Cornwallis code(10)(5)

Lord Cornwallis, the British Governor General of India, introduced 48 regulations in 1793
which are generally known as the Cornwallis Code. The aim of the Cornwallis Code was to
introduce an institutional code of law and an administrative system suitable for British colonial
state. On 1 May 1793, Cornwallis announced his Code. The summary of the Code runs as
follows:
Permanent settlement- is the main subject of the Cornwallis Code. According to this system,
the zamindar (landlord) is the sole owner of land and has full rights to transfer or donate such
land. The government revenue was permanently fixed and if the zamindar failed to pay it, the
land would be auctioned off to realise the government revenues.
Administrative Reforms- The purification of the civil service through the hiring of competent
and honourable public employees was Cornwallis' greatest achievement. He discovered that
the Company's servants were being underpaid. However, they received very high revenue
commissions. In order to free the Company servants from business and corrupt practises, he
persuaded the Company's directors to pay them handsome salaries. Additionally, Cornwallis
established the practise of appointing people primarily based on merit, laying the groundwork
for the Indian Civil Service.
Judicial Reforms- Sir William Jones, a judge and eminent scholar, was hired by Cornwallis
to work on judicial reorganisation. The criminal and civil courts underwent a complete
reorganisation.
• In Calcutta, the highest civil and criminal courts of appeal, known as Sadar Diwani
Adalat and Sadar Nizamat Adalat, respectively, were in operation. The Governor-
General and his Council presided over both of them.
• There were four provincial courts of appeal, each with three European judges, in
Calcutta, Dacca, Murshidabad, and Patna. help from Indian advisors.
• Each District and City court was presided over by a European judge. A court was
provided for each district. As was already mentioned, Cornwallis had stripped the tax
collectors of their judicial authority and given them sole responsibility for collecting
taxes.
• Indian judges, known as Munsiffs, were appointed to all of the lower courts in the legal
system. Hindu and Muslim laws were applied in civil cases in accordance with the
parties' respective religions. The judge was the arbiter in disputes between Hindus and
Muslims. Cornwallis had a merciful disposition. He abrogated cruel punishments like
mutilation and trial by torture because he detested them.
The Montesquieu principle of "the Separation of Powers," which was well-liked in the West in
the 18th century, served as the foundation for this Code. All officials were made accountable
to the courts by Cornwallis in order to prevent the abuse of power.
Police Reforms- The restructuring of police administration was necessary for the effective
implementation of judicial reforms. The police were under the District Judge's control. The
thanas was given to an Indian officer known as the daroga, who was skillfully supported by
numerous constables. The police force, however, was ineffective. The daroga "enjoyed almost
unlimited power of extortion and became the scourge of the country," in Marshman's words.
Why did Cornwallis introduce permanent settlement. How did it affect rural agrarian
society (10)
The Permanent Settlement was formulated and enforced by Lord Cornwallis, in 1793 which
had devastating impacts on the economic life of Bangla. The Permanent Settlement was,
however, a landmark towards Company’s political domination over the economy of Bangla by
which the land revenue to be paid by the ‘revenue farmers’ was permanently fixed. The
payment should be made by the zamindar on the due date, before sunset. It was known as ‘Sun
Set Law’. If a zamindar failed to pay on designated day before sunset, their lands would be
auctioned in public to the highest bidder.
Objectives of Company- There were several immediate goals in mind when the definitive deal
with the zamindars was reached. These can be divided into three categories:
• putting revenue collection on a firm footing and ensuring fix revenue;
• relieving officials of revenue matters and directing them to other areas of administration;
and, finally,
• forges an alliance between the zamindar class and the colonial rulers.

Characteristics of Permanent Settlement

• Zamindars were recognised as revenue collector of the state. But they were awarded
hereditary succession rights to the estates they were given. The sum that the zamindar
must pay was set. This would not be increased in the future.
• The fixed sum was 89% of the government's revenue earnings were state demand, with
11% going to the zamindar. The latter also has the authority to grant a patta to a tenant,
which specifies the extent of the land given to him as well as the amount of rent he must
pay the landlord.

Consequences/ Effects of Permanent Settlement

Position of Cultivator- The cultivator got patta but for non-payment or default, zamindars got
arbitrary authority to expel them and confiscate his agriculture stock. Due to various reasons
agriculture remained sluggish, cultivators became poorer, landless labourers grew in number
as time passed, and absentee landlordism sucked whatever money was created in rural areas
into cities, leaving agricultural society in a state of misery. With the introduction of permanent
settlement, the condition of peasants became extremely miserable.

Decline in ‘social capital’ and rural wellbeing- Shirin Akhtar observed that the continuation
of the zamindari in the same family for generations had naturally fostered closer ties between
the hereditary zamindars and their projas who lived in the same village and ploughed the same
land for years. Those traditional zamindars were replaced by new banian zamindars hitherto
unknown and unrelated with the agrarian system. The Permanent Settlement thus neglected the
benign role of the pre-British landed authority. The old networks of mutual support and the
social capital were shattered.

Decline in rural productivity- The luxurious style of living, the pageantry and majesty of the
considerable zamindars boosted indigenous arts and crafts. Thereby a fine quality cotton
textiles, exquisite silks, jewellery, decorative swords and weapons etc. were produced by the
indigenous entrepreneurs. By collapsing the pre-British landed authority and, on the other hand,
by creating absentee zamindars the above-mentioned arts and crafts were brutally declined. It
may be pointed out that most of the newly born zamindars left village for cities and entered
into politics and non-commercial professions. The rent, paid by the peasants was thus spent in
cities. One immediate impact of it was that the wealth of villages was being drained to cities,
thereby, wrecking the village economy. Moreover, zamindars’ spending on luxury articles,
social and religious ceremonies which had positive effect on the economic life of the rural
community was also reduced significantly.

Objectives behind intro of permanent/ features of permanent settlement (5)

The Permanent Settlement was formulated and enforced by Lord Cornwallis, in 1793 which
had devastating impacts on the economic life of Bangla. The Permanent Settlement was,
however, a landmark towards Company’s political domination over the economy of Bangla by
which the land ‘revenue’ i.e., land-rent to be paid by the ‘revenue farmers’ was permanently
fixed.
The payment should be made by the zamindar on the due date, before sunset. It was known as
‘Sun Set Law’. If a zamindar failed to pay on designated day before sunset, their lands would
be auctioned in public to the highest bidder.
Objectives of Company- There were several immediate goals in mind when the definitive deal
with the zamindars was reached.
• putting revenue collection on a firm footing and ensuring fix revenue;
• relieving officials of revenue matters and directing them to other areas of administration;
and, finally,
• forges an alliance between the zamindar class and the colonial rulers.

Consequences/ Effects of Permanent Settlement

Position of Cultivator- Due to various reasons agriculture remained sluggish, cultivators

became poorer, landless labourers grew in number as time passed, and absentee landlordism
sucked whatever money was created in rural areas into cities, leaving agricultural society in a
state of misery. With the introduction of permanent settlement, the condition of peasants
became extremely miserable.

Decline in ‘social capital’ and rural wellbeing- Shirin Akhtar observed that the continuation
of the zamindari in the same family for generations had naturally fostered closer ties between
the hereditary zamindars and their projas who lived in the same village and ploughed the same
land for years.
Those traditional zamindars were replaced by new banian zamindars hitherto unknown and
unrelated with the agrarian system. The Permanent Settlement thus neglected the benign role
of the pre-British landed authority. The old networks of mutual support and the social capital
were shattered.
Reasons for Failure of the Permanent Settlement Act(5)
The implementation of permanent settlement has resulted in more disadvantages than benefits
in the society. It created the feudalism at the top and serfdom at the bottom. The permanent
settlement was later canceled due to the inconvenience caused to the society.
1. The permanent settlement did not determine the exact revenue on the land due to lack of
survey. Therefore, the lands affected by the wealthy revenue were sold at auction under the
sunset law as they could not pay the revenue on time. During the permanent settlement there
were six large zamindari in Bengal such as Zamindari of Burdwan, Zamindari of Natore,
Zamindari of Dinajpur, Zamindari of Nadia, Zamindari of Birbhum and Zamindari of
Bishnupur. Within the first seven years of the permanent settlement, all the zamindari except
Burdwan was sold at auction under the Sunset Act.
2. According to the system the zamindars improved. The zamindars living in the city distributed
the responsibility of zamindari under the Naib-Gomstar severed. The direct relationship with
the peasants and zamindars were torned. The peasants were oppressed.
3. The zamindars were the owner of the land and the ryots were the tenants. So the ryots lost
their land. And the tenancy law was slowly disappearing.
4. Zamindars cultivated cash crops on agricultural land for economic development. As a result,
agriculture expanded in Bengal but did not improve.
5. The main reason is Lord Cornwallis formulated the permanent settlement in Bengal on the
basis of the social system of England. So it didn’t succeed in Bengal.
What do u mean commercialization of agriculture. How did it impact the Indian peasantry (10)

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. Towards 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.
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.
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.
Impact on Indian peasantry: The most important impact of British conquest of India was the
disintegration of the self-sufficient village community and with this destroyed the stability and
security of the peasantry. In the words of A. R. Desai, in pre-British India, the state exacted
revenue from the village community as a whole and not from the village farmer separately.
It was the village community which determined the share of its every member in the collective
payment to the state. It was apportioned according to the realized product of each peasant
family. This did not require peasant to borrow heavily in difficult times. But when the British
came it refused to recognize the village community and made separate agreements with the
agriculturists, they fixed the land revenue on the basis of the productive capacity of the soil as
realized by the government officials and not on the actually realized product. This brought the
peasantry in the strangling grip of the village Sahukar.
Desai further relates the process of peasant indebtedness with the process of
Deindustrialization. He contends that the ruination of the village handicraftsmen, artisans, and
others, who in the absence of proportionate industrial development obstructed by the British
Government to safeguard the British capitalist interest crowded the already declining
agriculture. This has led to the increasingly minute fragmentation of land, the average peasant
holding being only five acres.
He further elucidates that the unity of agriculture and industry in the pre-British period wherein
agriculturists exchanged his products with village artisans i.e., cloths with weavers, agricultural
implements with blacksmith, etc, was disrupted. Gradually agriculturists depended on
machine-made goods which they could purchase only with money. Therefore, first due to
exorbitant demand of revenue with its periodical increase and secondly owing to the destruction
of village handicraft and resultant dependence on machine-made goods of his necessities,
peasant went into the clutches of the Sahukar.
What do u mean commercialization of agriculture. How did it impact the Indian peasantry (5)

