Jungle Adventures: From the Forests of India
Jungle Adventures: From the Forests of India

Author: Rini Basu

Publisher: Lulu.com

Published: 2018-01-15

Total Pages: 138

ISBN-13: 1387512730

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

'Jungle Adventures; From the Forests of India', as the name suggests, is an interesting book of short stories based on true jungle adventures in Indian forests. The Sunderbans National Park in India is home to the majestic Royal Bengal tiger and the high altitude Himalayan conifer forests like Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary are the favourite hunting grounds of the ferocious snow leopards. Before independence, tiger hunting was a popular sport among the British colonizers as well as the royal Indian maharajahs. Shortly after independence, the Indian government lawfully prohibited the ruthless killing of wild animals and hunting became a serious and punishable offence.Adventure in the jungle is the main theme, though there are elements of love, humour and humanity to enhance the colour of the stories. The stories will interest readers of all ages.

Environment and Empire
Environment and Empire

Author: William Beinart

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2007-10-11

Total Pages: 412

ISBN-13: 0191566284

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

European imperialism was extraordinarily far-reaching: a key global historical process of the last 500 years. It locked disparate human societies together over a wider area than any previous imperial expansion; it underpinned the repopulation of the Americas and Australasia; it was the precursor of globalization as we now understand it. Imperialism was inseparable from the history of global environmental change. Metropolitan countries sought raw materials of all kinds, from timber and furs to rubber and oil. They established sugar plantations that transformed island ecologies. Settlers introduced new methods of farming and displaced indigenous peoples. Colonial cities, many of which became great conurbations, fundamentally changed relationships between people and nature. Consumer cultures, the internal combustion engine, and pollution are now ubiquitous. Environmental history deals with the reciprocal interaction between people and other elements in the natural world, and this book illustrates the diverse environmental themes in the history of empire. Initially concentrating on the material factors that shaped empire and environmental change, Environment and Empire discusses the way in which British consumers and manufacturers sucked in resources that were gathered, hunted, fished, mined, and farmed. Yet it is also clear that British settler and colonial states sought to regulate the use of natural resources as well as commodify them. Conservation aimed to preserve resources by exclusion, as in wildlife parks and forests, and to guarantee efficient use of soil and water. Exploring these linked themes of exploitation and conservation, this study concludes with a focus on political reassertions by colonised peoples over natural resources. In a post-imperial age, they have found a new voice, reformulating ideas about nature, landscape, and heritage and challenging, at a local and global level, views of who has the right to regulate nature.

What's Left of the Jungle
What's Left of the Jungle

Author: Nitin Sekar

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2022-02-15

Total Pages: 335

ISBN-13: 9354355862

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Indian officials estimate that over half a million families lose crops or property to wild elephants a year. Akshu Atri, born and raised in Buxa Tiger Reserve, is one such victim. Elephants have destroyed his kitchen, regularly take over half of his annual crop yield, and have even killed some of his neighbours. Akshu could hate elephants, but he doesn't - neither does his family nor most of their community. By telling Akshu's story - of his childhood destitution, family tragedies, romantic pursuits, entanglements with poachers and smugglers, and his tumultuous rise out of poverty - What's Left of the Jungle unravels the complex affection that rural Indians have for jungle wildlife. Akshu's story can help us understand both why some of the tropics' most crowded landscapes still host the world's most stunning wildlife - and what we might need to do to keep it that way.

Imperial Engineers
Imperial Engineers

Author: Richard Hornsey

Publisher: University of Toronto Press

Published: 2022-03-31

Total Pages: 378

ISBN-13: 1487535058

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Established in 1871 on the outskirts of London, the Royal Indian Engineering College at Coopers Hill was arguably the first engineering school in Britain. For thirty-five years the college helped staff the government institutions of British India responsible for the railways, irrigation systems, telegraph network, and forests. Founded to meet the high demand for engineers in that country, it was closed thirty-five years later because its educational innovations had been surpassed by Britain’s universities – on both occasions against the wishes of the Government of India. Imperial Engineers offers a complete history of the Royal Indian Engineering College. Drawing on the diaries of graduates working in India, the college magazine, student and alumni periodicals, and other archival documents, Richard Hornsey details why the college was established and how the students’ education prepared them for their work. Illustrating the impact of the college and its graduates in India and beyond, Imperial Engineers illuminates the personal and professional experiences of British men in India as well as the transformation of engineering education at a time of social and technological change.

Running Away from Elephants
Running Away from Elephants

Author: Rauf Ali

Publisher:

Published: 2018-03-10

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 9789387693074

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

'The memoirs of a self-confessed maverick wildlife biologist, full of fascinating information, and stories told with Rauf's inimitable caustic humour. A must for wildlife lovers and all who enjoy a unique read.'--Mark Tully Beginning with his interactions with Dr Salim Ali, the legendary ornithologist--who was also his grand-uncle--wildlife biologist Rauf Ali takes the reader on a journey through India's natural history and the beginning of ecological studies in India. Rauf was one of the first Indians to complete a PhD in wildlife biology--he researched the social behaviour of bonnet macaques in the forests of Mundanthurai region in Tamil Nadu. In the late 1980s, he was instrumental in setting up one of India's first Masters programmes in ecology, and later, as an ecologist, Rauf undertook the task of delineating Protected Areas in the Palani Hills of the Western Ghats. He was also among the first to conduct environmental research in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and in this book, he provides eye-opening information on the environmental damage caused by the introduction of chital and other species alien to the region. Enlivening the narrative are anecdotes drawn from a career spanning over three decades: of encountering wild elephants; dealing with red tape; and whiskey-laced brainstorming sessions with students and Nobel laureates alike. Through these personal accounts, Rauf reveals the state of environmental conservation in India, and the complex relationship between locals, wildlife researchers and forest officials. He also emerges as a person who was influential in creating policies for the conservation of the environment and who had little patience for the corruption and bureaucratic processes that came in the way. Quirky, candid and informative, Running Away from Elephants is an invaluable addition to writings on natural history in India.