RULING THE COUNTRYSIDE

1. 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 land
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 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 late-eighteenth-century Britain
because of the expansion of cotton production that lead to 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 indigo planters.
Let’s discuss
3. Describe the main features of the Permanent Settlement.
Answer:
The Permanent Settlement was a land revenue system introduced in 1793
by East India Company.

 By the terms of this settlement, the rajas and taluqdars were

recognised as zamindars.
  They were asked to collect rent from the peasants and pay revenue to
the Company.

 The amount of the revenue was fixed permanently, that is, it was not to be
increased ever in future.
4. How was the Mahalwari System different from the Permanent
Settlement?
Answer:
Difference between Mahalwari System and Permanent Settlement was as
follows:

Mahalwari System Permanent Settlement

It was introduced by Lord Cornwallis in
It was introduced by Holt Mackenzie in 1822
1793.
This system was mainly devised to collect
This system aimed at ensuring stable
revenue from the villages which were called
revenue for the East India Company.
'Mahal'.
The estimated revenue of each plot within a
The revenue was fixed that each zamindar
village was added up to calculate the revenue that
had to pay to the company
each Mahal had to pay
The village headman was in charge of collecting The rajas and taluqdars were in charge of
the revenue. collecting revenue.
The revenue was fixed, that is, it was never
The revenue was to be revised periodically.
to be increased in the future.
5. Give two problems which arose with the new Munro system of
fixing revenue.

Answer:
Two problems which arose with the new Munro system of fixing revenue
were:

 The revenue demand was fixed too high that could not be met by the
peasants.
 Peasants being unable to pay the rent fled the countryside and the villages
became deserted in many regions.
6. Why were ryots reluctant to grow indigo?
Answer:
The ryots were reluctant to grow indigo due to the following reasons:

 They were paid very low-prices for it.

 They found that they would never earn any profit from the indigo plantation.
 The farmers were insisted to grow indigo on the fertile parts of their land by
the planters, but they preferred growing rice on the best soils.
 This is because once indigo was cultivated, the fertility of the soil
decreased. So, after an indigo harvest, the land could not be used for sowing
rice.
7. What were the circumstances which led to the eventual collapse
of indigo production in Bengal?
Answer:
The circumstances which led to the eventual collapse of indigo production in
Bengal are mentioned below:

 In March 1859 thousands of ryots in Bengal refused to grow indigo.

 They started protesting as they thought that they had the support of village
headmen in their rebellion.
 The zamindars also supported the farmers as they were unhappy with the
increasing powers of the planters.
 The indigo farmers also believed that the British government would support
them in their rebellion against the planters because the government did not
want another rebellion after the Revolt of 1857.
 Following the protests, the Indigo Commission was constituted by the
government which held the planters guilty of using coercive methods to deal
with the indigo peasants and asked the planters to stop the cultivation.
 This eventually led to the eventual collapse of indigo plantation in Bengal.