DAILY NEWS ANALYSIS

17 June, 2021
4 Min Read

Tribal Movements in India

Tribal Movements in India

The Tribal population is conservative and is always interested in retaining the features of their society. Tribal movements were inspired by revolutionary tendencies. They tend to fight and eliminate ill-tendencies that attempt to change the structure of the tribal society. A summary of the Tribal Rebellions during British rule in India is given below.

Causes of Movements

Extension of settled agriculture led to influx of non tribals in the tribal areas. These outsiders exploited them and extension of settled agriculture led to the loss of land by the tribals which reduced them to agricultural labourers.
Increasing demand for raw materials and railways, leading to increasing control of government over forest land.
The establishment of the Forest department in 1864, Government Forest Act(1865)and Indian Forest Act in 1878 together established complete government monopoly over Indian forest land.
Work of Christian Missionaries were viewed as extension of colonialism and were often attacked by the rebels
Land revenue Settlement: Expansion of agriculture by the non- tribals to tribal area or over forest cover let to the erosion of tribal traditions of joint ownership and increased the socio-economic differentiation in the egalitarian structure of the tribal society.
Shifting Agriculture, a wide spread practice amongst the various tribal communities was banned from 1864 onwards on the reserved forest. Restrictions were imposed on the previously sanctioned timber and grazing facilities.
Some of the tribal uprising took place in reaction to the effect of the landlords to impose taxes on the customary use of timber and grazing facilities, police exaction, new excise regulations, exploitation by low country traders and money lenders.
The rebellions by the non-frontier tribals were usually reactions against outsiders (dikus), local landlords and rulers, the support provided to the later by the British administration and intervention by them in the life of the tribals.
Introduction of the notion of private property- Land could be bought, sold, mortgaged which led to loss of land by the tribals.

