THEME-10 COLONIALISM AND COUNTRYSIDE (LESSON NOTES)

     

THEME 10

COLONIALISM AND COUNTRYSIDE

(LESSON NOTES)

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v INTRODUCTION

Ø Countryside refers to the rural areas. As you know that East India Company got Diwani rights of Bengal, Bihar and Odisha from Mughal rulers in 1765. It means they got the power to make rules on the revenue collections and rural administration.

Ø This lesson focuses on the revenue system which were introduced by East India Company and its consequence on different subjects. We also see that how Britishers affected the life of people who depended on forest and cultivation.

 

v BENGAL AND THE ZAMINDARS

v PEOPLE IN THE COUNTRYSIDE

Ø Rajas

Ø Taluqdars

Ø Jotdars

Ø Ryots

Ø Shifting cultivators

v NEW REVENUE SYSTEM- PERMANENT SETTLEMENT

Ø Though Britishers got diwani rights in 1765. But they did not change in revenue collection system till 1790’s. During this time, they faced many problems as decreasing in agriculture production or recurrent famines. So, to solve all these problems they wanted to introduce new revenue system. Finally, in 1793 new revenue system was introduced known as Permanent settlement.

v FEATURES OF PERMANENT SETTLEMENT

Ø Permanent Settlement was introduced by Governor General Charles Cornwallis in 1793. He was also a commander of British forces during American war of Independence.

 

Ø Under the Permanent settlement, the rajas and taluqdars were recognized as zamindars.

Ø They were not a landowner in the village, but a revenue collector of the state.

Ø They had about 400 villages under their control called as Zamindari. One zamindari formed one revenue estate.

Ø The zamindar collected rent from peasants in his zamindari and paid the fixed amount to Company on a regular base.

Ø If he failed to pay the amount before sunset on a particular day (Sunset Law.) his estates were to be auctioned.

Ø The revenue which was paid to company was fixed permanently by Britishers because of these reasons-

§  Company officials thought that a fixed revenue demand ensure regular income for company.

§  They thought it will encourage zamindars to investment more in agriculture which increase trade and the revenue resources of the state.

§  It would also lead to emergence of farmers and rich landowners who would have capital to improve agriculture.

§  It also emerged a group who would also be loyal to the company.

v PROBLEMS FACED BY ZAMIDARS

Ø The zamindars failed to pay the fixed amount to the state because of the following reasons.

Ø The initial demands were very high.

Ø The demands were made at a time of when the prices of agriculture produce were depressed so the ryots were unable to pay their dues to the zamindars.

Ø The revenue was invariable; regardless of the harvest. Even if the crops failed the revenue had to be paid punctually.

Ø The Sunset Law: According to this, if the revenue was not paid to the state by the sunset on a day, the zamindari was auctioned.

Ø An officer of Zamindar, Amlah, also faced problem to collect revenue due to bad harvest or low income. Sometimes ryots deliberately don’t want to pay.

Ø Rich ryots (jotedars) and village headmen (Mandal) were not supported to Zamindars and create problems in revenue collection.

Ø Judicial process against the defaulters also takes very long time.

v CONTROL ON THE ZAMINDARS

Ø Though Zamindars were very important in the permanent settlement but the company also wanted to control on the powers of zamindars by these steps-

§  The state subdued their authority and restricted their autonomy.

§  The troops of the zamindars were disbanded, customs duties abolished.

§  Their courts- ‘cutcherries’ were brought under the supervision of a collector appointed by the company.

§  The zamindars lost their power to organize local justice and the local police.

§  After that collectorate emerged as powerful.  When raja failed to pay the revenue, immediately the charge of district was taken back.

v AUCTION IN BURDWAN

Ø The Raja of Burdwan failed to pay his due and his estates (mahals) were auctioned in 1797.

 

Ø The British attempts to auction the estates of the zamindars failed.

Ø The purchasers who bought the estates in the auctions were servants and agents of the raja.

Ø They bought the estates for their raja. So, the estates remained under the control of the raja. Over 95 percent of the sale at the auction was fictitious.

v JOTEDARS

Ø During 18^th century as the power of zamindars decline a new group of rich peasants emerged in north Bengal which were known as jotedars. In some places the jotedars were called as haoladars, qantidars or mandals.