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.
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.
Impact on Indian peasantry: The most important impact of British conquest of India was the
disintegration of the self-sufficient village community and with this destroyed the stability and
security of the peasantry. In the words of A. R. Desai, in pre-British India, the state exacted
revenue from the village community as a whole and not from the village farmer separately.
But when the British came it refused to recognize the village community and made separate
agreements with the agriculturists, they fixed the land revenue on the basis of the productive
capacity of the soil as realized by the government officials and not on the actually realized
product. This brought the peasantry in the strangling grip of the village Sahukar.
Desai further says that due to exorbitant demand of revenue with its periodical increase and
secondly owing to the destruction of village handicraft and resultant dependence on machine-
made goods of his necessities, peasant went into the clutches of the Sahukar.
Implications of subsidiary alliance (5)
By nature, Governor General Wellesley was an expansionist. He desired to make the Company
India's supreme power, expand its territories, and reduce all Indian states to a state of
dependence on the Company. In order to accomplish this, he adopted a new expansion policy
known as Subsidiary Alliance.
Any native state that wanted British protection from their enemies or the restoration of internal
peace and order could form an alliance with the British. For this reason, the British kept their
army in the state at the expense of the natives. The native state could pay these sums in cash or
in the form of a piece of kingdom land.
The Implications: -
• The native Indian ruler gradually lost most of his fertile and strategically important
territories to the English.
• It pushed the subjects of the native state to a life of poverty and impoverishment as
the whole financial burden of maintaining the army finally fell on them.
• Ideally, under the policy, English residents were exempted from interfering in the
internal administration of the native ruler. But, in practice, the Britishers controlled
the rulers in every state-matter.
• The native rulers gradually lost their respect, patriotism and even their core
responsibility to rule their and strengthen their armies. This resulted in the loss of
their character and capacity to rule their states which eventually made it easier for the
Britishers to take complete charge of the state.
• The subjects of the state were no more in a position to dethrone their incapable or
cruel ruler by revolting against him because the English, with much larger resources
than a single ruler, protected every allied ruler against every foreign aggression and
internal revolt.
Thus, the Britishers, under this policy, took complete control of the affairs of the state making
the native ruler and his subjects extremely helpless.
Analyze the application and reaction to the doctrine of lapse of lord Dalhousie (5)
The Doctrine of Lapse was an annexation policy followed widely by Lord Dalhousie when he
was India’s Governor-General from 1848 to 1856. It was used as an administrative policy for
the extension of British Paramountcy.
Application: According to this doctrine, any princely state under the direct or indirect control
of the East India Company, should the ruler not produce a legal male heir, would be annexed
by the company.
As per this, any adopted son of the Indian ruler could not be proclaimed as heir to the kingdom.
The adopted son would only inherit his foster father’s personal property and estates. This
challenged the Indian ruler’s long-held authority to appoint an heir of their choice.
The doctrine of lapse was first applied in the state of Satara in 1848 when its ruler died without
a male heir. This set a precedent for other states, and over the next decade, the Company
annexed several princely states such as Udaipur, sambalpur, Jhansi and Nagpur.
Reaction to the doctrine of lapse: Many Indian states lost their sovereignty and became
British territories. This led to a lot of unrest among the Indian princes. A lot of people were
unhappy with the ‘illegal’ nature of this doctrine and this was one of the causes of the Indian
Revolt of 1857.
Nana Sahib and the Rani of Jhansi had grievances against the British because the former’s
pension was stopped by the British after his foster father died, and the Rani’s adopted son was
denied the throne under the doctrine of lapse.
Thus, after years of protests and demonstrations by Indian citizens, the policy was eventually
abandoned in 1948, but it remained an integral part of Indian History.
18th century debate. Was it a dark age (10)
For a long time, it was considered an era of darkness characterized by political disintegration,
economic decline, warfare and disorder. However, in the past four decades, a series of new
region-centric studies have emerged, emphasizing the vibrant aspects of the century with
different lenses.
These studies together have brewed enough evidence to suggest that the first half of the 18th
century was not a century of absolute and all-encompassing darkness, but rather saw the
politico-economic decline of a few regions while many other regions flourished culturally,
socially and economically. The picture that thus emerges is holistic in its depth and width and
elaborates the many aspects of growth, dismissing the idea that the century was wholly ‘dark’.
The Theory of ‘Decline’:
During the British rule, the period under question was scrutinized by colonial historians like
James Mill. He portrayed the 18th century as a ‘dark’ century which was rescued by the
establishment of colonial rule.
Jadunath Sarkar, who studied Aurangzeb’s religious policies, his later Deccan campaigns,
and traced the decline in Mughal economy, institutions and society to Aurangzeb’s faulty
policies.
The historians from Aligarh School, furthered the arguments. Satish Chandra and Irfan
Habib proposed an unprecedented structural and materialist analysis of the decline of the
Mughal Empire, singling out the structural weakness of the centralized revenue collection
system of the empire as the reason for its fiscal crisis.
Satish Chandra’s argument was that the fiscal crisis was caused by the incapability of the
imperial officers to collect revenue smoothly, worsened by the inability of the state to meet the
mansabdar’s demand for jagirs.
According to Irfan Habib, the state’s oppression had created resistance from the peasants
suffering from exploitation leading to peasant rebellions and an agrarian crisis.
However, it was the decline or shortage of jagirs rather than high revenue demand that Athar
Ali attributed imperial collapse to.
However, J.F Richard’s study counters this argument by proposing that there was no lack of
jagirs since the Deccan had plenty of them, but that most of the allotted jagirs were infertile
since the fertile ones were added to the state’s khalisa.
Thus, all the theories mentioned here, of the colonialists of the Marxist historians, take for
granted the assumption that the 18th century was characterized by decline.
The New Historiography:
The newer historiography was a break from the previous state-centric viewpoint. This school
of thought shifted the focus from agrarian system and the machinery of revenue attractions to
the social and cultural relations.
For Barnett, the empire was made up of blocks glued together by the emperor and even at the
decline of the state, the blocks glued together by the emperor and even at the decline of the
state, the blocks merely came apart without deterioration.
Sanjay Subramanian and Muzaffar Alam compare the empire to ‘patchwork quilt’ rather
that a ‘wall to wall carpet’. The 18th century according to these historians need not be viewed
from the point of view of the Mughals only. Delhi and Agra might have witnessed a decline,
but provinces such as Bengal, Awadh, Punjab etc were witnessing dynamic changes and
economic reorientation.
C.A Bayly initiated the revisionist approach, he sees the decline of the Mughal empire in a
positive light, where the ‘Corporate groups’ or ‘Social classes’ played their role through the
commercialization and decentralization of the Mughal polity in extending agriculture and
intensifying commerce and later shifting their allegiance to the British for beneficial power.
Thus, we can clearly see that the 18th century polity, economy and society are characterized
by trends that reflect both change and continuity.
Drain of wealth (5)
The drain of wealth theory has been described as the constant flow of national wealth from
India to England for which India did not get adequate economic, commercial or material return.
After the battle of Plassey, the drain of wealth took an outward turn as England gradually
captured monopolistic control over the Indian economy. This allowed them to drain wealth
from India, which they would then use to finance their own growth. The drain of wealth theory
was interpreted as an indirect tribute that imperial Britain extracted from India.

Dadabhai Naoroji, an early pioneer in the study of colonialism and poverty was convinced that
the main reason behind poverty was the colonial rule that was draining the wealth and
prosperity of India. Dadabhai Naoroji propounded the Drain of Wealth theory in 1867.
Many researchers have further analysed and developed it, including R.P. Dutt and MG
Ranade. Dadabhai Naoroji proposed the ‘economic imperialism’ theory, in which he stated
that British economic policies were completely draining India. He mentioned this theory in his
book, Poverty and Un-British Rule in India, and it is also known as the ‘Drain Theory’.

