PEASANT REVOLTS

IN INDIA, THE COMMERCIALISATION OF AGRICULTURE TOOK PLACE NOT TO FEED THE INDUSTRIES OF INDIA BUT TO FEED THE INDUSTRIES OF ENGLAND

- DR NAVENDU SHEKHAR

The British pursued different policies in the economic field. However, their sole motive was to serve their own economic interests. All policies were pursued by them with this objective and, therefore, none of them proved beneficial to the Indians. Some of the practices introduced by the British to exploit economically were changes in the land revenue settlements. The demand of the revenue was high; the Government did nothing to remove the intermediaries who came into existence even where Ryotwari and Mahalwari systems existed.

By the first half of the 19th Century, the Government started collecting revenue in cash except in such outlying areas as Assam; and, collected revenue by a fixed date. In the Zamindari system, the peasants were left at the mercy of zamindars who raised rents to unbearable limits and compelled them to pay illegal dues also. In the Ryotwari and the Mahalwari areas, the Government took the place of the zamindars and levied excessive land revenue which, in the beginning, was fixed as high as one-third or one-half of the produce.

Until the 19th Century, there was a little change in the agricultural practices adopted in India. Throughout the past centuries, Indian farmers were growing the same crops. Rice and wheat were the two principal crops in India followed by jowar and barley. Other crops, produced in India from the very beginning, consisted of pulses of different types, oil seeds, jute, cotton, indigo and spices.

FEEDING INDUSTRIES OF ENGLAND