CHAP TER-1

ECONOMIC IMPACT OF BRITISH RULE

INTRODUCTION :

East India Company was primarily a trading concern. In

the 18th century it assumed the character of a territorial power

in India and within a century conquered the entire Indian

territory. When India established regular contacts with Great

Britain, Industrial Revolution in England completely transformed

Britain's economy and her economic relations with India.

Therefore, the British conquest had a pronounced and profound

economic impact on India, while carving out an empire in India

the British imperialists had to fight bloody battles with some

of the native Indian powers. The British defeated the Marathas

in three consecutive wars and finally liquidated the Maratha

power in 1818. Thus Maharashtra was brought under the Company

rule only since 1818. Therefore, an attenpt has been made, in

this chapter, to review the impact of British rule on various

aspects of Indian economy such as agriculture, trade and industry

with special reference to Maharashtra.

“Since the 16th century, a new turn was seen in the

human culture in Europe. The significance of Feudal lords in

the society declined and the merchant class got special importance

in social and political life. Great Britain, a small nation in

Europe, went ahead in the commercial culture that prevailed in

 2

the 16th and 17th centuries. During the 17th century all the

political strings went completely in the hands of middle class

merchants. Prom this period onwards the prestigious position

enjoyed by feudal lords and priests was completely destroyed.

British nation came to be known as commercial nation and British

1
culture was identified, as commercial culture."

At the beginning of 17th century i.e. in 1600 A#D.

East India company came into existence in England. In the same

century, French East India Company, Swedish East India Company,

and united East India Company started by the Dutch came into

existence. But in course of time all these rivals were defeated

by the British. In the battle of Vtendiwash fought in 1760 the

French were completed routed. After having thus got over her

rivals in India, the English East India Company started inter­

fering with the politics of native Indian States. H0n 23rd June,

1757 the British defeated Sirajuddoulah, the Nawab of Bengal in

the battle of Plassey and thereby laid the foundation of British

power in India . while commenting upon the far reaching conse­

quences of battle of Plassey Dr. Ishwariprasad writes, "Plassey

made the English masters of Bengal from whence within the next
2
hundred years they overran the whole of India." The Company

got an opportunity to establish its commercial hegemony first in

Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.

The business minded Britishers introduced a number of

restrictive measures on Indian manufacturers. At the time of

arrival of the British in India the Indian weavers could produce

 3

the finest textiles and had a great demand for their goods.
Even in Mauryan times the Indian trade was based on very sound
principles. They believed, "Only after clothing and feeding
your own people, then of your surplus abundance give to the
foreigners and import free of toil useful articles and seeds
not easily available while shutting out articles which are
3
harmful.** Indian exports since then consisted of cotton
manufactures, dye stuffs, muslin, spices, cutlery, metal wares,
sugar, perfumes, cosmetics, sandal wood, teak, ivory work,
animal skins. The chief articles of import were bullion,
precious stones, wooden goods, wines, horses and minerals. _
India was also engaged in re-export after working on silk and
ivory imported from China and Africa respectively. It would not
be an exaggeration, if we say that India was, ''the workshop
of the world*. It enjoyed all the benefits such as employment
4
opportunities to its people and favourable balance of trade".
The establishment of Mughal rule created favourable atmosphere
for accelerated growth of trade. Balkrishna has written about
this. According to Balkrishna, "India was the repository organ
for the circulation and distribution of moneys and commodities
of the commercial system of the world. It was the sea wherein
all the rivers of trade and industry flowed and thus profusely
..5
enriched its inhabitants."
 4

THE AIMS OF EAST INDIA COMPLY s

The East India Company was essentially a commercial

company designed to trade with the East. From 1600 to 1757

the East India company*s role in India was that of a trading

corporation which brought goods or precious metals into India

and exchanged then from Indian goods like textiles# qpices etc.

Its profit came primarily from the sale of Indian goods abroad.

Naturally# it tried constantly to open new markets for Indian

goods in Britain and other countries #so the Indian rulers

tolerated and even encouraged the establishment of the Company's

factories in India. But during the second half of the 18th

century and first few decades of the 19th century Britain

underwent profound social and economic transformation and British

Industry developed and expanded rapidly on the basis of modern

machines# the factory system and capitalism. The Industrial

Revolution in Britain completely transformed Britains economy

and its economic relations with India. The Industrial Revolution

in Britain completely transformed Britain's economy and its

economic relations with India. The Industrial Revolution

transformed British society in a fundamental manner. It led

to rapid economic development- TWo entirely new classes of

society were bom. One was of the industrial capitalists who

owned the factories# and the other consisted of the workers who
hiredout their labour on daily wages.
 5

The capitalists' class began to attack the trade

monopoly of the company„since the profit of this class came

from manufacturing and not trade, it wanted to encourage

import of raw materials like raw cotton from India and exports

of its own products to India.

