Theme 10
Themes in Indian History
Part-3rd (Max. Marks 25)
For Class 12th
COLONIALISM AND THE COUNTRYSIDE
Exploring Official Archives
Q. Why was jotedar a powerful figure in many areas of rural Bengal?
Ans. Jotedars were rich peasants in Bengal. They owned big plots of land sometimes running into thousands of acres of land. They controlled local trade and commerce including the money lending business. They had great influence on the local village population. They were regarded more powerful than the Zamindars even. Following are the main reasons for the high status of jotedars:
1) The jotedars controlled trade and commerce including money lending business at the local level.
2) In order to weaken the zamindars, jotedars would mobilize ryots not to pay or delay payment towards land revenue.
3) The jotedars opposed the moves of zamindars to increase the Jama of a village. They were in a better position to interact with and influence the peasants.
4) Jotedars were rich and owned big areas of land under cultivation. Many times they would buy estates of zamindar.
Q. How did zamindars manage to retain control over their zamindaris?
Ans. When zamindars were in bad times, they often resorted to various tactics to maintain control over their zamindari. These were in fact survival tactics. Following are the important ones:
1) Zamindars created fictitious sales during auction. Their own men would make highest bid and later refused to pay up. After repeating this exercise for couple of occasions, the government would be tired and sell it back to Zamindars at lesser rate.
2) A part of estate was often transferred to female member of the family, and that part of property could not be taken by the government any more.
3) Zamindars put hurdle in purchase and occupation of the estate by use of sheer muscle power.
4) It was only during the great depression of 1930s they finally collapsed and the jotedars consolidate their power in the countryside.
Q. How did the Paharis respond to the coming of outsiders?
Ans. Paharis lived in the hills of Rajmahal. The Britishers began to interact with them and later settled Santhals there. The Paharis resisted the settlement of Santhals initially but had to accommodate them in course of time. They shifted to deeper areas into the hills and undertook raids asserting power over settled communities. The zamindars on the plains had often to purchase peace by regular tribute to the chiefs. They did shifting cultivation which became difficult with proper and stable settlements. The British encouragement to santhal settlements and failure of British attempts to tame, curb and persuade Paharis to give up their savage primitives ‘Jungli’way of life. Policy of brutal extermination in 1770’s and policy of Pacification contributed to deepening and sharpening of conflict between the Paharis and outsiders (Diku).They responded by withdrawing deep into the mountains getting confined to dry interiors and carried on war with the outsiders.
Q. Why did the Santhals rebel/revolt against British rule?
Ans. By 1832 the Santhals had settled in Damin-i-Koh area and their settlements expanded rapidly. Forests were cleared to accommodate them. The company also benefitted as it got more and more land revenue. However, the Santhals too got dissatisfied. They rebelled against the British rule in 1850. Following are the main causes for their rebellion:
i. The land that Santhals had brought under cultivation was slipping away from their hands.
ii. The state was levying heavy taxes on the land that the Santhals had cleared.
iii. Money lenders (dikus) were charging them high rates of interest. They were taking over the land from Santhals when debts remained unpaid.
iv. By 1850’s, the Santhals felt that the time had come to rebel against Zamindars, money lenders and the colonial state in order to create an ideal world for themselves where they would rule. It was after the Santhal Revolt (1855-56) that the Santhal Pargana was created, carving out 5,500 sq. miles from the districts of Bhagalpur and Birbhum.
Q. What explains the anger of Deccan ryots against the moneylenders?
Ans. The main reasons for the anger of ryots against moneylenders are as follows:
a. In rural India, it was rule that the interest will always remain less than the principle amount. However, in many cases interest payable was more than the principal itself. In one case the interest was Rs 2000 against principal amount of Rs 100.
b. No receipt was paid in case of payment of loan party or fully. This opened the scope of manipulation by the moneylenders and ultimately they took over the peasant’s property.
c. Ryots complained about forging of documents and other fraudulent activity by the moneylenders. Limitation law was passed by the British to check accumulation of interest over time aggravated the situation.
d. Consequent to the outbreak of the American Civil War the supply of raw cotton to Britain rapidly dropped. As the civil war ended export of Indian cotton declined and cotton price dropped.
e. Merchants gave advance to sahukars who in turn extended credit to rural money lenders in acquire cotton.
