Bengal and its landlords
Colonial rule was first established in Bengal, where a new revenue system was introduced and a new system of land rights was implemented.
Permanent settlement (Permanent settlement)
- The Permanent Settlement was implemented in 1793.
- The East India Company had fixed the amount of revenue.
- This amount had to be paid by every landlord.
- If the zamindar was unable to pay his fixed amount then his property was auctioned to collect revenue from him.
Auction incident in Burdwan
- An auction was held in Burdwan in 1797. It was a major public event
- The land properties of the king of Burdwan were being sold because the king of Burdwan had not paid the revenue amount, so his properties were being auctioned
- Many buyers came forward to bid in the auction and the property was sold to the highest bidder
- But the collector immediately noticed a twist in the story: most of the buyers were the king's own servants or agents who bought the land on behalf of the king. More than 95% of the auctions were fraudulent sales.
The problem of unpaid revenue
- The lands of the Burdwan Raj were not the only assets that were sold in the last years of the 18th century
- After the introduction of the Permanent Settlement, more than 75% of the estates were transferred or
- The British officials hoped that after the implementation of the Permanent Settlement all the problems which were before them at the time of the conquest of Bengal would be solved
- By the 1770s, Bengal's rural economy was going through a crisis
- This was happening due to frequent famines, agricultural production was decreasing
- Officials believed that the agricultural trade and the revenue resources of the state could be developed only if investment in agriculture was encouraged, which could be done only if property rights were acquired and the rates of revenue demand were permanently fixed. If the revenue demand was permanently fixed, the Company would get regular revenue.
- The officials felt that this process would generate a class of small farmers and wealthy landowners who would have the capital and enterprise to improve agriculture and who would remain loyal to the Company by being nurtured and encouraged by the British government.
- Now the problem is that who are the people who will be able to take the contract of carrying out agricultural reforms as well as paying a fixed revenue to the state. There was a long debate among the company officials after which it was decided that the Permanent Settlement will be implemented and the landlords will have to collect the revenue. They had to pay a fixed revenue demand forever.
- Thus, the zamindar was not the landowner in the village, rather he was the collector of the state. There were many villages under the zamindars, sometimes there were up to 400 villages under the zamindars.
- The zamindars were expected to pay the revenue regularly to the company and if they failed to do so, their estates would be auctioned
Why did the zamindars default in paying the revenue?
The company thought that by fixing the rate of revenue, it would start getting a fixed income but this did not happen, the landlords continued to be negligent in paying their revenue demands due to which their outstanding amount kept increasing.
Reasons for non-payment of revenue
1. High revenue demands: In the 1790s the company demanded high revenue from the zamindars while the prices of agricultural produce were very low, making it difficult for the peasants to pay the amount
2. Compulsory payment of revenue: Revenue had to be paid on time, whether the crop was good or bad. According to the sunset method, it was necessary to pay revenue before sunset on a fixed date.
3. Permanent Settlement: This settlement limited the power of the landlords. The landlords were limited only to collecting revenue and managing their estates, the rest of the administration was done by the company .
4. Company control: The company limited the autonomy of the zamindars, disbanded their army and placed their court under the collector. The zamindars were also deprived of the right to local justice and police system.
5. Problems in collecting revenue: The officials (amalas) of the zamindars faced many problems in collecting revenue from the peasants. Poor harvests and low prices made it difficult for the peasants to pay .
6. Delay by Farmers: Sometimes farmers deliberately delayed revenue payment, which increased difficulties for the landlords.
7. Due to rich farmers and village chiefs: Rich farmers and village chiefs were happy to see the troubles of the landlords, because the landlords could not use their power on them.
8. Length of the legal process: The landlords could sue the defaulters, but due to the lengthy and complicated legal process, it became difficult to collect revenue.
9. Pending Cases: In 1798, more than 30,000 revenue payment cases were pending in Burdwan district, making the position of the landlords more difficult.
Rise of the Jotedars
1. Rise of Jotedars: At the end of the 18th century when the zamindars were in trouble, a group of rich peasants called Jotedars were strengthening their position in the villages.
2. Description of Francis Buchanan: While surveying the Dinajpur district of North Bengal, Francis Buchanan wrote about these rich peasants (Jotedars).
3. Control over land: By the early years of the 19th century, the landholders had acquired thousands of acres of land, and also controlled local trade and money lending.
4. Impact on poor tenants: The jotedars exercised extensive power over the poor tenants and controlled local trade and money lending.
