2018, 2019, 2021

HOI 6 2021 OBE PAPER

1. Recent writings have challenged the depiction of the eighteenth

century in India as a ‘Dark Age’. Comment.

2. How significant were the European ideological currents in

shaping the British land revenue policies in India up to the
mid-nineteenth century?

3. Trace the impact of the British policies on the growth of modern

education in India?

4. Examine the major reform movements of the nineteenth century

and their impact on the society.

5. Define de-industrialization. How serious was the process of

deindustrialization of the Indian economy in the nineteenth
century?

6. Discuss the nature of the revolt of 1857.

2017.2018-(test) 1. How have studies of regional studies/regional

economies and societies altered our understanding of eighteenth
century India?
(Recent writings on the 18th century have
considerably altered our understanding of the
period. Elaborate.)

INTRODUCTION:

● The eighteenth century in Indian history marks its relevance by

two crucial developments-the decline of Mughal Empire and the
expansion of British Empire, which changed the social, economic
and political structure.
● An extensive study of these two phases has resulted in diverging
views.
● There is the traditional view of a period of 'Dark Age' which is of
decline and stagnation, and the recent view of economic
prosperity.
● Moreover, historians stress on the changing and evolutionary
pattern and also a substantial continuity.
● Aurangzeb's death in 1707 marks the beginning of Mughal decline,
but his territorial expansions that put a huge dent on the financial
structure of the state are also contributing.
● The break-up of the Mughal State was followed by the emergency
of a large number of independent and semi-independent smaller
units.
● These were of three-distinct types- firstly, the warrior states
established by Sikhs, Jats and Marathas in the course of rebellions
against the Mughals, who adopted military fiscalism; secondly,
independent kingdoms where subedars asserted their
independence, e.g. Nawabs of Bengal, Nizams of Hyderabad; and
thirdly, local kingdoms whose sovereignty acquired more
substance in the 18th century, e.g. the Rajput states, Mysore etc.,
● who resorted to military fiscalism within compact domains,
achieving varying degrees of success in extracting revenues from
trade and production.
● Initially, the nationalist and colonialist writers focused on the
weaknesses of individual Mughal rulers for the decline of the
empire.
● Marxist and Annaliste historians dominated the revisionist work
about the eighteenth century in the 1980s and 1990s and tried to
uncover the structural transformations that were rooted deep in
Indian society under the political history of empires.
● David Washbrook and Prasannan Parthasarthi have made
interesting interventions about the status of labour in South India
during the 18th century.
● Meanwhile, British historians like C.A. Bayly and David
Washbrook, working on the local and provincial origins of Indian
nationalism in the late nineteenth century, looked back to explore
deep social histories of the Indian elites and middle classes who
lead the later nationalist politics.
● This contradicted the view that the Mughal Empire collapsed due
to rebellions by resentful and oppressed landlords and peasants.
● Muzaffar Alam and Andre Wink, expressed Mughal centralized
power's decline as a process in which local elites who under the
patronage of Mughal started gaining more symbols and substance
of sovereignty.
● Most of the revisionist work questioned the economic decline
theory that both imperialist and nationalist histories posed.
● They speculated regional variations that showed significant
economic growth and with increased monetization, agricultural
and commercial expansion as evidence.
● They did not just focus on the decline of the Mughal imperial
centre but on the dynamism of regional and local polities.
● Robert Travers talks about how social history was pitted against
cultural history as the eighteenth century revisionists were said to
be rivals of the cultural and linguistic leaning Subaltern studies.
● This was emphasized upon in South Asian history by postcolonial
theory politics and critics.
● The disputes started losing their edges as both the debates settled
down and it became clear that both of them had a different
approach, different time periods, different social groups etc.
● These debates raise many contests such as collaboration versus
resistance, Indian agency versus colonial intervention, continuity
versus change, social history versus cultural history.
● Bernard S. Cohn, one of the revisionist historian talks about the
existence and interaction of multiple "levels of power," from
villages and local land controllers to kings, provincial governors
and emperors.
● NATIONALIST AND COLONIALIST SCHOOL: Influential historians
of the early-twentieth century like Jadunath Sarkar claimed that
the Maratha, Jat and Sikh resistance was evidence of a strong
Hindu opposition against Aurangzeb's religiously bigot policies
and they were the reason for the ultimate collapse of the Mughal
empire.
● The nationalists further argue that Hindu rulers such as the
Marathas should have been the legitimate successors of Mughals.
● Colonialists, on the other hand, believed that the British East India
Company of occidental origin with its rule of law, governance
model and the "gift" of civilization were the legitimate heir to the
decadent Muslims.
● They wanted to civilize the barbaric, oriental despots of east.
● The British colonialists kept trying to portray India as a timeless
and stagnant land in contrast to their progress and dynamic traits,
while the Indian nationalists claimed the antiquity of their cultural
and political ideals.
● ALIGARH SCHOOL OF MARXIST HISTORIANS: The Aligarh School
of Marxist historians focused on state-formation process and on
the important role of bankers, merchants and elites who held
lands in forming pre-colonial and colonial states.
● These historians took economy as the base with politics, society
and culture as the super-structure.
● Irfan Habib argues for an agrarian crisis, he broadly accepts the
centralized nature of Mughal polity and the large amount of
surplus that the land-tax represented.
● He asserts that, 'the peculiar feature of the state in Mughal India
was that it served not merely as the protective arm of the
exploiting classes, but was itself the principal instrument of
exploitation'.
● He insists that the centralized Mughal rule coexisted and
collaborated with the localized hereditary 'junior' ruling class i.e.
the Zamindars who shared in the surplus as well.
● The view that Mughal agrarian system was a relationship between
the state and the peasantry was replaced by the idea of a three-tier
structure of the imperial ruling class, the zamindars and the
peasants.
● The rotational allotment of land to mansabdars led to increasing
pressure on the peasantry for extraction of revenue.
● This compromised the fertility of the land and also the rising
illegal demands pushed the peasantry to poverty and rebellion
which weakened the Mughal authority.
● Muzaffar Alam's study of Awadh shows that it was the landlords
who were refusing to pay revenue to the state-treasury and hence
asserting their supremacy instead of the peasants.
● He propounds the theory of a Jagirdari as well as a Mansabdari
crisis.
● He talks about Jama and Hasil where Jama is the estimated revenue
and Hasil is the actual revenue extracted in case of the Jagirdars
and Zat and Sawa in case of the Mansabdars.
● M. Athar Ali supports Chandra's theory, except, he asserts that the
reckless expansion and expeditions of Aurangzeb compromised
the land revenue payments of the officials who maintained a ready
supply of troops, thus decreasing their number.
● He also criticizes the elementary error of historians to assume that
if the Mughal Empire was centralized and had administrative unity
then it was same as the Post-Reformation European Enlightened
Despotism.
● He is one of the harshest critics of the various revisionist projects
and insists that the breakdown of the Mughal empire into
"mutually conflicting small political units," collectively less
strong than the centralized empire, paved the way for European
expansion.
● J.F. Richards criticises him, his study of Deccan shows that
Aurangzeb's Deccan policy did not lead to Bejagiri as there was
enough land to be granted as Jagirs to Mansabdars.
● CAMBRIDGE SCHOOL: The traditional views have been challenged
by the Cambridge school that see the arrival of colonialism as a
long-drawn historical process.
● C.A. Bayly initiates the 'revisionist' approach to the analysis of
Mughal polity, he emphasizes that 'the key note of Mughal rule
had been size and centralization'.
● He sees the decline of the Mughal empire in a positive light, where
'Corporate groups' or 'social classes' played their role through the
'commercialization' and 'decentralization' of Mughal polity in
extending agriculture and intensifying commerce, and later
shifting their allegiance to the British for beneficial power.
● Bayly's continuity thesis assesses the performance of the regional
elites, forming the 18th century transition states.
● His thesis is supported by Muzaffar Alam who believes that the
glorification of the permanent Jagir and revenue farming (ijara)
were indices of regionalization, commercialization and growth,
not of collapse of government and equity.
● Sanjay Subrahmanyam has suggested a global approach by
speculating the increased connectivity of the local and the
supra-local, through travel, commerce, conflict, and
intellectual/cultural exchange, as a critical and widespread feature
of early modernity.
● He suggested the term 'portfolio Capitalist' for the groups that
were simultaneously involved in both commerce and politics like
traders, bankers and merchants.
● CASE STUDY OF AWADH AND DECCAN:
● According to Muzaffar Alam, the decline of centralization of
Mughal power must have been a complex process of
decentralization, in which local elites who had prospered under
the Mughal hegemony began to appropriate more of the symbols
and substance of sovereignty.
● He argues for a context of economic prosperity which led to
Zamindar ascendency and points out that villages and zamindars
had great availability of money and agrarian prosperity was a result
of basic trade carried out by Banjaras.
● J.F. Richards has challenged the idea of shortage of Jagirs in the
Deccan with his study of Mughal administration in Golconda.
● He concluded that the Deccan was not deficit in land and hence
be-jagiri couldn't have been a major cause of Mughal decline.

NEO-REVISIONISTS:

Neo-revisionists like Prasannan Parthasarthi and David

Washbrook have re-questioned the revisionists' argument on
colonialism.

● Parthasarthi shows that labourers in South India had higher

earnings and a better standard of living than their British
counterparts.
● This was due to the high agricultural productivity that enabled
artisans to survive on a lesser wage and gave the industry a
competitive edge in terms of cost of production and price.
● High demand translated into greater power in the case of
merchants.
● Moreover, conditions of labour scarcity and corporate traditions
within weavers meant that they could effectively control their own
labour.
● Finally, the lack of any tradition of state intervention in disputes
over labour worked decisively to the advantage of the weavers as
this prevented the erection of effective structures of coercion and
control.
● He goes on to argue that the Industrial Revolution was in part born
out of the British desire to compete with the Indian textile
industry, thereby reducing the export of bullion to India.
● Washbrook argues that the closing decades of the 18th century was
a Golden Age for low-ritual status, non-specialized working
(pariahs).
● The wars of the period increased demand for labour; competition
among mercantilist states for trade and cash to feed their armies
also created the spaces within which labour could negotiate better
conditions; and finally, the drain of labour away from agricultural
activities enhanced the bargaining power of those that did remain.
● Thus, at least for labour in some regions, the 18th century was a
period of relative prosperity.

CONTINUITY VS CHANGE:

● Thus, we can clearly see that 18th century polity, economy and
society are characterized by trends that reflect both change and
continuity.
● This debate becomes more intense and pertinent for the second
half of the 18th century, which saw the beginnings of British
colonial expansion in northern India and its impact on the local
society and economy.
● Here again, the contention is over whether 1757 marked a decisive
break with pro-colonial past, or whether, as the Revisionists have
argued, the basis for colonialism was already present in India and
these elements were simply initiated by colonialism.
● Continuity and change in the field of music, architecture,
economic systems and culture is also debatable.
● The artists shifted to other regional centres as the Mughal Empire
became insufficient to support their patronage; this change was
juxtaposed with an element of continuity as the patron-client
relationship remained same.
● Politically, the same structure remained; the Mughal Empire was
still the head even though the same process of administration and
economic system was now followed in the regional areas without
any direct control from the Mughal throne of Delhi.