Q. Why were so many zamindaris auctioned after the permanent settlement?
Ans. Many zamindaris were auctioned as the zamindars failed to pay up the agreed land revenue on time. The reasons are:
1. Many believed that the land revenue settlement was on the higher side. The ryots could not pay up the land revenue and hence zamindars also defaulted.
2. The revenue was to be deposited on time (Sun Set Law) irrespective of harvesting cycle. This was another reason or default by the zamindars.
3. The power of zamindars was curbed by the company. They were no longer law and order enforcing agency at local level.
4. Their musclemen were also weakened. As a result of this zamindars could not effectively collect taxes at time.
5. Many a time jotedars and peasants deliberately delayed the land revenue payment. This result in default by zamindars and the auction thereafter.
6. Moreover, those who survived troubles of 1790s consolidated their power.
Q. In what way the livelihood of Paharis was different from that of santhals?
Ans. In the followings ways the livelihood of Paharis was different from the Santhals:
(A). Paharis:
I. The Paharis were original forest tribals of the Rajmahal hills. Their livelihood was symbolized by the hoe and intimately connected to the forest. They were engaged in hunting, jhumming cultivation, food gathering, charcoal producer, resin collectors and silk for their livelihood.
II. They lived in hutments within tamarind grooves and took rest under the mango trees. They
marked the whole area as their lands.
III. They raided at the plains where the settled peasants lived. Their heads received tribute from the zamindars in exchange for peace. The business men also provided a small amount to get safe ways for their goods.
IV. They resisted the attempts of British to persuade them to give up hunting and motivated them to do settled agriculture. But they were averse to the idea. They insulated themselves from hostile forces carrying on war with outsiders.
(B). Santhals:
I. Compared with Paharis the Santhals’ livelihood was symbolized by the plough. They gave up their earlier life of mobility and settled down.
II. British officers played divide and rule policy through. Santhals to counter Paharis resistance and by Zamindars to reclaim land and under taken the settled cultivation. Having demarcation of the Damin-i-Koh they started cultivation of commercial crops in the market.
III. Paharis were suspicious of outsiders whereas Santhals dealt with traders and money lenders. Not only Santhal settlements expanded rapidly over the time by their population. They increased cultivation and increased the revenue also.
IV. The santhals resisted attempts by the British, the moneylenders and zamindars to dislodge them from ideal world Damin-i-Koh. To appease the Santhal the British carved the Santhal pargana as their district.
Q. How did the American Civil War affect the lives of the ryots in India?
Ans. American Civil War that began in 1860 had a huge impact on the ryots of Deccan region in India. Following events explains how the impact took shape:
i. Britain was the country where large cotton mills were operational. These cotton mills depended on cotton imported from North America.
ii. When the USA was reeling under Civil War, it was naturally very difficult to import cotton from there. The cotton mills were forced to look for alternative suppliers of cotton apart from US. India made a good option.
iii. The farmers in Deccan were encouraged to grow cotton. One way was the easy access of credit. The moneylenders would give credit of Rs 100 for every acre of land under cotton cultivation. The farmers benefitted out of this demand for cotton. But the real beneficiaries were the big farmers and traders.
iv. However things changed as normalcy returned to US. Now the demand of cotton in India declined and so declined the easy availability of credit. The ryots fell back to old days of penury and rose in rebellion in many places.
Q. What are the problems of using the official sources in writing about the history of peasants?
Ans. Official sources of the Company Raj are not regarded as reliable source of history when it came to the lot of Ryots. Following are the main problems associated with official source of history.
i. The official records reflect only the company raj perspective. They did not look at events from different angles. For example when the Deccan Riot Commission was instituted, it was required to find out if the land revenue was just or not. Other issues of Ryots were not taken into account.
ii. The British people looked down upon the local people, their culture and tradition as lowly. They ended up giving a lowly picture of peasants even if without intention of the same.
iii. The record of the company Raj was created by the officials in such a manner that it suits their masters. Thus, evidences were tempered with. For example the Deccan Ryots commission concluded that Ryots were angered not by the high land revenue but by moneylenders.
iv. Despite their limitations official sources are important such as Deccan Ryots report provides with a range of sources reports of enquiries held by the commission. The compilation of statistical evaluation revenue rates. Prices and interest rates in different regions.
