Q 1 –Where was Birsa seen roaming the village and forests?
Ans – Birsa was seen roaming the villages and forests of Chottanagpur in Jharkhand.
Q 2 –Name the notable tribes in India.
Ans –The notable tribes in India were
- The Bodos of Assam
- The Gonds of Central India
- The Kurumbars of South India
- The Todas of the Nilgiri plateau
- The Mundas of Jharkhand
Q 3 –What were the activities of the Tribals?
Ans –Tribal people in different parts of India were involved in a variety of activities. They were Shifting Cultivation
- Hunting & Gathering forest produce
- Herding animals settled cultivation
Q 4 –To which tribes did Birsa belong?
Ans –Munda tribe.
Q 5 –What was the other name used for Jhum cultivation?
Ans –Shifting cultivation was the other name used for Jhum cultivation.
Q 6 –What is meant by the term fallow?
Ans – A field left uncultivated for a while so that soil recovers fertility is called fallow.
Q 7 –From where did the Khonds tribes belong to?
Ans – The Khonds belonged to Orissa.
Q 8 –Where did the Munda people live?
Ans –Munda people lived in the Chhotanagpur region of the present-day state of Jharkhand.
Q 9 –Name two other tribes who were the followers of Birsa.
Ans –Santhals and Oraons.
Q 10 –Which tribes were not ready to work as laborers?
Ans –The Baigas were not ready to work as laborers.
Q 11 –Which tribes used to work as cattle herders in Andhra Pradesh?
Ans –The Labadis of Andhra Pradesh were cattle herders.
Q 12 –Who were called dikus?
Ans –The outsiders were called dikus by the tribes.
Q 13 –Where were the shifting cultivators found?
Ans – Shifting cultivators were found in the hilly and forested tracts of the northeast and Central India.
Q 14 –Who was seen amongst the tribes as more civilized in comparison to the hunter-gatherers and shifting cultivators by the British?
Ans –The British saw settled tribes like the Gonds and Santhals as more civilized.
Q 15 –Where did the Khonds live?
Ans –The Khond people lived in the forests of Orissa.
Q 16 –How did Khond people obtain their livelihood?
Ans –The Khond people obtain their livelihood by hunting and food-gathering.
Q 17 –Where was the settled plough cultivation not easy?
Ans – Settled plough cultivation was not easy in areas where water was scare and soil was dry.
Q 18 –How did the forest people obtain things that they did not produce in the forests?
Ans –They mostly exchanged goods to fulfill their need for things they did not produce.
Q 19 –What did the forest people do when supplies of forest produce shrank?
Ans –They wandered around in search of work as labourers.
Q 20 –Who were Dikus?
Ans – Dikus were the outsiders.
Q 21 –Name any two tribes who lived by herding and rearing animals.
Ans –Van Gujjars and Gaddis
Q 22 –Where did the Baiga people live?
Ans –The Baiga people lived in the forests in Central India
Q 23 –In which family was Birsa born?
Ans – Birsa was born in a family of a Tribal group called Munda.
Q 24 –Name any two settled tribal groups.
Ans –Gonds and Santhals
Q 25 –What did the British oÍcials think about settled tribal groups?
Ans –The British oÍcials thought them to be more civilised than hunter-gatherers.
Q 26 – What differences within the tribes?
Ans – Tribals have social and economical differences.
Q 27 – With which tribal groups the British were uncomfortable?
Ans – The British were uncomfortable with those tribal groups who moved about and did not have a fixed home
Q 28 – Why did the British want tribes to become peasant cultivators?
Ans –This was because peasants were easier to control and administer than people who always moved on.
Q 29 – Where were the Jhum cultivators done?
Ans – Jhum cultivation was done on a small patch of land.
Q 30 – What were the Reserve Forests?
Ans –They were the forests which produced timbers. The tribal people were not allowed to enter these forests.
Q 31 –Why were the forest villages established?
Ans –The forest villages were established to ensure a regular supply of cheap labour for cutting trees for railway sleepers
Q 32 – In which activity was the tribals mostly involved?
Ans –The tribals were indulged in the herding of animals and rearing of animals.
Q 33 –When and where did the revolt of Songram Sangma take place?
Ans –The Songram Sangma revolt took place in 1906 in Assam.
Q 34 –When and where did the Forest Satyagraha take place?
Ans –The Forest Satyagraha took place in the 1930s in the Central Provinces.
Q 35 – Who was ‘Vaishnav’?
Ans – Vaishnav were the worshippers of Lord Vishnu.
Q 36 –Name the tribe which reared cocoons
Ans –Santhals of Hazaribagh.
Q 37 –Where did tribes work as labourers in the late nineteenth century?
Ans –They worked in tea plantations of Assam and coal mines of Jharkhand.
Q 38 –What is meant by Satyug?
