Question

why was the forest lands considered as wasteland? why did the British wants to
transform these land into cultivation farms

Answer 1

they thought forests were wilderness and wasteland that had to be brought under cultivation so that the land to yield agricultural products and revenue.further, the demand for commercial crops such as sugar,wheat.cotton,jute,etc increased in the 19th century europe where foodgrains were needed to feed the growing urban population and raw materials were required for industrial production.