Human life being closely dependent on the natural resource base for its survival, conservation and exploitation of natural resources have been an age-old phenomena. Consequently, every society has a natural resource use strategy that has evolved over thousands of years. The natural resource use strategy that evolved in India before the pre-colonial period had some distinct features specific to the region, the same being a derivative of factors such as the level of contemporary technology, population, demand pattern, political conditions and socio-cultural attitudes of the society towards nature. A number of foreign invasions and the consequent integration of migrant groups from other civilisations into Indian society as well as the changing ecological realities of the region influenced and altered these strategies time and again.

This book also traces strategies in the specific geographical region of Maharashtra, which was a part of the erstwhile Bombay Presidency. It further analyses the change in these strategies during the British colonial period and the impact on the people of this region, which gave rise to discontent in society. The colonial history is grounded in the socio-economic conditions of rural Maharashtra during the eighteenth century, particularly the nature of the relationship between rural communities and their living environment, the customary rights of the community, the usage pattern of natural resources such as forests and the cultural attitudes of people.

The study of evolution of colonial forest policies is the basic thrust of the book, especially British forest policies and their influence on the rural communities in Maharashtra. The ideological underpinnings that influenced colonial forest policies have been examined in detail.