**In 1769 the British Industries compelled the Company

by law to export every year British manufactures amounting to

over £ 380,000 even though it suffered a loss on the transaction.

In 1793, they forced the Company to grant them the use of 3,000

tons of its shipping every year to carry their goods.Export of

British goods to the East, mostly to India increased from £ 156

in 1794 to nearly £110,000 in 1813^that is^by nearly 700 times.

As R.C. Dutt pointed out in 1901 in his famous work, "The

Economic hi story of India the effort of the parliamentary select

committee of 1812 was to discover how they (Indian manufacturers)

could be replaced by British manufacturers, and how British

industries could be promoted at the expense of Indian industries.

Thus, the East India Company had to devise suitable methods to

increase the company's profits, to enhance the profitability of

its Indian possessions to Britain, and to maintain and strengthen

6
the British hold over India." For this purpose they adopted

various methods to squeeze more and more profit from agriculture,

trade and industry.

 6

BRITISHER’S NEW POLICY OF TRADE »

The British policy after 1757 not only controlled

Indian commerce by replacing the Indian goods and by selling

their own goods# but it was the first trade tactics which was <s^

going to change the pattern of foreign trade of India. The

Government of India followed a policy of free trade or

unrestricted entry of British goods. Indian handmade goods

were unable to complete against the much cheaper products of

British machine made goods.

The company officials followed a policy which was

ruinous to the Indian weavers. Some of the measures adopted

were as given below i

Ml) The Company gumastas forced the weavers to supply

cloth at a very arbitrarily fixed low price.

2) They also prohibited them from entertaining orders

from purchasers other than the Company.

3) The weavers were treated harshly in the event of

7
disobedience of the commands.1*

The British manufacturers put pressure on their

government to restrict and prohibit the sale of Indian goods

in England. “By 1720 laws had been passed for bidding the

wear or use of printed or dyed cotton cloth. In 1760 a lady

had to pay a fine of £ 200 for possessing an imported handker­

chief."8
 7

Since 176 5 the English East India Company assumed the

character of a territorial power. The company government

steadily increased esqjort duties on Indian goods and decreased

that duty on the imported goods from Britain. The following

table shows the details of the duty imposed upon the expo4rts

of Indian goods between 1812 and 1832 . '

 TABLE-1
3
Duty imposed upon the goods exported from India
Table showing the duty imposed upon the goods exported from India

Articles 1812 1813 1614 1819 1832

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The high duties imposed ipon the Indian manufactured goods were sufficient to push them
out of the competition. It was made easier after “the import duties on the British manufactures
have been reduced to 2% per cent advolorem, and many of the staple articles admitted free of duty"
in India, As the last figures in the above table indicate, the export duty was minimum only on the
raw material. Therefore, the traders could easily purchase the cotton and export it to their
country and import manufactured goods. It was this policy which ruined Indian industry and the
industrial workers fell back upon agriculture. As a consequence, the foodgrains were going to
replace the manufactured goods in the Indian foreign trade.
8
 9

IMPACT OF HIGH DUTY

IMPOSED UPON THE GOCDS j

Urban luxury manufactures like the high quality silks

and cotton of Dacca or Murshidabad must have been bxj^first, j
by the almost simultaneous collapse of indigenous court demand

and the external market on which these had largely depended.

The British policy was successful, the exports of Indian goods

declined to the benefit of British goods. For example the

export of Indian cotton piece-goods to Britain fell from about

12 million metres in 1814 to about 3 lakh metres only in 1835.

The import of British cotton goods increased from only about

seven and half lakh metres in 1814 to more than 47 millions

metres in 1834.

Thus, ruined by the unremunerative prices, oppressed

by the gumastas, and restricted in the market by the import

export duties. The Indian weavers deserted their profession in

large numbers and brought further pressure on the only available

agricultural sector.

It is found that the high duties imposed upon the Indian

manufactured goods were sufficient to push them out of competi­

tion. In this context Dr. Bipin Chandra writes, "Indian

handicrafts products continued to pay heavy duties on entry into

Britain. The British would not take in Indian goods on fair and

equal terms even at this stage when their industries had achieved
 10

technological superiority over Indian handicrafts. Duties in

Britain on several categories of Indian goods continued to be

high till their export to Britain virtually ceased. For example,

in 1824, duty of 67*2 percent was levied on Indian calicos and a

duty of 37*2 percent on Indian Muslins. Indian sugar had to pay

on entry into Britain a duty that was over three times its cost

price. In some cases duties in England went up as high as

400 percent. As a result of such prohibitive import duties and

development of machine industries, Indian exports to foreign

12
countries fell rapidly.“

AGRI CULTURE aIMP0VERI SHMEN T

/
OF THE PEASANTRY :__________

In the pre-British period Indian agricultural economy

was synonymous with the rural economy. It consisted of self-

sufficient village units. Agriculture was the main occupation

of the Indians. Village produced most of the agricultural

commodities needed by them and also the raw materials needed by

urban industries. During the British period cultivation was

traditional, even then, Indian farmer was prepared to raise

suitable new crops. Commercial crops like tobacco, Indigo and

opium were readily cultivated by the Indian farmers. Similarly

sugar cane, cotton were also grown by Indian farmers. As the

British government demanded the land revenue in cash, it

encouraged the people to cultivate cash crops. It brought

about a break with the past.