Thus, official sources are to be read along with other sources and need to be weighed, before we take them to our stride.
Q. What steps taken by the British East India Company to control the Zamindars?
Ans. The British East India Company took the following steps mainly to maintain its control over the Zamindars.
(i) The zamindars’ troops were disbanded, customs, duties abolished, and their kutcheries (Courts) brought under the supervision of collector appointed by the company.
(ii) The power to deliver local judgment was also taken away from zamindars. In fact zamindars hold their control and leadership through local caste and other Panchayats. They lost their power to organize local police. Over time the collectorate emerged as an alternative centre of authority, severely restricting what the zamindar could do.
(iii) In case a Raja (powerful zamindars) failed to pay the land revenue, a Company official was speedily dispatched to his zamindari with instructions “to take charge of the District” and to use all means to destroy the influence and authority of the zamindar and his officers.
(iv) Some of the scholars believe that some trouble creators were also used as tools to reduce the influence of Rajahs. For example, when the zamindar dispatched their amlah (collector of revenue or representative of zamindar), some naughty people use to create problem for zamindars. Rich ryots and village headmen jotedars and mandals-were too happy to see the Zamindar in trouble. The zamindar could therefore not easily arrest his power over them.
Q. Why Zamindars defaulted on payments of Land revenue?
i. The initial demands of tax were very high, because the company felt that if the demand was fixed for all time to come they would never be able to claim for high shares in the condition of increased income.
ii. This high demand was imposed in the 1790s, a time when the prices of agricultural produce were depressed, making it difficult for the ryots to pay their dues to the zamindar. If the Zamindar could not collect the rent, how could he pay the company?
iii. The revenue was invariable, regardless of the harvest, and had to be paid punctually.
iv. The permanent settlement initially limited the power of the Zamindars to collect rent from the ryot and manage his zamindari.
Q. How were the lives of forest dwellers transformed in the 16th-17th centuries?
Ans: - The lives of forest dwellers were transformed during 16th-17th centuries in following ways:
1. The businessman encouraged forest clearance, zamindars and jotedars turned uninitiated lands in to rice fields. The British extension of settled agriculture was necessary to enlarge the sources of land revenue and produce crops for export and establish the basis of a settled, ordered society.
2. The British saw forest people as savage impurely and primitive and difficult to govern, so they felt that the forests had to be cleared. Settled agriculture was established and forest people were persuaded to give up hunting and take to plough agriculture.
3. In the 1770s the British embarked on a brutal policy of extermination, hunting and killing the Paharis. Augustas Cleveland the collector of Bhagalpur purposed a policy of pacification. The Paharis chief were given an annual allowance and made responsible for the proper conduct of their man.
4. Some Paharis chief refused to withdraw deep into the mountains insulating themselves from hostile forces and carrying on a war with the bidder. When Buchanan travelled through the region in the winter of 1880/1881, the Paharia naturally viewed him with suspicion and distrust.
5. The Santhals themselves were powering into area, cleaning forest, cutting down timber, ploughing land and growing rice and cotton, this leads why Sindhu Manjhi.
Q. Describe the fifth Report as produced by Select Committee of East India Company in British Parliament in 1813?
Ans: The fifth report was a voluminous affair running in 1000 pages out of which 800 pages were appendices that produced petitions of ryots, zamindars, collector reports from different districts and notes on the revenue and judicial administration of Bengal and Madras.
The activities of EIC were closely monitored in England and many groups were against the charter that gave monopoly of trade with India and China to EIC. Many private traders and industrialists wanted their share in trade with India. The reports of Maladministration, Misrule, greed and corruption of company’s officials were debated and publicized. The company was forced to produce regular reports on Indian administration and committees were appointed to enquire into company’s affairs.
