Ruling the Countryside

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes History Chapter 3 Ruling the Countryside

by

JAC Board Class 8th Social Science Notes History Chapter 3 Ruling the Countryside

→ The Company Becomes the Diwan

  • On 12 August 1765, the Mughal emperor appointed the East India Company as the Diwan of Bengal.
  • As Diwan, the Company became the chief financial administrator of the territory under its control. Now, it had to think of administering the land and organising its revenue resources.
  • Being an alien power, it needed to pacify those who in the past had ruled the countryside, and enjoyed authority and prestige.

→ Revenue for the Company

  • The Company had become the Diwan. but it still saw itself primarily as a trader.
  • Before 1865, the Company had purchased goods in India by importing gold and silver from Britain. Now the revenue collected in Bengal could finance the purchase of goods for export.
  • Artisans were deserting villages since they were being forced to sell their goods to the Company at low prices. Peasants were unable to pay the dues that were being demanded from them.
  • In 1770 a terrible famine killed ten million people in Bengal. About one-third of the population was wiped out.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes History Chapter 3 Ruling the Countryside

→ The need to improve agriculture

  • Most Company officials began to feel that investment in land had to be encouraged and agriculture had to be improved.
  • In 1793, the Company introduced the Permanent Settlement.
  • By the terms of the settlement, the rajas and taluqdars were recognised as zamindars. They were asked to collect rent from the peasants and pay revenue to the Company.
  • The amount to be paid was fixed permanently. It was felt that this would ensure a regular flow of revenue into the Company’s coffers and at the same time encourage the zamindars to invest in improving the land.

→ The problem

  • The Permanent Settlement created problems. Company officials soon discovered that the zamindars were in fact not investing in the improvement of land. The revenue that had been fixed was so high that the zamindars found it difficult to pay. Anyone who failed to pay the revenue lost his zamindari.
  • The prices in the market rose and cultivation slowly expanded. Hence, there is an increment in the income of the zamindars but no gain for the Company since it could not increase a revenue demand that had been fixed permanently.
  • As long as the zamindars could give out the land to tenants and get rent, they were not interested in improving the land.
  • On the other hand, in the villages, the cultivator found the system extremely oppressive. The rent he paid to the zamindar was high and his right on the land was insecure.

→ A new system is devised

  • By the early nineteenth century many of the Company officials were convinced that the system of revenue had to be changed again.
  • An Englishman called Holt Mackenzie devised the new system which came into effect in 1822, in the North Western Provinces of the Bengal Presidency (most of this area is now in Uttar Pradesh).
  • The estimated revenue of each plot within a village was added up to calculate the revenue that each village (mahal) had to pay. This demand was to be revised periodically, not permanently fixed.
  • The charge of collecting the revenue and paying it to the Company was given to the village headman, rather than the zamindar. This system came to be known as the mahalwari settlement.

→ The Munro system

  • Down in south, the similar idea of permanent settlement moved away. The new system that was devised came to be known as the ryotwar or ryotwari.
  • It was tried on a small scale by Captain Alexander Read in some of the areas that were taken over by the Company after the wars with Tipu Sultan. Subsequently developed by Thomas Munro, this system was gradually extended all over south India.
  • Munro thought that the British should act as paternal father figures protecting the lyots under their charge.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes History Chapter 3 Ruling the Countryside

→ All was not well
Driven by the desire to increase the income from land, revenue officials fixed too high a revenue demands. Peasants were unable to pay, ryots fled the countryside, and villages became deserted in many regions.

→ Crops for Europe

  • The British also realised that the countryside could not only yield revenue, it could also grow the crops that Europe required.
  • The British persuaded or forced cultivators in various parts of India to produce other crops: jute in Bengal, tea in Assam, sugarcane in the United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh), wheat in Punjab, cotton in Maharashtra and Punjab, rice in Madras.

→ Does colour have a history?

  • A kalamkari print was created by weavers of Andhra Pradesh in India. On the other hand, a floral cotton print was designed and produced by William Morris, a famous poet and artist of nineteenth-century Britain.
  • There is one thing common in the two prints: both used a rich blue colour commonly called indigo.
  • The blue prints was produced from a plant called indigo.

→ Why the demand for Indian indigo?

