Sebastian Joseph delivered a special invited talk during an open session in JNU at Koyna Mess on 21, January on his latest work Cochin Forests and the British Techno-ecological Imperialism in India. The book sifts through a variety of archival material that has hitherto remained unexamined, to trace the making of these forest reforms and their impact on the rich ecological life of the region. The book examines the workings of the forest tramway constructed in the beginning of the twentieth century to transport massive amounts of extracted; the enormous financial burden it brought on the state and how that was mitigated through further exploitation of forest resources whilst limiting access of the local population to the forests. The talk was followed by an interactive session in which he answered to the questions of the audience. It was attended by research scholars, M.Phil students and PG’s in History and other disciplines.