5. Sharecropping System: Most of the land of the jotedars was cultivated through sharecroppers, who paid half of the crop to the jotedars.
6. Influence in the village : The power of the Jotedars was more effective than that of the Zamindars because they lived in the village, while the Zamindars lived in the urban areas.
7. Opposition to the landlords: The Jotedars opposed the efforts of the landlords to increase the village revenue and united the farmers under them against the landlord.
8. Pressure to pay revenue: The landholders encouraged the peasants to delay the payment of revenue, due to which the land of the landlords was auctioned and the landholders bought it.
9. Regional Power: The Jotedars were extremely powerful in North Bengal and in other parts of Bengal too, rich peasants and village headmen emerged as influential.
10 Name at different places: At different places they were also known as Havildar, Gantidar or Mandal.
Resistance from the side of the landlords How did the landlords protect their land from being auctioned?
1. Fake sale trick: Zamindars used to resort to fake sale to save their land from being auctioned. For example, the king of Burdwan gave a part of his land to his mother because the company did not take away the property of women.
2. Getting a high bid in the auction: At the time of auction, the landlord used to get his own men to place a high bid and get the property purchased.
3. Refusal to pay: After purchasing the property at auction, the landlord’s agents would refuse to make the payment, forcing the property to be auctioned again.
4. Repeating the auction process again and again: This process of auction and bidding continued again and again, due to which ultimately the landlord had to sell the property at a lower price.
5. Difficult to get possession for outside buyers: Even if an outsider bought the land in the auction, he would not be able to get possession of the land.
6. Use of goons: The goons of the old landlord would beat up and drive away the people of the new buyer so that the outside buyer could not take possession of the land.
7. Loyalty of the peasants: The old peasants did not allow outsiders to enter the land because they felt connected to the old landlord and remained loyal to him.
Fifth Report
1. Presentation of the Fifth Report: In 1813 a report was presented in the British Parliament regarding the administration and activities of the East India Company in India, called the “Fifth Report”.
2. Contents of the Report: It was a 1002 page report which included applications from zamindars and raiyats, reports of collectors of different districts, statistical tables relating to revenue statements and comments on the revenue and judicial administration of Bengal and Madras.
3. Surveillance on the Company: The Company's activities were being monitored and discussed in Britain since the 1760s, especially after the Company's expansion in Bengal.
4. Opposition to the monopoly of the East India Company: Many groups in Britain were opposing the company's monopoly, as they saw increasing opportunities for private merchants in trade with India. Many political groups believed that the conquest of Bengal was benefiting only the company, not the whole of Britain, which led to a debate on the company's misrule.
5. Prepared by Select Committee: Several committees were formed to investigate the working of the company, and the fifth report was prepared by a select committee. This report gave rise to a serious debate in the British Parliament on the nature of governance of the East India Company.
6. Credibility of the Report: Though the fifth report provides valuable evidence, its credibility is doubtful as it was written by the people who were criticising the misgovernance of the company. The report also mentioned the auction of zamindari and the new tactics being used to save it.
Hoe and plow
In the early years of the 19th century, Buchanan visited the Rajmahal Hills. Buchanan described these hills as impenetrable. According to him, this was a dangerous area. Very few travellers dared to go there. Wherever Buchanan went, he found the behaviour of the residents hostile. These people were suspicious of the company officers and were not ready to talk to them. Wherever Buchanan went, he used to write about it in his diary. Wherever he visited, he met the people there and observed their customs.
The palace hills
The people living around the Rajmahal hills were called Pahadi. They used to make their living from the produce of the forest. The Pahadi people used to do Jhum farming.
Jhum Cultivation
The hill people used to clear the land in a small part of the forest by cutting the bushes and burning the grass. On the land made fertile by the ash and potash, these people used to grow various types of pulses and sorghum, millet. They used to scratch the land a little with their spade and cultivate that land for a few years, then leaving it fallow for a few years, they used to move to a new area, due to which the land regained its lost fertility. From those forests, the hill people used to collect Mahua flowers for eating, silk cocoons for selling and resin and wood for making charcoal. The area with green grass used to become pasture for the animals.
Hill people and forests
1. Life linked to the forest: The life of the hill people was closely linked to the forest. They lived in huts among the tamarind trees and rested under the mango trees. They considered the entire region as their private land, and they opposed the entry of outsiders.
2. Role of the chief: Their chief maintained unity in the tribe and resolved mutual disputes. In case of war with any other tribe or plains people, the chief led the tribe.