  • The indigo plant grows primarily in the tropics. By the thirteenth century, Indian indigo was being used by cloth manufacturers in Italy, France and Britain to dye cloth.
  • Only small amounts of Indian indigo reached the European market and its price was very high. European cloth manufacturers therefore had to depend on another plant called woad to make violet and blue dyes.
  • However, cloth dyers preferred indigo as a dye. Indigo produced a rich blue colour, whereas the dye from woad was pale and dull.
  • By the seventeenth century, European cloth producers persuaded their governments to relax the ban on indigo import.
  • Indigo plantations also came up in many parts of North America.
  • The French began cultivating indigo in St Domingue in the Caribbean Islands, the Portuguese in Brazil, the English in Jamaica, and the Spanish in Venezuela.
  • By the end of the eighteenth century, the demand for Indian indigo grew further.
  • While the demand for indigo increased, its existing supplies from the West Indies and America collapsed for a variety of reasons.
  • Between 1783 and 1789 the production of indigo in the world fell by half.

→ Britain turns to India

  • From the last decades of the eighteenth-century indigo cultivation in Bengal expanded rapidly and Bengal indigo came to dominate the world market.
  • As the indigo trade grew, commercial agents and officials of the Company began investing in indigo production.

→ How was indigo cultivated?

  • There were two main systems of indigo cultivation nij and ryoti.
  • Within the system of nij cultivation, the planter produced indigo in lands that he directly controlled.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes History Chapter 3 Ruling the Countryside

→ The problem with nij cultivation

  • The planters found it difficult to expand the area under nij cultivation.
  • Indigo could be cultivated only on fertile lands and these were all already densely populated.
  • They attempted to lease in the land around the indigo factory, and evict the peasants
    from the area. But this always led to conflicts and tension.
  • Nor was labour easy to mobilise and large numbers of labours required. And labour was needed precisely at a time when peasants were usually busy with their rice cultivation.
  • Nij cultivation on a large scale also required many ploughs and bullocks.
  • One bigha of indigo cultivation required two ploughs.
  • Till the late nineteenth century, planters were therefore reluctant to expand the area under nij cultivation.
  • Less than 25 per cent of the land producing indigo was under this system.
  • The rest was under an alternative mode of cultivation i.e.; the ryoti system.

→ Indigo on the land of ryots

  • Under the ryoti system, the planters forced the ryots to sign a contract, an agreement (satta).
  • At times they pressurised the village headmen to sign the contract on behalf of the ryots.
  • The planter provided the seed and the drill, while the cultivators prepared the soil, sowed the seed and looked after the crop.
  • When the crop was delivered to the planter after the harvest, a new loan was given to the ryot, and the cycle started all over again.
  • The price peasants got for the indigo they produced was very low and the cycle of loans never ended.
  • The planters usually insisted that indigo be cultivated on the best soils in which peasants preferred to cultivate rice because indigo had deep roots and it exhausted the soil rapidly. After an indigo harvest the land could not be sown with rice.

→ The “Blue Rebellion” and After

  • In March 1859, thousands of ryots in Bengal refused to grow indigo.
  • As the rebellion spread, ryots refused to pay rents to the planters and attacked indigo factories armed with swords and spears, bows and arrows. Women turned up to fight with pots, pans and kitchen implements.
  • In many villages, headmen who had been forced to sign indigo contracts, mobilised the indigo peasants and fought pitched battles with the lathiyals.
  • In other places even the zamindars went around villages urging the ryots to resist the planters.
  • After the Revolt of 1857 the British government was particularly worried about the possibility of another popular rebellion.
  • When in Barasat, the magistrate Ashley Eden issued a notice stating that ryots would not be compelled to accept indigo contracts, word went around that Queen Victoria had declared that indigo need not be sown.
  • The intellectuals from Calcutta wrote about the misery of the ryots, the tyranny of the planters, and the horrors of the indigo system.
  • Worried by the rebellion, the government brought in the military to protect the planters from assault, and set up the Indigo Commission to enquire into the system of indigo production.
  • After the revolt, indigo production collapsed in Bengal. But the planters now shifted their operation to Bihar.
  • Mahatma Gandhi’s visit in 1917 marked the beginning of the Champaran movement against the indigo planters.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 8 Social Science Solutions History Chapter 3 Ruling the Countryside

by

JAC Board Class 8th Social Science Solutions History Chapter 3 Ruling the Countryside

JAC Class 8th History Ruling the Countryside InText Questions and Answers

Page 28

Question 1.
Why do you think Colebrook is concerned with the conditions of the under-ryots in Bengal? Read the preceding pages and suggest possible reasons.
Answer:
Colebrook is concerned with the conditions of the under-ryots in Bengal due to some socio-economic reasons.