Ø They become rich in 18^th century because of these factors-

§  They had occupied a vast area of land and in some cases as much as several thousand acres.

§  They also controlled the local trade activities and money lending.

§  Their land was cultivated by the sharecroppers (adhiyars or bargadars). The sharecroppers brought their own ploughs and gave their labour and half of the produce to the jotedars after the harvest.

v POWERS OF THE JOTEDARS

Ø The jotedars had more power than zamindars.

Ø The jotedars were lived in the villages and exercised direct control over poor villagers. While Zamindars lived in urban areas.

Ø The jotedars resisted the efforts of the zamindars to increase the jama of the village.

Ø They also prevented zamindari officials from collecting the rent. So, the farmers supported jotedars.

Ø The jotedars mobilized ryots against the zamindars and delayed the payment of revenue to the zamindar.

Ø When the estates of the zamindars were auctioned by the state, the jotedars were often purchasers.

Ø So, their emergence weakened the authority of zamindars in Bengal.

v STRATEGIES OF THE ZAMINDARS TO FACE THE PRESSURE FROM THE STATE

Ø Though the permanent settlement and influence of jotedars weakened position of the zamindars in Bengal. So, they devised some new strategies to remain the main authority in the rural areas as-

§  Fictitious sale -It involves a serious of maneuvers. They transferred some of their zamindari to women, since the company had promised that they would not take over the property of women. For example, the Raja of Burdwan transferred his zamindari to his mother.

§  Manipulated the auction -The zamindar’s agents manipulated the auctions (Benami purchase). At the time of auctions, the zamindar’s men bought it on behalf of their master and gave back to zamindar outbidding the other purchasers.

§  The revenue demand was deliberately withheld- The zamindars intensely refused to pay the revenue demand, so the estate had to be resold. Once again it was purchased by their agents. This process was repeated endlessly. Finally, it was sold at low price to the zamindars.

§  Attacks on outside buyers – If outside buyers bought an estate in auction, they could not take possession. They were attacked by the lathyals of the former zamindars. The ryots also resisted the outsides as they felt bound to their own zamindars through a sense of loyalty.

v THE FIFTH REPORT

v REPORTS ON ADMINSTRATION OF E.I.C

Ø East India company established its rule in Bengal from 1765. After that its activities were closely watched and debated in England.

Ø Many groups were opposed the monopoly of EIC over trade with India and China. They also wanted a revocation of the royal charter 1600 because of these reasons-

 

§  European people come to know about the company’s misrule and mal administration.

§  News about the greed and corruption of Company officials were spread in Britian.

§  People argued that the conquest of Bengal was benefitting only EIC not the whole nation.

Ø So, the British Parliament passed a series of Acts to regulate company rule in India.

§  Many committees were appointed to enquire the affairs of the company.

§  It forced the Company to produce reports on the administration of India. The Fifth Report was one such report.

v ABOUT FIFTH REPORT

Ø In 1813 fifth series of the report on administration and activities of EIC was produced in the British Parliament. So, it was known as Fifth report.

Ø The Report was having 1002 pages. It was submitted to the British Parliament in1813.

Ø The Report’s 800 pages were the appendices that reproduced the petitions of zamindars and ryots, reports of collectors from various districts, statistical tables on revenue returns and notes on revenue and judicial administration of Bengal and Madras.

Ø For over a century the fifth report has shaped our conception of what happened in rural Bengal in late 18^th century.

Ø Though the evidence produced in the fifth report are invaluable, but we can’t blindly believe on this report because of these reasons-

§  Firstly, we must see that who wrote the report and why they were written.

§  Recent researchers showed that the argument and evidences offered by fifth report can’t be accepted uncritically.

§  Researchers also carefully examined The Fifth Report from various archives of Bengal and local records to write the history of colonial rule in Bengal.

§  They suggested that the Fifth Report exaggerated the collapse of the traditional zamindari power in Bengal. It also has overestimated the scale on which zamindars were losing their land.

§  Even we also have seen that zamindars were not easily displaced from their position.

§  So, we can say that the fifth report is not exactly true.

