Which of the following is NOT True of the reasons for extension of agriculture by the British?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → To view forest people as easy to govern.
In the last decades of the eighteenth century the British aggressively extended settled agriculture in eastern India and encouraged forest clearance.
Option (1) It was a necessity to enlarge sources of land revenue. Correct statement. To the British, extension of settled agriculture was necessary to enlarge the sources of land revenue.
Option (2) To produce crops for export. Correct statement. It was also meant to produce crops for export.
Option (3) To establish a settled and ordered society. Correct statement. It was further meant to establish the basis of a settled, ordered society.
Option (4) To view forest people as easy to govern. Incorrect statement. The British saw forest people the other way round: as savage, unruly, primitive, and difficult to govern. So they felt that forests had to be cleared and forest people tamed and persuaded to take to plough agriculture.
NCERT (2026-27): “2.1 In the hills of Rajmahal … It broke down in the last decades of the eighteenth century when the frontiers of settled agriculture were being aggressively extended in eastern India. 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.…” |