  1. In 1765, Diwani rights were given to the East India Company by the Mughals.
  2. In 1773, in famine many people lost their life and most of the things.
  3. Agriculture production worsene(d)
  4. People could not purchase things as they used to buy.
  5. The East India Company paid low price to farmers, craftsmen and artisans.

Page 30

Question 2.
Imagine that you are a Company representative sending a report back to England about the conditions in rural areas under Company rule. What would vou write?
Answer:
The conditions in rural areas under Company rule is not in good condition. Most of the people are poor and does not have enough food to eat. Many people are unable to pay the revenue hence they deserted the place.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Solutions History Chapter 3 Ruling the Countryside

Page 36

Question 3.
Imagine you are a witness giving evidence before the Indigo Commission. W.S. Seton Karr asks you “On what condition will ryots grow indigo?” What will your answer be?
Answer:
The conditions on which the ryots will grow indigo are.

  1. They will not be forced to grow indigo.
  2. They will sell the product in the open market from where they can earn a good profit.
  3. They will grow indigo as per their convenience and will.
  4. The revenue which they had to pay should be adequate and not too high

Page 38

Question 4.
Imagine a conversation between a planter and a peasant who is being forced to grow indigo. What reasons would the planter give to persuade the peasant? What problems would the peasant point out? Enact their conversation.
Answer:
Students need to do it in class with the ‘ help of the teacher.

JAC Class 8th History Ruling the Countryside Textbook Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Match the following.

Ryot village
Mahal peasant
Nij cultivation on ryot’s lands
Jiyoti cultivation on

Answer:

Ryot Peasant
Mahal Village
Nij cultivation on planter’s own land
Jiyoti cultivation on ryot’s lands

Question 2.
Fill in the blanks.
(a) Growers of woad in Europe saw …………… as a crop which would provide competition to their earnings.
(b) The demand for indigo increased in late eighteenth-century Britain because of ………..
(c) The international demand for indigo was affected by the discovery of …………
(d) The Champaran movement was against……….
Answer:
(a) indigo
(b) synthetic dyes
(c) industrialisation
(d) indigo planters

JAC Class 8 Social Science Solutions History Chapter 3 Ruling the Countryside

(Let’s Discuss)

Question 3.
Describe the main features of the Permanent Settlement.
Answer:
Main features of the Permanent Settlement are.

  1. By the terms of the settlement, the rajas and taluqdars were recognized as zamindars.
  2. They were asked to collect rent from the peasants and pay revenue to the Company.
  3. The amount to be paid was fixed permanently and it was not to be increased ever in future.
  4. It was felt that this would ensure a regular flow of revenue into the Company’s coffers and at the same time encourage the zamindars to invest in improving the land
  5. Since the revenue demand of the state would not be increased, the zamindar would benefit from increased production from the land

Question 4.
How was the mahalwari system different from the Permanent Settlement?
Answer:
The mahalwari system was different from the Permanent Settlement in the following ways.

Mahalwari system Permanent  Settlement
Mahalwari system was devised by Holt Mackenzie which came into effect in 1822, in the North Western Provinces of the Bengal Presidency. Lord Cornwallis introduced the Permanent Settlement in 1793.
The amount to be paid was to be revised periodically and not permanently fixe(d) The amount to be paid was fixed permanently i.e., it was not to be increased ever in future.
The village headman was given the charge forcollecting the revenue and paying it to the ^Company. The zamindar was given the charge for collecting the revenue and paying it to the Company.

Question 5.
Give two problems which arose with the new Munro system of fixing revenue.
Answer:
Two problems which arose with the new Munro system of fixing revenue were.

  1. Driven by the desire to increase the income from land, revenue officials fixed too high a revenue demand which the peasants were unable to pay.
  2. Peasants were unable to pay, ryots fled the countryside and villages became deserted in many regions.

Question 6.
Why were ryots reluctant to growindigo?
Answer:
Ryots were reluctant to grow indigo because of the certain reasons.