DARK AGE VS PROSPERITY: Also, the economy of the 18th century

is again a topic of dispute.

● The view that dominates is that political decentralization leads to

economic decline.
● The increasing tendency towards systems of revenue farming and
the perception of Marathas and other groups as looters incapable
of building an administration is cited to strengthen the idea of a
Dark Age.
● But, although political developments do influence the economy
and society , they were characterized by general buoyancy, despite
some key weaknesses and contradictions.
● The dynamism that had characterized many agrarian regions since
1600 had not abated in the 18th century.
● States took tribute from systems of agricultural commodity
production that tied villages to expansive networks of commercial
mobility and exchange.
● It was this vibrant commercialism branching off, which made
India, look attractive to European companies.
● The establishment of the Company Raj thus constituted 'a
revolution within tributary commercialism'.
 CONCLUSION:

We can conclude that evidently the 18th century cannot be seen as a

period of total decline, be it politically, socially or economically. It was
an eventful period and not just a gap between two empires or a dark
period before the ‘gift’ of civilization by the occidentals. It was a period
marked by change as new regional polities emerged as well as
indigenous economic and cultural elements were sucked in by the
Company Raj. The period also affirms that the correlation assumed
between decentralization and decline is baseless. Instead, there were
major developments in the field of religion, culture, literature, music etc.
The argument of a stagnant, unchanging and backward society does not
stand as well.

3. TWICE 2018-Assess the role of ideologies and circumstances

in shaping British policies in India.

(2019) How did the ideas of orientalism and utilitarianism shape

colonial policies in india?
2. How significant were the European ideological currents in
shaping the British land revenue policies in India up to the
mid-nineteenth century?

● In the 18th century, Enlightenment ideas prevailed in Europe.

● The ideas of progress and modernity that Enlightened Europe assigned itself
necessitated the demarcation of what was not progressive or modern – it
created the 'Other'.
● This 'other' was ascribed all the characteristics that the Europeans –with
regard to this essay, the British- wished to dissociate themselves with.
● In order to makes themselves 'British', and therefore 'non Indian', as Metcalf
says, the British had to create the idea of what was 'Indian'.
● This is important in the construction of ideologies which were the building
blocks of the British political and administrative machinery in India.
● It is largely acknowledged that the Battle of Plassey (1757) marked the start
of British rule in India.
● The British initially resisted taking control of their own government and
preferred to operate behind puppet regimes out of caution.
● Due to this, Bengal saw a parallel government where the "natives" continued
to control the administration while the British had the authority to administer
civil law and collect land taxes.
● The harsh environment was seen by the British in the 1770s as predisposing
India to Oriental dictatorship.
● When Warren Hastings took office as governor-general in 1772, he
abandoned Clive's fake administration and reinstituted British rule.
● Lord North's Regulating Act, which established the Calcutta Supreme Court
in 1773 to defend Bengalis against British tyranny, was introduced.
● The use of Orientalist knowledge in the establishment of the administration
occurred between 1772 and 1794.
● These British intellectuals were influenced by Enlightenment concepts like
Deism, which believed that the ideal society was not bound by place or time.
● Being an heir to the Enlightenment, Hastings considered the study of Indian
traditions beneficial to the state and a way to advance mankind.
● Orientalist publications, such as the Code of Gentoo Laws and A Digest of
Hindu Laws on Contract and Succession, were created for governmental use.
● The concept of Hinduism was developed by Orientalists and was one of
several binary oppositions that the colonial administration imposed.
● According to Hastings' Judicial Plan of 1772, laws discovered in ancient
books should take precedence over regional norms.
● Hinduism, which forbade regional variances, was developed in India by the
British and Brahmins.
● Tipu Sultan and Siraj-ud-Daula were the main adversaries of British
authority, and the British attempted to portray themselves as pro-Hindu.
● Hindus were given the right to vote, and colonial autocracy was overthrown
using the Code of Gentoo Laws.
● The Bhagavad-Gita and other Orientalist literature were translated with
deism in mind and emphasised commonalities.
● Studies that emphasised shared racial ancestry were conducted.
● In Indian civilization, Rosane Rocher saw the emergence of dichotomies.
● According to Bernard Cohn, the study of Indian languages, literature and
though produced three major projects –the project to use language and
information to understand and rule better the people of Indi a, the project of
rediscovery of 'ancients' and restoration of wisdom as had occurred in
Europe with the Renaissance, and patronage to institutions and individuals to
keep up the traditions of the conquered through literary and other means of
transmission.
● The British believed that the Crown, parliament, and company were all
corrupt, and the Whig political ideology maintained that authority was
subject to misuse.
● Attacks on the company's governance resulted from this concern over the
British people's potential involvement in maintaining a dictatorship.
● Hastings' gains for the East India Company were criticised by Philip Francis
and Burke.
● Burke maintained that the only way to give British authority in India
legitimacy was to do so in the country's citizens' best interests.
● A thorough blueprint for the regulation of property was created by Philip
Francis.
● In London, there had been a heated debate over the company's role in India
beyond trading.
● The company expanded its role as a governing body after the Pitt's India Act
of 1784, while it continued to enjoy trading rights.
● From 1786 until 1793, Lord Cornwallis served as governor general of India.
● Eric Stokes considers his administration to be India's second wave of
Anglicization.
● By laying a new basis for this rule and minimising government engagement,
he made the decision to strengthen British control in India.
● This idea resulted in The Permanent Settlement of Bengal (1793), which set
the income collected by the state and divided the collectors from the district
magistrate.
● In addition to having power over the police, the district judge was paid more
than the collector.
● From 1798 until 1805, Lord Wellesley served as the governor-general of
India, continuing Cornwallis's efforts.
● To decouple judicial authority from the Governor General's Council, the
Court of Sadr Diwani and Nizam Adalat was established.
● Wellesley's commanders, who were influenced by Romanticism and
included Munro, Elphinstone, Metcalfe, and Malcolm, opposed this stage of
Anglicization.
● They perceived the Cornwallis school as being based on impersonal,
bureaucratic ideals as opposed to the personalised, paternalistic
administration they preferred.
● The most concrete result of this idea was the Ryotwari system, which
Thomas Munro initially used in the Madras presidency.
● Metcalfe worked very hard to stop the Cornwallis system from spreading to
the Northwest Frontier Provinces.
● The evangelical revival gained traction at the end of the eighteenth century
as a reaction to the industrial revolution, a new morality, and the impending
middle class.
● The Clapham sect was concerned with sending missionaries to India, which
was allowed by the Charter Act of 1813.
● According to them, Work was itself an end, and emphasised industry and
perseverance and also necessary as it provided the material means to further
the kingdom of heaven on earth.
● The evangelicals also believed in basic education for the common man to be
able to read the Bible.
● The three most important beliefs were intense individualism, the sudden and
total transformation of human character and need for an education with
regard to Indian situation according to Stokes.
● It would liberate Indians from the Tyranny of priests, according to Grant.
● The taste of the Indian's and their poverty were the barriers to India being a
market for the British.
● Evangelical opinion was that this could be remedied by introducing
education and Christianity.
● Therefore, they argued for the 'principle of assimilation'.
● This was in complete opposition to the Company's policy of non
interference.
● This principle of assimilation was taken forward by free trade merchants,
who argued against the company when the matter of the Charter of 1813 was
being discussed.
● Commercially, India was important in terms of the China tea trade.
● The revenues from Bengal were a source of tribute.
● By this point of time, it was in their best interests for India to be a market for
British good, rather than as a trade monopoly.
● For the free traders, law and order and light taxes would give the Indians the
means to buy goods manufactured by the British.
● The meeting of commercial and missionary opinion created the idea of
liberalism in the colonies.
● In the 1820s, Lancashire textiles displaced Indian textiles.
● For the successful reversal of the balance of trade, measures to increase the
purchasing power of the Indian people would have to be undertaken.
● The Crawfurd report of 1832 called for 'efficient administration of justice'.
● The government should also step forward as a strong English government to
provide stimulus to the Indian.
● Great emphasis was placed on English education as a civilising influence It
essentially called upon the Indian people to abandon the 'barbarism' of their
own society and to instead allow English institutions to take their place -
private property, the rule of law, the liberty of the individual, and education
in Western knowledge.
● According to Macauley, even if political ties withered away, the most
important conquest made would be that of the mind .
● He said that the political tie with India was impermanent due to the brittle
nature of human society and that constant adaptation was key.
● With the coming of Lord William Bentinck to India in 1828, the Age of
reform was ushered in.
● The idea to 'improve' India had taken root in the minds of several thinkers,
evangelical, utilitarian and free traders.
● There existed many kinds of liberals, but what was common amongst them
was the belief in the total transformation of society.
● Unlike in Britian, according to Thomas Metcalf, in India, the conquered
people could not protest the change that was being introduced, and so India
became something a laboratory for the ideas of the liberals.
● In India, unlike in Britian, for the most part the utilitarians, free traders, law
reformers and evangelicals worked together.
● The best example of the liberals' take on India is James Mill's History of
India (1818).
● Mill was of the utilitarian bent of mind like Jeremy Bentham.
● He measured social progress based on utility.
● On analysing Indian society, he concluded that its civilisation was of very
little value, and like Jones saw Indian society as unchanging from ancient
times.
● In order to 'improve' India and set her on the road to progress, Mill
prescribed 'Light taxes and good laws'.
● John Stuart Mill did not differ much from the perspective of his father,
though he placed emphasis on liberty, but only for the ideal best polity.
● The mills were tickseed for advocating representative government at home
and the opposite in India.
● Mill advocated that foreign dominance in India would carry it through
several stages of progress.
● There are many similarities between the Utilitarians and the Evangelicals.
● They were both forms of individualism and both sought to lift tyranny of the
priests and overcome tradition.
● However, for the Utilitarians .
● law and legislature was the basis of good government as they would help
men avoid harmful accts by punishing them.
● The Evangelicals on the other hand emphasised English education, which
Macauley emphasised in his eventually successful Education Minute of
1835.
● He wanted to create a class that was Indian by blood, but which would help
the British to rule as it would be 'English in taste, in opinions, in morals and
in intellect'.
● While Public opinion and education featured in Utilitarian theory, they did
not match up to the power of law.
● Also, Mill believed greater success would be achieved through vernacular
education rather than English education.
● He also did not believe in including the Indians in the government.
 ● His solution was simply to reform the government, not reward the people by
education them and admitting them to administrative ranks.
● The Ryotwari system was better than Cornwallis's system .
● It brought the peasant and sate in direct contact.
● Taxation too occupied Mill's mind.
● He felt that the State should not withdraw from being the universal landlord.
● It could collect revenue as long as the rents did not exceed a limit.
● This way, progress would also not be harmed.
● According to Erik Stoke, the Utilitarian influence in India was split into
two – one branch that sought to further Cornwallis's reforms by an
aggressive application of the rule of law.
● The other school, prevalent in Punjab, the North West Frontier Provinces
and in Bombay were carrying forth the ideas of Munro and company.
● Indian administration was finally strengthened under the rule of law , and by
the 1860s, a uniform government influenced by the ideas of James Mill had
emerged.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Metcalf, Thomas, The New Cambridge History of India, Volume 3, Part 4,

Ideologies of the Raj, Cambridge Histories Online, Cambridge University Press
2008

Rocher, Rosane, British Orientalism in the Eighteenth Century: The Dialectics of

Knowledge and Government in Carol Breckenridge and Peter Van Der Veer
Orientalism and the Postcolonial Predicament : Perspectives On South Asia New
Cultural Studies, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993
Cohn, Bernard S., Colonialism and Its Forms of Knowledge, Princeton University
Press, Princeton, 1996

Stokes, Eric, The English Utilitarians and India, Oxford University Press, 1989

5 TWICE

3. Trace the impact of the British policies on the growth of modern

education in India?

