Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follows.

In the areas where tribal populations are concentrated, their economic and social conditions are usually much worse than those of non-tribals. The impoverished and exploited circumstances under which adivasis live can be traced historically to the pattern of accelerated resource extraction started by the colonial British government and continued by the government of independent India. From the late nineteenth century onwards, the colonial government reserved most forest tracts for its own use, severing the rights that adivasis had long exercised to use the forest for gathering produce and for shifting cultivation. Forests were now to be protected for maximising timber production. With this policy, the mainstay of their livelihoods was taken away from adivasis, rendering their lives poorer and more insecure. Denied access to forests and land for cultivation, adivasis were forced to either use the forests illegally (and be harassed and prosecuted as 'encroachers' and thieves) or migrate in search of wage labour.

Which of the following is directly responsible for the increase in poverty among the tribals?

Denial of access to forest produce.

The correct answer is Option (3) → Denial of access to forest produce.

The passage clearly mentions: “With this policy, the mainstay of their livelihoods was taken away from adivasis … Denied access to forests and land for cultivation, adivasis were forced …”

So, the direct reason for their increased poverty was the denial of access to forest produce, which had been their livelihood base.