  1. Under this system, the planters forced the ryots to a sign an agreement or contract known as satta
  2. Those who signed the contract got cash advances from the planters at the low rate of interest to produce indigo.
  3. But the loan committed to the ryots for cultivating indigo on atleast 25% of the area under his holding.
  4. The price they got for the indigo they produced was very low and the loan process was a never ending cycle.
  5. The planters usually insisted that indigo should be cultivated on the best soil in which peasants preferred to produce rice.
  6. Apart from it, indigo has deep roots and it exhausts the soil quickly. After an indigo harvest, the land could not be sown with rice.

Question 7.
What were the circumstances which led to the eventual collapse of indigo production in Bengal?
Answer:
The circumstances which led to the eventual collapse of indigo production in Bengal were as follows.

  1. The indigo lyots felt that they had the support of the local zamindars and village headmen in their rebellion against the planters.
  2. The indigo peasants also imagined that the British government would support them in their struggle against the planters.
  3. The ryots saw the tour of the Lieutenant Governor as a sign of government sympathy for their plight.
  4. The magistrate Ashley Eden issued a notice stating that ryots would not be compelled to accept indigo contracts.
  5. As the rebellion spread, intellectuals from Calcutta rushed to the indigo districts. They wrote of the misery of the ryots, the tyranny and despotism of the planters and the horrors of the indigo system.
  6. Worried by the rebellion, the government set up the Indigo Commission to enquire into the system of indigo production. The Commission held the planters guilty and criticised them for the coercive methods they used with indigo cultivators.
  7. It declared that indigo production was not profitable for ryots. The Commission asked the ryots to fulfill their existing contracts but also told them that they could refuse to produce indigo in future,
  8. After the revolt, indigo production collapsed in Bengal.

(Let’s Do)

Question 8.
Find out more about the Champaran movement and Mahatma Gandhi’s role in it.
Answer:
The Champaran Movement 1917 was actually an agitation of indigo tenant farmers of Champaran, Bihar against the British indigo planters. The Zamindars had leased the villages to British Indigo planters. The planters began to oppress peasants in many ways. They extract high rents, illegal dues and forced peasants to grow indigo on 3/20th of their total lan(d) They used force to make peasants to grow Indigo and also dictated the price of Indigo which was very low. So, the peasants were tired of the oppression and thus invited Gandhi to represent their grievances. Gandhi reached Champaran and launched the agitation against the Indigo planters.

There began non-violent protest and hunger strike against the planters. So the method of Satyagraha which later became the tool of freedom struggle for Indi(a) Moreover, Gandhi defied the warning of the magistrate to return back and adopted non-violent methods for the concessions of peasants. So the movement is being called the first Civil Disobedience. The movement also made Gandhi the National leader and he began to be called Mahatma or Bapu. The movement was successful and The authorities later gave some concessions to the indigo peasants.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Solutions History Chapter 3 Ruling the Countryside

Question 9.
Look into the history of either tea or coffee plantations in Indi(a) See how the life of workers in these plantations was similar to or different from that of workers in indigo plantations.
Answer:

(i) Accounts of earlier Indian history do not mention the use of tea or its cultivation. We get a mention by a Dutch sea-traveller in 1598 that tea is being eaten as well as drunk in Indi(a)

(ii) In 1824, tea plants were discovered in the hills of the Indian state of Assam. The British introduced tea culture into India in 1836. India had been the top producer of tea for nearly a century.

(iii) The workers in the tea plantations were oppresse(d) They were given low wages. There were poor housing and lack of social mobility. For making more profits, the tea planters reclaimed wastelands where the workers had to labour hard to develop plantation. For this, the planters introduced indentured labour system. The local as well as outside labourers were employed under contract.

(iv) There were two types of indentured labour system- Arkatti and Sardari. Under Arkatti system, unlicensed recruitment was carried from Chotanagpur and other tribal areas of the sub-continent. Under the Sardari system new labourers were employed by those who were already employed in the plantation gardens.

(v) The labourers had to work hard The outside labourers had to stay at the garden for a longer period They were not permitted to meet their family, even on occasions. They were exploited in many ways. They were not allowed to leave the plantation garden during the contract period

(vi) The labourers in the tea plantations and indigo farming were similar in the way that they were exploited heavily. The profit was made by the owners and the labourers got almost nothing. They were different in the way that, however, there was a contract with the planters, but indigo workers were not under indentured labour system.

