From the late nineteenth century onwards, the colonial government res…

From the late nineteenth century onwards, the colonial government reserved most forest tracts for its own use. For which purpose were these forests now to be protected?

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 3

The correct answer is Option (3) → Maximising timber production

Option (1) Generating power through new dam projects — Incorrect. Dams for power generation came with the capital-intensive industrialisation of independent India after 1947. They belong to a later period than the late nineteenth-century colonial forest policy.

Option (2) Supplying minerals for new industries — Incorrect. The demand for minerals grew after Independence, when adivasi lands were acquired for new mining projects. This too is a later development of independent India.

Option (3) Maximising timber production — Correct. The colonial government reserved most forest tracts for its own use and protected them for maximising timber production. Adivasis lost their old rights to gather produce and practise shifting cultivation.

Option (4) Expanding plantations that employed wage labour — Incorrect. Plantations were places where tribal people migrated in search of work. They were a destination for migrant labour and had no part in why the reserved forests were protected.

NCERT (2026-27): “Adivasi Struggles …
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. …”

“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. …”

From the late nineteenth century onwards, the colonial government reserved most forest tracts for its own use. For which purpose were these forests now to be protected?

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 3

The correct answer is Option (3) → Maximising timber production