The drain of capital to England really stripped India of its productive capital and created a
shortage of capital which hindered significant industrial development. This directly
impoverished India along with stultifying the process of capital formation. Dutt argues that the
drain caused the impoverishment of the peasantry because it primarily flowed out of land
revenue. Thus, the drain of wealth affected the country’s prospects of employment and income
and its overall economic growth.
How was wealth drained out of Bengal during the company’s rule. Mention its effects (10)
It is often said that, the British were like a sponge, soaking the wealth of India and draining
them to England. this notion holds a significant phrase on distortion of the economic sphere on
India by the colonial rule.
There were several changes that took place in the economic sector under the colonial rule.
Drain of wealth from India was the chief effect of the colonial rule. The introduction of land
revenue system which in includes like Permanent settlement, Ryotwari settlement and
Mahalwari system brought in significant changes and twist the way of the economic
functioning of India.
Other changes which took place during this period comprise of Commercialization of
Agriculture through which a large number of cash crops were cultivated leading to decline in
actual food crops which resulted in famines in Bengal. Deindustrialization also played a major
part in the effect of economy by the colonial rule.
Important feature of the economic history of India in decades following the battles of Plassey
was the flow of a vast amount of wealth out of the country with no equivalent returns. This
economic drain was an integral feature of the east India company’s administrative and
economic policies. Three important constituents of the drain were the
• Home Charges,
• Salaries paid to Englishmen employed in Indian administration and
• the profits of private British capital invested in trade and industry in India.
During the years 1757-1766, individual Englishmen received from their princes and other
persons in Bengal no less than 50 million of current rupees in the form of illegal presents and
prerequisites. Practice continued even after the prohibition imposed by the court of directors in
1766. Secondly, company servants earned large incomes through their participation in inland
trade. Thirdly, british free merchants made fortune through their private trade. Two methods
were generally adopted by the companys servant. One as sending of diamonds to Europe and
the other was issue of bills of exchange on East India company or any of the other European
companies.
After company acquisition of Diwani (1765), company purchased investment from Bengal and
used its revenues partly for purposes with which the people had no concern. Secondly,
company’s government in Bengal provided financial assistance to govt in madras and Bombay
for their ordinary civil purpose and for their wards – first and second Anglo Mysore Wars and
the First Anglo Maratha war.
Thirdly, the company’s China trade was fully financed from Bengal. this drain took the form
of export of bullion. one pernicious effect of this export was the scarcity of Bengal which was
largely responsible for the currency muddle in the province in the second half of the 18th
century.
According to modern historians drain of Bengal resources are estimated to be 38 million
pounds. Dadabai Naroji states that what was being drained out was “potential surplus that could
generate more economic development if invested In India. Thus, the drain of wealth affected
the country’s prospects of employment and income and its overall economic growth.
Factors that led to downfall of Maratha confederacy (10)
After the disintegration and fall of the Mughal Empire, power fell into the hands of the
Marathas. The Marathas were great warriors, fearlessness and in bravery they were second to
none. However, in spite of these qualities, the Marathas failed to hold their own against the
British. This was due to many causes: -
Internal Weakness of the Marathas- The empire of the Marathas was not a well-knit empire.
It was a confederacy of five Maratha chiefs who, quite often, were in conflict with one another.
The nominal unity of the Marathas remained only up to the period of the rule of Peshwa
Madhav Rao I. After him, the Peshwa could not control his subordinate chiefs. The Sindhia,
the Holkar, the Bhonsle and the Gaekwad pursued self-interested policies, which many times,
were pursued against the interests of one another resulting in fighting among themselves. The
British took complete advantage of it. The Maratha chiefs themselves gave them the
opportunity of interfering in their internal affairs and fighting against them one by one.
Lack of Political Foresight- The Marathas lacked political wisdom and farsightedness. When
they had become the strongest power in India, the wise course for them was to remove the last
semblance of the Mughal Empire and assume the authority of the Imperial power. Instead, they
simply desired to control the Mughal emperor and use his name and dignity for achieving their
narrow objectives. They therefore, failed to achieve political unity of India and, thereby, failed
to utilize the resources of the country either for the benefit of its people or for meeting the
challenge of a foreign foe.
Jagirdari System-The Jagirdari system grew among the Marathas during the period of war of
Independence against Aurangzeb when every Maratha commander was allowed to keep as his
own jagir the territory captured by his own efforts. Peshwa Baji Rao attempted to remove this
evil and desired that a jagir should be jointly held at least by two persons. He fought against
the Senapati on this very issue and was successful. But his efforts were given up after his death
and different Maratha chiefs kept their independent jagirs. That finally resulted in the formation
of Maratha confederacy and the Maratha empire no more remained one entity.
Neglect of Economic Affairs by the Marathas- Maharashtra does not have fertile land. The
Marathas neglected to develop its economic resources. Their primary source of income
continued to be Chauth, Sardeshmukhi and plunder which they got from the territories of other
native rulers. But, income by such means was irregular and insufficient. The Maratha empire,
therefore, never achieved economic stability.
Military Weakness of the Marathas- The Marathas were certainly weaker than the English
militarily. The majority of the historians, therefore, say that the primary cause of the military
weakness of the Marathas was that they adopted European means of warfare but failed to
perfect them. The factories established by the Peshwa and the Sindhia for manufacturing guns
and arsenals did not produce sufficient material of a good quality. The same way, the Maratha
soldiers trained by the French in European methods did not achieve perfection in their training.
Diplomatic Skill of the English- The English were more diplomatic than the Marathas. The
quarrels among the Marathas always provided them useful opportunities. Besides, the English
had their eyes on the politics of entire India. That is why they could isolate each of the Maratha
chiefs and defeat them one by one. The Marathas, on the other hand, could not even realise that
their strongest enemy were the English.
Why is Hyderabad considered to be a successor state (5)
The state of Hyderabad was founded by Nizam-ul-Mulk Asafjah in 1724. He played a leading
role in the overthrow of the Saiyid brothers and was rewarded with the viceroyalty of the
Deccan.

From 1722 to 1724 he was the wazir of the empire. But he soon got disgusted with that office
as the Emperor Muhammad Shah frustrated all his attempts at reforming the administration.
So, he decided to go back to the Deccan where he could safely maintain his supremacy. Here
he laid the foundations of the Hyderabad State which he ruled with a strong hand.

He never openly declared his independence from the central government but in practice he
acted like an independent ruler. He waged wars, concluded peace, conferred titles, and gave
jagirs and offices without reference to Delhi.

He consolidated his power by establishing an orderly administration in the Deccan on the basis
of the jagirdari system on the Mughal pattern. He forced the big, turbulent zamindars to respect
his authority and kept the powerful Marathas out of his dominions. He also made an attempt to
rid the revenue system of its corruption. But after his death in 1748, Hyderabad fell a prey to
the same disruptive forces as were operating at Delhi.

The Carnatic was one of the subahs of the Mughal Deccan and as such came under the Nizam
of Hyderabad’s authority. But the Nawab of Carnatic, had freed himself of the control of the
Viceroy of the Deccan and made his office hereditary.