JAC Class 8th History Ruling the Countryside Important Questions and Answers

Multiple Choice Questions

Question 1.
The Mughal emperor appoint the East India Company as the Diwan of Bengal in………..
(a) 12th August 1756
(b) 12th August 1758
(c) 12th August 1765
(d) 19th August 1765
Answer:
(c) 12th August 1765

Question 2.
The Permanent Settlement was introduced in………
(a) 1793
(b) 1797
(c) 1794
(d)1799
Answer:
(a) 1793

Question 3.
The zamindars were not capable of investing in the improvement of land because
(a) the farmers were not experienced in agriculture.
(b) the revenue that had been fixed was so high that the zamindars found it difficult to pay.
(c) farmers did not have access to the latest farming technologies.
(d) both b and d
Answer:
(b) the revenue that had been fixed was so high that the zamindars found it difficult to pay.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Solutions History Chapter 3 Ruling the Countryside

Question 4.
The other plant on which the European cloth manufacturer depended on apart from Indian indigo was
(a) Woad
(b) Opium
(c) Heena
(d) None of these
Answer:
(a) Woad

Question 5.
The two main systems of cultivating indigo in India during Company period were…….
(a) Nij
(b) Mahalwari
(c) Ryot
(d) both (a) and (c)
Answer:
(d) both (a) and (c)

Question 6.
The cultivation system in which indigo was produced by the planter in lands that he directly controlled is known as
(a) ryoti
(b) nij
(c) systematic
(d) none of these
Answer:
(b) nij

Question 7
The problems with the nij and ryoti systems were
(a) planters found it difficult to expand the area under cultivation.
(b) planters needed many ploughs and bullocks and large areas to cultivate indigo and these were very hard to come as peasants were busy with rice cultivation.
(c) indigo could be cultivated only on fertile lands and these were all densely populate(d)
(d) all of these.
Answer:
(d) all of these.

Question 8.
The condition of the ryot system contract that was not in favour of the cultivators was/were
(a) those who signed the contract had to pay cash advances to the planters without interest to produce indigo.
(b) those who signed the contract got cash advances from the planters without interest to produce indigo.
(c) those who signed the contract got cash advances from the planters at low rates of interest to produce indigo on at least 25% of their land
(d) both (a) and (c)
Answer:
(c) those who signed the contract got cash advances from the planters at low rates of interest to produce indigo on at least 25% of their land

Question 9.
The ‘Blue Rebellion’ happened in the year……. .
(a) 1859
(b) 1759
(c) 1869
(d) 1769
Answer:
(a) 1859

Question 10.
The indigo planters of Bengal shifted their operations to ………..
(a) Uttar Pradesh
(b) Maharashtra
(c) Madhya Pradesh
(d) Bihar
Answer:
(d) Bihar

Very Short Answer Type Question

Question 1.
Who was the Governor General of India when the Permanent Settlement introduced in Bengal?
Answer:
Lord Cornwallis was the Governor General of India when the Permanent Settlement introduced in Bengal.

Question 2.
What role did women play in the cultivation of indigo?
Answer:
The role women played in the cultivation of indigo was to carry the indigo plant to the vats.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Solutions History Chapter 3 Ruling the Countryside

Question 3.
Who were the gomasthasl
Answer:
Gomasthas were the agents of planters.

Question 4.
Who created Kalamkari print?
Answer:
Weavers of Andhra Pradesh in India created Kalamkari print.

Question 5.
Where did the Portuguese begin cultivating indigo?
Answer:
The Portuguese began cultivating indigo in Brazil.

Question 6.
Who was the President of the Indigo Commission?
Answer:
W.S. Seton Karr was the President of the Indigo Commission.

Question 7.
Where did the English cultivate indigo?
Answer:
The English cultivated indigo in Jamaica

Question 8.
Where did the Spanish begin cultivating indigo?
Answer:
The Spanish began cultivating indigo in Venezuela

Question 9.
Which system forced the people to take the help of Mahatma Gandhi to get their grievances redressed from the government.
Answer:
The system which forced the people to take the help of Mahatma Gandhi to get their grievances redressed from the government was teenkathia system.

Question 10.
The Bengal peasants were forced to grow a crop plant by the Company. Which plant was that?
Answer:
The Bengal peasants were forced to grow a crop plant by the Company. The plant was jute plant.

