Which one of the following was true under colonial rule?

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 2

The correct answer is Option (2) → Forest people were considered savage, primitive and difficult

Option (1) British officials encouraged shifting agriculture — Incorrect. The British encouraged forest clearance and settled agriculture, which they needed to enlarge land revenue, grow crops for export and build a settled, ordered society.

Option (2) Forest people were considered savage, primitive and difficult — Correct. The British associated forests with wildness and saw forest people as savage, unruly, primitive, and difficult to govern.

Option (3) Forest people retained the customary right to hunt — Incorrect. Forest people were to be persuaded to give up hunting and take to plough agriculture.

Option (4) Forest people were ready to settle permanently — Incorrect. The British felt that forest people had to be tamed, civilised and persuaded to settle; they did not take to settled life on their own.

NCERT (2026-27): “2.1 In the hills of Rajmahal … The British encouraged forest clearance, and zamindars and jotedars turned uncultivated lands into rice fields. To the British, extension of settled agriculture was necessary to enlarge the sources of land revenue, produce crops for export, and establish the basis of a settled, ordered society. They also associated forests with wildness, and saw forest people as savage, unruly, primitive, and difficult to govern. So they felt that forests had to be cleared, settled agriculture established, and forest people tamed, civilised and persuaded to give up hunting and take to plough agriculture.…”