Social Science
- The British India
Ruling the Countryside
System adopted by company to collect the
revenue worsened the condition of people.
Farmers suffered a lot across the country.
Robert Clive Receiving the
"Diwani" of Bengal from the
Moghul Empire in 1765
In the year 1765 Moghul Emperor Shah Alam granted to the
company the diwani of Bengal , Bihar and Orissa
The company agreed to pay annually 26 lakh rupees to the
Moghul Emperor and got right to keep the all-surplus amount of
collected revenue.
The grant of the Diwani gave to the company a de jure status of
an official of the Moghul Emperor.
Moghul Emperor appointed two
persons in the province that is
Subah; one was called as Nawab
and second was Diwan
company made the agreement
with the Nawab that he will not
maintain the army and company
will pay him an annual allowance
of 53 lakh rupees for his
expenditure and criminal
judicature.
After this agreement, company
became Supreme Authority
regarding Bengal.
Many people appointed as tax farmers absconded with as much
revenue as they could during the time period between inspections.
The agricultural cultivation had collapsed. In 1770, a terrible
famine killed ten million people in Bengal. Parliament took note of
the disastrous consequences of the system, and in 1784
British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger directed the
Calcutta administration to alter it immediately. In 1786 Charles
Cornwallis was sent out to India to reform the company's practices.
Permanent
Settlement
Concluded
by
the
Cornwallis
administration in 1793.
Under the contract, the landholders or zamindars were admitted
into the colonial state system as the absolute proprietors of landed
property.
Besides being turned into proprietors of land, the zamindars
were endowed with the privilege of holding their proprietary
right at a rate which was to continue unchanged for ever.
Under the contract the government was
barred from enhancing its revenue demand on
the zamindars.
The Permanent Settlement, however, created problems.
Company officials soon discovered that the zamindars
were in fact not investing in the improvement of land.
The revenue that had been fixed was so high that the
zamindars found it difficult to pay.
 Anyone who failed to pay the revenue lost his
zamindari.
Numerous zamindaris were sold off at auctions
organised by the Company.
By the first decade of the nineteenth century the
situation changed.
The prices in the market rose and cultivation
slowly expanded.
This meant an increase in the income of the
zamindars. And no gain for the company.
Since it could not increase a revenue demand
that had been fixed permanently
Most of the landlords did not
take any interest in the
improvements of the land but
were merely interested in
extracting the maximum possible
rent from the tenants, being
under the constant fear had no
incentive improve the land.
the Permanent Settlement stands condemned.
 By recognising the absolute right of ownership of
the zamindars the Company sacrificed the interests
of the peasants whether of property or occupancy.
 In a way the peasants suffered from a double
injustice,
 first by surrendering their property rights
 secondly by being entirely left at the mercy of the
zamindars that rack-rented them.
In many villages of Bengal, some of the powerful ryots did not
cultivate, but instead gave out their lands to others, taking from
them very high rents.
 In 1806, H. T. Colebrook described the conditions of these
undertenants in Bengal:
The under-tenants, depressed by an excessive rent in kind, and
by usurious returns for the cattle, seed, and subsistence,
advanced to them, can never
extricate themselves from debt. In so abject a state, they cannot
labour in spirit, while
they earn a scanty subsistence without hope of bettering their
situation.
.

As British required revenue , the company
officials wanted to increase the income of
land, so they fixed too high revenue
demands. Peasants we not able to fulfil this
demand ,which was demanded by the
company officials. In some areas the
villagers became poor. company officials
thought that by this system the peasants
would become rich farmers but this didn't
happen.

British realised that the countryside could
not only yield revenue but can also grow the
crops which Europe required. by the late
eighteenth century company was trying its
best to expand their cultivation of opium
and indigo. britishers forced Indians in
many parts of India to grow the crop that
they wished like: jute in bengal,tea in
assam,cottan in madras, sugarcane in
united provinces, wheat in Punjab and rice
in madras.


By the thirteenth century indigo was started
being used in manufacturing cloths in
italy,france and britain.only small amount of
Indian indigo reach in the Europe which meant
high demand and similarly high rates in
European market.
*Europeans had to be dependent on the other
plant known as woad which gave a dull violet
and blue coloured dye’s. Woad was easily
available in the europe,it was grown in the
northern italy,southern France and in parts of
Germany and Britain. the woad producers
asked for ban on indigo to be imported in the
Europe.
Britain Turns To India
 Faced with the rising demand for indigo in Europe, the Company in
India looked for ways to expand the area under indigo cultivation.
 From the last decades of the eighteenth century indigo cultivation in
Bengal expanded rapidly and Bengal indigo came to dominate the
world market. In 1788 only about 30 per cent of the indigo imported
into Britain was from India. By 1810, the proportion had gone up to
95 per cent.
 As the indigo trade grew, commercial agents and officials of the
Company began investing in indigo production. Over the years many
Company officials left their jobs to look after their indigo business.
Problems In Nij
Cultivation
 Under nij cultivation the planters faced difficulty in
expanding the area.
 Indigo could be cultivated only on flat fertile land
which was already densely
populated.
 Only small plots scattered over the landscape could
be re-acquired.
 Planters needed large areas in compact blocks to
cultivate indigo in large
plantations.
 Labor was also not easy to mobilize
WHAT IS INDIGO?
INDIGO IS A DECIDUOUS SHRUB OF
SOUTH-EASTERN ASIA HAVING
PINNATE LEAVES AND CLUSTERS OF
RED OR PURPLE FLOWERS; A SOURCE
OF INDIGO DYE.
CULTIVATION OF INDIGO
THERE WERE TWO WAYS TO OZF INDIGO
CULTIVATION. THEY ARE NIJ AND RYOTI.IN
NIJ CULTIVATION ,THE FARMER PRODUCED
INDIGO IN LANDS THAT WERE DIRECTLY
CONTROLLED .UNDER THE RYOTI
SYSTEM,THE PLANTERS FORCEDTHE
RYOTISTO SIGN A CONTRACT .
RYOTI CULTIVATION
UNDER THE RYOTI SYSTEM, THE PLANTERS FORCED THE RYOTS
TO SIGN A CONTRACT (SATTA). STEPS INVOLVED IN RYOTI
CULTIVATION:
• THOSE WHO SIGNED THE CONTRACT GOT CASH ADVANCES
FROM THE PLANTERS AT LOW RATES OF INTEREST TO
PRODUCE INDIGO.
• THE LOAN COMMITTED THE RYOT TO CULTIVATING INDIGO
ON AT LEAST 25 PER CENT OF THE AREA UNDER HIS HOLDING.
Contractor got
cash from planter
in advance
Then the crop was
delivered to the
planter after the
harvest.
Planter provided
the seed and the
drill
Cultivators
prepared the soil,
sowed the seed
and looked after
the crop.
PROBLEMS IN RYOTI CULTIVATION
1. PEASANTS SOON REALISED THAT THE SYSTEM
WAS NOT CORRECT. THEY GOT LESS MONEY FOR
INDIGO AND THE CYCLE OF LOAN DID NOT END.
2. PLANTERS WANTED THE INDIGO TO GROW IN
THE BEST SOIL FOR A GOOD YIELD. BUT THE BEST
SOIL WAS USED FOR RICE CULTIVATION.
3. IF THEY GROW THE INDIGO IN THAT SOIL , THE
SOIL WILL BE EXHAUSTED. ONCE INDIGO IS
HARVESTED PADDY(RICE)CANNOT BE GROWN IN
THAT SOIL.
THE
BLUE
REBELLION
..!!!