3. Attacks on the plains: The hill people used to attack the plains in times of famine or scarcity. These attacks were often to show their strength or to survive. Landlords and traders had to pay tribute to them to keep peace.
4. Tax from traders: Traders used to pay toll to hill chiefs for permission to pass through hill paths, in return for which the chiefs provided them protection.
5. Intervention of the British: In the late 18th century, the British supported the cutting of forests to expand permanent agriculture, which led to the expansion of agriculture. The British considered forests to be barren and the forest dwellers to be uncivilized, so they planned to establish permanent agriculture there. With the expansion of permanent agriculture, conflicts between the hill people and the plain farmers began to increase. The hill people began to attack villages and loot grains and animals.
6. British Reaction: The British tried to control the hill people. In the 1770s, British officials adopted a policy of extermination of the hill people, but in the 1780s Augustus Queensland proposed to pay an annual allowance to the chiefs to establish peace. Some hill chiefs refused to accept the allowance, and those who did lost their power. During this period, the hill people moved into the hills to protect themselves from the armed forces. When Buchanan visited the region, the hill people viewed the British with suspicion because the British wanted to change their way of life by destroying their forests.
7. New threat from Santhals: In those days, a new threat came for the hill people in the form of Santhals, who came to the area to cut down forests and do permanent farming. With the arrival of Santhals, the hill people were forced to move to more interiors. The hill people used spade for Jhum farming, while Santhals used plough for permanent farming. In this way, this battle between spade and plough continued for a long time.
Santhal
Santhals in Gunjaria Hills
The Santhals came to the Gunjaria Hills of Rajmahal in 1800 and increased the area under cultivation by cutting down forests. In 1810, Buchanan reached the Gunjaria area and was amazed to see that the land of the area had recently been ploughed for cultivation. Buchanan wrote that the area had been transformed by the proper use of human labour. He said that Gunjaria could be turned into a splendid region and its beauty and prosperity could be developed to equal any region in the world. Buchanan made special mention of the rocky but fertile land of Gunjaria and described the quality of tobacco and mustard here as extremely good.
How did the Santhal people reach the Rajmahal hills?
1. Arrival of the Santhals: The Santhals started coming to Bengal in the 1780s. The zamindars hired them to prepare land for expanding cultivation and to clear forests. The British turned their attention to the Santhals after failing to convert the hill people into settled agriculture. The hill people were not willing to cut down forests and plough agriculture, while the Santhals were considered ideal settlers because they did not hesitate to clear forests, use plough and plough agriculture.
2. Construction of Damin-i-Koh: By 1832, the Damin-i-Koh area was demarcated for the Santhals by giving them land to settle in the foothills of Rajmahal. The grant letter of land to the Santhals contained a condition that they would clear and cultivate 10th of the land in the first 10 years.
3. Expansion of Santhal settlements: In 1838, the Santhals had 40 villages, which increased to 1473 in 1851. During the same period, the population of the Santhals also increased from 3000 to more than 82000. This agricultural expansion increased the British revenue. The arrival of the Santhals had a bad effect on the hill people. The hill people used to do Jhum farming, for which they needed fertile land, but now they had to go inside the hills, where there was less fertile land. The Santhals now started cultivating commercial crops by engaging in permanent agriculture and started transacting with traders and moneylenders.
4. Effect of taxes and loans on the Santhals: As the Santhals expanded farming, the government imposed heavy taxes on them, and moneylenders began charging high interest rates. If the Santhals could not repay the loan, their land was confiscated, which made them dissatisfied.
5. Santhal Rebellion (1855-56): The Santhals revolted against the landlords, moneylenders and the colonial state. This resulted in the formation of Santhal Pargana in an area of 5500 sq. miles, which was expected to pacify the Santhals.
Francis Buchanan
- Buchanan was an employee of the British East India Company, traveling with cartographers, surveyors, and porters. His travels were paid for by the company in exchange for the information he collected.
- Buchanan was given clear instructions from the company on what he was to see, find and write. The company's objective was to establish control over natural resources and use them for its own benefit.
- As the company's power and business grew, it began a survey of revenue sources, for which Buchanan sent geographers, geologists, botanists and physicians to gather information.
- Wherever Buchanan traveled, he discovered strata of the land, rocks, rocks, and commercially valuable minerals. He also located potential sites of iron, minerals, and granite.
- Buchanan not only described his findings but also suggested how the land could be made more productive, what crops could be grown, and what trees could be cut down. He suggested converting forests into agricultural land, thereby increasing the company's revenue income.