2018 Discuss the evolution of indigenous and modern education

in colonial India.

(2019) Discuss the growth of modern education in the English

medium. What was its impact on Indian society?

● From the late 18th century onwards, as colonial enterprise in

India expanded and its policies concentrated more on
consolidation rather than simple trade, it became imperative
to not only conquer the native minds but also to carry out
social reconstruction for more efficient ruling.
● The British parliament, which now came to play an
increasingly active role in the rule of India, centered their
policies around the single goal of 'civilizing the native'.
● One way of doing this was through the education of the
natives.
● Gauri Vishwanthan, in her book "Masks of Conquests'
questions the reason behind the introduction of modern
education in India.
● She argues that if indeed the British were the unchallenged
military power in India, then why was this rule through direct
force abandoned in favour of enforcing a kind of social control
on the people?
● Why would this disguised form of authority be more
successful in ruling the Indian natives than direct show of
force?
● The following essay attempts to answer these questions and
plot the trend of modern education in India and its impact on
society.
● British Orientalism, between 1771-1835, was inspired by the
needs of the East India Company to train a class of British
administrators in the languages and culture of India.
● According to David Kopf, orientalists were products of the
enlightenment and thus tolerance and openness to other
cultures had strong appeal to them.
● The first phase of education began with the coming to power
of Warren Hastings in 1732.
● Hastings observed that the natives were not as barbaric as
previously thought to be and consisted of men 'of strong
intellect and integrity'.
● He did not directly import English laws and customs onto the
people, but instead argued for the continuation of the
indigenous texts like the Shastras and the Quran.
● Traditional Indian texts like the Arthashastra, the puranas etc
were translated into English.
● William Jones translated Persian poetry and established the
Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1774 to pursue research in ancient
learning, translation of manuscripts and bringing out the
journal.
● The establishment of the Calcutta Madrassa in 1781 by Francis
and the Sanskrit College at Benares in 1792 were also an
outcome of the influence of Orientalism.
● But these were mainly individual enterprises and attempts for
preserving ancient learning.
● It did not reflect a cohesive policy of the East India Company
towards education in India as the company followed a policy
of non-intervention in Indian social matters.
● In July 1813, a Charter Act was passed for the renewal of the
Company's privileges.
● This Act, not only renewed the East India Company's charter
for a twenty-year period, but also produced two major
changes.
● The first was a relaxation of controls over missionary activity
in India and the second was the assumption of a new
responsibility towards native education, a policy which the
British did not follow even towards its own people.
● Clause 43 of the Charter, influenced by Oriental agitation for
more funds for maintenance of institutions, laid down
 dissemination of education as one of the tasks of the British
Raj.
● It stated that a certain sum out of the total 'surplus territorial
revenues' would be appropriated by the government for
revival of literature and promotion of European sciences.
● This was the first step taken by the British government
towards formulating an education policy in India.
● In 1823, Holt Mackenzie, suggested the establishment of new
institutions for the instruction of Eastern and Western
learning.
● He also proposed the establishment of a General Committee
of Public Instruction for the implementation of his
suggestions.
● The Committee, which mostly constituted of Oriental
scholars, set up institutions like the Asiatic Society and the
Calcutta Madresa in Bengal, and the Sanskrit college in
Benaras.
● Little emphasis was given to Western sciences and religion
because the Committee was afraid of hurting the sentiments
of the natives and was constantly taking into consideration
the religious prejudice of the people.
● In 1828, Lord William Bentinck was appointed the new
Governor General of India and this marked a turning point in
the education policy of the British Raj.
● He appointed Thomas B. Macaulay as president of the General
Committee of Public Instruction.
● On 2 February 1835, he issued his famous Minute that became
the basis for the introduction of English education in India.
● Both Bentinck and Macaulay came from the Utilitarian school
of thought, which believed that British, culture
alone-represented civilization.
● There was no such thing as 'Western' civilization; there
existed only 'civilization'.
● Hence the utilitarian's set out to turn the Indian into an
Englishman; or, as Macaulay described it in his 1835 Minute
on Education, to create not just a class of Indians educated in
the English language, who might assist the British in ruling
India, but one 'English in taste, in opinions, in morals and in
intellect'.
● By this time colonial administration had also acquired greater
confidence in interfering in social affairs and in running
down indigenous institutions and practices.
● Macaulay suggested that the government should cut down the
expenditure on maintenance of Oriental institutions and
promotion of Oriental learning. .
● He argued for promotion of English education and the
codification of Hindu and Muslim laws into English.
● His main aim was to consolidate the British Empire through
English laws and culture.
● After evaluating Macaulay's proposal, Lord Bentinck passed a
resolution on 7th March 1835.
● These stated that funds appropriated for the purpose of
education would be employed in English education, western
literature and sciences would be taught in English, Persian
would be replaced by English as the official language and that
available funds would be used to encourage higher education
rather than elementary.
● Bentinck intended for a 'downward filtration' of English
knowledge, from the educated officials to the masses.
● But not all Utilitarians were in favour of Western Education.
● Many, like James Mill, were in favour of vernacular education.
● On the other hand, many of the growing Indian intelligentsia
was in favour of western education over vernacular traditions.
● In 1813, when the British parliament directed that one lakh
rupees be spent annually by the EAST INDIA COMPANY on the
improvement of education and the newly instituted
Committee of Public Instruction planned the setting up of a
Sanskrit College, Raja Rammohan Roy protested against this
move saying that the grant should have been directed towards
the teaching of westerns science.
● Lord Auckland, who succeeded Bentinck in 1836, expressed
his views on education in the minute of 1839 and attempted to
resolve the Anglo-Oriental controversy.
● He restored the grants that had been previously been
sanctioned to the Oriental colleges and stated that the funds
should be appropriated first for Oriental studies and then for
English instruction.
● He proposed the establishment of Central colleges in Patna,
Benares and Allahabad.
● Auckland's plan was important as the government realised
the need to keep the Oriental and English education systems
separate.
● It was found that the Indians were not ready to sacrifice their
own system of learning and that it was not possible to spread
education through English and it had to be done through the
vernacular.
● Auckland's plan for a comprehensive and graduated system of
education in every district resulted in the emergence and
adoption of the first comprehensive and real education policy.
● Hardinge, the next governor general, initiated further
reforms and innovations in the area of education.
● Higher education advanced at rapid speed as a network of
English and vernacular education institutions were
established.
● In 1844-45, the Council of Education drew up a plan to
establish a Central University, modelled on the London
University and offering degrees in Arts, Science, Law,
Medicine and Civil Engineering, in Bengal.
● The most significant advance in education was seen during
the age of Lord Dalhousie.
● He planned to set up a school in every revenue district along
with the ordinary village school.
● This scheme proved successful in eight districts and by 1850 a
vernacular school literature had been created, number of
schools increased to 3400 and number of scholars increased
greatly as well.
● It was gradually extended to 23 districts including Bengal and
Punjab.
● Dalhousie agreed to set up a school (instead of a college) in
Amritsar and he suggested that English could be taught here
alongside instruction in vernaculars.
● He introduced elaborate reforms in Calcutta and reformed the
Hindu College.
● He converted the senior department at the college into the
Presidency College to distinguish it from other local
institutions.
● He also suggested admission of non-Muslims into the
Calcutta Madrassa.
● Simultaneously, Dalhousie developed the plan for technical
education as he realised the importance of training youths to
meet rising demands of department public works.
● He supported J.E.D Bethune's female school in Calcutta and
marked the beginning of policy of open encouragement in
sphere of female education.
● Thomas Metcalfe, in his Ideologies of the Raj, points out a
very significant difficulty that the English Education reform
faced.
● In England in the early Victorian period, all schooling was
religious in nature.
● The schools were run by various Christian sects and
Christianity was taught as an integral part of the curriculum.
● The mission societies thus followed the same pattern in their
schools in India, thereby fulfilling their strategy of religious
conversion.
● The British Government however dared not introduce the
teaching of Christianity in the Indian schools for they realized
that such direct patronage of Christianity might provoke a
reaction of hostility.
● Gauri Vishwanathan throws light on this tension between the
increasing involvement in Indian education and the enforced
non-interference in religion, saying that it was resolved
 through the introduction of English literature as the central
element of the school curriculum.
● Although education in India was to be secular, moral training
was to be supplied by study of the great works of England's
historic literature.
● The guiding ideal was that of 'godliness and good learning',
enunciated by the educator Thomas Arnold.
● No such schools existed in England, nor was English
literature seen there as a substitute for Christian training, but
in India, eighteenth-century neo-classical literature, along
with Shakespeare, formed the core of the curriculum in the
government schools.
● Colonial ideas of race and religion were disseminated
amongst the natives through the distribution of Colonial
works of fiction.
● For example the novel of Robinson Crusoe, written by Daniel
Defoe in 1719, was widely distributed in public libraries in
Calcutta.
● The protagonist of the book is a ship-wrecked white-man
who comes into contact with the natives and attempts to
civilize them through the employment of English language
and culture and Christianity.
● The education policy in the course of its development had an
impact on Indian society and brought about changes in the
social structure.
● The Company's initial oriental policies held out important
prospects for local linguists and literati who found
employment in the new institutions that the colonial
administration created.
● These were mostly men of the upper castes who had
traditionally enjoyed access to education.
● It led to the emergence of a new social class – the bhadralok.
● This class also included the smaller local gentry who had
consolidated their position on land after the Permanent
Settlement.
● The best example of this is Raja Rammohan Roy, who after
having acquired property in Burdwan moved to Calcutta in
1815 in order to lead an intellectual life.
● According to Sekhar Bandopadhyay, there was a rise of a 'civil
society' which was 'articulate in defending its rights while
locating its identity'.
● They began to question all prevalent social practices and
religious notions and saw these as backward and decadent.
● Science became a sign of progress and scientific knowledge
was further developed by the likes of Raja Rammohan Roy as
they set up schools to promote the same.
● The bhadralok class also came under the influence of
Christian missionary activity, though there were few
conversions.
● There was also a growing fascination for western education
which found expression in the establishment of the Hindu
College in Calcutta in 1817.
● This was a modern educational initiative taken by the affluent
Calcutta Hindu families who wanted their sons educated in
the Western tradition.
● The college soon became a dynamic centre for social
transformation.
● The European ideals of liberty, representation and freedom,
expressed through teachers such as Henry Derozio, altered
the views of the students.
● It inspired them to embark upon new perceptions of tradition,
religion and social practice.
● Successive batches of students were unafraid in expressing
their views about religion, Hinduism and its practice, and
speaking in favour of liberal education.
● They formed the Young Bengal movement, provoking the
more conservative sections of society.
● An important outcome of this new found consciousness was
the awakening or renaissance among the contemporary
bengalis.
● Raja Rammohan Roy was a forerunner in this awakening and
he propagated the spread of Western education and carried
out social reform.
● Raja Rammohan Roy alongwith Dayanand Saraswati started
reform movements like the Brahmo Samaj and the Arya
Samaj to reform Hinduism.
● European education brought to the fore the status of women
in Indian society.
● Welfare of women became a concern.
● Not only was education extended to women, several reforms
were carried out to improve their social standing.
● Gauri Vishwanathan argues that the introduction of English
literature was meant to inculcate a proper training in morality
and ethics as it was considered to be the 'ideal representation
of English identity'.
● But the effects of this social transformation remained
confined to the bhadralok.
● The narrow basis of the Bengal renaissance has attraced much
critique from scholars.
● Sumit Sarkar argued that the renaissance culture was a Hindu
elitist one and that Rammohun Roy remained 'a purveyor of
half-filled bourgeois modernity'.
● Thus we have seen the effects of the English education
system on Indian society.
● David Kopf, in his British Orientalism and the Bengal
Renaissance, argues that the dynamics of Indian
modernization were set in motion by the British.
● Kopf observes that there developed during the 18th century an
Indian national consciousness of the arts and sciences.
● He credits orientalism for awakening this consciousness
among the indians along modern lines.
● Were it not for the British, the indans would never have been
acquainted with their own culture or recognized the
possibilites of national growth on indigenous foundations.
● Gauri Vishwanathan critiques Kopf saying that singular credit
cannot be given to the British for 'national awakening' in
India.
● The impact of modern education , though not always positive,
was profound and was felt by all sections of society. But the
fact must be accepted that western education did set the
wheel of modernization in motion.
7. TWICE 2018- Discuss the process of commercialization of
agriculture and its impact on the peasantry.

