Question

Observe the picture carefully and answer the following questions:
(i) Name the activity that has been shown in the picture.
(ii) What is the other name for its? How did British view this activity?

Answer 1

(i) The picture shown above is of shifting cultivation.
(ii) Shifting cultivation is also known as swidden agriculture or slash and burn activity. British foresters regarded this practice as harmful for the forests. They wanted to use the land to grow trees for railway timber rather than for cultivation of crops. They were afraid that burning activity could be dangerous as it could burn their valuable timber also. In shifting cultivation it was difficult for the government to calculate taxes.