The correct answer is the Chotanagpur Plateau (in present-day Jharkhand). The Kol Rebellion of 1831–32 was one of the earliest and most significant tribal uprisings against the expansion of British colonial authority in eastern India.

The Kols (which included the Munda, Ho, and Oraon tribal communities) had traditionally lived under their own tribal chiefs with customary rights over land. Under British rule, outsiders known as dikus — moneylenders, merchants, and non-tribal landlords (zamindars) — were introduced into the region. The transfer of tribal lands to these outsiders, combined with heavy taxes, forced labour, and exploitative revenue arrangements, threatened the tribals' land and livelihood. This resentment erupted into a violent, organised revolt across the Chotanagpur region.

Although the British eventually suppressed the rebellion with military force, it compelled the colonial administration to pay attention to tribal grievances, and it set a precedent for later tribal resistance movements such as the Santhal Hool (1855–56) and Birsa Munda's Ulgulan (1899–1900), which also arose in the same broad tribal belt of eastern India.

Why the other options are incorrect: The Deccan Plateau covers peninsular southern India and was the setting of different agrarian revolts such as the Deccan Riots of 1875. The Meghalaya Plateau in the north-east was home to the Khasi uprising, not the Kols. The Malwa Plateau lies in central India (Madhya Pradesh region) and had no connection to the Kol tribes. Only the Chotanagpur Plateau was the heartland of the Kol Rebellion.