Timeline of Tribal Movements in India

Sl. no.	Movement	Period	Place	Leader	Causes
	Chuar uprising	1768	Midnapore and Bankura	Jagganath singh,	Bengal regulations, Rising demands and economic privation by British
	Halba rebellion	1774-79	Bastar Chhattisgarh	Halba dongar	Against the British army and marathas
	Chakma rebellion	1776 1787	Chittagong hill tracts
	Pahariya sardar’s Revolution	1778	Chota Nagpur, Rajmahal areas	Raja Jagannath	Against British expansion on their lands. British were forced to usher in peace by declaring their territory as damni-kol area.
	Koli revolt	1784-85	Maharashtra	Mahadev Koli and tilka Manjhi
	Tamar revolution	1789- 1795	Chota Nagpur
	Bhopal-patnam struggle	1795	Bhopalpatnam
	Chuar rebellion of Bengal	1770s to 1800	Midnapore	Jagannath Singh of Ghatsila (1768), Shyam Gunjan, Durjol Singh of Raipur (1790s)	Bengal regulations, Rising demands and economic privation by British
	Kuruchiyar and kurumbar rebellion	1812	Wayanad
	Kol rebellion	1795 to 1831	Chota Nagpur, Singhbhum, Hazaribagh, Palamau	Bir Buddho Bhagat, Joa Bhagat,	Expansion of British rule on their lands and transfer to outsiders
	Khurda Rebellion	1817	Odisha
	Khond rebellion	1817	Odisha	Chief bisoi
	Paralkot rebellion	1825	Bastar	Gend Singh
	Ahoms revolt	1828 to 1833	Assam		Against non-fulfillment of pleasures of company after the Burmese war. The uprising was suppressed by the company by dividing the kingdom
	Khasi and Garo rebellion	1829-1830	Hilly regions of Jaintia, Garo hills Meghalaya	Nunklow Ruler, Tirath Singh	Against occupation of hilly region
	Singhphos rebellion	1830	Assam		Led to murder of British political agent of Assam by Singpos in 1839
	Tarapur and Maria rebellion	1842- 63	Bastar
	Jharkhand movement	1845	Jharkhand
	Santhal rebellion	1855- 56	Bihar rajmahal hills	Sido and kanho	Against zamindars moneylenders and Britishers
	Bhil Rebellion	1822-1857	Vindhya and Satpura ranges	Bhagoji Naik and Khajar Singh
	Chero and Karwar revolt	1857	Chota nagpur Bihar	Kharwars of Bihar	Against revenue settlement activities
	Koi revolt	1859	Bastar
	Battle of Aberdeen	1859	Andaman
	Gond Rebellion	1860	Adilabad	Ramji Gond
	Synteng tribal rebellion	1860-62	Jaintia hills in East Bengal and Assam
	Kuki Invasion	1860	Manipur
	Naikada movement	1860s	Madhya Pradesh in Gujarat		Against British and Hindus
	Bhuiyan and Juang rebellion	1867-68 and 1891-93	Keonjhar of Odisha		Against installation of the British Protege On the throne after the death of their Raja in 1857
	Juang			Dharnidhar Naik
	Bhuiyan’s			Ratna Naik
	Dafla rebellion	1875	Northeast India
	Naga movement	1879	Northeast	Tikendraji singh
	Sentinelese tribe people Movement	1883	Andaman and Nicobar		Attacked Britishers for intrusion
	Ho and Munda uprising
	Ho	1827	Singhbhum and chota Nagpur	Raja parahat	Against British occupation
	Ho and Munda				Against new farming revenue policy
	Munda	1899-1900	South of Ranchi	Birsa Munda	Birsa was captured and imprisoned
	Ulgulan uprising	1860-1920			Against introduction of feudal zamindari tenure and exploitation by money lenders and foreign contractors
	Kandh uprising	1837 to 56	Eastern ghats from Tamilnadu hills to Orissa and Bengal	Chakra bisoi	Against tribal customs and imposition of new taxes
	Konda dora Campaign	1900s	Dabur region of Visakhapatnam	Korra Malayya
	Bhil Revolts	1817-19 and 1913	Western Ghats		Against companies rule and to form Bhil Raj
	Koya revolt			By Koya and konda Sara chiefs
	Led by Toma sora	1879-80	East Godavari region of Andhra Pradesh	Toma sora	Against operation by police moneylenders
	Led by Raja anantayya	1886	East Godavari,	Raja Anantayya	Against new regulations and denial of their rights over forest areas
	Bastar revolt	1910	Jagdalpur		Against new feudal and forest levies
	Tana Bhagat movement, among Munda and Oraon tribes	1914 to 1918	Chota Nagpur area	Jatra Bhagat and Balram Bhagat	Against interference of outsiders begin as sanskritization movement begin By preaching that gods benevolent delegate could arrive to free the tribals
	Kukis revolt	1917 to 1919	Manipur		Against British policies of recruiting labour during first world war
	Reports in Tripura Reangs Revolt	1863-1920		Parikshit Jamatiya (1863), Reangs revolt led by Ratnamani (1942-43), Bharti Singh (1920)	Against hike in house tax rates against settlement of outsiders in the region
	Rampa revolt	1922 to 1924	Grandpa region of Andhra Pradesh	Alluri sitaramaraju of Koya tribe	Against British interference, the moment and with capture and execution of Raju in 1924
	Zeliangsong movement	1920s	Manipur	By Zemi, Liangmei and Rongmei tribes	Against failure of British to protect them during the Kuki violence in 1917 to 1919
	Jharkhand uprising	From 1920	Chota Nagpur region, parts of Bihar Orissa West Bengal		Adivasi mahasabha was formed in 1937 which was replaced by regional Jharkhand party in 1949
	Forest Satyagrahas	1920-30			Against increasing British control Over forests
		1920	Guntur,AP	Chenchu
		1930	Palamau of Bihar	Karwars
	Naga movement	1905 to 1931	Manipur	Led by Jadonang	Against British rule and for setting up Naga Raj
	Heraka cult	1930	Manipur	Rani Gaidinliu	Movement Was suppressed but it led to formation of Kabui Naga Association in 1946
	Gond and the Kolam	1941	Adilabad in Andhra Pradesh		To bring together the believers of Gond Dharma
	Koraput Revolution	1942	Orissa	Lakshmana Naik
	Andamanese Revolution	1942-1945	Andaman and Nicobar
	Bodo Movement	1987	Assam	Upendranath Brahma
	Dongria Kondh	2008	Odisha		Against alienation from their lands

Previous year Questions:

1Q. Which amongst the following provided a common factor for tribal insurrection in India in the 19th century? (2011)

(a.) Introduction of a new system of land revenue and taxation- of tribal products

(b.) Influence of foreign religious missionaries in tribal areas

(c.) Rise of a large number of money lenders, traders and revenue farmers as middlemen in tribal areas

(d.) The complete disruption of the old agrarian order of the tribal communities

Solution (d)

Source: Spectrum Modern India

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