Thus, Nawab Saadatullah Khan of Carnatic had made his nephew Dost Ali Khan his successor
without the approval of his superior, the Nizam. Later, after 1740, the affairs of the Carnatic
deteriorated because of the repeated struggles for its nawab status and this, provided an
opportunity to the European trading companies to directly interfere in Indian politics.
How did famine of 1770 affect Bengal’s economy (5)
A disastrous famine affected the lower Gangetic Plains of India including the regions of Bengal
and Bihar between 1769 and 1773 where 1/3rd of the population perished. An estimated 10
million people died of starvation and famine-triggered epidemics that also affected the regions
of Assam, Odisha, Jharkhand and Bangladesh.
The famine is one of the many famines and famine-triggered epidemics that devastated the
Indian subcontinent during the 18th and 19th century. It is usually attributed to a combination
of weather and the policies of the East India Company.
The start of the famine has been attributed to a failed monsoon in 1769 that caused widespread
drought and two consecutive failed rice crops. The devastation from war, combined with
exploitative tax revenue policies of the East India Company after 1765 crippled the economic
resources of the rural population. However, modern scholarship has suggested that the effect
of taxation was marginal.
Results of the Famine- The famine would have far-reaching consequences that would not only
change the Indian subcontinent but even the world forever:
• The famine situation soothed by 1770 with good rainfall but not before claiming 1/3rd of
the local population.
• Large swathes of land were depopulated as a result of the famine.
• Many agricultural lands became jungles for decades as a result of this famine.
• This also increased the menace of bands of thugee or dacoits in Bengal.
• Globally, the profit of the East India Company increased from fifteen million rupees in
1765 to thirty million in 1777.
causes and consequences of 3rd battle of Panipat (10)
The Third Battle of Panipat took place on 14 January 1761, at Panipat, about 60 miles north of
Delhi. The battle was fought between a northern expeditionary force of the Maratha Empire
and the forces of the King of Afghanistan, Ahmad Shah Abdali, supported by two Indian
Muslim allies- the Rohilla Afghans of the Doab, and Shuja-ud-Daula, the Nawab of Awadh.
The conquest of Punjab brought the Marathas into direct confrontation with the Afghan
general, Ahmad Shah Abdali.
Causes: Weak Mughal Rule: After the attack of Nadir Shah, the foundation of the Mughal
Empire was shaken.
Height of Maratha Power: Peshwa Balaji Baji Rao and his Generals had established their
terror in the South by establishing their influence on Karnataka and Nizam etc. Raghunathrao
made his faithful Sardar Adani Beg, the governor of Punjab and defeated Vimurashah son of
Ahmed Shah Abdali. So Ahmed Shah Abdali decided to attack India.
Invitation to Ahmed Shah Abdali: Many innovators got success in India due to internal
dispute. Jai Chand invited Muhammad Ghori for invasion and Daulat Khan had invited to
Babur. In the same way, Ruhels and Rajputs had invited Ahmed Shah Abdali to attack on India
Internal Disputes: Marathas started to fight with Nizam, Avadh, and Rajputs. Scindia and
Holkar were also enemies because of the interrupting the problem of the succession of Ishwar
Singh and Madhav Singh. Due to this internal dispute, Ahmed Shah Abdali was much
encouraged. Rajputs also did not help Maratha.
Consequences: Loss of Marathas in a Big Number: In this battle a big number of Marathas
was killed. It would not be exaggeration to say that a generation of Maratha caste ended in this
battle. J.N. Sarkar wrote, “The crisis fell on whole Maratha empire in this battle and there was
not a single house in Maharashtra where was not mourned on the death of a person or head.”
End of Maratha’s influence in North India: After the defeat of third battle of Panipat,
Marathas lost their sovereignty in Panipat, Doab etc. Before this battle these states sometimes
came under sovereignty of Muslims but after this battle Marathas gradually lost their control
in North India.
End of Maratha Co-operative Commission: In this battle Marathas had a big loss so Maratha
co-operation commission ended. After this Maratha Sardars began to quarrel among
themselves and the Maratha power completely ended. The destruction done in battle of Panipat
broken the dream of establishing Maratha-Sovereignty.
Moral Fall of Maratha: Maratha’s caste was considered very brave and courageous and their
army was considered invincible. Other kings were eager to ally Marathas. But after the defeat
in the battle of Panipat, their prestige was lost and their military moral was minimized.
Rise of the English: Due to internal dispute and anarchy in India, the English had established
their influence. Consequently, the foundation of English rule was firmed. “The Internal
disputes of Marathas and Muslims made them weak and opened the door of getting sovereignty
for the English. Thus, the third battle of Panipat proved to be absolutely decisive. There was
incredible crumple of the Maratha military power. The Maratha dream for the foundation of
their territory over whole nation was broken as the outcome of their thrashing at Panipat.
causes of 3rd battle of panipat(5)
The Third Battle of Panipat took place on 14 January 1761, at Panipat, about 60 miles north of
Delhi. The battle was fought between a northern expeditionary force of the Maratha Empire
and the forces of the King of Afghanistan, Ahmad Shah Abdali, supported by two Indian
Muslim allies- the Rohilla Afghans of the Doab, and Shuja-ud-Daula, the Nawab of Awadh.
The conquest of Punjab brought the Marathas into direct confrontation with the Afghan
general, Ahmad Shah Abdali.
Causes: Weak Mughal Rule: After the attack of Nadir Shah, the foundation of the Mughal
Empire was shaken.
Height of Maratha Power: Peshwa Balaji Baji Rao and his Generals had established their
terror in the South by establishing their influence on Karnataka and Nizam etc. Raghunathrao
made his faithful Sardar Adani Beg, the governor of Punjab and defeated Vimurashah son of
Ahmed Shah Abdali. So Ahmed Shah Abdali decided to attack India.
Invitation to Ahmed Shah Abdali: Many innovators got success in India due to internal
dispute. Jai Chand invited Muhammad Ghori for invasion and Daulat Khan had invited to
Babur. In the same way, Ruhels and Rajputs had invited Ahmed Shah Abdali to attack on India
Internal Disputes: Marathas started to fight with Nizam, Avadh, and Rajputs. Scindia and
Holkar were also enemies because of the interrupting the problem of the succession of Ishwar
Singh and Madhav Singh. Due to this internal dispute, Ahmed Shah Abdali was much
encouraged. Rajputs also did not help Maratha.
Significance of 3rd battle of Panipat (5)
The third battle of Panipat was fought between the Afghans and the Marathas. The battle was
significant as it marked the end of Maratha dominance in India.
Loss of Marathas in a Big Number: In this battle a big number of Marathas was killed. It
would not be exaggeration to say that a generation of Maratha caste ended in this battle. J.N.
Sarkar wrote, “The crisis fell on whole Maratha empire in this battle and there was not a single
house in Maharashtra where was not mourned on the death of a person or head.”
End of Maratha’s influence in North India: After the defeat of third battle of Panipat,
Marathas lost their sovereignty in Panipat, Doab etc. Before this battle these states sometimes
came under sovereignty of Muslims but after this battle Marathas gradually lost their control
in North India.
End of Maratha Co-operative Commission: In this battle Marathas had a big loss so Maratha
co-operation commission ended. After this Maratha Sardars began to quarrel among
themselves and the Maratha power completely ended. The destruction done in battle of Panipat
broken the dream of establishing Maratha-Sovereignty.
Moral Fall of Maratha: Maratha’s caste was considered very brave and courageous and their
army was considered invincible. Other kings were eager to ally Marathas. But after the defeat
in the battle of Panipat, their prestige was lost and their military moral was minimized.
Rise of the English: Due to internal dispute and anarchy in India, the English had established
their influence. Consequently, the foundation of English rule was firmed. “The Internal
disputes of Marathas and Muslims made them weak and opened the door of getting sovereignty
for the English.
Thus, the third battle of Panipat proved to be absolutely decisive. There was incredible crumple
of the Maratha military power. The Maratha dream for the foundation of their territory over
whole nation was broken as the outcome of their thrashing at Panipat.
How did ideas of orientalism and utilitarism shape colonial policies of India (10)
The British set up a very elaborate ruling apparatus in India, in all possible spheres of life
ensuring their aggrandizement over India was not just territorial or through the military, instead
it was a social and all-inclusive control. The Britishers believed the existing system was a
‘decaying one’ which had to be ‘revived’. As Thomas Metcalf has demonstrated, the British
drew on a range of ideas that had shaped their view of themselves and also had shaped their
idea of India.
The Orientalist Image: The Genesis of The Ideology of Empire- In the early phase of
Orientalism, Warren Hastings, was the prime mover behind the policies adopted by the colonial
state in India. The highlight of this tradition was the Indians were supposed to be governed
with their own laws for which a knowledge about Indian society was important which was a
process of “reverse acculturation” as defined by Gauri Viswanathan. A need was felt to study
Indian law and then assimilate them into the subject society for better administration. For this
purpose, Fort William College was established in 1800 to train civil servants in Indian
languages and tradition. Thomas Trautmann has argued that behind this tradition lay another
motive, which was morally binding on the colonizers to rule through a rhetoric of “love”.
Hastings’ policy was rejected by Lord Cornwallis who went for further Anglicization of the
administration and the imposition of Whig principles. Lord Wellesley supported this move
which was to limit government influences by abandoning the despotic ideals of Indian political
tradition and to separate powers between the judiciary and executive. The state would only
protect the individual rights and private property of the people. These views developed from
the disdain of “Oriental Despotism” from which the Indians needed to be liberated.
This linguistic competence, according to Bernard S. Cohn, was essential "to issue commands,
collect taxes, maintain law and order and to create other forms of knowledge about the people
they were ruling. Asiatic Society of Bengal (1784) took a major leap in this direction by
translating Indian works and by doing research on Indian society and religion. The knowledge
of Indian languages facilitated intervention in the social sphere.
The Utilitarian Scale of Happiness- Utilitarians like James Mill made happiness of Indians
contingent upon the nature of laws, the form of government, and the mode of taxation. The
Utilitarians criticized the Permanent Settlement of Cornwallis for not defining and recording
the proprietary rights of cultivators.
They favoured a detailed recording of landholdings and rights in the form of 'records of rights'
as part of the settlement procedure. This, they believed would give a fixed, written, and legal
status to the property rights in soil in place of existing vague, unwritten, customary, and
ambiguous rights. The peasant would acquire a clear title to property, which he could freely
sell, mortgage, or transfer by inheritance.
Utilitarianism as developed particularly by Jeremy Bentham defined utility as pleasure or
happiness, and everything that turn on these mental satisfactions. These statistics of pleasure
ignored individual freedom, the fulfilment or violation of recognised rights and other non-
utility concerns such as quality of life. Like Evangelicals, they were critical of Indian society
at the root of which they saw 'primitive barbarism', 'despotism' and an encompassing religious
tyranny. The Utilitarian emphasis was on legislation, the might of law and its commands.
Diff btw orientalists and Anglicist (5)
Orientalist: Orientalists were the group of people who wanted to give education to Indian
people in the Indian language. They wanted Indians to learn about Indian philosophy, science,
and literature.
They wanted to become guardians of Indian culture and hoped to win the hearts of the native
people so that it becomes easy to rule them by appearing as protectors of their culture. Most of
the orientalists were linguists and their personal interest in learning about India’s rich culture
and history favoured oriental learning.
Orientalists were led by William Jones, Henry Thomas Colebrooke and Nathanial Halhed were
other officials who supported the orientalist approach. The interest of these British officials led
to the formation of the Asiatic Society of Bengal on January 15, 1784, by Sir William Jones.
Anglicist: Anglicists were those people who supported the teaching of modern western
education to Indian people in the English language. People who favoured Anglicists were
Thomas Babington, Macaulay, James’s mill, Charles wood and others. The Anglicists were
supported by the most advanced Indians like Raja Ram Mohan Roy.
Anglicists didn’t want to comprise grafting western education on oriental learning. They were
firm and wanted to utilize the educational grant for spreading western thought and education
with practical and scientific knowledge. Macaulay was prejudiced, he used to believe that a
single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native library of India. They
wanted to create a class of persons who are Indian in blood and colour but English in taste,
opinion, morals, and intellect.
Orientalism (5)
Orientalism emerged during the European Enlightenment and the Arab World’s colonialism.
As a justification for European colonialism, orientalism relied on a historical narrative that was
skewed to the West’s advantage, in which the West framed “the East” as vastly inferior and in
need of Western intervention or rescue.