Ans –Satyug means the age of truth.
Q 39 – Which flag was raised as a symbol of Birsa raj.
Ans –White flag was raised as a symbol of Birsa raj.
Q 1 –What was the aim of Birsa’s movement?
Ans –His movement aimed at reforming tribal society and take it out of the hands of dikus.
Q 40 –What did people think about Birsa? What did Birsa proclaim about himself?
Ans – 1. People believed that Birsa could cure all diseases and multiply grains.
2. Birsa proclaimed about himself that God has appointed him to save his people from trouble and free them from the slavery of dikus.
Q 41 – In which year Birsa was arrested?
Ans –Arrest of Birsa was done in 1895.
Q 42 –Why were the Munda and other tribal people of the region unhappy with British rule?
Ans – 1 . They were unhappy with the changes they were experiencing and the problems they were facing under British rule.
2. Their ways of life seemed to be disappearing, their livelihoods were under threat, and their religion appeared to be in danger.
Q 43 –Comment on tribal societies.
Ans – 1. Most tribes had customs and rituals diÌerent from those laid down by Brahmins.
2. The tribal societies did not have the same social divisions that were characteristics of caste societies.
3. People who belonged to the same tribe thought of themselves as sharing common ties of kinship.
Q 44 – How did Birsa died.
Ans –In 1900 Birsa died of Cholera and the movement got faded.
Q 45 –How did the shifting cultivators live their lives?
Ans – 1. The lives of the shifting cultivators depended on free movement within the forest.
2. Their lives depended on being able to use the land and forests for growing their crops.
Q 46 –What did the tribal people do when supplies of forest produce shrank?
Ans – 1. Some of the tribal people did odd jobs in the villages.
2. They carried loads or got jobs in building roads.
3. Some people labored in the Êelds of peasants and farmers.
Q 47 – In which year was Birsa released?
Ans –Birsa was released in 1897.
Q 48 –Why were Baiga people reluctant to do works for others?
Ans – 1. The Baigas saw themselves as people of the forest, who could only live on the produce of the forest.
2. The Baiga people considered it to be below the dignity of a Baiga to become a labourer.
Q 49 –Why did tribal people become dependent on traders and moneylenders?
Ans – 1. The tribal people often needed to sell and buy goods in order to be able to get those goods which were not produced in their locality.
2. Traders came around with things for sale. Money-lenders gave loans with which the tribals could meet their cash needs.
Q 50 – How did the tribals group reacted against the Britisher’s forest laws?
Ans –Tribal groups reacted against the Britisher’s forest laws:
1. They disobeyed
2. Openly rebel
3. Revolts took place
Q 51 –Why did the tribal people see moneylenders and traders as evil outsiders? ‘
Ans – 1. The traders sold them things at high prices and purchased goods from them at low prices
2. The moneylenders charged high interest rates on the loans which they provided to the tribal people.
This led to indebtedness and poverty among the tribal people. This was because they saw them as evil outsiders.
Q 52 –Discuss some herders and animal rearing tribal people.
Ans – 1. The Van Gujjars of the Punjab hills and the Labadie of Andhra Pradesh were cattle herders.
2. The Gaddis of Kulu were shepherds.
3. The Bakarwals of Kashmir reared goats.
Q 53 –What is meant by Embankments?
Ans –A wall or bank built to prevent river §ooding areas
Q 54 –Discuss the state of rights of the land among Mundas.
Ans – 1. Among Mundas, the land belonged to the Clan as a whole.
2. All members of the Clan were regarded as descendants of the original settlers, who has first cleared the land. Therefore, all of them had rights on the land.
Q 55 –What happened to the British flort to settle jhum cultivators?
Ans – 1. This flort was not very successful.
2. Settled plough cultivation was not easy in the areas where water was scarce and the soil was dry.
3. Jhum cultivators who undertook the plough cultivation often sulered, since their fields did not produce a good yield. People started protesting settled ploughing.
Q 56 – In what ways was the Movement led by Birsa significant?
Ans –The movement was significant in at least two ways.
1. It forced the colonial government to introduce laws so that the land of tribals could not be easily taken by Dikus.
2. It showed once again that tribals had the capacity to protest against justice.
Q 57 –Explain the reformist ideas of Birsa.
Ans – 1. Birsa asked people to give up drinking liquor which was devastating people’s personal, family and social life.
2. He urged people to clean their village and stop believing in witchcraft and sorcery
Q 58 –What were the political aims of Birsa movement?
Ans – 1. Birsa wanted to drive out missionaries, money-lenders, Hindu landlords and the government.
2. This movement wanted to set up a Munda Raj with Birsa as its head.
Q 59 – In whose company did Birsa spend time and what happened after?
Ans – Birsa spent some time in the company of a prominent Vaishnav preacher after that Birsa wore the sacred thread and began to value the importance of purity and piety.