(2019) Discuss the factors leading to the growth of commercial

agriculture in india. What was the role of merchants and
moneylenders in the process?

Commercialization of Agriculture and Impact of

Commercialization of Agriculture

Commercialisation of agriculture is a phenomenon in which

agriculture is governed by commercial considerations, i.e.,
certain specialised crops began to be grown for sale in national
and even international markets rather than for consumption in
villages. Agricultural commercialization began in India during
the British colonial period. Toward the end of the 18th century,
revolutionary changes in agrarian property relations occurred.
When the industrial revolution in England picked up steam in
1813, the commercialization of Indian agriculture began. Around
1860 A.D., agriculture began to become more commercialised
(during American Civil War which boosted demand of Cotton
from India to Britain as Aerica was not able to export Cotton). The
commercialization of Indian agriculture took place not to feed
India's industries, but because India lagged behind Britain,
France, Belgium, and many other European countries in the
eighteenth century in terms of industrial development. The
commercialization of Indian agriculture was done primarily to
feed British industries, and it was only undertaken and achieved
in cases where agricultural products were either required by
British industries or could be sold for a profit in the European or
American markets. For example, several efforts were made to
increase cotton production in India in order to supply raw and
high-quality cotton to Britain's cotton textile industries, which
were rapidly expanding after the Industrial Revolution. As a
result, India's cotton growing area grew, and the country's cotton
production grew exponentially over time. Plantations of indigo,
tea, and coffee, among other things, were encouraged in India
because they had a commercial market outside the country. The
English controlled the majority of commercial crop plantations.
Jute was another product that the English company was
interested in because jute-based products had a ready market in
America and Europe. Cash transactions largely replaced the
barter system as the medium of exchange.

How Commercialization of Agriculture Happened?

India is being commercialised. The British introduced agriculture

to India through direct and indirect policies and activities.
Agricultural land had become a freely exchangeable commodity
thanks to the new land tenure system introduced in the form of
permanent settlement and Ryotwari Settlement. The Permanent
Settlement created a class of wealthy landlords by granting the
Zamindars ownership rights, which they could exercise through
the sale or purchase of land. Furthermore, agriculture, which had
previously been viewed as a way of life rather than a business,
began to be practised for the purpose of selling on the national
and international markets. Furthermore, crops with high market
demand, such as cotton, jute, sugarcane, ground nuts, tobacco,
and others, were increasingly cultivated. Plantation crops such as
tea, coffee, rubber, indigo, and others heralded a new era in
Indian agricultural practises. These were primarily intended for
markets, and with the expansion of British rule, agricultural
commercialization reached new heights. For the majority of
Indian peasants, agricultural commercialization was a forced and
artificial process. It was imposed on the peasantry as a result of
British coercion, not because of popular demand. Under duress,
the peasantry began cultivating commercial crops. He had to pay
the British government the land revenue owed on time.
Furthermore, he was forced to grow a commercial crop on a
specific portion of his land under the yoke of planters.

What Caused Commercialization of Agriculture in India during

British Period?

A variety of factors aided and encouraged the commercialization

of Indian agriculture. The British established political unity,
which resulted in the rise of a unified national market, was a
significant factor. Agricultural goods became market items as a
result of the spread of the money economy, which replaced
barter. The colonial subjugation of India under British rule was
the most important factor. India was reduced to a supplier of raw
materials and food grains to the United Kingdom, as well as an
importer of manufactured goods from the United Kingdom. To
meet the demand in Britain, many commercial crops such as
cotton, jute, tea, and tobacco were introduced. Competition and
contract replaced custom and tradition, resulting in the
commercialization of Indian agriculture. Better communication
(along with the rapid development of railways and shipping)
allowed for the trade of agricultural products, particularly over
long distances. Grain merchants arose as a natural result of this,
greatly facilitating agricultural trade. Another important
incidental factor in agricultural commercialization was the
monetization of land revenue payments. Another factor that
aided agricultural commercialization in India was the
acceleration of the Industrial Revolution in England. As more
agricultural goods were produced to meet the demand for raw
materials by British industries, commercialization became a
factor. Commercialization of agriculture was also boosted by the
expansion and expansion of international trade, as well as the
entry of British finance capital. Commercialization of agriculture
was accelerated by rising demand for some commercial crops in
other countries. Indirectly, the American Civil War aided the
commercialization of agriculture in India by diverting British
cotton demand to India. Cotton demand remained high even after
the civil war ended, thanks to India's growing cotton textile
industry. The British policy of one-way free trade also acted as a
sufficient motivator for commercialization, as manufactured
textiles, jute, and other goods could freely enter Indian markets,
whereas manufactured goods could not freely enter European
markets. Peasants began growing commercial crops in order to
repay money lenders in a timely manner.

What was Impact of Commercialization of Agriculture

The following are some of the effects of agricultural

commercialization:

1) Increased Equality—Normally, this would have been a catalyst

for increased agricultural productivity. However, due to poor
agricultural organisation, obsolete technology, and a lack of
resources among most peasants, this did not happen. It was only
the wealthy farmers who benefited, which exacerbated income
disparities in rural society.

2) Significant benefits to planters, traders, and manufacturers-

The commercialization of agriculture benefited British planters,
traders, and manufacturers, who were able to make huge profits
by purchasing commercialised agricultural products at bargain
prices. The commercialization of Indian agriculture benefited
Indian traders and money lenders, who made huge fortunes by
acting as British middlemen.

3) Increased reliance on moneylenders-The poor peasant was

forced to sell his produce as soon as it was harvested at whatever
price he could get in order to meet the demands of the
government, the landlord, the money lender, and his family
members. This put him in the hands of the grain merchant, who
was able to dictate terms and buy his produce for a fraction of the
market price. As a result, the merchant, who was often also the
village money lender, reaped a large share of the benefits of the
growing agricultural trade. Commercialization of agriculture did
not encourage the expansion of the land market because the
majority of the profits went to company traders and
intermediaries. Indian moneylenders provided cash advances to
farmers in order for them to cultivate commercial crops, and if
the peasants did not repay the moneylenders on time, the land of
the peasants became the property of the moneylenders.

4) Food Production Decline and Frequent Famines-The British

policy of commercialising Indian agriculture harmed the majority
of the Indian people. Due to the substitution of commercial
non-food grains for food grains, the area under cultivation of
food crops was reduced. Commercial crop production increased
by 85% from 1893-94 to 1945-46, while food crop production fell
by 7%. This had a devastating impact on the rural economy, and
famines were common.
5) Indian People's Poverty- The misery was exacerbated by the
fact that India's population was growing every year, land
fragmentation was occurring due to increasing pressure on land,
and modern agricultural production techniques were not
introduced in India. As a result, the British commercialization of
agriculture in India was one of the major causes of the Indian
people's poverty.

6) Crop Specialization by Region- Crop specialisation by region,

based on climatic conditions, soil, and other factors, was a result
of the commercial revolution in agriculture.

Cotton was grown in the Deccan districts of the Bombay

presidency, jute and Indigo was grown in Bengal, opium was
grown in Bihar, tea was grown in Assam, wheat was grown in
Punjab, and so on.

7) Agriculture's Link to the World Market- Another important

result of the agricultural commercial revolution was the
agricultural sector's link to the world market. Price changes and
business fluctuations in the global markets began to have an
impact on the fortunes of Indian farmers in ways they had never
experienced before. When it came to crop selection, the farmer
prioritised market demand and price over his family's needs.
Because of market imbalances, the peasantry has suffered.
8) Negative impact on self-sufficiency—Commercialization of
agriculture had a negative impact on village economy
self-sufficiency and was a major factor in the rural economy's
decline.

9) Impact on traditional agriculture—relationship with

industry— Traditional agricultural-industry relationships were
impacted by commercialization. Traditional Indian relationships
acted as stumbling blocks to each other's development.

10) No Technological Development-commercialization

Agriculture's did not signal a commercial revolution. However,
there was no technological revolution to support this. Because the
health benefits that agriculture and related fields would have
provided were not realised. Agriculture's commercialization had
a mixed effect. While it aided Britain's industrial revolution, it
harmed India's villages' economic self-sufficiency. The British
introduced a new phenomenon in Indian agriculture:
commercialization of agriculture. While the upper class and
British industries benefited, the lives of Indian peasants were
influenced by a distant international market.

