) What was the impact of British rule on the tribals and farmers of India? Write one
point each for both groups.
Answers
Answer:
1)The tribal groups were considered important people, because it is they who controlled their territories. Under the British rule they lose their administrative power and were forced to follow law made by British officials in India.
2)The British wanted tribal groups to settle down and become peasant cultivators, because as settled peasants they were easier to control and administer.
3)The British brought about several changes in the forest laws which severely affected the lives of many tribes. The British, for example, extended their control over all forests and declared that forests were state (government) property.
4)During the 19th century, traders and moneylenders began to come into the forests. They offered cash loans to the tribal people and asked them to work for wages.
5)In the 18th century, Indian silk was in demand in European markets, and the East India Company officials tried to encourage silk production in India to meet their growing demands.
6)The plight of the tribals who had to go far away from their homes for work was even worse; they were often recruited in large numbers to work the tea plantations of Assam and the coal mines of Jharkhand. To the tribals, those new homes and jobs were not just unfamiliar but actually very unpleasant and dangerous, and they gradually lost their culture and tradition, their health, self-respect, and their familiar ways of life in the forest.