  

v THE HOE AND THE PLOUGH

Ø In this part we will see the drier area of Bengal where people depended on the shifting cultivation. In the Rajmahal hills when the agriculture area expended in the pasture land and forest it created so much conflicts. We come to know about this area and people by an account of Francis Buchanan.

v ABOUT FRNACIS BUCHANAN

Ø Francis Buchanan was a physician, came to India and served in the Bengal Medical Service during 1794 to 1815.

Ø He also served as surgeon to the Governor General of India, Lord Wellesley.

Ø He organized a zoo that became the Calcutta Alipore Zoo.

Ø He was also in charge of the Botanical Gardens for a short period.

Ø He undertook detailed surveys of the areas which were under the control of the Company. He travelled the Rajmahal hills in the early 19th century.

v ABOUT RAJMAHAL HILLS

Ø Rajmahal hills are situated in present day Santhal pargana of state Jharkhand. In 19^th century it was the drier region of Bengal.

Ø According to Francis Buchanan description, the Rajmahal hills were very thick and impenetrable. It was an area that signified danger.

Ø This hill was dominated by the people Paharis. Buchanan describe that these people were very afraid by company official and sometime they left their village.

v LIVELIHOOD OF THE PAHARIAS

Ø Paharias people were strongly connected to the forest and depended on hunting, shifting cultivation and forest products for their livelihood.

Ø Shifting cultivation

§  For the shifting cultivation they cleared patches of forest by cutting bushes with hoe or traditional tools and burning. These were enriched by the potash from the ash.

§  Then they grew variety of pulses and millets for their own consumption.

§  As the fertility decline, they leave the land to regain the fertility and moved to new areas.

Ø Hunting gathering

§  They also collected forest produces as mahua (a flower) for food, silk cocoons and resin for sale and wood for charcoal production.

v RELATIONSHIP WITH SETTLED AGRICULTURIST

Ø Paharias chiefs maintained the unity of the group, settled disputes, and led the tribe in battles with other tribes and plains people.

Ø They frequently raided nearby areas at the time of scarcity or to asserting power on them.

Ø So, the zamindars pay a regular tribute to the chief of the Paharias for their protection and peace.

Ø Traders also gave a small amount to the Paharias to ensured that their goods were not looted by anyone in their areas.

Ø But this relation going to decline in the last decades of the 18th century when the British, jotedars and zamindars started occupying the lands of the Paharias.

v BRITISHERS ATTITUDE TOWARS PAHARIAS

Ø Britishers saw the forests as wildness, and forest people as savage, unruly, primitive, and difficult to govern.

Ø So, they felt that forests had to be cleared to promote settled agriculture and forest people to be civilised and persuaded to give up hunting and take to plough agriculture.

Ø Extension of settled agriculture was necessary for the Britishers to enlarge the sources of land revenue, produce crops for export.

Ø For this the British encouraged zamindars and jotedars to turned uncultivated lands into rice fields.

v POLICY OF PACIFICATION

Ø During the 1770s the British follow the policy of extermination of the Paharias, hunting them and killing.

Ø But in 1780s when Augustus Cleveland became collector of Bhagalpur, he proposed for pacification with the Paharias.

Ø According to that the Paharia chiefs were given an annual allowance and made responsible for the proper conduct of his people.

Ø They were also assigned the responsibility of maintaining the law and order in their areas.

Ø But Many Paharia chiefs refused the allowances. Those who accepted, came to be perceived as subordinate employees or stipendiary chiefs so they lost their authority within the community.

Ø As the pacification campaigns continued, the Paharias carrying a war against outsiders.

v THE SANTHALS: PIONEER SETTLERS

Ø Though the Santhals were brought by Zamindar around Rajmahal hills to extend the agriculture in 1780’s but there population increased after 1832 when Britishers persuaded them to settle there.

Ø When the policy of pacification did not give the good result and Paharias refused to cut down the forest and adopt settled cultivation, the British officials started to invite them to settle in the Jangal Mahals.

Ø By 1832 a large area was demarcated as Damin-i-Koh and was declared as the land of the Santhals who lived within it. It was the condition that one-tenth of the area was to be cleared and cultivated within the first ten years.

Ø EXPENSION OF DAMIN-I-KOH

Ø After the demarcation, the settlement areas of the Santhals, Damin -I Koh expanded rapidly from 40 Santhal villages in 1838 to 1,473 villages by 1851.

