CHAPTER – 3

RULING THE COUNTRYSIDE

New Words
1. Mahal: In British revenue records, mahal is a revenue estate
which may be a village or a group of villages

2. Plantation: A large farm operated by a planter employing various

forms of forced labour. Plantations are associated with the
production of coffee, sugarcane, tobacco, tea and cotton.

3. Slave: A person who is owned by someone else – the slave

owner. A slave has no freedom and is compelled to work for the
master.

4. Bigha: A unit of measurement of land. Before British rule, the

size of this area varied. In Bengal the British standardised it to
about one-third of an acre.

5. Vat: A fermenting or storage vessel.

Questions/Answers
Ques 1: When did the East India Company become Diwan?
Ans: a) On 12 August 1765, the Mughal emperor appointed the East
India Company as the Diwan of Bengal.
b) As Diwan, the Company became the chief financial
administrator of the territory under its control.
c) Now it had to think of administering the land and organising
its revenue resources. This had to be done in a way that could
yield enough revenue to meet the growing expenses of the
Company.
Ques 2. Why did the East India Company develop settlement in
India?
Ans: a) The effort was to increase the revenue as much as it could
and buy fine cotton and silk cloth as cheaply as possible.
b) Before 1765, the Company had purchased goods in India by
importing gold and silver from Britain. Now the revenue collected
in Bengal could finance the purchase of goods for export.
c) Soon it was clear that the Bengal economy was facing a deep
crisis. Artisans were deserting villages since they were being forced
to sell their goods to the Company at low prices. Peasants were
unable to pay the dues that were being demanded from them.
Ques 3. What do you understand by the Permanent Settlement
System?
Ans: a) By the terms of the Permanent Settlement System, the rajas
and taluqdars were recognised as zamindars.
b) They were asked to collect rent from the peasants and
pay revenue to the Company.
c) The amount to be paid was fixed permanently, that is, it was not
to be increased ever in future.
Ques 4. What were the problems with Permanent Settlement
System?
Ans: a) The Permanent Settlement System created problems.
Company officials soon discovered that the zamindars were not
investing in the improvement of land.
b) The revenue that had been fixed was so high that the
zamindars found it difficult to pay.
c) Anyone who failed to pay the revenue lost his zamindari.
Numerous zamindaris were sold off at auctions organised by
the Company.
Ques 5. What was the Mahalwari settlement?
Ans: a) In the North Western Provinces of the Bengal Presidency
(most of this area is now in Uttar Pradesh)), an Englishman called
Holt Mackenzie devised the new system which came into effect in
1822.
b) He felt that the village was an important social institution in
north Indian society and needed to be preserved.
c) Under his directions, collectors went from village to village
inspecting the land, measuring the fields and recording the
customs and rights of different groups.
d) The estimated revenue of each plot within a village was added
up to calculate the revenue that each village (mahal) had to pay.
e) This demand was to be revised periodically, not permanently fixed.
f) The charge of collecting the revenue and paying it to the
Company was given to the village headman. This system was called
the Mahalwari settlement.
Ques 6. Write a note on Munro or Ryotwari system.
Ans: a) In the British territories in the South, there was a move away
from the idea of Permanent Settlement. The new system devised
came to be known as the the ryotwar (or ryotwari).
b) The settlement had to be made directly with the cultivators
(ryots) who had tilled the land for generations.
c) Their fields had to be carefully and separately surveyed before
the revenue assessment was made.
Ques 7. Why was there the demand for Indian indigo?
Ans: a) Indigo produced a rich blue colour, whereas the dye from
woad was pale and dull.
b) By the end of the eighteenth century, the demand for Indian
indigo grew further. Britain began to industrialise, and its cotton
production expanded dramatically, creating an enormous new
demand for cloth dyes.
Ques 8. What were the problems with nij cultivation?
Ans: a) The planters found it difficult to expand the area under nij
cultivation. Indigo could be cultivated only on fertile lands, and these
were all already densely populated.
b) Planters needed large areas in compact blocks to cultivate indigo
in plantations. They attempted to lease in the land around the
indigo factory and evict the peasants from the area. But this always
led to conflicts and tension.
c) A large plantation required many hands to operate. And
labour was needed precisely at a time when peasants were
usually busy with their rice cultivation.
d) Nij cultivation on a large scale required many ploughs and
bullocks. Investing on purchase and maintenance of ploughs was
a big problem.
Ques 9. What do you mean by Ryoti cultivation?
Ans: a) Under the Ryoti system, the planters forced the ryots to sign a
contract, an agreement (satta).
b) At times they pressurised the village headmen to sign the
contract on the behalf of ryots. Those who signed the contract got
cash advances from planters at low rates of interest to produce
indigo.
c) The planter provided the seed and the drill, while the
cultivators prepared the soil, sowed the seed and looked after the
crop.
Ques 10. What were the circumstances which led to the eventual
collapse of indigo production in Bengal?
Ans: a) In March 1859, thousands of ryots in Bengal refused to grow
indigo. As the rebellion spread, ryots refused to pay rents to the
planters, and attacked indigo factories armed with swords and
spears, bows and arrows.
b) Those who worked for the planters were socially boycotted, and
the gomasthas – agents of planters – who came to collect rent
were beaten up.
c) Worried by the rebellion, the government brought in the
military to protect the planters from assault, and set up the Indigo
Commission to enquire into the system of indigo production.
d) The Commission held the planters guilty, and criticised them
for the coercive methods they used with indigo cultivators.
e) After the revolt, indigo production collapsed in Bengal.
 REVENUE SETTLEMENT
Basis Permanent Mahalwari Ryotwari
Settlement System
1. Introduced Lord Corn Holt Thomas Munro
by Wallis Mackenzie

2. Where Bengal, Bihar, Northern India Bombay and

Assam, Odisha Madras
Presidencies

3. Who will Zamindar Village Ryot/Peasant

pay Headman
revenue

4. Amount of Fixed Periodically increased

revenue permanently