According to Edward Said, Orientalism was not knowledge of the Orient produced by
Englishmen sympathetic to the cultures of the East but it was knowledge meant to serve the
power structures of colonialism.
Orientalism basically serviced the needs of the colonial present. The British rule has to
“legitimize itself in an Indian idiom”, for which it required to produce knowledge about Indian
society, a process that Gauri Vishwanath refers to as ‘reverse acculturation’. Orientalism in
practice in its early phase could be seen in the policies of the Company's government under
Warren Hastings. The aim was to create an Orientalized elite competent in Indian languages
and responsive to Indian traditions.
This linguistic competence, according to Bernard S. Cohn, was essential "to issue commands,
collect taxes, maintain law and order and to create other forms of knowledge about the people
they were ruling. Asiatic Society of Bengal (1784) took a major leap in this direction by
translating Indian works and by doing research on Indian society and religion. The knowledge
of Indian languages facilitated intervention in the social sphere.
Adjacently, ‘Oriental despotism’ had enduring implications for the emerging Raj in India, for
it carried with it the connotation that Asian countries had no laws or property, and hence its
peoples had no rights.
Significance of Macaulay minute (5)
Lord Macaulay came to India in 1834, as the law member of the Governor General’s Executive
council and was appointed as the President of the committee of Public Instruction. He
submitted his famous minutes in February, 1835 to the council which was approved by Lord
Bentick and a resolution was passed in March 1835.
Macaulay's Minute on Indian Education of 1835 is regarded by many as the most significant
document in the history of Indian education. In fact, its importance has been over-emphasised
to an extent that it is sometimes held to be solely responsible for the introduction of English in
British India
Role of English in India’s Freedom Struggle: The significance of Macaulay's Minutes for
Indians was that it contributed to the expansion of the English language in India. It cannot be
denied that English later played a significant influence in India's freedom movements.
Foundation for Modern Education in India: Macaulay's Minutes helped Indians to create
the groundwork for modern education in that country. It represented a transition from the
traditional indigenous educational system to a structured contemporary educational system.
Doorway to World Literature: The fact that Macaulay's Minutes opened a gateway to
international literature was another benefit it provided. New literary genres and writing styles
were created as a result.
Served as a Model for Indians: Additionally, it served as a model for Indians to research the
country's current educational system and write reports to raise the standard of education there.
Importance/Significance of woods dispatch of 1854 (5)
The Wood’s Despatch was considered of great significance in the history of Indian education.
It was for the first time that a comprehensive scheme could be presented by the British
Government. Prof. S.N. Mukherjee observed in his book “History of Education in India”,
“The Despatch is indeed a very important document. It was considered to be the ‘Magna Charta
of English Education in India’.
Educational Policy: Through Wood’s Despatch, British Parliament, for the first time made an
attempt to decide the educational policy of India and made it constitutional. Through this
Despatch they decided for the first time their policy about education system in India.
Importance of Indian literature and culture: The Despatch recognized the importance and
utility of Indian literature, culture and knowledge. It recommended the inclusion of Sanskrit,
Arabic and Persian language and literature in the curriculum along with the western knowledge.
Establishment of Universities: Because of the recommendations of the Despatch universities
were opened in Presidency towns of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. Thus, education got a good
stride.
Expansion of Mass Education: By giving a universal character to education and encouraging
the expansion of public education, the Despatch abolished the filtration theory. Thus, education
was not confined to higher class of people alone, instead its doors was opened for all.
Solution of unemployment: Wood’s Despatch also paid attention to solve the problem of
unemployment by encouraging vocational education. Arrangements for vocational education
were made. Thus, the public got an opportunity for becoming self-dependent.
Training of teachers and education of women: The Despatch recommended the training of
teachers. The Despatch revived and recognized the need of development of women education
as the duty and responsibility.
Significance of queen’s proclamation (10)(5)
Queen Victoria’s proclamation, made on Nov, 1, 1858 was a milestone in the history of modern
India as it marked the end of British East India Company’s Rule and the beginning of British
Crown’s administration in India. The Proclamation was drafted by Lord Derby as per the
instruction of Queen Victoria. The proclamation outlined the relation of the British
Government with Indian Princes and the people.
The new government's stated goals included maintaining stability and promoting good
governance. It was also made clear by the new government that they would not impose their
views on the people. No one was to be favoured, harassed, or discriminated against based
on their religious beliefs in the Proclamation. The law will be applied equally to all people.
If the proclamation is followed, Indians will be eligible for Imperial service. The government
also stated that ancient Indian customs and traditions would be respected while administering
and framing the law. Unconditional pardons and amnesty were also granted by the Queen's
Proclamation to those who had been found guilty of grave offences during the 1857 Revolt.
As a foundation for India's new foreign policy, the proclamation was significant in many
ways. Dr. Ishwari Prasad, a noted Indian scholar, says that the proclamation "brought
a new heaven on earth to the people of India. As well as equality with other Queen's subjects
and a position in the state's highest services if they were qualified, it promised them
peace, prosperity and religious freedom. Protests from the sepoys of the British Army, who
had previously served under the Company, were swift.
If they weren't freed, they demanded a new bounty be placed on their heads. Collisions were
unavoidable in strategic cantonments like Allahabad and Meerut. It was because of this that
the government had to grant discharge to all those who requested it that the British force was
reduced to10,000 men.
During the uprising, the Army underwent a dramatic change. In the wake of this, the Army
was completely restructured. Initially, it was decided to address the ratio of Indian troops to
European troops. There could no longer be more than a two-to-one ratio between Indian and
European troops after 1857. The field and artillery were to be handled by Europeans. Thus,
there were 72,000Europeans and 1,35,000 Indian troops in India
Revenue system of warren Hastings(10)
Warren Hastings came to India in 1772. He found that the Company, though enjoying the right
of Diwani of the rich provinces of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa since 1765, had reached the state
of financial bankruptcy and the Dual Government in Bengal had failed completely. Warren
Hastings tried to improve the administration and partly succeeded.
The new rulers, the English east india company, acquired the diwani of Bengal, Bihar and
Orissa in 1765 by two historic agreements concluded simultaneously: one with Emperor Shah
Alam and the other with Nawab nazmuddaula. According to these two agreements, the English
East India Company was appointed the diwan of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa by an imperial
farman with the condition that the company would manage the diwani (revenue administration)
and out of the revenues of the Bengal kingdom, the company would pay annually a fixed tribute
of twenty-six lakhs of rupees to the emperor, and fifty-three lakhs of rupees to the Bengal
nawab to run his nizamat (civil administration).
In order to concentrate on trade and commerce, the company tried to manage the diwani
administration through native agents. But the indirect method of diwani administration did not
yield the desired income for the company. In 1772, Warren Hastings directly assumed the
diwani administration. His administration developed a notion that the resources of the country
were concealed from the alien rulers and that such perfidy could be countered by a competitive
land settlement.
Hastings himself assumed the diwani responsibility directly. He shifted the khalsa or revenue
headquarters from murshidabad to Calcutta and established, in order to administer diwani, a
Committee of Revenue with himself as its president. Hastings, who was in charge of the
revenue settlement, announced his plan of revenue administration on 14 May 1772. According
to the plan, a Committee of Circuit (himself being its chairman) visited various provinces of
the country and concluded the Quinquennial Settlement with the revenue farmers.
The traditional zamindars, which were stripped of revenue collection responsibilities, were
compensated by an annual allowance of ten percent of the revenue to be actually collected by
revenue farmers. Revenues were to be collected by European agents, now designated as District
Collectors. The Committee of Circuit completed the settlement by September 1772.
The operation of the Quinquennial Settlement revealed that great many farmers failed to pay
revenue due to sheer over-speculation. Many of them even ran away to avert arrest and
confinement. In many parganas the oppressed raiyats resorted to open resistance to oppressive
farmers. But they were utterly disappointed.
They tried to recover the capital invested in revenue farming by resorting to various sorts of
exaction and oppressive measures. As a result, the economy of the country was declining and
the law-and-order situation deteriorating fast. All the provincial councils, set up as new colonial
institutions to govern the countryside, reported on the disastrous effects of the farming system.
Warren Hastings was subjected to severe criticism for his revenue policy. In fact, one of the
major circumstances that led to his impeachment was his revenue policy.
However, the court of directors advised the Calcutta government to abandon the farming
system of revenue settlement in future and make a settlement with the zamindars, instead.
Accordingly, a revenue settlement was made with zamindars on a short-term basis on the expiry
of the failed Quinquennial Settlement in 1777.
Did the ryotwari settlement bring a qualitative change in the village society of south
India (10)
Under Ryotwari Settlement land-revenue was collected directly from the peasant. The pioneer
of Ryotwari Settlement was Thomas Munro. For him the benefit to the people was the primary
concern of any settlement.
It was implemented firstly in the Madras Presidency in the early nineteenth century. In Madras,
was that there was no big zamindar in Madras, unlike in Bengal, for the settlement. Different
systems were prevailing in different parts of south India.
Some lands were under Jagir System, while some captured. The Government wanted a
uniformity in tax collection and settlement, so it decided to make settlement directly with the
peasants. The Ryotwari Settlement was implemented in Madras, Malabar, Kanara, Kudupah,
Bellary, Coimbatore, and Kurnool. The peasants in this system were made owner of the land
and 50 per cent of the net produce was fixed as land revenue.
Benefits to the Government
• The Settlement was not Permanent but for a fixed tenure, normally for30 years;
therefore, in case of increased production, the government could also increase the land
revenue unlike in Permanent Settlement.
• The Government collected land revenue mainly in cash, therefore, in case of price rise
the Government also benefitted.
• The government had control over non-occupied and other community land unlike in
Permanent Settlement area.
Benefits to the Peasant
• The peasants were treated as owner of the land. They could sell or give their land on
contract.
• He was saved from any intermediaries.
Losses to the Peasant
• In theory the land revenue was collected on ‘net income’ but in practice it was difficult
to estimate the total cost incurred in the productivity. It was difficult to maintain the
records, for any peasant, of expenditure on seeds, animals, labour, manures, etc. Thus,
in reality the state was collecting land revenue from ‘total income’ instead of ‘net
income.
• The clever and corrupt revenue officials penetrated in the political body of rural south.
• The high rate of taxation forced the peasant to borrow money from moneylenders. For
other socio-religious purposes too, the peasant borrowed money. The rate of interest
was quite high and arbitrary, which made it difficult for the peasant to settle their
account with the Mahajans. They were not allowed to settle the debt even if they wished
because the papers of land were in the custody of Mahajans who wanted to grab the
land and were always looking for excuses and opportunities. The British police and
judicial system also helped the Mahajans instead of oppressed peasants. Thus, Ryotwari
Settlement brought great misery to the peasants. It is not surprising why maximum
 famine, draught and unrest were noticed in the parts of British India with Ryotwari
system.
• The peasant failed to develop their agricultural land and crop pattern due to high rate
of taxation. It is clear that the tall claim which the English officials like Reid made,
proved false. The Government had announced in the late nineteenth century that land
revenue would be collected only on ‘net produce’, relief would begiven to the peasant
during natural calamities and concession in revenue collection would be given in case
of poor-quality land. The Deccan Agricultural Relief Act, 1879 clearly mentioned to
stop land transfer, but all these promises remained on paper. The peasants were left free
to face their bitterest enemies—the ‘Nature’, the ‘Officials and Mahajans’.

