The Birsa Munda Movement's achievements were:
It impacted the thinking of the British so that they were forced to make laws due to which tribal land could not be easily taken over by outsiders or non-tribals.
It proved that the tribals could effectively protest against any repression or exploitation indulged by anybody, particularly the Britishers. The methods adopted by the tribals were unique to them.

Through their agents, the traders dealing in silk collected the cocoons from the tribals living in Hazaribagh area.
The growers were paid only Rs 3 to Rs 4 for a thousand cocoons.
These were then sent to Burdwan or Gaya for sale to the exporters at five times the price paid for them.
The middlemen - so called because they arranged deals between the exporters and silk growers - made huge profits.

The British introduced land settlements to ensure a regular revenue source for the state. Under these settlements:
The British measured the land, defined the rights of each individual to that land and fixed the revenue demand for the state. Some peasants were declared landowners, other tenants. The tenants were to pay rent to the landowner who in turn paid revenue to the state.

Birsa talked about a golden age, a satyug, an age of truth in which, like in the past, the tribal people would live a good life, construct embankments, tap natural springs, work on their lands, plant trees and orchards and practise cultivation to earn their living.
He visualised an age when the Mundas would again be free of the oppression of dikus and their ancestral rights would be restored. He talked of an age in which the tribals would not kill one another and would live an honest life.
His golden age consisted of a reformed tribal society in which there was no place for vices like liquor consumption, unclean living, witchcraft and sorcery or the influence of evil outsiders like Christian missionaries, landlords, moneylenders, traders and Europeans. They would all be driven out and the government would set-up a Munda Raj with Birsa as its head.
This vision appealed to the tribal people as all the vices and outside forces that Birsa talked about were thought of by all of them as the root causes of their misery and suffering.

The tribal chiefs were important people. They enjoyed a certain amount of economic power and had the right to administer and control their territory. Under the British rule the functions and power of these tribal chiefs changed to a great extent:
They were allowed to keep their land tides over a cluster of villages and rent outlands, the administrative, judicial and economic powers they enjoyed before the arrival of the British were removed.
They were required to follow British laws, pay tribute to the British and discipline the tribal groups on behalf of the British.
As a result, they lost the authority they had earlier enjoyed among their people and were unable to fulfill their traditional functions.

When the British enacted the forest laws, they faced these two problems:
(i) They faced a revolt from the jhum cultivators, as they had lost their livelihood. In addition, the tribals were not allowed to venture inside the forests to extract forest produce for sale.
(ii) The British Forest Department required labour to cut trees for making railway sleepers and labour to transport logs for use in shipbuilding and other needs.
The British overcame both problems together by establishing forest villages of tribals, where the jhum cultivators were allowed to cultivate small patches of land in forests on the condition that those who lived in the villages would have to provide labour to the Forest Department and look after the forests.

The tribals agitated under British rule because:
(i) The powers and functions of tribal chiefs were reduced to keeping their lane titles and renting out their lands only.
(ii) They lost much of their economic and administrative power over their tribes and had to pay tribute to the British.
(iii) Their method of shifting cultivation was stopped and they had to settle down at fixed places to become peasant cultivators. Besides, they had to give fixed revenue to the state.
(iv) Their gathering of forest products for use or sale was stopped, as the British declared forests as Reserved meaning that the tribals could not either live in the forests or enter them at will or take out forest produce.

The tribals traditionally practiced hum cultivation, i.e. shifting cultivation. This was done on small patches of land, mostly in forests. The cultivators cut the trees to allow sunlight to reach the ground and burnt the vegetation on the land to clear it for cultivation. Then they spread the ash of the vegetation to fertilize the soil, as it contained potash. Then they scratched the soil to prepare it for cultivation. They used the axe to cut trees and the hoe to scratch soil in order to prepare the land for cultivation.
Then the seeds were scattered on the field instead of ploughing the land and sowing the seeds. Once the crop was ready and harvested, they moved to another area. A field that had been cultivated once was left fallow for several years to recover its fertility.