The fifth report was one such report submitted in 1813 in British Parliament. It was debated and criticized the maladministration of Company. The Fifth report exaggerated the collapse of Zamindari Power.
Q. What was Permanent Settlement?
Ans. The practice of collecting land revenue introduced by Lord Cornwalis in 1793 is known as permanent settlement. In this system the land was given to landlords (Zamindars) permanently. The amount of revenue had been fixed in permanent settlement.
Q. Explain the Ryotwari system of revenue.
Ans. The revenue system that was introduced in the Bombay Deccan came to be known as Ryotwari. In this system, the revenue was directly settled with the ryot. The average income from different types of soil was estimated. The revenue-paying capacity of the ryot was assessed and a proportion of it fixed as the share of the state.
Q. What was Deeds of hire?
Ans. When debts mounted the peasants were unable to pay back the loan to the moneylender. They had no option but to give over all land under their possession, carts and animals to the money lenders. But without animals they could not continue to cultivate. So they took land on rent and animals on hire. Now they had to pay for them which had originally belonged to them. He had to sign a Deed of hire stating very clearly that these animals and carts did not belong to them.
Q. Who were santhals? What are the two features of their lives?
Ans. They were the tribes living in the foothills of Rajmahal hills called as Daman-i-Koh. They cultivated their fields by plough and were much civilized then the Paharis.
Q. What was Augustus Cleveland’s policy of Pacification?
Ans: Augustus Cleveland proposed the policy of pacification to Collector of Bhagalpur in 1780. According to him the chiefs were expected to maintain order in their localities and discipline their own people. But many Paharias refused to the allowance and those who accepted lost authority within community as they came to viewed as stipendiary chiefs or subordinate Employees.
Q. What do you understand by Deccan riots commission?
Ans. The commission was set up to investigate the riots of Deccan’s farmer in 1875. It was set up by the government of Bombay due to immense pressure of Government of India. Its report was presented in 1878 before the British Parliament.
Q. Who were Jotedars?
Ans. A group of rich farmers in northern Bengal were known as Jotedars. They were also known by various names like haoladars, gentidars and mandals. They controlled local trade as well as money lending, exercising immense power over the poorer cultivator’s of the region.
Key concepts in nutshell
• The fifth report –report on EIC working was submitted to British parliament 1813.
• The Hoe and the Plough – (Hoe) implied difference between shifting agriculture of Paharis and (plough) settled agriculture of commercial crops by Santhals.
• EIC acquired Diwani of Bengal in 1765 from Mughal emperor Shah Alam- II.
• Rajas and Taluqdars were classified as Zamindars of Bengal.
• The Twist in the auction at Burdwan was that 95% of the sale was fictitious.
• The Sun Set Law fixed the payment of land revenue by the sun set of a fixed date.
• David Ricardo was a celebrated economist of 1820’s in England. According to him the landowner had claim to ‘average rent’ and state needed to tax surplus. If Surplus was not taxed the landowners are unlikely to invest in land improvement and likely to turn into rentiers.
• Limitation law was passed in 1859. According to which loan bonds were signed between Moneylender and ryots for a valid period of three years only to check the accumulation of interest.
• Buchanan was a physician who came to India (1794 to 1815) to serve as surgeon of Lord Wellesley. On Govt. request he conducted survey of EIC areas. He established Calcutta Alipore Zoo. He was also in charge of Botanical gardens for some time. On his mothers he adopted Hamilton and is popularly known as Buchanan Hamilton.
• Sahukar acted as both money lender and trader.
• Benami literally anonymous were transactions made in fictitious names or relatively in significant name where as real beneficiary remains unnamed.
• Taluqdars: one who holds the charge of taluq (Territorial unit).
• Lathyal means one who wields lathi or stick, functioned as strong man of Zamindar.
• Aquatint is a picture produced by cutting into a copper sheet with acid and then printing it.
• Diku: A foreign person who lends money in Santhals was known as Diku.
• Ryot (Raiyat): is the term in the British records to designate peasants. But not all ryots cultivated land directly but leased it out to under-ryot.
• Rentier: is one who lives on the rental income of his property.
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