Ryotwari settlement (5)

Under Ryotwari Settlement land-revenue was collected directly from the peasant. The pioneer
of Ryotwari Settlement was Thomas Munro. For him the benefit to the people was the primary
concern of any settlement.
The Ryotwari Settlement was implemented in Madras, Malabar, Kanara, Kudupah, Bellary,
Coimbatore, and Kurnool. The peasants in this system were made owner of the land and 50 per
cent of the net produce was fixed as land revenue. The Government collected land revenue
mainly in cash, therefore, in case of price rise The peasants were treated as owner of the land.
They could sell or give their land on contract.
In theory the land revenue was collected on ‘net income’ but in practice it was difficult to
estimate the total cost incurred in the productivity. The high rate of taxation forced the peasant
to borrow money from moneylenders. For other socio-religious purposes too, the peasant
borrowed money.
The rate of interest was quite high and arbitrary, which made it difficult for the peasant to settle
their account with the Mahajans. They were not allowed to settle the debt even if they wished
because the papers of land were in the custody of Mahajans who wanted to grab the land and
were always looking for excuses and opportunities.
The British police and judicial system also helped the Mahajans instead of oppressed peasants.
Thus, Ryotwari Settlement brought great misery to the peasants. It is not surprising why
maximum famine, draught and unrest were noticed in the parts of British India with Ryotwari
system.
Significance of battle of buxar(5)
The Battle of Buxar was one of the pivotal conflicts in India’s history and its lengthy alliance
with British Colonial forces. British hegemony over the local kingdoms in the Indian
subcontinent was successfully established during the Battle of Buxar 1764 War.
On October 22, 1764, the Battle of Buxar took place at Buxar, Bihar as it is known today. The
combined armies of Bengal’s Nawab Mir Qasim, Awadh’s Nawab Shuja-ud-Daula, and
Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II fought the East India Company in the Buxar War. To put a stop
to the conflict, the Treaty of Allahabad was signed in 1765.
The Mughal emperor’s combined armies, the Nawabs of Bengal and Oudh, and the English
forces engaged in combat at the Battle of Buxar.
Through the Battle of Buxar, colonial dominance over the province of Bengal was formally
established. The Nawab had been vanquished and replaced by the EIC’s army. The British now
controlled the entire province, which included the modern states of Bihar and Orissa as well as
Bangladesh. Even though Mir Qasim fled with vast wealth, Munro’s forces beat the
confederacy’s soldiers, and the fugitive Mir Qasim perished in obscurity and poverty.
The Nawab of Bengal’s independence had been put an end by the Battle of Plassey in 1757.
However, the British forces also exerted political dominance and control over the Awadh and
the Mughal Empire during the Battle of Buxar. The British gained a solid foundation in India
thanks to the Battle of Buxar, which eventually allowed them to dominate the entire country.
Dual administration (5)
Dual Government of Bengal was a system of Government was established by Robert Clive
following the Treaty of Allahabad (1765).
The British East India Company obtained the actual power; whereas the responsibility and
charge of administration was entrusted to the Nawab of Bengal. Under this dual system of
governance, the British administration acquired both the functions of the Diwani and Nizamat
of Bengal.
Diwani was acquired from the Mughal emperor and Nizamat from the Nawab of Bengal. As
the diwan, the Company was authorised to collect revenues of the province, while through the
right to nominate the deputy subahdar it was in a position to control the nizamat or the police
and judicial powers.
The deputy subahdar could not be removed without the consent of the Company. However, at
this point of time, the Company was neither willing nor able to collect the revenue directly.
Hence Company appointed two deputy diwans for exercising diwani functions-Mohammad
Reza Khan for Bengal and Raja Sitah Roy for Bihar. Mohammad Reza Khan also functioned
as deputy nizam.
The dual government system held a great advantage for the British-they had power without
responsibility. The Nawab and his officials were responsible for administration, but they had
no power to discharge it. The Nawab was merely a puppet in the hands of the British
Government of India.
Thus, the Dual Government in Bengal failed miserably. It destroyed the trade, industry and
agriculture of Bengal. In 1770, Bengal suffered from a severe famine and nearly one-third
population of Bengal fell victim to its ravages.
This dual system of governance was finally abolished by Warren Hastings in 1772.
Plassey plunder (5)
The ‘Plassey plunder’, ‘ransacking of the treasury of Murshidabad’ and ‘direct access into the
state finances’ adversely affected Indian trade and crafts transforming Indian fortunes – Indian
industries suffered, artisans were ruined, towns declined and, in the years, to come even the
cultural flavour of the country altered sharply.

After the Battle of Plassey, the EIC stripped the treasury by removing the entire accumulated
treasure, devastated the agriculture by altering crop patterns, shattered the trading community
by monopolising trade, altered the nature of land holdings by creating a feudal class and
enhanced the land taxes unrealistically.
The first gain to the BEIC was that it immediately acquired all the land within the Maratha
Ditch and 600 yards beyond. The Company also acquired zamindari, ownership rights of all
the land between Calcutta and the Bay of Bengal.
The treaty with the new rulers that it installed required the BEIC to be paid a sum of 22 million
rupees, roughly equivalent to 35 billion rupees in current value. This was a cunning condition
inserted in the agreement by the BEIC because Bengal’s treasury didn’t have this amount. Clive
accepted that half of this amount be paid immediately and the rest in instalments. He not only
cleaned out the entire accumulated wealth of Bengal but also ensured extortion on future
earnings as well.
By the end of the century, 90% of Bengal’s external trade was in British hands. Bengal had
weavers who produced the finest of the world’s muslin and had a very high standard of living.
The British reduced Bengal weavers to near slavery and their vocation was terminated to
promote British textile imports.
Thus, after post-Plassey period the English drained so much of wealth out of Bengal that her
economy was completely shattered and this drain of wealth from Bengal is known as 'Plassey
Plunder'.
Significance/implications of faruksiyar farman of 1717(5)
Farrukh Siyar's Farman (1717) was a grant giving concessions to the English east india
company and allowing them tax-free monopoly trade specially in the Mughal subah of Bengal,
Bihar and Orissa. It was the outcome of prolonged efforts by the company with the sole
objective of avoiding the payment of usual taxes and tolls.
The imperial farman of 1717 had far reaching consequences on the subsequent history of the
subcontinent. It was a great diplomatic success for the English East India Company. It paved
the way not only for the expansion of the company's trade in the province of Bengal but also
an increase of the influence of the English in the political arena of the country.
Termed as the 'Magna Carta' of the English trade in Bengal, the farman granted undue
advantages to the English over other traders. It also proved to be a serious drain upon the
imperial revenue. Despite the rapid increase in the volume of the company's trade, the amount
of the peshkash payable to the government was not raised.
Murshid Quli khan, the able and experienced subahdar of Bengal immediately objected to the
transfer of 38 villages with zamindari rights to the English. The use of the Murshidabad mint
was also objected to. Moreover, the lukewarm support of the provincial officials to the
privileges granted to a foreign trading concern put the company at odds with the implementing
authorities.
Thus, such a conflicting attitude gave rise to increasingly strained relations between the English
and the rulers of Bengal, which in its turn affected the politico-economic history of the country.
Implications of grant of diwani of 1765/significance of transfer of diwani in Bengal (10)
The Grant of Diwani, 1765 was acquired from the Mughal emperor and Nizamat from the
Nawab of Bengal. As the diwan, the Company was authorised to collect revenues of the
province, while through the right to nominate the deputy subahdar it was in a position to control
the nizamat or the police and judicial powers.
While the Company desired to draw maximum advantages to itself by keeping the finances of
Bengal under its own control, it refused to accept any responsibility regarding the governance
of Bengal. Robert Clive appointed two naib (deputy) Diwans on behalf of the Company,
namely Raja Shitab Ray for Bihar and Muhammad Raza Khan for Bengal.
The Company did nothing more than this. It only expected large amount of revenue and deputed
two Indians for this task. It was not concerned as to how the revenue was to be collected and
what would be its impact on the condition of the common people of Bengal.
Besides, as the Nawab was a minor, the Company appointed Md. Raza Khan as the naib Nizam
as well. Therefore, the responsibility of governing Bengal, in fact, passed into the hands of Md.
Raza Khan who was a servant of the Company both as naib Nizam and naib Diwan.
The dual government system held a great advantage for the British-they had power without
responsibility. The Nawab and his officials were responsible for administration, but they had
no power to discharge it. The Nawab was merely a puppet in the hands of the British
Government of India.
The “Dual Government” failed completely. During its period the abuses of private trade by
the servants of the Company reached a climax. The privilege of dastaks was so misused that
the Indian merchants failed to compete with the English and were completely ruined. Indian
industries were also ruined.
The Company used its political power to ruin the silk industry in Bengal. The cotton cloth
industry which was the most developed one in Bengal was also ruined. The representatives of
the Company arbitrarily decided the quality of the cloth, its quantity of production and its price
much against the interest of the artisans. If any artisan or worker protested, he was severely
punished or tortured.
Therefore, many of them changed their profession and many others left Bengal. Agriculture
was also destroyed because of the excesses of the Company. Land was assigned to the highest
bidder every year for the collection of revenue. These bidders or the farmers of taxes collected
maximum revenue from the farmers to draw maximum gain for themselves within a year.
The Company increased its demand every year from the contractors. The contractors, in turn,
increased their demand from the farmers while they were no way interested in increasing the
production. Therefore, the peasants were the worst sufferers and many among them left their
lands and became dacoits and robbers.
Thus, the Dual Government of Clive proved to be a failure for Bengal. It gave rise to several
complicacies in the administration of Bengal. The absence of responsibility on the part of the
company led to abuses of power and corruption. This dual system of governance was finally
abolished by Warren Hastings in 1772.
Implications of grant of diwani of 1765/significance of transfer of diwani in Bengal (5)
The Grant of Diwani, 1765 was acquired from the Mughal emperor and Nizamat from the
Nawab of Bengal. As the diwan, the Company was authorised to collect revenues of the
province, while through the right to nominate the deputy subahdar it was in a position to control
the nizamat or the police and judicial powers.
While the Company desired to draw maximum advantages to itself by keeping the finances of
Bengal under its own control, it refused to accept any responsibility regarding the governance
of Bengal. Robert Clive appointed two naib (deputy) Diwans on behalf of the Company.
The Company did nothing more than this. It only expected large amount of revenue and deputed
two Indians for this task. The dual government system held a great advantage for the British-
they had power without responsibility.
The “Dual Government” failed completely. During its period the abuses of private trade by
the servants of the Company reached a climax. The privilege of dastaks was so misused that
the Indian merchants failed to compete with the English and were completely ruined.
The Company used its political power to ruin the silk industry in Bengal. The cotton cloth
industry which was the most developed one in Bengal was also ruined. Agriculture was also
destroyed because of the excesses of the Company. Land was assigned to the highest bidder
every year for the collection of revenue. The peasants were the worst sufferers and many among
them left their lands and became dacoits and robbers.
Thus, the Dual Government gave rise to several complicacies in the administration of Bengal.
This dual system of governance was finally abolished by Warren Hastings in 1772.
What led to the grant of diwani in 1765. What was its impact (10)
Diwani provincial revenue administration system under the Mughals was an early mechanism
of the establishment of Company rule in Bengal. The provincial subahdar was in charge of
nizamat (he was also called nazim) and the diwan was in charge of revenue administration. To
ensure checks and balances in the Suba administration, the Mughal emperor used to appoint
these two key officers directly.
The diwan had the power and responsibility to send revenue to the central government without
consulting or taking any cognition of the nazim. The outcome of the conflict between Subahdar
azim-us-shan and Diwan murshid quli khan over the issue of remitting revenue to the centre
directly by the diwan demonstrates the autonomy of the institution of diwani during the times
of the great Mughals.
when the autonomous nawabs ruled the Subah without any power sharing with the diwan, who
was now reduced to a nawabi officer only. He was appointed by, and responsible to, the nawab.
This was a violation of the imperial rule, which the weak and impoverished emperors at the
centre could never correct by sending an imperial diwan to share power with the nawab.
As an active trader in Bengal, the English east india company had witnessed the autonomous
power of the centrally appointed diwans whom they then gave, to earn their favour, peshkash
on their appointment. They also knew that the autonomous nawabs could make the institution
obsolete because of the weakness of the centre.
Robert clive, who came in 1765 for the second time to lead the affairs of the Company in
Bengal, took advantage of the situation and met the homeless emperor, Shah Alam, at
Allahabad. The needy emperor was persuaded that appointing the East India Company the
diwan of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa could revive the post of the centrally controlled diwan. The
Company, as diwan, would be pleased to remit him a fixed amount of tribute as regularly as it
was done in the good old days.
The proposal sounded very attractive to the emperor, who was not receiving any tribute from
Bengal for a long time, and thus he agreed to the proposal of Clive. Accordingly a treaty was
signed. The emperor issued a farman (12 August 1765) appointing the Company Diwan of
Bengal, Bihar and Orissa with the condition that the Company would remit an annual tribute
of twenty-six lakhs of rupees to the emperor.
Clive appointed Syed Muhammad reza khan naib diwan and naib nazim. As naib nazim he was
to represent the nawab and as naib diwan he was to represent the Company. The system that
Clive evolved was called Double Government. The Double Government under Reza Khan
worked well as long as Clive was there to support him as the governor at fort william.
The Company officials began plundering the country in the name of private trade. The
consequence was the collapse of the economy, leading to the great famine of 1769-70. To save
the new kingdom from ruin and also to save the Company from complete collapse through
recurring losses, the court of directors resolved in 1772 to stand forth as diwan and advised
warren hastings, the governor, to abolish the Clive's Double Government system. Hastings
sacked Reza Khan and assumed the diwani administration directly in his hand and with that
began the second phase of the establishment of the British colonial state in India.
Ilbert bill controversy (10)
Sir Courtenay Pergine Ilbert drafted the Ilbert Bill, introduced in 1883 during Viceroy Ripon’s
tenure. The act stated that Indian judges would have the authority to try Europeans. This was a
major controversy at the time, with far-reaching consequences for India’s history.
The Ilbert Bill Controversy also convinced the Indians that they could not expect equality from
the British government. Until recently, only European judges could hear cases involving
Europeans. Prior an Indian appointed authority was not permitted to attempt cases in which the
convict was a British or European.
The entire European people group started a tumult to go against the Bill. These fights
constrained the public authority to pull out of the Bill. The mere possibility of a European being
tried by an Indian, whom the Europeans regard as inferiors, infuriated the Europeans. The Bill
was met with vehement opposition from the Calcutta European business community, including
tea and indigo planters.
Many officials expressed covert sympathy as well. The debate of the time depended on firmly
established racial biases that were pervasive at that point. The misleading publicity that Indian
appointed authorities couldn’t be relied upon to deal with cases, including English females,
supported assembling critical resistance to the Bill.
English ladies who went against the Bill additionally contended that Bengali ladies, who they
generalised as “oblivious”, are ignored by their men, should subsequently not be given the
option to pass judgement on cases including English ladies.
However, Bill’s controversy taught the Indians two important lessons. The English considered
Indians to be of inferior race and were unwilling to grant them equal status. Second, the Indians
learned how to organise a movement and the effectiveness of a well-organised protest. Both
aided them in their national conflict with the British.
From the outset, because of famous dissatisfaction with regards to the Ilbert Bill by a larger
part of British ladies residing in India, Viceroy Ripon (who had presented the Bill) passed an
alteration, by which a jury of half Europeans was required on the off chance that an Indian
adjudicator was to confront a European on the dock. Finally, an answer was embraced via split
the difference:
Domain to endeavour Europeans would be given on European and Indian District Magistrates
and Sessions Judges something very similar.
Nonetheless, in all cases, a respondent would reserve the privilege to guarantee preliminary by
a jury of which, to some extent, a large portion of the individuals should be European. The Bill
was then passed on January 25 1884, as the Criminal Procedure Code Amendment 1884 came
into force on May 1.
Throughout India’s entire existence, Ilbert Bill was a dubious measure proposed in 1883 that
allowed senior Indian justices to manage cases, including British subjects in India. The Bill,
seriously debilitated by split the difference, was ordered by the Indian Legislative Council on
January 25, 1884. The fierce debate encompassing the action extended hostility between
Britishers and Indians and was a preface to the arrangement of the Indian National Congress
the next year.
Constitutional Significance of regulating act of 1773(5)
The Regulating Act in 1773 was enacted by the British Parliament to alter the East India
Company's governance in India. This was the first step taken by the British government to
control and regulate the affairs of the East India Company in India.
The Act confined the Board of Directors to four-year terms and limited Partnership earnings to
6% until it returned a £1.5 million debt.
It made it illegal for firm servants to engage in any personal commerce or receive donations or
bribery from “natives.”
The Act promoted Warren Hastings, the Administrator of Bengal, to Gov. of Bengal, and
placed Madras & Mumbai within Bengal’s administration. It provided the groundwork for
India’s centralized government. With the help of a four-member executive council, the
Governor of Bengal has become the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal. Decisions will be made
by a simple majority, with the Governor General voting solely in the event of a tie.
Calcutta’s Supreme Court is established, featuring Sir Elijah Impey as the very first Chief
Judge. The court possesses civil as well as judicial power. Original and appellate jurisdiction
are also available.
It has given the corporation permission to preserve its Indian territorial control. It is referred to
be a regulatory act since it does not give the firm entire control. In the end, we may say that
this constituted the initial step towards legislative control of the corporation.
For first time in India, a new constitution for business governance was adopted by this statute.
This Act marked the commencement of British legislative oversight of the Company’s regime
in India.
Characterize the uprising of 1857/ character of the great rebellion of 1857(10)
The Revolt of 1857, commonly called as the Sepoy Revolt, was the first organised revolt
against British rule in India. It was the culmination of the manifold grievances that Indians had
against the East India Company’s rule.
Ever since the publication of the book ‘First War of Independence’ by Vinayak Damodar
Savarkar in 1909, the nature and character of the revolt has been debated among the
nationalists and historians. The main strands of debates on the nature of the revolt of 1857 can
be understood by four main questions.

