Ruling The Countryside: The Colonial Governance of British India
Welcome to Triple W’s deep dive into one of the most fascinating and complex chapters of history: the governance of British India. I’m thrilled to take you on a journey through the intricate web of colonial administration that shaped the Indian subcontinent from the 18th to the mid-20th century.
In this inaugural post, we’re setting our sights on “Ruling The Countryside,” exploring how the British managed, controlled, and influenced rural India—an area that was crucial to their colonial empire. The countryside was not just a backdrop for the grand narratives of imperial power; it was a battleground where policies were tested, resistance was nurtured, and the very fabric of Indian society was reshaped.
From the implementation of the Permanent Settlement of 1793 to the complex taxation systems and land revenue policies that followed, we’ll uncover how British administrators sought to extract wealth and maintain control. We’ll also explore how these policies affected the lives of countless rural Indians, altering traditional practices, and setting the stage for the social and economic transformations that would follow.
Join me as we unravel the story of colonial governance in rural India, examining the strategies employed, the challenges faced, and the legacy that continues to influence the region today. Stay tuned for an insightful exploration into the mechanics of imperial rule and its enduring impact on the countryside.
Class 8 History, Lesson 2
Ruling The Countryside
Here are important notes related to the lesson
The Company Becomes the Diwan
• On 12 August 1765, the Mughal emperor appointed the East India Company as the Diwan of Bengal.
• As Diwan, the Company became the chief financial administrator of the territory under its control.
Revenue for the Company
• The company made effort was to increase the revenue as much as it could and buy fine cotton and silk cloth as cheaply as possible.
• Within five years the value of goods bought by the Company in Bengal doubled.
Now the revenue collected in Bengal could finance the purchase of goods for export.
Bengal economy was facing a deep crisis because artisans were deserting villages since they were being forced to sell their goods to the Company at low prices.
Agricultural cultivation showed signs of collapse.
• In 1770 a terrible famine killed ten million people in Bengal.
The need to improve agriculture
• Most Company officials began to feel that investment in land had to be encouraged and agriculture had to be improved.
• In 1793, the Company finally introduced the Permanent Settlement.
- By the terms of the settlement, the rajas and taluqdars were recognised as zamindars.• They were asked to collect rent from the peasants and pay revenue to the Company which was fixed permanently.
• This would ensure a regular flow of revenue to the Company’and at the same time encourage
the zamindars to invest in improving the land.
The problem
• The zamindars were not investing in improving the quality of land.
• The revenue fixed was too high for the zamindars.
As long as the zamindars could earn by giving out their land to tenants, they were not interested in
improving the land.
• On the other hand, in the villages, the cultivator found the system extremely oppressive.
A new system is devised
• By the early nineteenth century, many of the Company officials were convinced that the system of revenue had to be changed again to meet the growing expenses.
Mahalwari settlement
• The collectors went from village to village to estimate the land revenue that each village (mahal) had to pay.
• The charge of collecting the revenue and paying it to the Company was given to the village headman, rather than the zamindar.
This system came to be known as the mahalwari settlement.
The Munro system
• The new system that was devised came to be known as the ryotwar (or ryotwari).
• It was tried on a small scale by Captain Alexander Read.
• It was subsequently developed by Thomas Munro, which was gradually extended all over south India.
Ryotwari system
• The settlement had to be made directly with the cultivators ( ryots ) who had tilled the land for generations.
• British should act as paternal father figures protecting the ryots under their charge.
To increase the income from land, revenue officials fixed too high a revenue demand.
• Peasants were unable to pay, ryots fled the countryside, and villages became deserted in many regions.
Crops for Europe
• The British persuaded or forced cultivators in various parts of India to produce other commercial crops:
jute in Bengal
tea in Assam
sugarcane in the United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh)
wheat in Punjab
cotton in Maharashtra and Punjab
rice in Madras.
• The British used a variety of methods for increasing cultivation of crops that they needed.
• One such crop was Indigo, which had a great worldwide demand.
Demand for Indian indigo?
• By the thirteenth century, Indian indigo was being used by cloth manufacturers in Italy, France and Britain to dye cloth.
But the price of indigo was very high.
• European cloth manufacturers, therefore, had to depend on another plant called woad to make violet and blue dyes which were pale and dull.
Therefore, cloth dyers, however, preferred indigo as a dye.
The French began cultivating indigo in St Domingue in the Caribbean islands, the Portuguese in Brazil, the English in Jamaica, and the Spanish in Venezuela.