Q 60 –Why did Munda people consider dikus as the cause of their misery and suffering?
Ans – 1. They felt that the land policies of the British were destroying their traditional land system.
2. They saw that Hindu landlords and moneylenders were taking over their land.
3. They saw that the missionaries were criticizing their traditional culture.
Q 61 –What are colonial rules?
Ans –When the powerful country has been administered the land and resource of a country it is called colonial rules.
Q 62 – Which activity of traders and moneylenders took time to be understood by the tribals?
Ans –During the 19th-century tribal groups found that traders and moneylenders were coming into forests more often, wanting to buy forest produce, offering cash loans, and asking them to work for wages. This activity of traders and moneylenders took time to be understood by the tribals.
Q 63 –What is the ‘Land Settlement Act’ and why was it enforced?
Ans –Land Settlement Act which was enforced by the British defined the rights of each individual to a measured piece of land and fixed the revenue for that piece of land, which had to be paid to the British. The British enforced this law as they wanted a regular revenue source from the states.
Q 64 –What are ‘Reserved forests’?
Ans – Some forests were classified as Reserved Forests by the British as they produced timber which they wanted. The tribals were not allowed to move freely in these forests and practice Shifting cultivation. They were also not allowed to collect fruits or hunt animals in the reserved forests.
Q 65 – How did the tribals react against the colonial forest laws?
Ans –Many tribal groups reacted against the colonial forest laws. They disobeyed the new rules, continued with practices that were declared
illegal and at times rose in open rebellion.
Q 66 –What was the lifestyle of Khonds community?
Ans –The Khonds community lived in the forest of Orissa. They regularly went out on collective hunts then divided the meat amongst themselves. They ate fruits and roots collected from the forest and cooked food with oil they extracted from the seeds of Sal and Mahua. The local weavers turned to Khonds in need of Kusum and Palash flowers to colour their clothes and leathers.
Q 67 –Mention the 2 rebellions that took place as a protest against forest laws.
Ans –Many tribals were against the Forest Laws and rebelled against them. Some tribals also rose in open rebellion against the British. They were Sonogram Sangma in 1906 in Assam. The forest Satyagraha of the 1930s in the Central Provinces.
Q 68 –Write a short note on the Santhals of Jharkhand.
Ans –Santhals are the third largest tribe in India. They are mostly found in the states of West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand and Assam. Santhals belong to the Pre Aryan period. They were the great fighters during the British regime in India.
They wagged war against the Permanent Settlement Act enforced by Lord Cornwallis in 1855. During the late 1850s, Santhals hero Sidhu had accumulated around 10 thousand Santhals to run a parallel government against the British government. Santhals speak Santhali language, which belongs to the Austro- Asiatic language family. The livelihood of the Santhals revolves around the forests they live in. They fulfill their basic needs from the trees and plants of the forests. They also cultivated silkworms.
An animal sacrifice to the Gods was a common practice among the Santhals to appease the Gods and Goddess. Santhals mainly celebrate the Karam festival which falls in the month of September and October. It is the tradition among the Santhals to grow the Karam tree outside their house after the purification process.
Q 69 – What were the reasons behind outsiders offering cash loans and work to tribals on wages. Ans. The reasons were:
- During 18th century Indian silk was in demand in European market. As the market expanded EIC officials tried to encourage silk production to meet the growing demand.
- Hazaribagh in present-day Jharkhand was area where Santhals reared cocoons. The traders dealings in silk sent their agents who gave loans to tribals and further process took place
Q 70 – Who were Jhum cultivators and what was the way they adopted for their livelihood?
Ans –The ones who practiced Jhum cultivation that is shifting cultivation were known as Jhum cultivators. Their lifestyle was based on the way they used to do cultivation means that the way they did the cultivation by migrating or shifting very frequently from one place to another. These cultivation practices included the process in which cultivators used to cut the treetop to allow sunlight to reach the ground, and, burnt the vegetation on the land to clear it for cultivation.
They spread the ash from the ¦ring, which contained potash to fertilize the soil. The axe was used by them to cut trees and hoe to scratch soil in order to prepare it for cultivation. They broadcasted seed, that is, scattered the seeds on the field instead of ploughing the land and sowing the seeds. Once the crop was ready and harvested they moved to another field. The field cultivated once was left
fallow.
Q 71 –What were the two main systems of indigo cultivation?
Ans – 1. nij-cultivation on planter’s own land.
2. ryoti-cultivation on ryot’s land.
Q 72 –Explain jhum cultivation.
Ans – 1. This was done on small patches of land, mostly in the forest.
2. The cultivators cut the trees and burnt the vegetation to clear the land for cultivation.
3. They spread ash throughout the land. They did not plough the land.
4. They broadcasted the seeds.
5. Once the crop was ready and harvested, they moved to another field to follow the same process.
This is because this is also known as shifting cultivation.
