India’s Forests

Revisiting Nature and History

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India’s Forests aims to explore the history of Indian forests in a new way. It is a result of several years of deliberations on how to think about the Indian forests from a historical perspective. It revisits more than the question of the role of forests in India’s long history. It seeks to bring to light new insights on how changes in society, culture, and polity have reshaped forests and continue to do so.
Forests mean not one but many things to different people. While seen as ecologically crucial in many ways, they are also a storehouse of resources in more than one way. They have also been the arena and subject of critical social movements, among whom Chipko gained special prominence in India almost half a century ago. They are also sites of social, political, scientific and cultural contestation.
Forests are battlegrounds for more than just timber and land. Forests are contested not only as a resource but also in ideational terms. What constitutes a forest, for whom, when, and where can it be, is often a contentious issue.