 11

According to Taracband, the chief economic results of

the 1st century of British rule in Indiahad been the ruin of

cotton manufacturers on account of Manchester's competition, a

diversion of labour from industry to agriculture and within

agriculture itself from raising of food crops to the cultivation

13
of commercial crops. The necessity to pay land tax in cash

had begun to force the ryot to market a larger proportion of

his yearly crops in order to procure silver to pay his revenue. „

The following observations explain the consequences of the policy

to collect land tax in cash, "ffhe abysmal poverty which marked

the end of the 19th and beginning of 2oth century is reflected

in the official statistics. Between 1880 and 1905, the price

of food grains went up about 46% and the income of an agricul­

turist increased during the same period from 18 to 2o rupees

14
and that of a non-agriculturist from 27 to 3o tupees." Willian

Digby, the prominent English figure and student of India observed

"the country's per capita national income dropped by halt

between 1882 to 1900, from 1.5 to 0.75 pence per person per

day.

By the turn of the 20th century British imperialism

completed the connection of India's economy with the world

capitalist system. The growth of its economic ties with other

countries made not only for larger sales of traditional farm

products but also for the extension of the area under commercial

crops demanded in the world market. This affected the peasantry.

Rents soared up and they lost the plots they once owned. For
example, “Tea, an innovation in a region with little population

pressure, required plantations directly managed by whites and

using labour recruited through an indenture system which came

very close to slavery. Indigo, in central Bengal was mainly

cultivated by peasants themselves, but only through considerable

coercion by very unpopular sahib planters forcing their advances '

on the raiyats, for profits were low and uncertain and the
%' .... .... '

crop upset the harvest cycle. A small rich peasant upper

stratum was also emerging in certain areas, as for instances in

the Deccan cotton belt, the Godavari-Krishna and liaveri deltas

in Andhra and Tamilnadu. But the central fact was the built in

tendency of the entire system against significant advances in

productive technology and organization, made totally dependent

on a very distant and unknown foreign market with which his only

link was through a formidable chain of intermediaries. The

Indian peasant was also repeatedly made to bear the burden of

wildly fluctuating prices. The prosperity of the Deccan cotton

belt of the 186o's consequently turned into the heavy indebted­

ness, famines and agrarian riots of the mid 70's.16

Honourable G.K. Gokhale, an eminent moderate Indian leader

pointed out that one third of the agriculturists lost their land

and remained on it merely as 'the serts of the money lenders'.

He suggested three measures to normalise agriculture, a reduction
of the state demand on land, especially in Bombay, Madras and
 13

U.P. and a limitation of that demand all over India. But

according to Gokhale that was not enough, it was also necessary

to rescue the Indian agriculturists from the load of debt that

17
at present overwhelms him.

ECONOMIC IMPACT OF BRITISH

RULE OH MAHARASHTRA :________

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj founded the Marat ha Swaraj

in the Deccan in the 17th Century. In the 18th century the

Maratha Swaraj gradually expanded into a mighty empire under the

leadership of the peshwas. Hawever, the Marathas came in

conflict with the British imperialists, in all three Anglo-

Maratha wars were fought to decide the issue of supremacy of

power in India. In 1818 the Maratha power was finally liquidated

and the Maratha country i.e. Maharashtra was brought under the

company rule. British rule soon produced its peculiar economic

impact on Maharashtra also.

According to Lokmanya Tilak, one will have to study

the economic impact of British rule on Maharashtra in two phases.

(1) From the downfall of the peshwas in 1818 to 1897, (2) From

1857 to 1830. The first forty years of this rule were like a

blessing. In this regard the said, "The xoeople of this country

amazed to see the wisdom of the Britishers, soon after the reins

of this country fell in their hands. Their military, their

methods of collecting revenue, railways, ships, telegrams etc.

 14

puzzled the population of this country. "A letter from Kashi

could reach Poona in five to six days and it costs only two

paise." During the Peshwa period, it was difficult for Nana

Phadnis to get Rs. 300 as a yearly salary but now the Mamlatdar/

Munsafs could get from Rs. 200 to Rs. 400/- per month. It was

believed that the gracious god has sent some divine persons to
18
rule over all of us."

English people also thought that, in 1818, after the

downfall of the Peshwas, the sovereignty of Hindustan fell in

their hands. They adopted the policy of maintaining this

sovereignty on a sound basis. According to Acharya Jawadekar,

the English policy was responsible for creating internal

dissensions. They adopted the policy of divide and rule to

ruin the kingdoms. They supported the weaker parties, in the

principalities where there were two blocks, they instigated the

nobles i.e. Sardars against the kings, wrote Acharya jawadekar.