11) Peasant Revolts-The most serious consequence of

commercialization was the oppression of Indian peasants by
Europeans. The famous Indigo revolt of 1859 was a manifestation
of this. Furthermore, the commercialization of Indian agriculture
resulted in a series of famines that claimed a large number of
lives.
12)Positive Impacts of Commercialization of Agriculture: Despite
its many negative consequences, commercialization was a
progressive event in one sense. Commercialisation facilitated
social exchange and allowed India's economy to transition to a
capitalist model. India's economy became intertwined with the
global economy as a result of commercialization. It paved the way
for the development of a high-level social and economic system.
Commercialisation made a significant contribution to economic
integration. It also laid the groundwork for the country's
economic development. Commercialization of agriculture
resulted in the expansion of national agriculture, and the
agricultural problem took on a national dimension. It also
resulted in the efficient specialisation of crops by region.

8. TWICE 2018 Did social and religious reformers of the

nineteenth century articulate a comprehensive critique of
contemporary society?

(2019) Discuss the ideas of the reformers in nineteenth century

india. Did the reformers succeed in addressing the concerns of
women and the lower castes?
4. Examine the major reform movements of the nineteenth century
and their impact on the society.

● There were several socio-religious reform initiatives in India throughout the

19th century that sought to reorganize Indian society along contemporary
lines.
● These reform movements can be viewed as the expression of the social
aspiration of the newly emerging middle class of colonial India.
● In the 19th century, Indian society was trapped in a web of religious
superstitions and social obscurities due to the advent of modern thoughts and
ideas with the coming of the British.
● The significant social problems that surfaced during the early stages of
reform movements were emancipation of women in which sati, infanticide,
child and widow remarriage, Caste inequality, untouchability were taken up
for enlightening the society, and in the religious spheres main issues like
idolatry, polytheism, religious superstitions and exploitation by priests were
taken up.
● Religious reformation was a major concern of these movements, but none of
them was exclusively religious in character but were strongly humanist in
inspiration, their attention was focused on worldly existence.
● Rationalism and religious universalism were the important ideas which
influenced these reform movements; a rational and secular outlook was
much evident in providing an alternative to prevalent social practice.
● However, these reform movements were confined by and large to a region or
other and also were confined to a particular caste or religion.
● Even if there were differences in their methods, all of them had a common
concern : the regeneration of society through social and educational reforms.
● The spirit of reform embraced almost the whole of India beginning with the
efforts of Raja Ram Mohan Roy in Bengal leading to the formation of the
Brahmo Samaj in 1828.

BRAHMO SAMAJ: Main theme “Nirguna Sapna” (formless worship)

● Purpose was to purify Hinduism.

● Promoted Monotheism – Oneness of God.

● The new society was to be based on the twin pillars of reason & the Vedas &
Upanishads.

● Most of all it based itself on human reason which was to be the ultimate
criterion for deciding what was worthwhile & what was useless in the past or
present religious principles & practices.

● Followers of Samaj were Keshab Chandra Sen ,Debendra Nath Tagore, Ishwar
Chandra Vidyasagar, Ashwani Kumar Datta, Derozians , Prasanna Kumar
Tagore, Chandrashekhar Deb & Tarachand Chakravarty, 1st secretary of the
Brahmo Sabha

● Debendranath Tagore, the leader of Brahmo Sabha after Roy's death,

rejected the idea that the Vedic writings were doctrinally sound.

● 1839-founded Tattvabodhini Sabha.

● The Samaj actively supported the movement for widow remarriage,

abolition of polygamy, women's education & opposed superstitious practices
& rituals.

● Samaj denied the need for a priestly class for interpreting religious writings.

● Apart from the Brahmo Samaj, which has branches in several parts of the
country, the Paramahansa Mandali and the Prarthana Samaj in Maharashtra
and the Arya Samaj in Punjab and North India were some of the prominent
movements among the Hindus.

PRARTHNA SAMAJ
Founded by Dadoba Tarkhadkar and his brother Atmaram Pandurang in 1867 at
Bombay,when Keshub Chandra Sen visited Maharashtra, with an aim to make people
believe in one God & worship only one God.

● Parallel to Brahmo Samaj

● Although the adherents of Samaj were devoted theists, they didn’t regard the Vedas
as divine or infallible.

● The emphasis was on monotheism, but on the whole, the samaj was more concerned
with social reforms than with religion.

● They drew their nourishment from the Hindu scriptures & used the hymns of the old
Marathi "poet-saints" like Namdev, Tukaram in their prayers.

SOCIAL REFORMS UNDER PRARTHNA SAMAJ

● "Prarthana Samaj" or "Prayer Society" reform movements led many projects of

cultural change and social reform in Western India (Bombay):

○ Improvement of the position of women and depressed classes

○ An end to the caste system

○ Abolition of child marriages & infanticide.

○ Educational opportunities for women, & remarriage of widows.

○ Its success was guided by Sir Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar, a noted Sanskrit
scholar, Narayan Chandavarkar, & Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade.

The main reformers were the intellectuals who advocated reforms of the social
system of the Hindus.

○ Along with Dhondo Keshav Karve, Ranade founded the Widow Remarriage
Movement as well as Widows’ Home Association with the aim of providing education
and training to widows

○ It was spread to southern India by noted Telugu reformer & writer, Kandukuri
Veeresalingam.
● There were several other regional and caste movements like the Kayastha
Sabha in Uttar Pradesh and the Sarin Sabba in Punjab.
● The backward castes also started the work of reformation with the Satya
Sodhak Samaj in Maharashtra and the Sri Narayana Dharma Paripalana
Sabha in Kerala.
● The Aligarh movements, the Singh Sabha and the Rehnumai Mazdeyasan
Sabha represented the spirit of reform among the Muslims, the Sikhs and the
Parsees respectively.
● Despite being regional in scope and content and confined to a particular
religion, their general perspectives were remarkably similar; they were
regional and religious manifestations of a common Consciousness.
● Although religious reformation was a major concern of these movements,
none of them were exclusively religious in character.
● Strongly humanist in inspiration, the idea of otherworldliness and salvation
were not a part of their agenda; instead their attention was focused on
worldly existence. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and Vivekananda emphasized
the secular use of religion and used spirituality to take cognizance of the
material conditions of human existence.
● Given the inter-connection between religious beliefs and social practices,
religious reformation was a necessary pre-requisite for social reform.
● Religion was the dominant ideology of the times and it was not possible to
undertake any social action without coming to grips with it.
● Indian society in the nineteenth century was caught in a vicious web created
by religious superstitions and social obscurantism.
● Hinduism, as Max Weber observed, had ‘become a compound of magic,
animism and superstition’ and abominable rites like animal sacrifice and
physical torture had replaced the worship of God.
● The priests exercised an overwhelming and, indeed, unhealthy influence on
the minds of the people. Idolatry and polytheism helped to reinforce their
Position.
● As suggested by Raja Ram Mohan Roy, their monopoly of scriptural
knowledge and of ritual interpretation imparted a deceptive character to all
religious systems.
● The faithful lived in submission, not only to God, the powerful and unseen,
but even to the whims, fancies and wishes of the priests.
● There was nothing that religious ideology could not persuade people to
do—women even went to the extent of offering themselves to priests to
satisfy their carnal pleasures.

● Social conditions were equally depressing. The most distressing was the
position of women. The birth of a girl was unwelcome, her marriage a
burden and her widowhood inauspicious. Attempts to kill girl infants at birth
were not unusual. Those who escaped this initial brutality were subjected to
the violence of marriage at a tender age. Often the marriage was a device to
escape social ignominy and, hence, marital life did not turn out to be a
pleasant experience.
● When their husbands died they were expected to commit Sati which Ram
Mohan described it as murder. If they succeeded in overcoming this social
coercion, they were condemned, as widows, to life-long misery, neglect and
humiliation.
● Another debilitating factor was caste; it sought to maintain a system of
segregation, hierarchically ordained on the basis of ritual status.
● The rules and regulations of caste hampered social mobility, fostered social
divisions and sapped individual initiative. Above all was the humiliation of
untouchability which militated against human dignity.
● There were innumerable other practices marked by constraint, credulity,
status, authority, bigotry and blind fatalism.
● Rejecting them as features of a decadent society, the reform movements
sought to create a social climate for modernization. In doing so, they
referred to a golden past when no such malaise existed.
● The nineteenth century situation was the result of an accretionary process; a
distortion of a once ideal past.
● The reformers’ vision of the future, however, was not based on this
idealization. It was only an aid and an instrument —since practices based
on faith cannot be challenged without bringing faith itself into question.
 Hence, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, demonstrated that sati had no religious
sanction
● Dayanand Saraswati based his anti-casteism on Vedic authority.
● To Ram Mohan Roy demonstrability was the sole criterion of truth. In
proclaiming that rationalism is our only preceptor,Akshay Kumar went a
step further.
● All natural and social phenomena, he held, could be analyzed and
understood by purely mechanical processes.
● This perspective not only enabled them to adopt a rational approach to
tradition but also to evaluate contemporary socio-religious practices from the
standpoint of social utility and to replace faith with rationality.
● In the Brahmo Samaj, it led to the repudiation of the infallibility of the
Vedas, and in the Aligarh Movement, to the reconciliation of the teachings
of Islam with the needs of the modern age.
● Holding that religious tenets were not immutable, Syed Ahmed Khan
emphasized the role of religion in the progress of society: if religion did not
keep pace with and meet the demands of the time.
● It would get fossilized as in the case of Islam in India.

● The perspectives on reform were not always influenced by religious

Considerations A rational and secular outlook was very much evident in
Posing an alternative to prevalent social practices.
● In advocating widow marriage and opposing polygamy and child marriage,
Akshay Kumar was not concerned about religious sanction or whether they
existed in the past.
● His arguments were mainly based on the effects of Society. Instead of
depending on the scriptures, he cited medical Opinion against Child
marriage.
● He held very advanced ideas about marriage and family: courtship before
marriage, partnership and equality as the basis of married life and divorce by
both law and custom.
● In Maharashtra, as compared to other regions, there was less dependence on
religion as an aid to social reform.
● To Gopal Han Deshmukh, popularly known as Lokahitavadi, whether social
reforms had the sanction of religion was immaterial. If religion did not
sanction these, he advocated that religion itself should be changed as it was
made by man and what was laid down in the scripture need not necessarily
be of contemporary relevance.

● Although the ambit of reforms was particularistic, their religious perspective

was universalistic.
● Raja Ram Mohan Roy considered different religions as national
embodiments of universal theism. The Brahmo Samaj was initially
conceived by him as a Universalist church.
● He was a defender of the basic and universal principles of all religions —the
monotheism of the Vedas and the Unitarianism of Christianity and at the
same time attacked polytheism of Hinduism and the Trinitarians of
Christianity.
● Syed Ahmed Khan echoed the same idea: all prophets had the same din
(faith) and every country and nation had different prophets.
● This perspective found clearer articulation in Keshub Chandra Sen’s ideas.
He said ‘our position is not that truths are to be found in all religions, but all
established religions of the world are true.’
● He also gave expression to the social implications of this Universalist
perspective: ‘Whoever worships the True God daily must learn to recognize
all his fellow countrymen as brethren.
● Caste would vanish in such a state of society. If I believe that my God is
one, and that he has created us all, I must at the same time instinctively, and
with all the warmth of natural feelings, look upon all around me —whether
Parsees, Hindus, Muslims or Europeans —as my brethren.’

