Explain any five ways in which the lives of the villagers were affected by the Forest Acts.
Answer:
The lives of the villagers were affected by the forest laws:
- Now the villagers were deprived of their customary practices like hunting, cutting, grazing their cattle, collecting fruits, etc.
- One of the major impacts was on the practice of shifting cultivations or swidden agriculture.
- People were now forced to steal wood from the forests and if they were caught, they were at the mercy of the forest guards who would take bribes from them.
- Women who collected fuel woods were especially worried.
- It was common for police, constables and forest guards to harass people by demanding free food from them.