Forestry in India 629 



These forests include the whole area in British India, which 

 not being in use by the population for agriculture, does not come 

 under the direct administration of the Revenue Department (as 

 administration by the Commissioner is known), and, therefore, 

 must be xmder the administration of the Forest Service. Much 

 of this land is not forest and may never be — it includes river 

 estuaries, grass lands and various waste tracts, for which no use 

 is foimd at present, but which may sometime be planted to forest 

 or reclaimed for agriculture. Much of it, on the other hand, 

 particularly in Assam and Burma, which between them contain 

 133,000 square miles of the unclassed forests, consists of heavy, 

 mixed hardwood forests which will be moved up to the reserved 

 class by the time a demand is felt for the timber. 



The creation of reserved forests has been largely governed by 

 the utter absence of timber in the region, or, in districts where 

 forest lands are plentiful, by the presence of teak, sal or deodar. 

 Areas of heavy forest not containing these species are still un- 

 classed and may be cut, almost destructively one might say, 

 \mder permit or trader's license from the Forest Service and with 

 very little supervision from the Forest Service. The opinion may 

 be hazarded that there are now fairly large areas which should be 

 made "reserved" in Assam and Burma, but which are not, be- 

 cause a large enough staff cannot be seciu-ed to bring their manage- 

 ment up to "reserved" forest standards, and because, partly due 

 to shortage in staff, Indian silviculture stiU revolves around teak, 

 sal and deodar. 



A cvuious policy exists when fixing the boimdary of a reserved 

 forest, of leaving on the outside a strip of forest for the use of the 

 local public. Forest thus left remains imclassed or protected, 

 usually the former, and is rapidly destroyed by vmregulated use. 

 Just why such unclassed forests are left, and what will be done 

 when their destruction is complete, is not evident. 



Standards are higher in India than in Canada. Reserved forests 

 seem to be created in India only when the government is com- 

 mitted to supporting an adequate staff and scheme of improvement 

 and management. 



The great differences in the problems of government arising in 

 the various provinces of India, evident in other questions as well 

 as in the administration of the forests, together with the growth 

 of local legislative coimcils, has resulted in the rapid development 

 of a policy of decentralization in forest affairs. 



