Why do you think did the government think that forest was not important for tribal people’s development?

The Forest Department within the government was responsible for carrying out tasks related to protection of forests and planting of new trees. The officials of this department usually belonged to distant rich communities who regarded tribal people as ignorant and dangerous and therefore had no sympathy for them. They exploited the helpless tribals, cheated them and constantly harassed them.

In the name of forest conservation, tribals in a large scale were evicted of their lands, bringing in unending insecurity.

Such situations mainly arose due to high levels of ignorance towards the systems of cultivation undertaken by the tribals such as podu cultivation.