TheImprovement ofTropical and Subtropical Rangelands

OHANGING PATrERNS IN THE BEDTHI-AGHANASHINI VALLEYS 805
zone, the attempt was to convert as much of the uncultivated land
as poesible into state-owned teak plantations. A certain amount of
uncultivated land was permitted, however, to generate resources for
the local population, although its ownership and ultimate control
was firmly vested in the state authority (Gadgil et al., 1983).
The principal consequence of this policy was near total loss
of control over resources by the nonliterate communities such as
Halakkis, Patagars, and Naiks. With the insistence on individual
ownership of land and payment of taxes in cash, these communities
quickly ran into debt and lost the ownership of land to the two
literate, priestly cutes, Saraswats and Haviks, who could adapt to
the new system of codified control of resources. While a certain
amount ofresources of uncultivated land continued to be available to
the local population, this was as a privilege; their management rights
were removed. Good communal management of these resources,
therefore, began to break down, especially as the population began
to increase with control of epidemic diseases. The result was the
unllUlltainable utilization of resources and their decimation. There
was little pouibility at this stage of generating any surplus from
aquatic resources, which were left alone. However, there was siltation
and shallowing of the west coast rivers, which may have affected the
aquatic life.
Reserved Forests
About half the uncultivated land of the region, amounting to
40 percent of the total land, was constituted into reserved forests
under full control of the state. The British were primarily interested
in the production of teak from these forests, and extensive tracts,
especially in the moist, deciduous forest lone, were converted to teak
plantations under protest from local populations, who valued the
natural mixed forests (Dhareshwar, 1941). The local people retained
certain privileges of use of even the reserved forests, including grazing
in natural forests and older plantations and collection of dead
and fallen wood, generally under payment of some charge. Hunting
was continued, and elephants became part of the game. With the
introduction offirearms, many of the British and Indian government
officials became avid hunters. Another interesting development was
that some of the Saraswat and Havik landowners, albeit belonging
to priestly castes, also took to hunting with the help of firearms.