● The Universalist perspective was not a purely philosophical concern; it

strongly influenced the political and social outlook of the time, till religious
particularism gained ground in the second half of the nineteenth century.
● For instance, Raja Ram Mohan Roy considered Muslim lawyers to be more
honest than their Hindu counterparts and Vidyasagar did not discriminate
against Muslims in his humanitarian activities.
● Even to Bankim, who is credited with a Hindu outlook, dharma rather than
religious belonging was the criterion for determining superiority.

● The nineteenth century witnessed a cultural-ideological struggle against the

backward elements of traditional culture, on the one hand, and the fast
hegemonizing colonial culture and ideology on the other.
● The initial reforming efforts represented the former. In the religious sphere
they sought to remove idolatry, polytheism and priestly monopoly of
religious knowledge and to simplify religious rituals.
● They were important not for purely religious reasons but equally for their
social implications.
● They contributed to the liberation of the individual from conformity born out
of fear and from uncritical submission to the exploitation of the priests
● . The dissemination of religious knowledge through translation of religious
texts into vernacular languages and the right granted to the laity to interpret
scriptures represented an important initial breach in the stranglehold of
misinterpreted religious dogmas.
● The simplification of rituals made worship a more intensely personal
experience without the mediation of intermediaries. The individual was,
thus, encouraged to exercise his freedom.

● The socially debilitating influence of the caste system which perpetuated

social distinctions was universally recognized as an area which called for
urgent reform.
● It was morally and ethically abhorrent, more importantly, it militate against
patriotic feelings and negated the growth of democratic ideas.
● Raja Ram Mohan Roy initiated, in ideas but not in practice, the opposition
which became loud and clear as the century progressed.
● Gowind Ranade, Dayanand and Vivekananda denounced the existing system
of caste in no uncertain terms. While the reform movements generally stood
for its abolition, Dayanand gave a utopian explanation for chaturvarna
(four-fold Varna division of Hindu society) and sought to maintain it on the
basis of virtue.
● ‘He deserves to be a Brahman who has acquired the best knowledge and
character, and an ignorant person is fit to be classed as a shudra,’ he argued.
● Understandably the most virulent opposition to caste came from lower caste
movements. Jyotiba Phule and Narayana Guru were two unrelenting critics
of the caste system and its consequences.
● A conversation between Gandhiji and Narayana Guru is significant.
Gandhiji, in an obvious reference to Chaturvarna and the inherent
differences in quality between man and man, observed that all leaves of the
same tree are not identical in shape and texture.
● To this Narayana Guru pointed out that the difference is only superficial, but
not in essence: the juice of all leaves of a particular tree would be the same
in content. It was he who gave the call —‘one religion, one caste and one
God for mankind’ which one of his disciples, Sahadaran Ayyapan, changed
into ‘no religion, no caste and no God for mankind.’
●
● The campaign for the improvement of the condition and status of women
was not a purely humanitarian measure either. No reform could be really
effective without changes in the domestic conditions, the social space in
which the initial socialization of the individual took place.
● A crucial role in this process was played by women. Therefore, there could
be no reformed men and reformed homes without reformed women.
● Viewed from the standpoint of women, it was, indeed, a limited perspective.
Nevertheless it was realized that no country could ever make ‘significant
progress in civilization whose females were sunk in ignorance.’

● If the reform movements had totally rejected tradition, Indian society

would have easily undergone a process of westernization. But the
reformers were aiming at modernization rather than westernization. A
 blind initiation of western cultural norms was never an integral part of
reform.
● Breaking the bonds of tradition created emotional and sentimental crises for
men and women caught between two worlds.
● The first widow marriage in Bengal attracted thousands of curious
spectators. To the first such couple in Maharashtra the police had to give
lathis to protect themselves!
● Rukmabhai, who refused to accept her uneducated and unaccomplished
husband, virtually unleashed a storm.
● Faced with the prospect of marrying a young girl much against his
conviction, Ranade spent several sleepless nights. So did Lokahitavadi,
Telang and a host of others who were torn between traditional sentiments
and modern commitments.
● Several however succumbed to the former, but it was out of this struggle that
the new men and the new society evolved in India.

● Faced with the challenge of the intrusion of colonial culture and ideology, an
attempt to reinvigorate traditional institutions and to realize the potential of
traditional culture developed during the nineteenth century. (**imp)
● All intrusions into the cultural realm were more intensely felt. Therefore, a
defence of indigenous culture developed almost simultaneously with the
colonial conquest.
● This concern embraced the entire cultural existence, the way of life and all
signifying practices like language, religion, art and philosophy.
● Two features characterized this concern; the creation of an alternate
cultural-ideological system and the regeneration of traditional institutions.
● The cultivation of vernacular languages, the creation of an alternate system
of education, the efforts to regenerate Indian art and literature, the emphasis
on Indian dress and food, the defence of religion and the attempts to
revitalize the Indian system of medicine, the attempt to probe the
potentialities of pre-colonial technology and to reconstruct traditional
knowledge were some of the expressions of this concern.
● The early inklings of this can be discerned in Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s
debates with the Christian missionaries, in the formation and activities of
Tattvabodhini Sabha, in the memorial on education signed by 70,000
inhabitants of Madras and in the general resentment against the Lex Loci
Act (the Act proposed in 1845 and passed in 1850 provided the right to
inherit ancestral property to Hindu converts to Christianity).
● A more definite articulation, however, was in the ideas and activities of later
movements generally characterized as conservative and revivalist. Strongly
native in tendency, they were clearly influenced by the need to defend
indigenous culture against colonial cultural hegemony.
● In this specific historical sense, they were not necessarily retrogressive, for
underlying these efforts was the concern with the revival of the cultural
personality, distorted, if not destroyed, by colonial domination.
● More so because it formed an integral element in the formation of national
consciousness. Some of these tendencies however, were not able to
transcend the limits of historical necessity and led to a sectarian and
obscurantist outlook.
● This was possibly a consequence of the lack of integration between the
cultural and political struggles, resulting in cultural backwardness, despite
political advance.
●
● The cultural-ideological struggle, represented by the socio-religious
movements, was an integral part of the evolving national consciousness.
● This was so because it was instrumental in bringing about the initial
intellectual and cultural break which made a new vision of the future
possible.
● Second, it was a part of the resistance against colonial cultural and
ideological hegemony.
● Out of this dual struggle evolved the modern cultural situation: new men,
new homes and a new society.
●
● Much significant contributions were made by these reform movements in the
evolution of modern India.
 ● They stood for the democratization of the society, removal of superstitions
and decadent customs, spread of enlightenment and development of a
rational and modern outlook. This led to the national awakening in India.

THE WAHABI/ WALIULLAH MOVEMENT

● The Wahabi Movement was the first Muslim movement to emerge

in response to Western influences

● It was a revivalist movement which tried to purify Islam of all the

un-Islamic practices that had crept into Muslim society through
the ages.

● The movement was led by Abdul Wahab of Arabia as well as

Delhi's Saint Shah Waliullah Dehlawi (1702-62).

● In India, their teachings were popularised by Syed Ahmed Barelvi

(also known as Syed Ahmed of Rae Bareilly) & Shah Abdul Aziz.

● Barelvi condemned all innovations in Islam and advocated a

return to original religion of Islam & Islamic society of Arabia as it
was during the Prophet's times.

● Barelvi & Aziz gave the movement a political color & aimed at
creating a Muslim homeland.
● Aziz set out a fatwa (ruling) declaring that India was Dar-ul-harb
& the need was to make it Dar-ul-Islam.

● Jihad was initially declared against the Sikhs of Punjab then ruled
by Ranjit Singh

● After the British annexation of Punjab in 1849, jihad was directed

against the British.

● During the Revolt of 1857, the Wahabis played a significant role in

spreading anti-British sentiments.

● The movement was suppressed by the British in the presence of

superior military might.

● In 1870, the term 'sedition' was added in the IPC to outlaw speech
that attempted to ‘excite disaffection towards the government
established by law in India’; thus, this movement marked the
beginning of sedition law in India

FARAIZI MOVEMENT

Founder: Haji Shariatullah of Faridipur.

● The Faraizi movement originally began as a peasant movement

directed against the landlords & the British oppressors.

● However, under the leadership of Dudu Mian (founder's son), the

Faraizis turned into a religious sect, advocating radical religious &
socio-political changes.

● Dudu Miyan propagated an egalitarian ideology—that all men are

equal & that all land belongs to God & no one has the right to levy
tax on it. He took upon himself the task of driving away the British
intruders from Bengal.

9. Can the widespread revolt of 1857 be understood in terms of

a variety of local grievances.

Q-(2019)(test) Discuss the role of the different social

classes during the revolt of 1857.

● Culturally the Indians were always “one”.

