Arrange the following statements in order of the historical experience of tribal communities in India.
(A) In 1991 government data said 75 percent of tribal communities still awaiting rehabilitation.
(B) Attainment of statehood for Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh
(C) Adivasi lands was rapidly acquired for new mining and dam projects
(D) Post independence the government monopoly over forests continued.
(E) From the late 19th century onwards, government reserved most forest tracts for its own use.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → (E), (D), (C), (A), (B)
(E) From the late 19th century onwards, government reserved most forest tracts for its own use. — first. The colonial government reserved most forest tracts from the late nineteenth century, cutting off the adivasis’ long-held rights to gather produce and practise shifting cultivation.
(D) Post independence the government monopoly over forests continued. — second. After Independence in 1947 the government’s monopoly over forests continued.
(C) Adivasi lands was rapidly acquired for new mining and dam projects — third. The policy of capital-intensive industrialisation adopted by independent India needed minerals and power, found in adivasi areas, so their lands were acquired and millions were displaced.
(A) In 1991 government data said 75 percent of tribal communities still awaiting rehabilitation. — fourth. Of the 30 million people displaced by land acquisition since 1947, almost 75 per cent were, by the government’s own admission, ‘still awaiting rehabilitation’ (Fernandes 1991).
(B) Attainment of statehood for Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh — last. It is counted among the most significant achievements of Adivasi movements in post-Independence India; Jharkhand was carved out of south Bihar in the year 2000, and Chhattisgarh out of Madhya Pradesh.
Note: The figure in statement (A) comes from Box 5.5, ‘In the Name of Development – Adivasis in the Line of Fire’, on land acquisition at Kalinganagar, Orissa, in the chapter ‘Patterns of Social Inequality and Exclusion’ of the pre-rationalised NCERT, which NTA followed in 2023. This box has been deleted from the NCERT book (2025-26), though the chapter is still there.
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.…” “…In post-Independence India, the most significant achievements of Adivasi movements include the attainment of statehood for Jharkhand and Chattisgarh, which were originally part of Bihar and Madhya Pradesh respectively.…” “Jharkhand … Jharkhand is one of the newly formed states of India, carved out of south Bihar in the year 2000.…”
Box 5.5, In the Name of Development – Adivasis in the Line of Fire (Pre-rationalised NCERT) |
