FORESTRY IN KARNATAKA A JOURNEY OF 150 YEARS DIPAK SARMAH FORESTRY IN KARNATAKA A JOURNEY OF 150 YEARS DIPAK SARMAH (2018) ................................................................. With best compliments from ................................................................. (For free distribution only) Author’s Contact Details: Dipak Sarmah # 245, NTI Layout, 8th Main Vidyaranyapura, Bangalore - 560 097 Ph: 080-23640468 Mob: 9986232094 e-mail: [email protected] Printed by: Unity Printers # 20, Nagappa Street, Palace Guttahalli, Bangalore - 560 003. Ph: 080 23440453 Mob: 98440 34404 e-mail: [email protected] FORESTRY IN KARNATAKA – A JOURNEY OF 150 YEARS TABLE OF CONTENTS SL. NO. CONTENT PAGE NO. Preface i-iii 1 Introduction 1-5 2 Evolution of Forest policy, law and management practices up to 1956 6-45 3 Evolution of Forest policy, law and management practices after 1956 46-81 4 Working Plans for forest management 82-89 5 Impact of plywood and matchwood industries on forest 90-96 6 Funding in the forestry sector 97-104 7 Afforestation under externally aided projects 105-111 8 Development of plantations 112-135 9 Management of Teak plantations 136-145 10 Impact of Eucalyptus on forest 146-154 11 Management of Acacia auriculiformis plantations 155-161 12 Introduction of Kamara in dry zone afforestation 162-164 13 Development and management of Sandalwood 165-171 14 Development and management of Bamboo 172-178 15 Forestry Research 179-189 16 Forest Protection 190-205 17 Forest Consolidation 206-209 18 Farm forestry through public distribution of seedlings 210-219 19 Joint forest planning and management (JFPM) 220-229 20 Forest and Tree Cover scenario 230-240 21 Forestry Training 241-250 22 Forest Ecotourism 251-260 23 Mining in forest areas 261-270 24 The way ahead 271-285 Appendices I Names of Forest Martyrs (1966-67 to 2017-18) 286 II Explanation of technical (forestry) terms 287-289 III Names of plant species (local and scientific) 290-293 IV Abbreviations 294-296 References 297-301 i Forestry in Karnataka – A Journey of 150 Years PREFACE It was a cloudy morning of July, 1979 when I, along with my wife of a few months, had boarded a bus in Hubli bus-stand on our way to Yellapur, where I was to join the Forest department as a probationer. As we settled in the bus, a young man in khaki approached us, greeted me with a mild salute and gave a few colored slips of paper. I took him for the bus conductor dispensing tickets to the passengers and took out my wallet to pay for the tickets. He refused to take any money. He introduced himself as Mr. Sudhir Nayak, RFO, Hubli. He told that he had come to receive us and that he had already paid for the tickets. In spite of my repeated requests he refused to take the bus-fare. As the bus was about to depart, he quickly alighted from the bus after wishing us happy journey. This is how I started my journey of forest service in Karnataka – in debt to the Forest department. As I joined the department and came across more and more people during the course of my service spanning thirty-five years and in various capacities in different parts of the state, my debt kept on mounting. This debt was not of money, but of love and affection. I was fortunate to be part of a department where human relations count a lot, where subordinate members stand by officers through thick and thin, and where superior officers are ready to extend all possible help to junior officers as they would do to younger brothers. It is very difficult to repay such a debt of love and affection received from so many people over the years. This book is dedicated to the entire fraternity of foresters as a token of gratitude. A few words about the book: it is not a memoir. Nor is it about any personal milestones or achievements. It is a narration of events that unfolded in Karnataka's forestry sector during the last 150 years. Organized management of the forest areas of the present day Karnataka started during the mid 1860s. These areas were under different administrations and were integrated in 1956, after the reorganization of the states. An attempt has been made to bring out the salient developments regarding evolution of forest policy, law and management practices in these areas prior to integration as well as during the post-integration period. The events that have occurred during the last 50 years have been narrated in more detail for two reasons: first, documents highlighting the recent events are more in number and these are fairly elaborate with facts and figures. Secondly, having been a part of the Karnataka Forest department for close to forty years, I was witness to many of the events that have taken place during a major part of this period. As