This policy of the British rulers was an outcome of attitudes

of the Noblemen. Lokhitwadi writes in this context, "I write/

about the conditions and attitudes of the Sardars from the

South with the assumption that no one knows about them. These

Sardars were tired of Bajirao II and hence joined hand with the

British. They were hopeful that they wouid get to eat by

staying with Peshwafi but they had to remain in their services.

Now since English established their rule they thought that they

thought that they would get plentiful to eat. Besides, their

 15

Jahagirs would remain with them. They would sit in their

houses. Why should there be control of peshwa."20

The result of this was that during the first twenty five

years following the British conquest of Bombay, the rights of

the Marathas- feudals to their land and pension were never checked

or limited by the authorities. Feudal land-lords became the

social support of the British in Marathas countrywide, occupying

an important place in the system of colonial exploitation of the

Maratha peasantry.

The securing to the Marathas feudals proprietary rights

to the land by the British India authorities marked the

completion of the of the process of feudal private property in

land. Before this in Maratha States as well as Ityderabad all

land was regarded to be the property of the ruleys of the States.

Deshmukh, C'eshpande, Patils and Kulkarni were the revenue

officers. For example, "In Nagpur the Malguzers were the

hereditary heads of the village^- Communities^ Patil and taxfarmers.

Between I860 and 1875 in the course of introducing new settlement,

the Malguzars received proprietary rights on the land in payment

of the land revenue for which they were responsible to the State

land revenue collected from the Malguzars amounted to 5o to 70

percent of the total rent they received from the tenants cultiva­

ting their land. The total land revenue paid by the Malguzars
21
in 1880 in Bhandara Districts was 57% of the rent they received."
 16

Thus, in Nagpur and in other parts of central provinces

the British not only secured the private feudal landlords but

also created a new stratum of the landlords class.

The system of land revenue assessment instituted in the

central provinces led to intensified feudal exploitation of the

peasantry by the landlords.

According to Romesh Dutt, a prominent economist and

eminent leader of the Indian national movement in the-latter

of- the Indian- national movement in the latter half of the

19th century "Settlement officers did not accept the actual

rental of estates. They estimated what the rental should be

from own calculations. They based the land revenue demand on

these estimated rentals and they communicated the demand to the

landlords who were left to raise their rent to the estimated

rentals. A more reprehensive system of encouraging landlords

to screw up their rents from helpless and ignorant cultivators
22
can scarcely be conceived."

The East India company officials intensified the revenue

squetze of the Maratha countryside in the early years of British

Rule. R.C. Dutt says,"Between 1817-1818 and 1800-21 the total

land revenue in Bombay province was more than doubled though the
23
cultivated area remained practically the same as before."
 17

Following the revision of land revenue. It was not the

expansion of the area under crops which accounted for the

increased receipts, but mainly the higher rates of the land

revenues.

For example - In the report on the economic survey of

the Maratha village Pimpla^gaudajgar we find that in 1885-86 the

area under crops was 916 acres, and in 1914-15 it was 915 acres.

Yet the land revenue collected in 1886-87 was Rs. 1128/- and in
1914-15 was Rs. 1660/-.24

Comparative increase in cultivated land

and its Revenue in Ravatwari Area

Admi ni s tra tive Year Cultivated Land Revenue

Units Area Rs.

Poona District 1856-57 1,534,473 879,282

1869-70 1,819,637 1, 201, 480

Nasik District Before reform 781,483 844,899

1877-78 1,845,396 1,261,023

Ratnagiri District 1855-56 389,973 792,684

1877-78 1,075,065 1,016,713

Berar Before 1864 2,871,443 2,581,093

After 1864 3,198,354 3,468,771

In one of the editorials Tilak wrote about the increased

land revenues, “Frequently rising land revenue is one of the

causes leading to deterioration of the farmers. During the

British regime the number of families living in the villages and

 18

subsisting on agriculture has been doubled. But land has neither

increased nor improved. In this situation effort to increase

revenue five fold does not mean correcting the faults in the

first measurement but it means exaction of income that has been

25
earned by the farmers by hard work and impoverishing them."

