of the land in India ought to be covered with forests, properly managed and distributed for protective purposes and to supply consumers all over the country. Of a total area of 162 million hectares in India, about 40 million hectares, or about 25 percent, are estimated to be forest land.
At first sight it might appear that the present area of forests in India should be adequate for its needs. But about one-third of this area is under communal or private ownership, which, as in other countries, has been extremely wasteful. Within the definition of properly managed forests, only about 11 percent of the total land area is of the reserved and protected types of forest.
The present distribution of forests is far from satisfactory from the point of view of meeting the needs of village consumers. The provinces north of a line from the Gulf of Cambay to Calcutta are particularly deficient in forests, except in patches.
Floods and soil erosion are two of India's greatest problems. Neither is new, but there can be no doubt that in recent years floods are taking an increasing toll of crops and the rapid progress of soil erosion in different parts of the country has caused grave concern. These problems are intimately connected with the management of forests in the hilly country and at the headwaters of rivers.
A large portion of India's forest is under government management, but considerable areas are under private ownership, which, during the last few decades has recklessly exploited them for grazing or fuel, exposing considerable areas to the danger of floods and soil erosion.
The matter has now the fullest attention of the Government of India. Proper land management will be an important subject for study by the Central Waterways, Irrigation and Navigation Commission, which is already functioning, and by the Land Utilisation and Soil Conservation Board, which is proposed. Forests, however, are a provincial subject and unless there is full and active co-operation from the provincial governments, success in this field must be limited.
So far as village consumers are concerned, while the policy of making the supply of fuel and timber to them as second in importance only to the control of floods and erosion is unexceptionable, the application of that policy does not appear to have yielded satisfactory results. Nine-tenths of the United Provinces, half of Bombay, most of West Bengal, much of Bihar, and the whole of coastal Orissa are almost completely without forests. The small quantities of fuel and timber required by the villagers in these areas cannot be transported long distances and still be within their purchasing power.
The villagers have been compelled to use one of their most valuable agricultural assets for fuel, and this has seriously affected food production. Agricultural crops depend very largely on the supply of manure. India's soils are particularly deficient in nitrogen, needing about 2½ million tons annually to replace that used by crops. In the past India has largely depended on cowdung to supply the nitrogen deficiency. The total production of cattle manure in India is estimated at 160 million tons of dry weight, or 800,000 tons of nitrogen. Actually, however, 40 percent is used as fuel and about 320,000 tons of nitrogen, which could produce an additional 1.75 million tons of rice, is lost. This manure can be saved only if the rural population is provided with fuel from quick-growing trees where there are no natural forests to draw upon.
This question has been discussed both by the central government and by the Provinces, but, owing to the lack of a determined policy, little has been done. The establishment and implementation of such a policy remains one of India's most urgent and important problems.
Under the policy laid down in 1894, the uses of forests in India have been confined very largely to supply railway sleepers, furniture, and house-building materials. The bulk of the valuable hardwoods is reserved for railway sleepers but the supply is inadequate and sleepers of timber and steel are imported. For household purposes large imports of teak come from Burma. Indian forests have scattered hardwood trees, which makes economic exploitation difficult. Consumers are reluctant to use any timber other than that belonging to the primary species.
India has great plans for industrial expansion based on the use of structural steel, which is in short supply. Can treated timber replace structural steel to any extent, Experience has shown that it can in the construction of highway bridges to a certain extent, and it can be used for telegraph and telephone poles, roof trusses for factories, godowns, workshops, and airplane hangars.
The cheapest steel in the world is produced in Belgium, yet Belgium finds it more economical to use treated timber for telegraph and telephone poles. In the United Kingdom more than 90 percent of the poles for telegraph and telephone lines are made of timber from Scandinavia. In the United States up to 80 percent of the bridges on most of the leading railways - which use much heavier locomotives than in India - have till recent years been built of treated wood.
If such highly industrialized countries can find these uses for treated timber, why should India not try to do the same, especially when its industrial progress is held up for lack of steel. The major consuming departments of the Government of India indicate that the main obstacles to greater utilization of Indian timber have been the lack of properly treated timber at centers convenient to transportation. This problem is surely not beyond administrative solution. It is being examined by the Government of India.
There are other industries in which Indian timber can play a more positive and effective part. Plywood, for instance, can be one of the most important timber industries in India. The annual requirements amount to 1 1/3 million square meters. Large quantities of plywood used for packing Indian tea for export are now imported. With a little more enterprise in research and organization and a little more co-operation from the tea industry it should be possible for India to supply all demands from within the country.
India needs an estimated 6,200,000 railway sleepers a year. The present production from Indian sources amounts only to 3,000,000, less than half of the requirement. The Forest Institute has suggested 36 species of secondary timber that can be used for sleepers. It is hoped that the railways will find it possible to eliminate their demand for steel sleepers and make the utmost use of the available species, even though they may not be as satisfactory as the best hardwoods, the jute and cotton mills require 80 million bobbins annually. Before the war almost the entire demand was met from outside. During the war, Indian industry was able to meet the entire demand. Imports have started again with the end of the war. It is clear, however, that if Indian industry is properly organized and arranges for a supply of timber, India can be self-supporting in the supply of bobbins.
The present annual demand for newsprint is 50,000 metric tons, all of which is imported from hard-currency countries. Valuable research has been carried out, and paper produced from paper mulberry, Broussonetia papyifera, has been tested with very satisfactory results. If plantations of this fast-growing tree are made in earnest there is no reason why, within a reasonable time, India should not be able to supply and to keep pace with its growing need for newsprint.
There are other industries in which forestry can play an important part. While the prevention of floods and soil erosion and satisfaction of the fuel and timber needs of the local village consumers must continue to receive priority, the use of forest resources for industrial development must also be given a prominent place in future programs of forest development. The success of this policy will, however, depend on certain definite factors. Research activities must be extended and intensified to meet all technical needs and problems.
The prejudice of important industrial consumers against the use of the secondary species must be overcome. And, most important of all, felling, regeneration, and plantation practices must be revised to the extent necessary to cope with the growing volume of demand.
It will also be necessary to devise much more effective arrangements than in the past to publicize the uses of forest products for industrial and commercial purposes, in the light of the latest research. Toward the success of this policy, quite apart from the Government, industrial leaders can play a decisive part.
India showing areas of forest and open scrub
Photographs accompanying this article were furnished by the Forest Research Institute, Dehra Dun, India.
