CBSE Class 9 Answered

 The British introduced scientific forestry and passed many forest acts to establish their control over the Indian forests. The change in forest management affected the nomadic tribes and peasants in India in the following ways:

1. The tribals and villagers used various forest products such as fodder, leaves and flowers to satisfy their needs. Wood was the main source of fuel in households. The British-classified forests were categorized into ‘protected’, reserved’ and ‘village forests’. The entry of villagers into reserved forests was prohibited and they were only allowed to collect essential items from the protected and village forests.

2.  Collecting wood, fruits, roots, hunting and grazing cattle were termed as illegal by the forest acts. This adversely affected the tribals and villagers.

3. Because of the ban on grazing, hunting activities and collection of forest produce, many pastoralists and nomadic communities such as Korava, Yerukula and Karacha of the Madras Presidency lost the means of earning their livelihoods. They were then forced to work in factories, mines and plantations.

4. Mostly villagers were forced to steal wood from forests and they had to pay bribes to the forest guards.

5. The British needed tall and straight trees which could provide hardwood. Thus, only certain species of trees such as teak and sal were predominantly planted and the rest were cut down. Many trees which were cut down were used by the forest communities to earn their livelihood. For example, mahua flowers and roots were collected by the villagers to make liquor and its fruit was used for extracting oil.