Tilak used to write articles in 'Kesari' on the problems

of farmers and also published articles written by others on that

topic. An article entitled 1Shetkaryachi Prarthana* (Peasant's

✓
Prayer) was published in Kesari. Some one writing under the

nickname 'A Peasant' wrote this article and in it he pointed out

the following few things related to peasant conditions in

Maharashtra. He wrote, "80% of the total population of India

consists of farmers. The condition of the farmers in Maharashtra

is as given, "a) 40% of farmers at least sfcajae during the four

months in a year, b) 50% of the farmers do not get adequate

clothing, c) 60% of the farmers do not have necessary number of

plough animals, d) 80% of the farmers take loans from the money­

lenders at high rates of interest but sell the agricultural

products at low prices and thus pay their revenues, e) 90% of

<~-s\ j
the farmers are deeply indebted, f) 30% of the farrows are /

cultivated without proper care, and thus there is deficiency in

national foodgrains. He opined that the farmers should' receive

agricultural implements, financial assistance for digging of

the wells, irrigation facilities, purchase of seeds, manures

,.26
etc. and some consumer goods also from the leaders.
 19

The revenue administration employed the most brutal

measure of compulsion including torture for exacting government

dues.- One official report in this regard states, "Every effort,

lawful and unlawful was made to get the utmost out of wretched

peasantry, who were subjected to torture, in some isfctances

cruel and revolting beyond description if they would not or

could not yield what was demanded. For example, a Land Revenue

Bill introduced by Sir Richard Temple, (The Governor of Bombay

1877-80) deprieved the peasant of the right to appeal against

the revenue collector's claim and ordained that on default of

a single instalment, the entire land tax of the whole year should

become due at once with a fine that could be increased at the

discretion of the authorities. He also ordained that the revenue

r

collector could seize for an arrear the ryots entire crop leaving

the ryot and his family literally starving." Wrese still Sir

Richard by his act established a sysefey of mutual responsibility

whereby even if one ryot should fail to pay his land revenue all

his fellow villagers were suhject to distraint and sale of their

property movable and immovable followed by their arrest and

27
imprisonment. The Deccan Riots Commission of 1876 frankly

stated in its Report, "revised assessment has already reduced

the margin of ryot's profits and thrust his creditors demands

28
further upon his capital."
 20

MARATBA PEASANTS UPRISING (DECCAN RIOTS) :

Peasant uprising in Maharashtra in 187 5-76 was mainly i

directed against the Marwari and Gurati moneylenders. Loans were

advanced on mortage land and common practice was to resettle the

debtor or. the land on condition that he would pay half of gross

produce an rent "In Poona and Ahamadnagar there was considerable

increase in sales and mortages between 1869 and 1874. In 1873

the Bombay Court disposed of about 4 lakh suits, peasants seldom

2q
opposed a suit since they did not want to alienate the Sowcars."

The main cause behind the agrarian disturbances seems to be the

increasing tension between the moneylender and Kunbi.

In this connection following instances can be quoted,

On 12th May, 187 5 the Sowcar's houses and shops at Supa

a small market town in Poona, were attacked and burnt within

twenty four hours. The house of leading marwari moneylender of f

K *■ "
Khoirgaon village was burnt down. The disturbances spread to

four villages. In Sirur taluka the marwari moneylenders were the

main targets of attack. Almost simultaneously similar outbreaks

occurred in Ahmadnagar where twenty two villages were affected.

It seems that the main object of the peasant was to disarm the

enemy by destroying the bonds, decrees and accounts. The

Deccan Riots Commission referred to 'wholesale plunder of

property murderous assaults on the moneylenders, "burning of

stocks of produce belonging to moneylenders." The Marwari money-

^to ii 30 t
lenders mostly left the village and mov the town
 21

The most notable of these attempts was the peasant

movement led by Vasudeo Balwant Phadake a young Brahman and

clerk by profession in 1879. He was well aware of the

dissatisfaction of Maratha pleasantry. So Phadake decided to

organise a revolt against the colonial regime which he held

to be the main cause of the evils besetting his country.

"Backed by the active sympathy of Maharashtra peasants

Vasudeo Balwant for several months struck fear into hearts of

the landlords and moneylenders of rural locations around Pune.

With moneylenders Phadake dealt resolutely and summanily. He

seized their valuables and the request of the village population

burnt their accounts books. Phadake undertook a number of bold

expropriation raids on landlords and moneylenders to acquire

31
funds for employing a band of professional warriors."

The British government took a serious note of the

peasant disturbances and on the morrow of the peasant uprising

the "Deccan Agriculturists Relief Act was passed in 1879 which

was intended to prevent transfer of land from the peasants to

the non-agricyltirists, courts could reduce interest rates and

32
order repayment of debts in installments."

Ganesh vasudeo Joshi of the Pune Sarwajanik Sabha, while

analysing the causes of indebtedness of the rural peasantry, in

his testimony before the Indian Famine Commission of 1880,

 22

"Formery Government taxes used to be collected in four

instalments but later that was changed and now they were

collected in two instalments and these too fell at the time

when the harvest was not yet in or was on the threshing floor.

As such time the raiyet was forced to ask for help from money- ^

lenders or borrow the crop at the cheapest price asked for by

33
the latters.“

MAHATMA JYOTIRAO PHULE :

Jyotirao Govindrao Phule (1827-90) occupied a unique

position among the social reformers of Maharashtra in the 19th

century. He suggested some measures to improve the conditions

of farmer in his look, 'Shetakaryacha Asood'.

1) All the farmers would be given training for mechanised

farming.