Q73–What were the conditions of the chiefs of Tribals before and after the British? How did the British impose the rules and laws on tribal chiefs?
Ans –Before the arrival of the British, tribal chiefs were important in many areas. They enjoyed a certain amount of economic power and had the right to administer and control their territories. In some places, they had their own control with police and on the forest management. But under British rule functions and powers of the tribal chiefs changed considerably. They were allowed to keep their land titles over a cluster of villages and rent outlands. But much of their administrative power was lost and they were forced to follow the laws of the British o¨cials in India. They also had to pay tribute to the British, and discipline the tribal groups on behalf of the British. They lost authority which was earlier enjoyed by them amongst their people and were unable to fulfill their traditional functions.
Q 74 –Write a short note on ‘shifting cultivation.
Ans –In shifting cultivation, a plot of land is cleared by felling the trees and burning them. Small patches of land in forests were used for this kind of cultivation. The cultivators cut the treetops to allow sunlight to reach the ground. The ashes of burnt trees were mixed with the soil to fertilize it. The tribals used the axe to cut trees and the hoe to scratch the soil in order to prepare it for cultivation. They scattered the seeds on the field instead of ploughing the land and sowing the seeds. Once the crop was ready it was harvested.
After the soil lost its fertility, the land was abandoned and the cultivator moved to a new plot. Shifting cultivation is also known as ‘slash and burn agriculture. Shifting cultivation usually starts with cutting trees and after which clears a spot for crop production. In the ideal case, shifting cultivation is a cycle where farmers come back to the original place after a couple of years.
Q 75 –How did the status of the tribal chiefs change after the British established power in India?
Ans –The powers of the tribal chiefs changed after the British came to power. The chiefs did not have any administrative powers, they were only allowed to keep their land and rent them out if they wanted to. The tribal chiefs had to pay tribute to the British, and discipline the tribal groups on behalf of the British. The chiefs lost the authority they had earlier enjoyed amongst their people and were unable to fulfill their traditional functions
Q 76 –Why did the British dislike ‘shifting cultivators’?
Ans –The British did not like people moving from place to place, as was the case with shifting cultivators. They wanted tribal groups to settle down and become settled cultivators as it would be easier to control and administer people who were in one place. The British also found it easy to collect revenue from people who were settled in one place and maintain records on them.
Q 77 – How did Forest laws impact the life of tribal people?
Ans –The life of tribal groups was directly connected to forests. So changes in forest laws created a considerable effect on tribal lives. The British extended their control over all forests and declared the forests as state property. Some forests produced timber which the British wanted. In these forests, people were not allowed to move freely and practice Jhum cultivation, collect fruit on hunt animals.
Many Jhum cultivators were forced to move to other areas in search of work and livelihood. The British although later allowed Jhum cultivators by giving small patches of land in the forest and allowed them to cultivate these on the condition that those living in villages would have to provide labour to the Forest Department and look after the forest. This was the way the forest laws had impacted the tribal’s life.
Q 78 – Discuss the hunting and gathering amongst the Khonds.
Ans – 1. The Khonds lived in the forests of Orissa. They were hunters and gatherers.
2. They regularly went out on collective hunts and then divided the meat amongst themselves.
3. They ate fruits and roots they collected from forests. They also cooked foods using oil extracted from the seeds of sal and mahua.
4. They collected medicinal herbs and shrubs from the forest and sold them in the local market.
5. They collected kusum and palash flowers from the forests and supplied them to the local weavers and leather workers.
Q 79 – What was the status of tribal chiefs before the arrival of the British?
.Ans – 1. In many areas, tribal chiefs were important people.
2. They enjoyed a certain amount of economic power and had the right to administer and control their territories.
3. In some places, they had their own police and decided on the local rules of land and forest management.
Q 80 – How was the tribal life affected by the forest laws?
Ans – 1. The British extended their control over all forests and declared that forests were state property.
2. Some forests were classified as Reserved Forests.
3. In these forests, people were not allowed to move freely.
4. They were prevented from practicing jhum cultivation, collecting fruits or hunting animals in these forests.
Q 81 –In what ways was the Birsa movement important?
Ans – This movement was important in the following two ways:
1. It forced the colonial government to introduce land laws in favor of the tribal people so that the dikus could not easily take over tribal lands.
2. It showed once again that the tribal people had the capacity to protest against injustice.
3. They were able to express their anger against the exploitative and oppressive colonial rule.
Q 82 –What problems did shifting cultivators face under British rule.
Ans – 1. The Jhum cultivators who took to plough cultivation as per the British model, often suffered.
2. The fields did not produce good yields.
3. Cultivators had to pay revenue fixed by the British.
4. They wanted to shift back to the Jhum cultivation.
5. Finally, they had to protest this new method.