The Titular Mughal Emperor was there to serve as a thread of unity
among the Indians.
● The British showed dis-respect to the Emperor which offended the
Indians in General and the Muslims in particular.
● The Muslims were already sore at the loss of post supremacy.
● Lord Dalhousie‟s policy of annexation, the "Doctrine of Lapse" or
"Escheat"- by which many princely states of India were
indiscriminately annexed to the British.
● Especially Nana Sahib the adopted son of last Peshowa, Rani
Laxmibai of Jhansi and the Nawab of Avodh were extremely injured
by this policy.
● India possesses its own economic system mainly based on
agriculture and small industry.
● The foreign rulers were sending Indian raw-materials to Britain for
feeding their new born industries and thus were exploiting Indian
resources.
● This policy destroyed the Indian Industries. Indian Artisans, craftsman
etc. became jobless and the burden of farmland increased.
● Poverty seriously grabbed the people. States and jagirs of the princes
and other aristocratic people were confiscated who became destitute
and in the result skilled persons employed under them became
jobless.
● This led them to join the revolt against the British.
● The soldiers of the confiscated states lost their means of bread.
● So they also joined the mutiny against the British.
It is a fact that Indian life is based on religion.
The attach men of religion has kept the Indians united.
● As per Hindu customs adoption was an important ritual which was
refused by the British.
● This refusal affected the social and religious sentiments of the
Indians.
● Abolition of "sati" Custom by the Lord William Bentinck, Hindu
Widow Remarriage by law etc.
put a deep hit on the Hindu religious feelings.
● Seizure of religious grants to both Hindus and Muslims and side by
side condemnations of eastern religion (Hinduism, Buddhism,
Muslimism) also deeply affected the religious faith of the Indians.
● The unwarranted aggressive spirit of some Christian Missionaries in a
systematic planned manner, by giving jobs to the converted poor
Indian to Christianity was also hated seriously.
● The efforts of the British to invite western culture to Indian life lead to
a serious discontent.
● Indian soldiers were ill-treated in the Army by the English causing rise
of discrimination in their mind.
● The number of Indians in the Army was far larger than the British
sepoys (ratio 6:1).
● Most of the Indian soldiers belonged to Brahmin and Thakurs of
East-India.
They were sensitive being high caste Hindu.
● A general suspicion grew up in their mind as to the westernizing and
christianizing policy of the British.
● Such dissatisfaction was intensified by the Lord Canning introduction
of "General Service Act" which required the sepoys to should be
ready for service anywhere, whether within or outside India in the
British empire.
● A general discontent existed among all the Indian soldiers.
● It is obvious that Indian sepoys had natural love and respect for their
motherland and faith in their own religion.
● The introduction of the Enfield rifle with the cartridges greased with
the fat of cow and pig, obnoxious to both the Hindus and Muslims set
the spark that enkindled the embers of discontent of the Indian sepoy
stored in them for a long time.
● On 29- 03-1857 the Brahmin sepoy "Mangal Pandey" fired the first
short of the revolt 1857 in Bengal.
● The participants of the revolt were both Hindus and Muslims.
● The Zamindars, Artisans, Pundits, Fakirs, businessmen all gradually
joined the revolt.
● Hindustanies, Marathies, Rajputs, Jats, Ruhilas all fought together
against the British under leadership of Bahadur Shah-II the last
Mughal Emperor.
● We observe that the backbone of the revolt was the Army (Sepoys).
● Nana Sahib Peshwa, Azimulla Khan, Mughal Emperor Bahadur
Shah-II, Begum Hazrsat Mahal of Oudh, Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi,
Khan Bahadur Khan of Barrielly all led the revolt.
● Kanwar Singh aged about 80 years, Tantia Tope, Moulavi Ahmed
Shah, Raja Honumant Singh fought to oust the British.
● We see that Hindu Mukundaram was principal Secretary of Bahadur
Shah-II, Azimulla Khan was the principal advisor of the renowned
rebel leader Nana Sahib.
● This clever and intelligent leader published in his newspaper-
"Piyas-I-Azadi"- "The Hindu and Muslims Brothers of India
awake"!! Dear brothers, be hostile to the British.
● It appears that the leaders of the rebellion were fully acquainted with
their weakness as well as their target and as such they earnestly
wanted the unity of both the main classes of India and in this
juncture they were very much successful to remove
communalism from the Indians.
● In Delhi Bakht Khan a sepoy led the rebellion.
● In Kanpur Nana Sahib declared himself as "Peshuawa", Tatya
Tope and Azimulla Khan organized the war on behalf of Nana Sahib.
● In Lucknow Begum Hazarat Mahal of Oudh led the revolt of declaring
her adopted son as Nawab of Oudh.
● Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi conquered Gwalior with the help of Tatya
Tope In Bihar Kanwar Singh of Jagdispur, a Zaminder, led the
rebellion.
● Moulavi Ahmedulla led the rebellion at Faziabad, Rohilakhand.
● All of them fought against the British to oust them from Hindustan.
● In the North and Middle post of India a "General Revolt" started side
by side the rebellion.
● The civil populations, displaced peasants, dispossessed Zamindars,
oppressed Tribal populations and the dissatisfied sepoys fought
together.
● As per the dated 13-09- 1857 issued by the Company Government it
appears that "As the revolt was shaped as favorable character and as
it appears impossible to identify the large number of participants the
Magistrates ordered to burn out or to destroy the villages as a whole
 of those villages from which the villagers took active part in the
revolt."
● According to general Homes " only at Oudh 1,50,000 no‟s of armed
rebels were assassinated, out of which only 35,000 were sepoys."
● Noticing the uprising of 10th May 1857 of the sepoys in Meerut, the
then Dewan of British of Assam, "Muniram Boruagh" was influenced
and inspired to make free Assam from the grab of British.
● His plan was to drive away the English from Assam with the help of
Indian sepoys of Assam and to make "Kandarpeswar Singh" as the
king of Assam.
● He accordingly sent secret messages from Calcutta to Kanderpeswar
Singh and Piayali Boruah and some others.
● Thereafter an uprising grew up among the sepoys of Gauhati, Jorhat,
Dibrugarh and Goalpara.
● But the rebellion was strongly suppressed by British Officers and the
conspiracy of Moniram Baruh was focused on by one Harnath
Parbotia for which the entire plan failed.
● Kandarpeshwar Singh was arrested and abandoned to Burdwan.
● Piyali Baruah, Maya Ram Nazir, Patiram Baruh, Madhu mallik,
Bahadur Gaonbura, Marangi Guru Gohai, Karmid Ali etc.
were arrested, Some sepoys were suspended and some were
abandoned Captain Charles halraid, the Commissioner Shivsagar
ordered to hang Moniram Dewan and Piyali Baruah.
● It is observed that Moniram Baruah led the aristocratic class of
Assam who were dis-satisfied upon the British for a Long time.
● We carefully observed that in spite of great efforts by the leaders to
generalize the revolt all over India , some states, landlords like
Punjab, Gujrat, Hyderabad, Madras, Mysore, Bombay, Bengal, South
India etc.
● They fought against the rebel‟s along with the British Army.
● We carefully observe that from Bengal to Bihar, Uttar Pradesh to
Delhi civil people join the sepoys who were directly or indirectly
oppressed by the British.
● They could realize that only by ousting the British they can earn
peace and certainty in their life.
 ● This revolt taught an extreme lesson to the foreign imperialistic
traders, invaders.
● The active participation of various classes clearly indicates that there
was a direct fight between mainly two classes, one of which
extortioner and the other is subjected to extortion.
● We can refer here to the message written in the essay news sent
from India by Carl Marx that- "The rebellion which the British ruler
termed as merely a military uprising was actually a national
movement."

Q-(2019)(test)how did the various land revenue

systems introduced by the British influence agrarian
economy and society?

(LSR Students’ notes)

Introduction

● The collection of land revenue systems existed way before the

agrarian systems introduced by British India.
● It was an important source of income for the monarchs.
● During the Delhi Sultanate land was divided into iqtas and khalisa
land while the mughals divided the land into jagirs allotted to
Jagirdars.
● Zamindars were the hierarchical landlords who collected their share
from the peasants.
● The land revenue system of Mughals was widely followed before the
British came in.
● The former had three types of system: Ghalla Bakshi,
Kankut(assessment and collection by now separate people) and zabti
system(based on land estimation).

Aims and Causes

Since the grant of diwani for Bengal, Bihar and Orissa in 1765, the
major concern of the east india company's administration in india was
to collect as much revenue as possible.
● Agriculture was the main basis of the economy and the main source
of income and hence, although the nawabi administration was
retained, several land land revenue experiments were introduced in
haste to maximize extraction.
● So the main purpose of introducing all new settlements was to extract
maximum revenue and gain huge profit out of it.
● European officers of the company who were given supervisory
authority over them, their corruption and lack of understanding of the
local situation led to complete disorganization of the agrarian
economy and society in the diwani provinces within a few years.
● The devastating famine of 1769-1770, in which one third of the
bengal population was wiped off, was but only one indication of the
prevailing chaos.
● The company directors were unable to pay their shareholders the
expected amounts of dividend, and began to look for reasons for
falling revenues and the devastation of famine.
● The main reason to introduce these settlements was to control the
economy of India through their exploitative policies and get rid of
 Indians altogether from the administration of revenue and make the
British sole controller of the resources of the provinces.
● In 1772, Warren Hastings introduced a new system known as the
farming system where european district collectors were to be in
charge of revenue collection, while revenue collecting right was
farmed out to the highest bidder.
● This system ultimately failed to improve the situation as the farmers
tried to extract as much as possible without any concern for the
production process.
● The burden of revenue demand increased on the peasants.
● The net outcome of this whole period of rash experimentation was the
ruination of the agricultural population.

PERMANENT SETTLEMENT.

● Keeping maximum agricultural revenue as the target to be achieved,

Warren Hastings, the first Governor of the Presidency of Fort William,
tried to bring in some reforms like the five-yearly inspections.
● Here, the revenue-collection was awarded through an auction to the
person promising the highest revenue.
● Due to the dangerous implications and effects of such a system,
Hastings also experimented with the annual settlement of land.
● But this too did not improve conditions.
● Then in 1786, Lord Cornwallis under directions from the then British
PM, William Pitt, proposed the Permanent Settlement system.
● This came into effect in 1793, by the Permanent Settlement Act of
1793.

Features of the Permanent Settlement:

● With this act in place, the Zamindars were now recognised as the
owners of the land and were given hereditary rights of succession of
the lands.
● The Zamindars could sell or transfer the land as they wished.
● Their proprietorship would stay as long as he paid the fixed revenue
at the said date to the government.
● If they failed to pay, their rights would cease to exist and the land
would be auctioned off.
● The amount to be paid by the landlords was fixed.
● It was agreed that this would not increase in future (therefore the
name is permanent).
● The fixed amount was 10/11th portion of the entire revenue reserved
for the government and only 1/10th for the Zamindar.
● This rate of taxation was noted to be way higher than the prevailing
rates in England.
● The Zamindar also had to give the tenant a patta which described the
area of the land given to him and the rent he had to pay the landlord.

Merits of the Permanent Settlement:

● The responsibility of taking care of farmers fell upon the shoulders of

the Indian landlords.
● Being sons of the soil, they could reach the far corners of the region
and also understand local customs very well.
● The permanent nature of the system, let there prevail a sense of
security for everyone.
● The company knew the amount it would get in revenue.
● The landlord also was assured of the amount.
● Finally, the farmers also, in lieu of the patta, were certain of their
holdings and knew how much rent was to be paid.
● Because the settlement was of a permanent nature, the Zamindars
would have an interest in the improvement in the land thereby
improving the revenue altogether.

Demerits of the Permanent Settlement

● The basic demerit of this system was that its efficiency depended
upon the nature of the Zamindars.
● If they were good, the interests of the farmers and the land were
looked after very well.
● They would make improvements in the land which would be
beneficial to everyone concerned.
● But if the landlords were bad, they were negligent of the plight of the
farmers and the conditions of the land.
● This act unfortunately created a class of hereditary landlords forming
the upper aristocracy in society who generally led luxurious and
extravagant lifestyles.
● The Zamindars were generally favorable to the British administration
and supported the British even during the freedom struggle.
● Another problem was that the land assessment was not done
properly and land revenue was fixed arbitrarily.
● This meant that both productive and unproductive land was expected
to furnish revenue at the same rates.
● This created a burden on the farmers of unproductive land.
● Also, in the case of productive land, it was a loss of revenue to the
government.
● The revenue rates were so high that many Zamindars became
defaulters.
● In time, this system proved to have disastrous effects.
● In 1811, the British government warned against the imposition of
permanent settlement without a proper land survey.