2) Our government with the help of British and Indian

military and sepoys from police department should construct

bunds at various places in such a way that rain water will be

absorbed in the farms and then it will reach rivers and snail

rivulets. By this method the grass, trees, leaves, flowers,

hides and skins of dead animals will not flow in floods. They

will provide organic manures to the farms and thereby improve

fertility of soil. The military trogps when exposed to fresh

climate will become sturdy and robust.

 23

If we really think that the upliftment of the illiterate,

ignorant and poor farmers is to be attained then we should adopt

the following measures, agricultural exhibitions should be

arranged in the month of Sravan and farmer's examinations, in

ploughing should be conducted in the month of Aaswin and prizes

be awarded to the best farmers. After every three years the

best farmers should be awarded the degrees. The educated sons

of the farmers should cultivate their farms in the best manner

and similarly they should give examinations in ironsmithy,

carpentary etc. if they are sent to England on some stipend

the farmers will improve their farming and will become happy.

He suggested to reduce the salaries and pensions given to black

and white workers.34

Jyotirao Phule was a been observer of peasant conditions

prevailing in Maharashtra in the latter half of the 19th century.

He had minutely studied all the aspects of peasant problems in

Maharashtra in those days. So he expressed his views onthe

then prevailing conditions of Maharashtrian peasantry. He was

of the opinion that during the days of foreign and indigenous

rule, majority of the troops belonged to low caste people, so

farmers did not find any difficulty in paying land revenue as

at least one of the family members of the farmers was in small

or big service in government department. But as the kings and

kingdoms disappeared, more than 25 lakhs of farmers became

unemployed and their burden fell on agriculture. The white

 24

government officers invariably indulged in luxurious ways of

living, they hardly got time to get themselves acquainted with

the real plight of the farmers. Their indifference and carele­

ssness resulted in the dominance of Braimin workers in all

government offices. These two things were responsible for the

exploitation of peasants to such an extent that the peasants

did not get enough of bread and adequate clothing. As a result

of cessation of wars, spread of mechanisation, creation of

forest departments, poorer peasants and workers could not feed

their growing population. Jyotirao Phule said, “Poorer peasants

should work as wage earners with big landlords. But due to

growing population, the peasants did not have sufficient land

to keep in as fallow land for some years. Due to continuous

cultivation the lands lost their fertility and the yield was

too small to feed their families. The farmers were caught in

such adherse situation. They could neither educate their

children, nor could they get real education from Brahmin teachers.

The poor farmers could not get proper justice in their disputes

related to farm boundries or common wells. Not only this, but

the Brahmin clerks also manipulated the evidence in faour of the

clients who could bribe than. The Brahmins exploited the

uneducated and ignorant peasants and collected penalties from

than. The peasants had to borrow money for making those payments.

But the peasants lost their credit with the government. As a

 25

result they had to mortgage their lands for getting loans ...
35
but the farmers hardly got their lands back."

Its views on Industry :

In early times the farmers who had small land holdings

used to collect flower, leaves, fuel, wood from the forests

and they used to.live on the money earned by selling these

products. But since the government opened the forest department

the farmers could not get any income source. There did not

remain any space for goats and lambs to breathe free fresh air,

as the forest department occupied all the forest areas. These

people subsisted on doing some manual jobs with skilled artisans

like weavers, carpenters and iron-smiths etc. But the artisans

in England prepared/produced a number of attractive tasty

products. Such products as wine, bread, biscuits, sweets,

pickles, heedles, knief# scissors, sewing machine etc. produced

with the help of machines were sold in our country. But sales

of indigenous products were prohibited. As a result the artisan

i"/
class was impoverished and died of stajrgation. Ashamed of this

situation, many of than tried to survive stealthily on husks of

gram, wheat and karnels of mango. Shri Phule asked that if the

funds were collected for the training and welfare of the farmers .

Hew many of the farmers were actually trained and employed in

Government services ? The information should have befen

36
published in Government Gazetteers."
 Lokmanya Hlak used to give the example of cotton textile
and trade while explaining the interdependence of industrial

development and trade. In a speech delivered at Belgaum in 1906

he said, “cfctton was never grown in Si gland in the past and

even at present. But it was grown here and clothes were

produced. But now we are taking trouble of growing cotton only

and Manchester has taken the responsibility of manufacturing

cotton clcth. The cotton cloth manufacturing is declining in

Nagpur, Bengal and other provinces# but in Manchester number

37
of nw mills are coming into existence every day."

