---
title: "Shifting Cultivation (Jhum): Meaning & Issues"
description: "Shifting cultivation (jhum) is the slash-and-burn rotational farming of Northeast India. Covers its cycle, ecology, policy debates and UPSC GS1/GS3 relevance."
url: "https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/glossary/shifting-cultivation-jhum"
---

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Model Diplomat Research Team · Last reviewed June 22, 2026

TL;DR

- Shifting cultivation, called jhum in Northeast India, is a farming system in which forest plots are cleared, burned, cropped for a few years, then abandoned to fallow regeneration.
- Why is the length of the jhum cycle considered the critical factor in sustainability?
- What legal protections cover jhum land in Northeast India?
- How does jhum differ from ordinary slash-and-burn cultivation?
- What is alder-based jhum and why is it studied as a model?

[Civil Service & Diplomatic Exams](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/civil-services/glossary)Updated June 22, 2026

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In 2011 the Mizoram government launched its New Land Use Policy to move roughly 120,000 jhum-practising families toward permanent settled livelihoods such as horticulture and animal husbandry.

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