RYOTWARI SYSTEM

Ryot word comes from the word raiyat meaning the peasant or the
cultivator.
● The ryotwari system was a land revenue system in British India which
was introduced by Thomas Munro which allowed the government to
deal directly with the cultivator ('ryot') for revenue collection.
● It started from the Madras presidency and spread to Bombay, Assam
and coorg.
● After the implementation of Permanent settlement in Bengal, Lord
Cornwallis expected that it could be extended to other parts of India.
● In 1798 Lord Wellesley tried to extend the permanent settlement
system to Madras Presidency by recognizing local poligars as
zamindars however it did not work out due to disillusionment with the
system because it did not provide the means to raise the income of
the government.
● This was also the time of Scottish enlightenment and Utilitarian Ideas
which influenced to revise the existing system of India.
● Instead of collecting from the zamindars, they began to collect directly
from the villages, fixing the amount that each village had to pay.
● After this they proceeded to assess each cultivator separately - and
thus evolved what came to be known as the 'Ryotwari' system.
● This early ryotwari was a field assessment system.
● This means that the tax payable on each field was fixed by a
government officer, and then the cultivator had the choice of
cultivating that field and paying that amount, or not cultivating it.
● If no other cultivator could be found; then the field would not be
cultivated: it would lie fallow.
● The quality of soil, the area of the field and the average produce of
every piece of land had to be assessed and on the basis of that the
amount of revenue was to be fixed.
● But this was the theory; in practice the estimates were often
guesswork and the revenue demanded was often so high that they
could only be collected with great difficulty or could not be collected at
all.
● And the peasants were to be coerced to agree to such unjust
settlements.
● So the Ryorwari system was almost abandoned soon after Munro's
departure for London in 1807.

Madras:
● After some experiments with other ways of managing the land
revenue, the Madras authorities were by 1820 converted to the
ryotiwari system, and its triumph led to the appointment of Munro as
Governor of Madras.
● Munro advanced many arguments in favour of this system.
● He argued that it was the original - Indian land tenure, and the one
best suited to Indian conditions.
● Its adoption was due, however, to one main reason - it resulted in a
larger revenue than any other system could have produced.
● This was because there were no zamindars or other intermediaries
who received any part of the agricultural surplus - whatever could be
squeezed from the cultivator went directly to the State.
● The Madras government was chronically short of funds, and such a
system would naturally appeal to it.
● So, taking advantage of the rejection of the Permanent Settlement, it
introduced the temporary ryotwari settlement.
● After 1820 however, ryotwari was extended to most of the Madras
Presidency in forms quite different from those visualized by Munro. ,
● the working of such a system depended upon the government
carrying out a detailed measurement and assessment of each field.
● But after 1820 the system was extended to many districts where no
surveys had ever been carried out.
● No one knew how much land a peasant cultivated, or what its product
might be.
● His tax came to be fixed on an arbitrary basis, usually by looking at
what he had paid in earlier years.
● This was known as a 'putcut' assessment.
● There is hardly any doubt that the effects of this system upon the
rural economy were distinctly harmful.
● The peasants were impoverished and lacked the resources to
cultivate new lands.
● The Government of Madras itself noted in 1855 that only 14% million
acres of ryotwari land were cultivated, while 18 million acres were
waste.
● It confessed: 'There is no room for doubt that an increase of
cultivation would follow reductions of the Government tax.'
● Apart from this depressing effect upon the rural economy, the heavy
burden of taxation distorted the land market.
● Land in most districts of Madras had no value The New Land
Revenue Settlement in the first half of the 19th century.

Bombay

● Ryotwari in the Bombay Presidency had its beginnings in Gujarat.

● The British began by collecting the land revenue through the
hereditary officials called desais and the village headmen (Patel).
● However, this did not produce as much revenue as the British
wanted, ar, they began collecting directly from the peasants in
1815-14.
● When they conquered the Peshwa's territory in 1818 the ryotwari
system on the Madras pattern was also introduced there, under the
supervision of Munro's disciple Elphinstone.
● The abuses that characterized the Madras ryotwari soon -red in the
Bombay Presidency also, especially as the Collectors began trying to
increase the revenue as rapidly as they could.
● A regular measurement and classification of the land was
commenced under the supervision of an officer named Pringle.
● This survey was supposed to be founded upon the theory of rent
developed by the English economist Ricardo.
● This theory was hardly applicable to Indian conditions, and, in any
case, Pringle's calculations were full of errors, and the resulting
assessment was far too high.
● When the government tried to collect the amounts futed by Pringle in
Pune district, many of the cultivators gave up their lands and fled into
the territory of the Nizam of Hyderabad.
● This assessment thus had to be abandoned after some years.
● It was replaced by a reformed system devised by two officers named
Wingate and Goldsmid.
 ● Their system did not try to apply any theoretical rules: instead it
aimed at moderating the demand to a level where it could be
regularly paid.
● The actual assessment of each field depended upon its soil and
location.
● This new assessment began to be made in 1836 and covered most of
the Deccan by 1865.
● Its effects upon agriculture were beneficial, and the cultivated area
expanded as the new assessment was introduced.
● The impact of the Ryotwari Settlement on the agrarian society of
western India is the subject of a major historical controversy, as it
gave rise to a rural uprising in Bombay Deccan in 1875.

MAHALWARI SETTLEMENT

● The term 'Mahalwari' is derived from the term 'Mahal' which means a
group of villages considered as a single economic unit.
● It was implemented in nearly twenty nine percent of British India.
● In 1819, Holt Mackenzie suggested its implementation and therefore,
it was introduced in western part of Uttar Pradesh.
● Later in 1833, R.M. Bird extended and implemented in Gangetic
valley, north-west provinces, parts of central India and Punjab.
● In the agrarian structure of this area, there was on the one hand, a
small group of magnates, known as the taluqdars.
● Nurul Hasan has described them as the "intermediary zamindars",
who contracted with the state to realize the revenue of a given
territory.
● There were, on the other hand, a large group of "primary zamindars",
who were the holders of proprietary rights over agricultural as well as
habitational lands.
● Included in this group were both the small owner-cultivators and also
the large proprietors of several villages.

Loopholes in the initial system

 ● With the Bengal model in mind, the British initially proceeded to
collect revenue from taluqdars who were lineage-dominated
principalities and jagirdars or revenue officials who instituted
themselves as "de facto rajas or taluqdars".
● Initial short term settlements which were made permanent, were
based on artificial and faulty estimates of the productivity of newly
conquered lands.
● Revenue assessments were abnormally high.
● Big taluqdars resisted the new regime and its high revenue demand
as defaulting estates were sold off by the government.
● These lands were bought by amlas and tehsildars who constituted "a
new class of landlords" who were outsiders to the village community
and had different attitudes towards land.
● Land was passed to the cultivating class as pointed out by Holt
Mackenzie.
● Thomas Metcalf has argued, since the land market was imperfect
(often there were no buyers) and frequently the new purchasers had
to leave the former owners in charge, in few cases only the land
actually changed hands.
● The situation created a scare that land was passing into the hands of
non-cultivating classes, Holt Mackenzie in 1819 describing it as a
"melancholy revolution"; for in his judgment only the village
coparcenary bodies were the "sole owners of the land".

Holt Mackenzie

● British preference now shifted to the 'primary zamindars' and village

communities.
 ● Mackenzie's recommendations were incorporated in the Regulation
VII of 1822, which provided for a detailed field-to-field survey for
revenue assessment.
● Settlement was to be made with the village community or with a
taluqdar where available; and in addition to the rights of the
proprietors, the rent to be paid by the resident cultivating peasants
was also to be ascertained and recorded.
● Thus taluqdars were not completely eliminated; but where possible
joint proprietary rights in land were vested in the village communities.
● The refractory and oppressive nature of the taluqdars and the need to
maximize revenue as well as protect the rights of the peasant
proprietors to ensure the improvement of agriculture, rather than the
influence of the Ricardian theory of rent, prompted the making of the
Mahalwari Settlement.
● But the new settlement from the very beginning was enmeshed in
confusion, and corruption, as in practice it was virtually impossible to
implement.
● The survey, which was at the core of the new arrangement, failed,
because it was too complex to be carried out with the existing
administrative machinery.
● The obvious result was over-assessment, based on "idiosyncratic
estimates".
● The situation was worsened by the agricultural depression of 1828.
● Arrears started mounting, land remained uncultivated; buyers were
difficult to find.
● Some reforms had become clearly necessary, which came in the
Regulation XI of 1833.

R.M. Bird

● The revised system, as worked out by another civilian, R.M. Bird

provided for a detailed survey to assess the revenue of an entire
 mahal or fiscal unit, based on the net value of potential produce of the
field.
● The total revenue thus fixed was then to be shared by the members
of a co-sharing body.
● The state was to appropriate two-thirds of the net income of the land
and the settlement was to be made for thirty years.
● But the village settlements, started by Bird and completed by James
Thomason, were again based on imperfect survey, inaccurate
calculations and therefore over-assessment.
● And they were marked by an unconcealed hostility towards the
taluqdars, whom Bird considered to be a "host of unproductives".
● Many of them were dispossessed and pensioned off with a cash
allowance.
● But this did not mean the ushering in of a golden age for the village
communities, which were ruined by high revenue demand,
mounting debt burden, arrears of revenue and the resulting
sales of their properties and dispossession through decrees of
the civil courts.
● Land passed into the hands of moneylenders and
merchants, more so in the commercialized districts.

Overall Impact

● Since Punjab and northern India had fertile land, the British wanted to
extract maximum revenue out of this region.
● Land revenue was usually fifty percent to seventy five percent of the
produce.
● The survey and maintenance of land record which was at core of the
settlement failed miserably due to unavailability of required officials.
● As such, the outcome of faulty records was based on idiosyncratic
estimates.
● This settlement led to widespread discontent among peasants.
 ● Moreover , in extreme situations to pay revenue on time, they started
to sell their land.
● In other words, it led to commodification of land.
● The grievances of the rural society of north India were soon to be
expressed rather loudly and violently in the revolt of 1857.

Consequences of the British land revenue systems

● Our most important takeaway from this assignment is that with these
settlements the land became a private commodity.
● Earlier there was no private ownership of land.
● Even kings and cultivators did not consider land as his 'private
property'.
● Due to the very high taxes, farmers then resorted to growing cash
crops instead of food crops.
● This led to food insecurity and even famines.
● Changes in land ownership were followed by the commercialization of
agriculture, which started to emerge around the 1860s.
● This brought a shift from cultivation for home consumption to
cultivation for the market.
● Cash transaction became the basis of exchange and largely replaced
the barter system .This put rural Indian communities at greater risk of
damage due to famine because agriculture, which had previously
been used to meet local needs, was now controlled from afar with the
goal of profit rather than subsistence Taxes on agricultural produce
were moderate during pre-British times.
● The British made it very high.
● The insistence on cash payment of revenue led to more indebtedness
among farmers.
● Moneylenders therefore became landowners in due course.
● Bonded labour arose because loans were given to farmers/labourers
who could not pay it back.
● When India achieved freedom from colonial rule, 7% of the villagers
(Zamindars/landowners) owned 75% of the agricultural land.
● Overall we can say that all these settlements introduced by Britishers
had a singular aim, that is to extract maximum revenue from the land.