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BOOK REVIEW 
 

Reordering Nature: An Assessment of Colonial and 
Post-Colonial Forest Policy in Jalpaiguri and the 
Jungle Mahals 
 

Anju O.M. Toppo  
 
Sahara Ahmed. 2019. Woods, Mines and Minds: Politics of Survival in Jalpaiguri 
and the Jungle Mahals (1860–1970). New Delhi: Primus Books. xix + 300. 
  

Over the years, several studies 
have documented how state-led 
development in South Asia has 
caused marginal communities to 
be displaced and lose access to 
traditional resources. Sahara 
Ahmed’s monograph, Woods, 
Mines and Minds, furthers such 
scholarship by scrutinizing the 
impacts of state initiatives on 
conservation and extraction in 
both colonial and postcolonial 
India. Woods, Mines and Minds 
explores the complex and layered 
impacts of “scientific forestry” 
and “scientific mining” as they 
played out in two distinct 
ecological zones in Jalpaiguri and 
the Jungle Mahals (modern-day 
West Bengal), across the colonial 
and postcolonial periods in India.  

                                                      
 Assistant Professor, Department of History, St Xavier’s College, Camille Bulcke Path, 
Ranchi, Jharkhand 834001; anjuoseema@gmail.com 

Copyright © Toppo 2024. Released under Creative Commons Attribution © 
NonCommercial 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC 4.0) by the author.  

Published by Indian Society for Ecological Economics (INSEE), c/o Institute of  Economic 
Growth, University Enclave, North Campus, Delhi 110007.  

ISSN: 2581–6152 (print); 2581–6101 (web).  

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37773/ees.v7i2.1319  

mailto:anjuoseema@gmail.com
https://doi.org/10.37773/ees.v7i2.1319


 Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [136] 

The monograph comprises six chapters, which are impressively supported 
by archival material, government reports, and a wide array of critical 
literature. Chapter 1 describes the distinct physical and climatic features of 
Jalpaiguri and the Jungle Mahals by comparing maps from James Rennell’s 
surveys—carried out between 1767 and 1774—and district maps based on 
the Revenue Survey of 1875. Added to this thick geographical and 
topographical discussion is the documentation in government records of 
the traditional inhabitants: Santals, Bhumij, Bauris, Paharias, Bhuiyas, Totos, 
and Rabhas. In particular, the narrative highlights the reliance of these 
varied communities on their forests and their alternative survival strategies 
during natural calamities such as droughts and unseasonal weather changes. 
At the heart of the book, however, is Ahmed’s effort to reveal the colonial 
government’s balancing act of managing its commercial interests and its 
increasing awareness of ecological degradation.  

Chapter 2 explores the varied social and ecological implications that 
followed the steady consolidation of colonial power during the 1860s in the 
region and especially over land and forest management regimes. The rise of 
colonial power prompted the decline of the Raikat rulers of the 
Baikunthpur Raj, who found themselves relegated from holding royal status 
to becoming mere zamindars confined to Jalpaiguri Palace. This chapter 
delineates the advent of conservation efforts and the implementation of 
scientific forestry with a commercial orientation.  

Chapter 3 presents a detailed account of the shift in the colonial focus from 
forests to mining ventures. Given the absence of mines in Jalpaiguri district, 
except for dolomite ones, the focus turned to the Jungle Mahals. The 
chapter maps out in considerable detail the range of ecological impacts—
such as land degradation, water pollution, and the fouling of air—that 
resulted from the expansion of mining. Chapter 4 traces the transformation 
of local inhabitants, from communities having access to a vast array of 
forest resources, to becoming a landless people whose subsistence 
livelihoods were increasingly defined by colonial rules and laws. Chapter 5 
provides a thoughtful reflection on the continuity and changes in forest 
policy, with the parallel development of coal mining between 1940 and 
1970. This chapter, in particular, focuses on how certain laws in both the 
colonial and postcolonial phases set the stage for several popular struggles.  

The final chapter probes the various discourses surrounding development 
in the postcolonial era, frequently characterized as a western model of 
growth. It explores the evolution of participatory forest management as a 
compromise and examines the impacts of forestry and mining activities on 
tribal populations throughout the twentieth century. 



[137] Toppo 

 
 

Ahmed offers a perceptive account of how specific state-led initiatives in 
forest conservation and extractive mining in colonial and postcolonial India 
have disproportionately imposed costs on marginalized communities and 
invariably ended up vesting control over resources with the powerful and 
the state. Ahmed covers the strategies of officials at considerable length. 
However, there is a noticeable gap in the narrative concerning the 
perspectives of Indigenous people. The assertion that Indigenous groups 
sought affiliation with the nationalist movement due to the emergence of a 
messianic leadership (242) is an easy generalization that warrants more in-
depth analysis. In other words, by exploring the complex motivations, 
contextual influences, and individual agency within these communities, a 
more compelling account of their involvement in the nationalist struggle 
could have been fleshed out.  

This book will be a useful resource for academics who want a descriptive 
study of colonial policies on forestry and mining in Jalpaiguri and the Jungle 
Mahals. The monograph may also appeal to environmental activists, 
governmental officials, industrialists, NGOs, and advocacy groups. 
Government officials responsible for formulating policies can benefit from 
the insights provided in the book while making informed decisions and 
formulating sustainable policies. It is hard to disagree with Ahmed that 
there is a need for greater democratization in resource management if 
sustainable solutions to the challenges faced in these regions are to be 
found.  

Conflict of Interest Statement: No potential conflict of interest was 
reported by the author. 