The first question is – Was it merely a ‘Sepoy mutiny’ or a civil rebellion’?

The more dominant contemporary official interpretation of the revolt of 1857 was that it was
primarily a Sepoy mutiny, the civil unrest being a secondary phenomenon, which happened as
the unruly elements took advantage of the breakdown of law and order. Charles Ball and J.W.
Kaye were among the pioneers who wrote about 1857 from the ‘Sepoy mutiny’ perspective.

However, according to Talzim Khaidun, the revolt was a civic rebellion as he points to
prolonged continuation of resistance to the British well after the latter’s reoccupation in regions
like Chakradhpur and Sambalpur
bordering Bengal.

The second question is – Was it a ‘revolt’ or ‘the first war of Indian independence’?
V. D. Savarkar claimed that the revolt was ‘war of independence’, which aimed at mobilizing
people in the emerging freedom movement. It was a planned war of national independence.
However, according to R.C. Majumdar, the revolt took different aspects at different places.
It was neither First nor National or War of independence.

The third question is – Was it ‘popular’ or ‘elitist’ in character?

Karl Marx believed it to be popular and identified the peasantry as the revolutionary force.
According to Talmiz Khaldun, the revolt was developing into a peasant war against
indigenous landlordism and foreign imperialism. P.C. Joshi identifies the elitist nature of
leadership. The peasants fought against the new type of landlords who were created by the
policies of the British and not against the traditional landlords.

The fourth question is – Was it secular or religious?

J. Outram holds that it was result of Muhammaden conspiracy. According to S. N. Sen, what
began as a fight for religion ended as a war of independence for there is not the slightest doubt
that the rebels wanted to get rid of the alien government and restore the old order of which the
king of Delhi was the rightful representative.

According to Jawaharlal Nehru, it was essentially a feudal outburst headed by feudal chiefs
and their followers and aided by the widespread anti-foreign settlement. MN Roy regarded
1857 revolt as the last ditch stand of feudalism against commercial capitalism. RP Dutt
recognized the significance of the revolts of the peasantry against foreign domination, even as
he saw it as a defense of the old feudal order.