regards motivation to write the book, rapid changes in the approach to forest management had taken place in Karnataka since the 1970s. This was triggered partly ii Forestry in Karnataka – A Journey of 150 Years by changes at the national forestry scenario. However, some of the events in Karnataka were innovative and were in fact precursors to developments that eventually unfolded at the national level. I had the privilege to serve the department during this phase, in the field for about sixteen years, in the headquarters for about fifteen years and on deputation to the Government of India for four years. While the field postings, mostly in Shimoga-Uttara Kannada regions and for a year in Dakshina Kannada district, brought me closer to the challenges and charms of forestry operations, postings in the headquarters in various capacities such as CF (Development), CCF (Vigilance), CCF (Working Plan), Secretary (Forest), APCCF (Personnel and Administration), APCCF (Headquarters and Co-ordination), APCCF (Working Plan and Training), APCCF (Vigilance), PCCF (Wildlife) and PCCF (HoFF) provided me with opportunities of having an overview of the Forest department and its working. My posting on deputation to the Government of India as Deputy Adviser in the Planning Commission and as DIG (Forest Policy) in the Ministry of Environment and Forests was also very fruitful and educative, as I had the privilege of having a national perspective on forest policy and planning. The information provided in the document is primarily factual and has been as far as possible presented chronologically. I have attempted to provide some historical context to the information. In some cases I have given analytical comments based on field experiences and observations; some of the comments are also based on evaluation reports, annual reports, etc. The contents of the book are familiar to most of my colleagues and contemporaries in the Forest department. I must however confess that as I started collecting information from various sources and delved into a large volume of documents including old working plans, I gained much more information about the forests and their past history of working than I thought I had. My attempt is to piece these bits of information together and present them in the form of a book with the hope that these will be of advantage to the new and incoming generations of foresters who may like to know something about the past management of the forests with which they will be intimately involved during their service. Although the book has been prepared for general reading, a few technical (forestry) terms have crept in. For the convenience of readers without forestry background, explanation of these technical terms has been given in an Appendix. Since the document is primarily narration of events that occurred over a fairly long period of time and as my desire was not to omit any important event by oversight, I had prepared a draft document and circulated it among my esteemed forestry colleagues for their inputs and suggestions. The draft has been revised on the basis of comments and feedback received from some of them. I am extremely iii Forestry in Karnataka – A Journey of 150 Years grateful to Mr. A. C. Lakshmana, Dr. S. N. Rai, Mr. Ganesh V. Sugur, Mr. Vinay Luthra, Dr. Ravi Ralph, Mr. Sanjai Mohan, Dr. K.N. Murthy, Dr. K. H. Vinaya Kumar and Mr. Vasantha Reddy for their valuable suggestions which have been incorporated in the final document. I am also thankful to Mr. R.M. Palanna, Dr. P.J. Dilip Kumar, Mr. A.K. Varma, Mr. I.B. Srivastava, Mr. B.K. Singh, Mr. R.M.N. Sahai, Mr. M.H.A. Shaikh, Dr. B. Raghotham Rao Desai, Mr. N.D. Tiwari, Mr. R.S. Suresh, Mr. B.J. Hosamath, Mr. K.S.Sugara, Mr. A.K. Garg, Mr. G. Vidya Sagar, Mr. Punathi Sridhar, Mr. T.V. Mohan Das, Mr. D.A. Venkatesh, Mr. C. Jayaram, Mr. Ajai Misra, Mr. Puneet Pathak, Mr. G.S. Yadav, Mr. Manjunath Veerannagowdar, Mr. Manjunath Chauhan and many others for their words of encouragement. I am also thankful to Smt. Usha Kumari, Senior Librarian and staff of Central Library, Aranya Bhavan for extending their help in providing data/information for the book. Forestry, like the wilderness of a forest, is an immensely vast subject. This book is an attempt at sharing some information about the subject, with special reference to Karnataka. It is just a speck in this vast wilderness of knowledge - a fern in the wild. My sincere thanks are to Mr. Selvino Fernandes for the front cover photo and also to my forestry colleague Mr. Vijay Mohan Raj for providing the same. - DIPAK SARMAH 1 Forestry in Karnataka – A Journey of 150 Years INTRODUCTION The present state of Karnataka came into being with effect from 1st November, 1956.