Area under cotton in Maharashtra

38
in acres

Districts 1881 1891 1903

Khandesh 579,364 147,738 1,417,099

Ahmadnagar 11,055 64,464' 110,247

Nasik 12,027 34,661 42,672

Poona 9 187 313

Solapur 16,852 2,817 2,893

Satara 8,158 7,626 10,488

li

li
li
i

i
it
i

li
i

The main cotton growing areas consisted of Berar, Ward ha

and Nagpur Districts in Central provinces and Khandesh Districts in

Bombay. The British colonialists drained out of India, during

 27

the period of their rule not only agricultural raw material

for industry, but a vast quantity of foodstuffs also. Romesh
Dutt correctely indicated the direct connection between the
forced exports of agricultural raw material, “the commercia­
lisation of agriculture and the imposition of land revenue
which constituted the different links in the mechanism of
squeezing tribute. He further wrote, the annual Economic -
Drain to Great Britain is met directly from the revenue of
India. A great part of the revenue of India is derived from
the soil in the shape of land revenue. Exporting merchants
have their agents all over the country to buy what the
cultivators are compelled to sell and railway rapidly trans­
ported these purchases to seaports whence they are exported
to Europe.

DAPABHAI NAOROJI i

He was bom in a priest family of Parasi community

of Bombay in 1825. His father died when he was a child of
four years. His mother gave him high education. As a result
of this in later oeriod of his life he came to conviction that
all children belonging to all communities should get free
education. He completed his education at the age of twenty
i.e. in 1845, and after long years of service in various
department upto 1874, he devoted his later life to service of
nation. He was associated with shri Nana shankarsheth, who
established the Bombay Association in 1852.
 He impressed on the minds of Indian masses, that

India's freedom was a way of living for the millions of

common masses and self-government was the main measure to stop

exploitation of one nation by another nation.

Wealth Drain -

Dadabhai studied the methods of wealth drain adopted

by British Government during the period of twenty years from

18^51 to 1671. He firmly believed that unless the weidlth drain

was stopped Indian people would not prosper. He expressed his

views on 'Wealth Drain* before 'East India Unance Committee*

in England in 1981. The per capital income of Indians was

Rs. 20/-p.a. This income was lower than the per capita expendi­

ture incurred on the prisoners by the government. The 'Wealth

Drain* would be ruinous for British Imperialism said, he, 'The

Wealth Drain' had two aspects - i)Political, ii) commercial/

industrial.

His main conclusions are 'wealth drain' from India has

two aspects, 1) The European officers accumulate wealth in India

and send it to Britain. 2) Expenses incurred on their wants in

India and in their own country. 3) The salaries and pensions

paid to officers appointed in England and the expenditure

incurred by Indian government in England. 4) Earnings made by

 o
9

non-official Europeans in India and their repatriation to

England, As a result of this, capital cannot be accumulated

in India. The Britishers eroded the money from India and

brought it back to India in the form of capital. They have

got the monopoly of trade and industry. In this way they are
draining the wealth of India. The source of all these lies in
40
Government 'Wealth Drain'.

Thus Dadabai emphasised repeatedly that the problem

of poverty and starvation of Indian people would be solved by

self-government alone. Self-government is the only and chief

remedy.

The effects of these economic process on the condition

of Maratha peasantry.

Trading and usurers capital became the major agency

of British imperialism for exploiting the Indian village as

source of raw material and as a market of British goods. Heavy

taxes, drop in agricultural prices, crop failure, household

expense compelled the peasants to turn to moneylenders. The

usurious interests on the loans was an additional burden and

peasant family was no longer able to escape complete ruin. The

wholesale deprivation of peasants particularly in Maharashtra

was characteristic of the latter half of the 19th Century.

The consequences of all these resulted into frequent

famines in India and especially Maharashtra famines occurred in

 30

1876 and in 1892, crores of men died during these years of

famine. Tilak explained the factors responsible for these

famines as follws, "There is no alternative occupation left

for Indians except agriculture. The traditional industries

in India decayed due to competition from European products.

Population is growing to such an extent that farmers do not

get adequate food or income after paying the land revenue to

the government. Then what to talk about famines ? In this

situation famine cannot be averted without improving traditional

industries or starting new industries for the people of the

41
country."

It is seen that the impact of British Rule on Indian

economy and especially on Maharashtra was ruinous to agriculture

trade and industries. Indian industry produced the finest

pieces of muslins and calicos. India was treated as a 'workshop

of the world'.

After the advent of the Britishers and adoption by them

of laissene faire policy, use of machines, imposition of heavy

taxes on Indian goods, India, remained as a supplier of raw

material to the British.

In agriculture the heavy and harmful burden of land

revenue without any consideration of methods of production,

productivity compelled the farmers to turn to moneylenders for

taking loans as the farmers were required to pay the revenue in
 31

cash. The shift in crop pattern from foodgrains to commercial

crops like cotton and tobacco strengthened British industries

in Europe.

In short# all the features of colonial economy viz.

exploitation, drain of wealth and commercialization of

agriculture, decay of cottage industries, impoverishment of

peasantry caused by British rule have been explained by eminent

thinkers like Dadabai Naoroji, Lokamanya Hlak, Mahatma

Jyotirao Phule, M.G. Ranade etc. They also shed a flood of

light on the economic exploitation of India carried out by the

British and revealed to their countrymen the true nature of

British rule in India. They pointed out that the major impact

of British rule was to be seen in the form of economic exploi­

tation of the country and the drain of India's fabulous wealth.

