Shifting Ground: People, Animals, and Mobility in India’s Environmental History

The essays in the volume analyse India’s environmental past and the way it has been viewed by scholars. They debunk the idea of a primeval, pristine forest cover in India and delve into the past and its traditions that are invoked when debating contemporary conflicts. They examine the dynamics that shape human-animal relations and the conflicts resulting from post-independence projects of rural development and conservation. They touch upon aspects of environmental studies relating them to social history, history of science and history of trade and culture. With case studies, they cover pressures on natural assets created by prosperity and the aspirations of an expanding middle class. Referring to historical periods and states of India, they take up the faunal wealth in Mughal India, animal breeding in nineteenth-century Punjab, conflicts over animal sacrifices in Uttarakhand and the tiger crisis and response to it with specific reference to the Sariska wildlife sanctuary.