The regulation of tribal areas, imposition of high land revenue, and taxation of tribal products led to resentment of the tribes, who considered it as undesirable interference in their economic life. Interference in the tribal religion and culture by Christian missionaries was another area of their grievance.
The incessant exploitation of the tribals added to their woes. This was undertaken by the outsiders, who were usually middlemen, moneylenders, traders, and revenue farmers (having protection from the government).
They increasingly took possession of tribal lands and trapped the tribals in the debt web and thus bringing the tribal people within the vortex of the colonial economy and exploitation. The large-scale influx of non-tribal people in the tribal region also created a serious threat to tribal identity.
Apart from this, the government policies like tightening the control (restriction on shifting cultivation and attempts to curb the use of timber and grazing facilities) over the forest zone for revenue purposes (from 1867 onwards) also shattered the very basis of tribal economy and aggrieved the majority.
The oppression and extortion by policemen and other petty officials aggravated the tribal distress. The system of begar (unpaid forced labor) was intensified and expanded.