6 SOCIAL SCIENTIST demand for wood implied a conflict with the local communities who also depended on the forests. In fact, Rangarajan cites a folk song of the Gonds (collected by Verrier Elwin in the 1930s) to illustrate the importance of woo'd to build houses. The stage was set for large-scale intervention with the Forest Act of 1878 which 'stole' the forests by limiting the accessibility in matters related to grazing, prevention of shifting cultivation and controls over potential arable land. It is here that the conflict between the forest and the civil/revenue department is discussed. The author captures the working of the forest department and the way it interacted with the civil authorities who, for example, pointed out how harsh measures could foster rebellions among the adivasis. As delineated, by 1914 the idea of harnessing forests for profits had been realised. This was rationalised in terms of the need for conservancy, which was linked to agrarian prosperity. The third chapter ('Swidden Cultivation and Forest Management: Baigas, Gonds and the Sarkar') explores the implication of the colonial forest interventions for the adivasi shifting cultivators. Here Rangarajan delineates the process which began by locating forests as the 'worst enemy* that shielded rebels and once this political problem was over saw forests as a major source of wood. This contradiction was further complicated by blaming the adivasis for the excessive cutting of wood and disallowing shifting cultivation especially when over 100,000 trees had been cut between 1860 and 1862 itself to build the Jabalpur section of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway. The author mentions the way the indigenous people resisted attempts to convert and 'civilise' them into plough cultivators through features like desertions. He also mentions the varying impact of these policies on different adivasi groups and the way it marginalised them since they had very few alternative occupational opportunities. This coupled with losing out oil the allocation of land rights, the extraction of forced labour and restrictions on use of forest resources created extreme hardships for the adivasis. The fourth chapter ('Shikar and the Raj') show the extension of restrictions on hunting. The attempt at projecting the Indian hunters as predatory converged with the way in which the adivasi had been portrayed as the 'destroyers' of forests. Once the forests had been 'stolen' the colonialist joined by the Indian princes imposed restrictions on hunting. One can perhaps add that this was dictated by a feudalisation of the colonialist, which saw him maintain a 'tradition' with obvious innovations related to technology and the ritualisation of colonial hunting. As correctly emphasised, the idea of conservation was not linked to 'profit' but social attitudes. Moreover, it was highly inconsistent and the image of the 'macho white hunter' and the 'protector' of wildlife were 'mutually complementary* (p. 197). What is illustrated very competently is the way it spelt havoc for wildlife. Perhaps the author should have seen this in a more 'holistic' fashion—viz. the way hunting spelt doom for the forests as well as the adivasis. The author ends by pointing to some major aspects in the conclusion. He emphasises the importance of the colonisation process, Similarly, while talking about the differences within the colonial official establishment he