Question :
Match the following:
| ryot | village |
| mahal | peasant |
| nij | cultivation on ryot’s lands |
| ryoti | cultivation on planter’s own land |
Answer:
| ryot | peasant |
| mahal | village |
| nij | cultivation on planter’s own land |
| ryoti | cultivation on ryot’s lands |
Question :
Describe the main features of the Permanent Settlement.
Answer:
In order to get a stable revenue income, most of the East India Company’s officials believed that investment in land had to be encouraged and agriculture had to be improved. Debates on how this was to be done led to the introduction of the Permanent Settlement in 1793. The aim of this settlement was to ensure a regular flow of revenue for the Company. As per the settlement, rajas and taluqdars were recognised as zamindars. They were asked to collect rent from the peasants and pay revenue to the Company. The amount to be paid was fixed permanently and it was not to be increased ever in the future. The Company believed that as the revenue amount was fixed, the zamindars would benefit by investing in land improvement, which would in turn lead to increased production. If the zamindars failed to pay the revenue, which they usually did as the fixed revenue was very high, they lost their zamindari.
Question :
How was the mahalwari system different from the Permanent Settlement?
Answer:
|
Mahalwari Settlement |
Permanent Settlement |
| The mahalwari system, devised by Holt Mackenzie, came into effect in 1822, in the North Western provinces of the Bengal Presidency. | The Permanent Settlement was introduced in 1793 by Lord Cornwallis. |
| It was devised as an alternative to the Permanent Settlement. | It was aimed at ensuring stable revenue for the East India Company. |
| The village headmen were in charge of collecting revenue. | The rajas and taluqdars were in charge of collecting revenue. |
| The revenue amount was not fixed, and was to be revised periodically. The estimated revenue of each plot within a village was added up to calculate the revenue that each village or mahal had to pay. | The revenue amount was fixed and was never to be increased in the future. |
Question :
Give two problems which arose with the new Munro system of fixing revenue.
Answer:
Under the new Munro system of fixing revenue, the revenue officials fixed too high a revenue demand. This demand could not be met by the peasants. Consequently, the peasants fled the countryside and villages became deserted in many regions.
Question :
Why were ryots reluctant to grow indigo?
Answer:
Under the ryoti system, the indigo planters forced the ryots to sign an agreement or contract. At times, the village headmen signed the contract on behalf of the ryots. Those who signed the contract got cash advances at low rates of interest to produce indigo. The loan committed the ryot to cultivate indigo on at least 25 per cent of the area under his holding. On delivering the crop to the planter, the ryot was given a new loan, and the cycle started again.
The peasants realised that this system of growing indigo was in fact quite oppressive. The price that they got from the planters for the indigo was very low. The loans, though tempting at first, were part of a vicious cycle from which they could not escape. The planters insisted that the peasants cultivate indigo on the most fertile parts of their land, but the peasants preferred growing rice on the best soils. The reason for not wanting to grow indigo was that indigo, with its deep roots, exhausted the soil rapidly. So, after an indigo harvest, the land could not be used for sowing rice.
Question :
What were the circumstances which led to the eventual collapse of indigo production in Bengal?
Answer:
The indigo ryots of Bengal felt they had the support of local zamindars and village headmen in their struggle against the forceful and oppressive methods of the indigo planters. They also believed the British government would support them in their struggle. The Lieutenant Governor’s tour of the region in 1859 was seen as a sign of government sympathy while the magistrate’s notice stating that ryots would not be compelled to accept indigo contracts was seen as the declaration by Queen Victoria herself. Many intellectuals too supported the ryots by writing about their misery, the tyranny of the planters, and the horror of the system. In March 1859, thousands of ryots refused to grow indigo. Worried by the rebellion, the government set up the Indigo Commission to inquire into the system of indigo production. The Commission held the planters guilty, and criticised them for their coercive methods. It declared that indigo cultivation was not profitable for ryots, and that after fulfilling their existing contracts, they could refuse to produce indigo in future. Consequently, indigo production collapsed in Bengal.
Question 2:
Fill in the blanks:
(a) Growers of woad in Europe saw ___________ as a crop which would provide competition to their earnings.
(b) The demand for indigo increased in the late-eighteenth-century Britain because of ____________.
(c) The international demand for indigo was affected by the discovery of ___________.
(d) The Champaran movement was against ______________.
Answer:
(a)Growers of woad in Europe saw indigo as a crop which would provide competition to their earnings.
(b) The demand for indigo increased in the late-eighteenth-century Britain because of the expansion of cotton production as a result of industrialisation, which in turn created an enormous demand for cloth dyes.
(c)The international demand for indigo was affected by the discovery of synthetic dyes.
(d)The Champaran movement was against the indigo planters.