As a result of this India who was once 'workshop of world' was

turned during the British regime into 'supplier of raw

material. *
 32

REFERENCES AND FOOTNOTES

1) Jawadekar Acharya, S.D., Adhunik Bharat,jyl 5.

2) Deshpande, P.N., Arwachin Bharat, j/. 136.

''ir

3) Raychoudhary, S.C., Social Cultural and Economic History

of India, p. 61.
^ 4) Idem.

5) Balkrishna quoted in Raychoudhary's above mentioned book,

p. 62.
'* /
6) Bipin Chandra, Modern India, The author quotes R.C. Dutt, p. 91.
7) S.c. Raychaudhari, op.cit., ^ 85.

8) Bipin Chandra, op.cit., p. 93.

** - />
9) S.c. Raychaudhari, op.cit., p. 64.

10) Sarkar Stmit, Modern India; 1885-1947. p. 29.

t
11) S.c. Raychaudhari, op.cit.,^p. 86.

12) Bipin Chandra, op.cit., p. 97.

13) Tarachand, History of the Freedom Movement in India, Vol.II,

p. 285.

14) Levkovsky, A.I., Beginning of Mass Liberation Struggle

(The Swadeshi movement) an article included in Tilak and

the Struggle for Indian Freedom, edited by Reisner L.M.and

—7 4'1<L
GGldberg, M.M., yZ 321(jthe author refers to Times of India.

March 11, 1905, p.15.

15) Levkovkky, A.I., cp^cit., 318 .
16) Sarkar Sumit, op.cit.,^.31.
 33

17) Levkovsky, A.I*, op.cit., the author quotes G.K. Gokhale,

pp. 326-27.
18) Kesari, 24th Jan., 1893, Samaqra Tilak, Vol. 3, p.6.

19) Jawadekar, op.cit., p. 26.

20) Jawadekar, S.D., op.cit., p.22, author quotes the text of

Lokhitwadfs Shatpatre No. 49 of 25th February, 1849.

6
21) The Imperial Gazetter of Indian by W.W. Hunter referred

to by Kotovasky G.G. in Illak and the Struggle for Indian

Freedom edited by Reisner, I.M. and Goldberg, N.M., p.113.

22) Dutt, R.C. The Economic History of the India in Victorian

Age, p. 306.

23) Kotovsky, G.G*, Agrarian Relations in Maharashtra in late

19th and early 2oth Centuries article included in Tilak and

the Struggle for the Indian Freedom. The author refers to

R.C. Dutt's economic History of India, p. 6 5,

24) Ibid, p. 141, Details of the tables Bearer Gazetteer p.26o

B.G. Vol. X, Ratnagiri, p. 259, Vol. XVI, Nasik pp. 293-94,

Vol. Will, Poona, p. 467.

25) Kesari, 24th Oct., 1899, Samaqra Tilak, Vol. 3, p.239.

26) Kelkar, B.K., Tilak Wichar, p. 94, the author refers to

Kesari dated 9th July, 1901.

27) Goldberg, N.M., Lecfcier of the democratic wing in Maharashtra.

article included in Tilak and the Struggle for Indian Freedom.

p.2o, the author refers to the speech by Seymour Key, M.p.

quoted in Hansard's parliamentary Debates Vol. Ill, 1892,

Commons, p. 107.
 34

28) Kotovsky, G. G., op.cit., p. 156, the author refers to M.M.

aiiJs replies -to quofctions contained in Chapter I of the

memorandum of the Famine Commission, Bombay, 1879.

29) Sen Sunil, Peasants Movement in India, p. 18.

30) Ibid, p. 2o.

31) Goldbergs, N.M., op.cit., p.21.

32) Sen Sunil, op.cit., p. 21.

33) ifeport of the Indian Famine Commission, 1882 quoted by

Kotovsky, G.G., op.cit., p.151.

34) Malashe, S.G. and Keer Dhananjay (Bd.), Mahatma Phule

Samaqra Wanqamaya, p. 263.

35) Ibid, pp. 211-13.

36) Ibid, pp. 203-4.

37) Samagra Tilak, Vol. 6, pp. 618-19.

38) Gazetteer of Bombay Presidency, Vol. XII-B, XVI-B, XVII-B,

XVIII—B, XIX-B, XX-B, Bombay, 1904-14 quoted by Kotovsky,

G. G., cpocit., p. 149.

39) Ibid,
\ 152.

1
40 ) Jawadekar, op.cit., p. 1 . The author refers to Dadabhai

Naoroji's Work entitled. Poverty and Un-British rule in

India, p.3.8.

41) Kesait, loth April, 1900, quoted in Kelkar, B.K.,

op.cit.. p. 88