Ø Their population increased from a mere 3,000 to over 82,000.

Ø They expended their areas in Rajmahal hills the Paharias people resisted but they were forced to move into deeper areas of Hills.

Ø Expansion of Damin-I koh destroyed the life and traditional occupation of the Paharias people. They became very poor.

Ø But the Santhal became settled cultivators and cultivating a range of commercial crops for the market, and dealing with traders and moneylenders.

v THE SANTHAL REBELLION.

Ø REASONS

§  Santhal were very hard-working people. They cleared the land for the cultivation in Ganjuria Pahar, a part of the Rajmahal ranges,

§  Many myths and songs represent the Santhal past as one of continuous mobility, a tireless search for a place to settle.

§  But around 1840’s Santhals realized that the land they bought under cultivation was slipping out of their hands.

§  The British started levying taxes on those lands and the money lenders were charging them with high rate of interest and took over their land in case of defaulters.

§  By 1850s they realized that the time had come to rebel against zamindars, moneylenders and the colonial state in order to create an ideal world that would be ruled by the Santhals themselves.

Ø PROCESS

§  On 30 June 1855, two Santal rebel leaders, Sidhu and Kanhu Manjhi mobilized ten thousand Santhals and declared a rebellion against British colonists.

§  In many villages, the Zamindars, money lenders, and their operatives were put to death.

 

§  This open rebellion caught the British Government by surprise because earlier santhal villages seemed calm and peaceful.

§  When the law and order situation was getting out of hand the British, they brutally crushed the rebel and fired many santhal villages. Leaders Sidhu and Kanhu were killed.

Ø AFTERWARDS

§  After the rebellion was crushed, the region was searched, suspects were picked up, and villages set on fire.

 

§  After the Santhal Revolt (1855-56) that the Santhal Pargana was created. The pargana was carved out of 5,500 square miles from the districts of Bhagalpur and Birbhum.

§  Demonstration of the might of the British and their ability to crush rebellion and impose colonial order through various images.

v THE ACCOUNTS OF BUCHANAN-CRITICALLY

Ø Buchanan was an employee of the British East India Company. His journeys were not simply inspired by the love of landscape and the desire to discover the unknown, he had specific instructions about what he had to look for and what he had to record.

Ø Everywhere Buchanan went, he obese-sively observed the stones and rocks and the different strata and layers of soil. He searched for minerals and stones that were commercially valuable, he recorded all signs of iron ore and mica, granite and saltpetre. He carefully observed local practices of salt-making and iron-ore mining.

Ø He worked on how land could be trans formed and made more productive-what crops could be cultivated, which trees cut down, and which ones grown.

Ø His vision and his priorities were different from those of the local inhabitants-his assessment of what was necessary was shaped by the commercial concerns of the Company and modern western notions of what constituted progress.

Ø He was inevitably critical of the lifestyles of forest dwellers and felt that forests had to be turned into agricultural lands.

v THE REVOLT IN BOMBAY DECCAN:

Ø Through the nineteenth century, peasants in various parts of India rose in revolt against money lenders and grain dealers, e.g. the revolt occurred in 1875 in the Deccan.

Ø This movement began at Supa Village in Poona in 1895, where ryots from surrounding rural areas gathered and attacked the Shopkeepers and demanded their bahi khatas (account book) and debt bonds.

Ø Ryots burnt the Khatas, looted shop and in few instances burnt the house of Sahukars.

Ø Later revolt spread from Pune to Ahmednagar and even further terrified Sahukars fled the village leaving behind their property and belonging.

Ø British officials controlled these revolts, they established police post in villages and arrested people and convicted them.

Ø Revolt as a source of Information: -

§  Revolt provides the information about what was happening in the area of Bombay Deccan. Rebels expressed their anger and fury.

§  Revolt provides information about life of peasant, event associated with revolt, suppress or control of the revolt.

§  Enquiries about the revolt produced result that can be explored by Historians.

Ø Why New Revenue System Started:

§  After 1810, the agricultural prices rose and enlarged the income of the Bengal zamindars but not the company.

§  This was due to the Permanent Settlement policy in which the revenue demand was fixed and could not be hiked.

§  Therefore, to expand its revenue source, company started to introduce temporary settlement.