Revolt in the countryside Bombay Deccan
During the colonial period, major changes were taking place among the peasants of Bengal and Bombay Deccan, which made them discontented. In the 19th century, the peasants revolted against the exploitation of moneylenders and merchants, the most prominent of which was the 1875 Bombay Deccan revolt. The peasants' resentment against injustice and their desire to improve their condition were the reasons behind this revolt. The state conducted investigations to suppress the revolt and understand its causes, the records of which became important sources for historians.
1. Accounting books were burnt
- The peasant movement began in Supa village of Pune district on 12 May 1875. The peasants attacked the moneylenders and started burning their account books and loan papers. At many places, the moneylenders' houses and grain shops were also looted.
- Starting from Supa, this rebellion spread to Ahmednagar and spread to more than 30 villages in an area of 6,500 square kilometers in two months. Moneylenders had to leave the villages and run away.
- Farmers used to take loans from moneylenders at very high interest rates, which led them into a debt trap. With the increasing dominance of moneylenders, farmers were losing control over their land and lives.
- Farmers were burning bond papers and documents to get rid of debt and exploitation.
- British authorities took the rebellion seriously, deploying police stations and the army in the villages, arresting 95 people, but it took months to suppress it.
2. A new revenue system (Ryotwari system)
- With the expansion of British rule, the permanent settlement system was not adopted in other areas like Bengal. The main reason for this was that after 1810, the prices of agricultural products increased, which increased the income of the landlords, but the government could not take a share in it because the revenue was permanently fixed. For this reason, such revenue policies were made in the new areas in which adjustment was possible.
- British officials made policies influenced by economic theories from England. In the 1820s, David Ricardo's theories were influential, which stated that landowners should receive only an average rent and that surplus income should be taxed so that peasants could invest in land improvement. The zamindars of Bengal, due to the Permanent Settlement, became mere rentiers and did not invest in land improvement. This made the system unsuitable for other regions.
- The Bombay Deccan adopted the Ryotwari system, in which revenue amounts were settled directly with the peasant (ryat) and adjusted every 30 years. However, this system led to an increase in the debt burden of the peasants due to the stringent revenue demands. It was considered excessively harsh by some officials and was later relaxed.
- The increase in prices of agricultural products after 1845 encouraged farmers to expand farming, but for this they had to take loans from moneylenders, which further increased their debt.
3. Cotton prices rise again
- Before the 1860s, three-quarters of Britain's raw cotton came from the US. The British textile industry had long been concerned about this dependence, as their supplies could be disrupted in the event of a crisis.
- To find a solution to this supply problem, Britain established the Cotton Supply Association in 1857 and the Manchester Cotton Company in 1859, aimed at encouraging cotton production in different countries.
- India was seen as an alternative supplier, as its land, climate, and cheap labor were suitable for cotton production.
- The outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 led to a sharp decline in the import of raw cotton from America, from 20 lakh bales to only 55 thousand bales. This led to a cotton crisis in Britain and a message was sent to other countries including India to export more cotton.
- Bombay cotton merchants, taking advantage of the rise in cotton prices, began purchasing cotton in greater quantities and made more credit available to farmers by lending money to urban moneylenders.
- Due to the rising prices of cotton, the farmers of the villages of the Deccan suddenly started getting unlimited loans. The moneylenders also became ready to give loans for a long period.
- The area under cotton cultivation in the Deccan doubled between 1860 and 1864. By 1862, 90 per cent of Britain's total cotton imports came from India.
- Despite the boom in cotton production, not all farmers benefited from it. Only a few rich farmers benefited, while most farmers fell into a debt trap and became more burdened with debt.
4. The source of credit dried up
- During the cotton boom, Indian merchants hoped that they could replace the United States as the sole supplier of raw cotton to the world market. In 1861, the editor of the Bombay Gazette also hoped that India would become the main supplier of cotton to Lancashire. But cotton production in the United States resumed after the American Civil War in 1865, which reduced the demand for Indian cotton and dashed the hopes of Indian merchants.
- The fall in demand and prices of cotton made Maharashtra's merchants and moneylenders reluctant to lend long-term loans to farmers. They demanded repayment of outstanding loans and stopped giving new advances. Meanwhile, new revenue demands were raised by 50-100% when the old revenue settlement expired. It became difficult for farmers to meet this increased demand amid falling prices and production.
- In this crisis, the farmers again needed loans, but the moneylenders refused to give them loans, which further worsened their economic condition. Strict revenue policies and loan bans by moneylenders put the farmers in serious trouble.
5. Experience of injustice
