REVISION WORKSHEET

CLASS-VIII

HISTORY L-3

Important Terms:

Permanent Settlement: Under this settlement it was decided that the rates of

revenues once fixed would not be changed.

Mahal: In British revenue records Mahal is a revenue estate which may be a village
or a group of villages.

Mahalwari Settlement: Under this system, the rates of revenues were to be revised

periodically, not permanently fixed.

Ryoti: Cultivator.

Indigo: A plant that produces a rich blue colour.

Plantations: 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.

Woad: A plant that produces violet and blue dyes.

Slave: A person who is owned by someone else, i.e., the slave owner. A slave
enjoys no freedom and is compelled to work for the master.

Bigha: A unit of measurement of land.

Questions with answers:

1.Describe the main features of the Permanent Settlement.

Answer.
The Permanent Settlement System was a land revenue system introduced in 1793 by East India
Company. Rajas and talukdars were recognized as Zamindars to collect rent from the peasants
and pay revenue to the Company. The main features of the Permanent Settlement system are:
a. The amount paid by the zamindars to the company was fixed permanently
b. The Rajas were made the zamindars
c. Zamindars lost their right over the lands whenever they fail to make payments to the company
d. Exorbitant prices of land which zamindars had to pay to the company (which they failed.)
2.How was the Mahalwari system different from the Permanent Settlement?
Answer.
Differences between Mahalwari System and Permanent Settlement are given below:

Mahalwari System Permanent Settlement

Holt Mackenzie devised it, and it came into effect in 1822 Permanent Settlement was brought by Lord
Cornwallis in 1793

The epicentre of the system was a village There was no such epicentre

Villages were called ‘Mahal’ –

The estimated revenue of each plot within a village was added The revenue was fixed that each zamindar
up to calculate the revenue that each village (mahal) had to pay had to pay to the company

The revenue was to be revised periodically Revenue was fixed

The charge to collect the revenue was on the village headman The charge to collect the revenue was on the
village zamindar (rajas/taluqdars)
.3 Give two problems which arose with the new Munro system of fixing revenue.
Answer.
The new Munro system of fixing revenue posed two problems:
a. The revenue demand was fixed way too high for peasants to pay
b. Peasants were unable to pay the rent which culminated into villages getting deserted.
4. What were to the two major systems of indigo cultivation in India? Write the main
features of the ‘Nij’& Ryoti system of cultivation?

The two major systems of indigo cultivation in India were the ‘Nij’ system of cultivation and
the ‘Ryoti’ system of cultivation.

1.In the ‘Nij’ system of indigo cultivation the planter produced indigo in lands that he directly
owned. He either bought the land or rented it from other zamindars and produced indigo by
directly employing hired labourers.
2. In the Ryoti system, the planters forced the ryots or peasants to sign a contract. The
village headman was also forced to sign an agreement on behalf of the ryots. The peasants
received a loan from the planters to cultivate their land. Due to this the peasants were forced
to cultivate indigo in 25% of their land.
The peasants received seeds and ploughs for cultivation from the Planters. They had to
cultivate the crop and harvest it. The harvested indigo crop had to be given to the planters.
5. What were the problems with Nij cultivation ?
The problem with Nij cultivation

● Indigo could only be cultivated on fertile lands. But these areas were densely
populated and hence, only small plots could be acquired. This made it difficult to
expand the area under nij cultivation.
● They attempted to lease in the land around the indigo factory. While doing so, they
evicted the peasants from the area. Peasants’ eviction always created conflict and
tension.
● A large plantation required a large number of workers. Work at indigo plantation
coincided with the time when peasants were busy with rice cultivation. Hence,
mobilizing the labour for indigo cultivation was a difficult task.
● Large scale nij cultivation also required many ploughs and bullocks. It was a big
problem to bur and maintain the ploughs. Since the ploughs and bullocks of the
peasants were busy in rice cultivation hence it was not possible to hire from them.
● Till the late nineteenth century, planters were not willing to expand the area under nij
cultivation; because of above mentioned problems. Less than 25% of the indigo
cultivation was done under nij system.

6. Why were ryots reluctant to grow indigo?

The ryots were reluctant to grow indigo due to the following reasons:
● They were paid very low prices for it.
● They found that they would never earn any profit from the indigo
plantation.
● The farmers were insisted to grow indigo on the fertile parts of their land
by the planters, but they preferred growing rice on the best soils. This is
because once indigo was cultivated, the fertility of the soil decreased. So,
after an indigo harvest, the land could not be used for sowing rice.

7. What were the circumstances which led to the eventual collapse of indigo production in
Bengal?

The circumstances which led to the eventual collapse of indigo production

in Bengal are mentioned below:

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

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