§  Policies of officials were also shaped by the economic theories they are familiar with. In 1820’s, officials were under influence of Ricardian ideas. David Ricardo was a celebrated Economist in England: -

·      Ricardian idea states that landowner should claim only to average rent and when there is surplus, state should tax that surplus.

·      He further says if tax will not be levied cultivators will likely to turn into rentiers and surplus income will not be productively invested in improvement of land.

·      So, Ryotwari settlement was introduced in Bombay Deccan as a new revenue system.

¨    In this system, revenue was directly settled with cultivator or ryot.

¨    Average income from soil, revenue paying capacity of ryot was assessed and proportion of it was fixed as share of the state.

¨    In this system, there was provision for resurvey of land every 30 years.

v REVENUE DEMAND AND PEASANT DEBT:

Ø In the new revenue system peasants faced lot of problem as: -

§  Revenue demand was very high and when harvest was poor, it was impossible to pay.

§  When peasant failed to pay revenue, his crops were seized and fine was imposed on the whole village.

§  In 1830’s, prices fell sharply, famine struck and due to this l/3rd of cattle in deccan were killed and half of human population died.

§  So, the problem became very severe, but the unpaid revenue mounted. In these conditions many peasants deserted their village and migrated to new places.

Ø PEASANTS DEBT

§  To overcome the problem the peasants started to borrowed money from moneylender.

§  But once loan was taken, they were unable to pay it back.

§  As debt mounted and loan remained unpaid, peasant dependence on moneylender increased.

§  By 1840’s, officials found that peasants were in alarming level of indebtness, so they moderated the revenue demand slightly.

§  By 1845, agricultural price recovered steadily and peasants started expanding cultivation. But for the purpose of expansion, they needed money to buy seeds etc. so they again turned to moneylender for money.

v COTTON AND ITS GLOBAL CONDITION:

Ø The American civil war broke in 1861. Due to war, cotton export to Britain decreased very much. To reduce dependence on America, cotton cultivation was promoted in India.

Ø Export merchants gave money to urban sahukars who in turn gave to rural moneylenders to secure the produce.

Ø So now the peasant had access to money easily and due to this, cotton production increased rapidly.

Ø But this brought prosperity to rich peasants mostly and for small peasants it led to heavier debt.

Ø By 1862 over 90 percent of cotton imports into Britain were coming from India.

Ø CREDIT DRIED UP

§  When in 1865 civil war ended, export of cotton resumed, prices of cotton and demand of cotton from India decreased.

§  Thus merchants, sahukars and moneylenders were not extending credit to peasants, instead they demanded repayment of debts.

§  At the same time revenue demand was also increased from 50 to 100 percent.

v THE EXPERIENCE OF INJUSTICE OF THE PEASANTS:

Ø Peasants got deeper and deeper into debt and now they were utterly dependent on moneylender for survival but now moneylenders were refusing their loan.

Ø Along with this, there was customary rule that interest charged cannot be more than principal amount of loan.

Ø But in colonial rule this law was broken and now ryots started to see money lenders as devious and deceitful.

Ø They complained of moneylenders manipulating laws and forging accounts.

Ø To tackle this problem, British in 1859 passed Limitation Law that stated that loan bond would have validity for 3 years only.

Ø It was meant to check accumulation of interest. But moneylenders now forced ryot to sign a new bound every 3 years in which total unpaid balance of last loan was entered as principal amount and interest was charged on it.

Ø All these above information about the peasants we come to know through the petitions which was given to Deccan Riots commission.

v THE DECCAN RIOT’S COMMISSION AND ITS REPORT:

Ø The Government of Bombay set up a Commission to investigate a riot in Deccan.

Ø The Commission held enquirers in district where riot spread, recorded statements of ryots, sahukars and eyewitnesses, compiled data on revenue rate, interest rate in different regions and collated reports sent by district collectors.

Ø Report of Commission was tabled in British Parliament in 1878.

Ø This report reflected the official thinking of colonial government.

§  It came to one of the conclusions that peasants were angered by moneylenders, not by revenue demand of the company.

§  It shows that the colonial government was reluctant to admit that popular discontent was against the government’s action.

§  Official reports are the invaluable source of reconstruction of history but they need to juxtaposed with other evidences also. 

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