In a hill district of Country Y, the Tanu, a small community, had for generations gathered food in the woods, grazed cattle on the slopes and drawn their living from the streams under rules set by their own elders. A new law placed all of these under a department of the central government, and outsiders were given permits to use them. A public notice issued by the government explained, in a single phrase, what the woods, slopes and streams had now become.
In the UNDP Human Development Report 2004, lands, forests and fisheries seized from minority groups, as in Country Y, are declared to be:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → National resources
Option (1) Protected areas — Incorrect. Protected areas are zones such as sanctuaries where use is limited to conserve nature. The report describes a takeover of minority commons for national use, which is a different aim.
Option (2) State property — Incorrect. State property marks the government as the owner. The report's phrase goes further and claims these lands, forests and fisheries for the whole nation, as part of building a single national identity.
Option (3) National resources — Correct. Box 6.1, adapted from the UNDP Human Development Report 2004, lists seizing lands, forests and fisheries from minority groups and indigenous people and declaring them national resources. It is one of the assimilationist and integrationist strategies states use.
Option (4) Public sector assets — Incorrect. Public sector assets are the plants and firms run by government undertakings. The seized lands, forests and fisheries are natural commons of a community, and the report gives them another name.
NCERT (2026-27): “Communities, Nations and Nation-States … “… Assimilationist and integrationist strategies try to establish singular national identities through various interventions like: Ø Centralising all power to forums where the dominant group constitutes a majority, and eliminating the autonomy of local or minority groups; Ø Imposing a unified legal and judicial system based on the dominant group’s traditions and abolishing alternative systems used by other groups; Ø Adopting the dominant group’s language as the only official ‘national’ language and making its use mandatory in all public institutions; Ø Promotion of the dominant group’s language and culture through national institutions including state-controlled media and educational institutions; Ø Adoption of state symbols celebrating the dominant group’s history, heroes and culture, reflected in such things as choice of national holidays or naming of streets etc.; Ø Seizure of lands, forests and fisheries from minority groups and indigenous people and declaring them ‘national resources’…” |