Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.
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.
The land of Adivasis was captured for which of the following reasons by the Government of India?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Development of Mining and Dam projects
Option (4) Development of Mining and Dam projects — Correct. After 1947 the government kept its monopoly over forests. Its policy of capital-intensive industrialisation needed minerals and power-generation capacity, and these were concentrated in Adivasi areas, so Adivasi lands were rapidly acquired for new mining and dam projects. Dams such as Sardar Sarovar on the Narmada and Polavaram on the Godavari displaced hundreds of thousands of adivasis, all justified in the name of ‘national development’.
Note: The passage stops at the colonial period. The reason asked here comes from the paragraph that follows the passage in the NCERT chapter, which is quoted below.
NCERT (2025-26): “Adivasi Struggles … 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.…” “…After the Independence of India in 1947 the government’s monopoly over forests continued. The policy of capital-intensive industrialisation adopted by the Indian government required mineral resources and power-generation capacities which were concentrated in Adivasi areas. Adivasi lands were rapidly acquired for new mining and dam projects. In the process, millions of adivasis were displaced without any appropriate compensation or rehabilitation.…” |