What Did the Pulp and Paper Industry Do?
(Volumes 1 & 2) by Manorama Savur. Manohar, Delhi, 2003. Manorama Savurs sharp and sensitive, sometimes impassioned account of the impact of the pulp and paper industry (PPI) on large tracts of forests in the country is a tale worth telling. Responding to a growing demand for paper, the first industrial scale units made their appearance in India in the first half of the 19th century; by the end of the century there were many more. In the early years of the 20th century, the Forest Research Institute, Dehra Dun discovered the virtues of bamboo as a pulpable material. The subsequent commercialisation of the technology led to an era of unprecedented growth for the industry and the concomitant destruction of wide swathes of hitherto pristine forests. A reasonably straightforward proposition, backed by a half decade of diligent research across the spread of the country, led and coordinated by Manorama Savur. The problem is that the reader has to dig it out. The two volume narrative is 705 p