On the basis of various arguments forwarded by different authors, it may be concluded that the
revolt of 1857 was anti-imperialist and nationalist, because both Hindus and Muslims
participated in equal measure and in close cooperation, and both sepoys and the civilians
wanted to overthrow the imperial rulers.
Why did revolt of 1857 fail (5)
The Revolt of 1857, commonly called as the Sepoy Revolt, was the first organised revolt
against British rule in India. It was the culmination of the manifold grievances that Indians had
against the East India Company’s rule.
Lack Of Spirit of Nationalism- The rebellions of the revolt lacked the spirit of nationalism.
They supported the sepoys just only because of hatred towards ‘Firangi’ East India Company.
Modern nationalism was yet unknown in India.
Lack of Pan-India Participation- The revolt which was started from Meerut in 1857 was
highly localized and restricted to the northern part of the country like Kanpur, Banaras,
Lucknow, Jhansi, and others. Regions beyond the river Narmada, eastern and southern India
remained largely undisturbed.
Lack of Unity- There was a lack of unity among rebels, while sepoys of Bengal were revolting
against East India Company whereas the soldiers of Punjab and Bombay supported the
Company against the sepoys.
Lack of All Class Participation- All classes did not join the revolt and worked against the
revolt. Big zamindars acted as break-waters to storm, as they were creations of the British.
Moneylenders and merchants saw their class interests better protected under British patronage.
Educated Indians hoped that the British would usher in an era of modernization.
Poor Arms and Equipment- The rebellions were battling generally with swords, spears,
lances, and very limited guns and muskets. On the different side, the East India Company was
equipped with rearmost munitions of war like the Enfield rifle.
Thus, the revolt was suppressed by the British, but the revolt of 1857 played an important role
in uniting the Indian people and giving them an awareness of belonging to one country.
Growth of modern banking system in India (10)
During the period of British rule merchants established the Union Bank of Calcutta in 1829,
first as a private joint stock association, then partnership. Its proprietors were the owners of the
earlier Commercial Bank and the Calcutta Bank, who by mutual consent created Union Bank
to replace these two banks.
The Allahabad Bank, established in 1865 and still functioning today, is the oldest Joint Stock
bank in India, it was not the first though. That honour belongs to the Bank of Upper India,
which was established in 1863 and survived until 1913, when it failed, with some of its assets
and liabilities being transferred to the Alliance Bank of Simla.
Foreign banks too started to appear, particularly in Calcutta, in the 1860s. Grindlays Bank
opened its first branch in Calcutta in 1864.The Comptoir d'Escompte de Paris opened a branch
in Calcutta in 1860, and another in Bombay in 1862; branches followed in Madras and
Pondicherry, then a French possession. HSBC established itself in Bengal in 1869. Calcutta
was the most active trading port in India, mainly due to the trade of the British Empire, and so
became a banking centre.
The first entirely Indian joint stock bank was the Oudh Commercial Bank, established in 1881
in Faizabad. It failed in 1958. The next was the Punjab National Bank, established in Lahore
in 1894, which has survived to the present and is now one of the largest banks in India.
Around the turn of the 20th century, the Indian economy was passing through a relative period
of stability. Around five decades had elapsed since the Indian rebellion, and the social,
industrial and other infrastructure had improved. Indians had established small banks, most of
which served particular ethnic and religious communities.
The presidency banks dominated banking in India but there were also some exchange banks
and a number of Indian joint stock banks. All these banks operated in different segments of the
economy. The exchange banks, mostly owned by Europeans, concentrated on financing foreign
trade. Indian joint stock banks were generally undercapitalised and lacked the experience and
maturity to compete with the presidency and exchange banks.
The period between 1906 and 1911 saw the establishment of banks inspired by the Swadeshi
movement.
How did de-industrialization affect the Indian economy (10)
The effect of de-industrialization on the Indian subcontinent is difficult to observe before 1810.
The factory driven technologies for the production of cotton appeared between 1780 and 1820,
but India started to lose its dominant position as the exporter of cotton before this period due
to low wages in the Indian cotton industry.
It also acted as a catalyst in migrating work force from cotton industry to Indian grain industry.
The production capacity of the Indian cotton industry started to decline due to the prevailing
wage rate. Furthermore, Indian de-industrialization is also hard to track due to its relatively low
share of textile exports in the total textile production.
In India, by 1920, the trade to GDP ratio declined and international trade reshaped the domestic
structure of the economy. India became one of the major markets for the British made cotton
yarns and cloths and became one of the large suppliers of Grain. The price of cotton decreased
by more than a third in the 1900s as compared to the level in 1800.
The fall in prices of cotton significantly reduced the production of Indian hand spinning
industry which is considered to be the most important specimen of de-industrialization in India.
The industrial revolution of the British cotton industry resulted in the globalization of its
colonies as a mean to export excess production. This resulted in the fall the production of cotton
in the indigenous industries of colonies due to low prices of British cotton and its derived
products.
The large scale de-industrialization brought far reaching impacts on the economy with loss to
traditional economy, which was earlier considered as a blend of agriculture and handicrafts.
Spinning and weaving functioned as subsidiary industries in the old economy resulted in
differences to the interior equilibrium of the rural market.
As an outcome, this led to manually skilled labourers shifting back to agricultural productivity
and such overcrowding decreased the efficiency of agriculture sector as well. Land holding
fragmentation, excessive cultivation and low-grade and infertile land utilization are the straight
impacts of the same. It created a large base of underemployed and disguised rural unemployed.
The de-industrialisation of India played an important role in the underdevelopment and
increasing poverty in the country. The British-led globalization of Colonial India led to the
significant inflow of British cotton which led to falling in the output of the domestically
produced cotton due to low prices.
Consequently, the de-industrialisation process increased the unemployment of artisan and
employees of indigenous cotton industry of India. The unemployed artisans and employees
resorted to agriculture and it also contributed to the regression towards agriculture and resulted
in the surplus labor of land.
The colonial policies associated with the land and taxation undermined ability of the peasant
class to control and command the land. It pushed these peasants to take significant debt from
non-cultivating moneylenders who charged significantly high interests and aided in the
underdevelopment and poverty.
De-industrilisation(5)
The process of de-industrialisation is an economic change in which employment in the
manufacturing sector declines due to various economic or political reasons.The decline in
employment in manufacturing is also followed by the fall in the share of manufacturing value
added in GDP.
The process of de-industrialisation can be due to development and growth in the economy and
it can also occur due to political factors. In other words, the term de-industrialisation means a
general reduction in the industrial capacity and came into prevalence in India with the decline
and collapse of the handicrafts industry by external competition from British-manufactured
products during the 19th century.
In the period somewhere in the range of 1775 and 1800, critical advancements happened in the
British cotton industry, which increased their total output and the cost of the production
declined. It made huge difficulties for the Indian-created cotton, which was high in cost.
Besides, the British leaders of these states’ strategies considered expanding the market for
British-created cotton.
The British cotton confronted inconsistent rivalry from the native cotton industry of the states.
The costs of the British cotton industry were decreased altogether to expand the strength of
British cotton. It prompted a decrease in the native cotton industry of the states, and the
homegrown exercises related to the creation of Indian cotton fell.
Thus, de-industrialization brought far reaching impacts on the economy, underdevelopment
and increasing poverty in the country and also increased the unemployment of artisan and
employees of indigenous cotton industry of India.
Explain the decline of indigenous cotton industry during the colonial rule in Indian
economy (10)
The Indian textile industry was one of the most important industries in the world during the
19th century. Large quantities of Indian textile were exported to England and other countries
across the borders. However, when these exports grew via the East Indian Company, workers
were exploited and a shift of competitive advantage took place.
The textile industry in Britain was very small in the 18th century and could not compete on the
market due to high competition from India. This pressurized Britain to provide producers with
protection. The major change happened when the industrial revolution started in Europe
(although India was an industrial nation even before Europe). One of the major reasons was
the division of people amongst the Indian society by caste.
After the Industrial Revolution in Britain, the capital-intensive textile industry in Lancashire
flourished- productivity in Britain increased and reached a point where Britain was exporting
cloth to India. Productivity and technology were stagnated in India whereas labour productivity
was thriving in Britain. This caused a dramatic shift in competitive advantage and a country
which once could not compete in the world market of textiles was now dominating. The cheap
machine-made goods made India uncompetitive compared to Britain and caused a shift of
comparative advantage between the two countries.
However, it was between 1835-70 when the production increased significantly in Brian and the
great competition for handloom weavers began. British imports booms in the Indian market.
The fact that the rapid expansion of Lancashire cotton mills has come at the price of Indian
handloom manufacture has been widely accepted by economic historians. Thus, in the 19th
century, a tug-of-war between Indian industries and Lancashire mills began- while the British
flooded the Indian market, the Indian producers fought against the rising imports by Britain.
Therefore, India’s most prized industry was now destroyed and there was a shift of employment
from the traditional textile to agriculture.
The Indian Textile Industry has been responsible for providing clothes to a number of people
around the globe and successfully done so for several centuries until the East India Company
set foot. Due to the Britishers and rise of the Lancashire Mills the industry had to go through
huge ups and downs for its survival. There is a clear shift in competitive advantage in the
countries. In Lancashire, the cotton industry got protection, under which they flourished.
The capital-intensive method of production increased productivity substantially and the exports
to India increased slowly. Soon, they were able to compete with one of the biggest textile
producers in the world. In addition, various laws in India in favor of British imports such as
heavy duties, removal of trade barriers etc. The East India Company single-handedly crushed
the Indian textile industry- an industry that once flourished could no longer compete with
Britain.
Pastoral economy and shifting Cultivation.
Pastoralism is an economic activity which involves caring of herds of domesticated livestock
either as a primary or main mode of subsistence or it is combined with agricultural activities.
Before the nineteen century India was connected with Afghanistan by a migratory route
through which central Asian tribes came down to India to trade as well to work and also in
search of pasture.

Colonial Government in India at one stage attempted to encourage and sustain the trade which
flowed through this route. They set up trading posts, opened passes and ensured safety. Shifting
cultivation is the most complex and multifaceted form of agriculture in the world. Its highly
diverse land use system has been evolving since as early as 10,000 BCE in a wide range of
distinct socioeconomic and ecological conditions, from montane to lowland ecosystems and
from tropical forests to grasslands. Shifting cultivation encompasses cropping system such as
horticulture and annual cropping, perennial tree crops, animal husbandry and management of
forest and fallows in sequential or rotational cycles. Shifting cultivation has been a subject of
debate since the colonial era.

The term shifting cultivation refers to any temporal or spatially cyclical of agricultural system
that involves clearing of land-usually with the assistance of fire-followed by phases of
cultivation and fallow period. In the hilly region of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur,
Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura, shifting cultivation, locally known as jhum,
continues to be a dominant mode of food production and the economic mainstay of many rural
households. During the colonial period, officers of the agricultural and forest departments,
missionaries and scientists often viewed shifting cultivators as primitive, which often provided
a moral justification for their subjugation.

In early colonial enterprise, the colonialists sold products from shifting cultivation system to
traders who circulated extractive tropical products, sugar and slave. They intervened in local
practices when they thought these products directly competed with the primary extractive
resources and siphoned labour away from the more commercial sector of the economy. Since
the colonial period, many regulations have aimed to stop, prohibit and transform shifting
cultivation. They have also tried to replace community tenure systems and practice of shifting
cultivation with state control extraction and commercial tree plantation. Colonial laws were
passed to formalize such interventions