Short Answer Type Question

Question 1.
Describe the Munro system.
Answer:
The new system that was devised came to be known as the ryotwar (or ryotwari). It was tried on a small scale by Captain Alexander Read in some of the areas that were taken over by the Company after the wars with Tipu Sultan. Subsequently developed by Thomas Munro, this system was gradually extended all over south Indi(a) Read and Munro felt that in the south there were no traditional zamindars. The settlement, they argued, had to be made directly with the cultivators {ryots) who had tilled the land for generations. Their fields had to be carefully and separately surveyed before the revenue assessment was made.

Question 2.
How was indigo cultivated under the ryoti system?
Answer:
Under the ryoti system, the planters forced the ryots to sign a contract, an agreement (satta). At times they pressurised the village headmen to sign the contract on behalf of the ryots. Those who signed the contract got cash advances from the planters at low rates of interest to produce indigo. But the loan committed the ryot to cultivating indigo on at least 25 per cent of the area under his holding. The planter provided the seed and the drill, while the cultivators prepared the soil, sowed the seed and looked after the crop. When the crop was delivered to the planter after the harvest, a new loan was given to the ryot, and the cycle started all over again.

Question 3.
What were the consequences of the economic crisis that gripped Bengal?
Answer:
The consequences of the economic crisis that gripped Bengal were.

  1. Artisans were deserting villages since they were being forced to sell their goods to the Company at low prices.
  2. Peasants were unable to pay the dues that were being demanded from them.
  3. Artisanal production was in decline and agricultural cultivation showed signs of collapse.
  4. In 1770, a terrible famine killed ten million people in Bengal. About one-third of the population was wiped out.

Question 4.
Where did the slave revolt take place in 1791?
Answer:
In the French colony of St Dominque situated in the Caribbean islands, the African slaves who worked in plantations rebelled in 1791.

Question 5.
Why did cloth dyers prefer indigo to woad?
Answer:
Cloth dyers preferred indigo as a dye because indigo produced a rich blue colour whereas the dye from woad was pale and dull.

Question 6.
Indigo trade attracted foreign traders. In which way?
Answer:
As the indigo trade grew, commercial agents and officials of the Company began investing in indigo production. Over the years many Company officials left their jobs to look after their indigo business. Attracted by the prospect of high profits, numerous Scotsmen and Englishmen came to India and became planters.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Solutions History Chapter 3 Ruling the Countryside

Question 7.
What gave rise to the Champaran Movement?
Answer:
When Mahatma Gandhi returned from South Africa, a peasant from Bihar persuaded him visit Champaran and see the plight of the indigo cultivators there. Mahatma Gandhi’s visit in 1917 marked the beginning of the Champaran movement against the indigo planters.

Question 8.
By the late nineteenth century, the Company forced cultivators in various parts of India to produce which crops?
Answer:
By the late nineteenth century, the Company forced cultivators in various parts of India to produce these crops jute in Bengal, tea in Assam, sugarcane in the United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh), wheat in Punjab, cotton in Maharashtra and Punjab, rice in Madras.

Question 9.
Why was the Indigo Commission set up by the government? What were its findings and suggestions?
Answer:
The Indigo Commission was set up by the government to enquire into the system of indigo production because they were worried by the rebellion, the government brought in the military to protect the planters from assault. The Commission held the planters guilty and criticised them for the coercive methods they used with indigo cultivators. It declared that indigo production was not profitable for ryots. The Commission asked the ryots to fulfil their existing contracts but also told them that they could refuse to produce indigo in future.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Solutions History Chapter 3 Ruling the Countryside

Question 10.
Why did the demand for Indian indigo increase?
Answer:
By the end of the eighteenth century, the demand for Indian indigo grew further. Britain began to industrialise and its cotton production expanded dramatically, creating an enormous new demand for cloth dyes. While the demand for indigo increased, its existing supplies from the West Indies and America collapsed for a variety of reasons. Between 1783 and 1789 the production of indigo in the world fell by half. Cloth dyers in Britain now desperately looked for new sources of indigo supply and hence the demand increased

Long Answer Type Question

Question 1.
The indigo peasants decide they would no longer remain silent. Why?
Answer:
The indigo peasants became united and rebelled They showed their anger in the following ways.

  1. The condition under which the indigo cultivators had to work was intensely oppressive and very harsh. Hence, they decided not to grow indigo.
  2. Ryots refused to pay rents to the planters and attacked indigo factories armed with swords and spears, bows and arrows.
  3. Women turned up to fight with pots, pans and kitchen implements.
  4. Those who worked for the planters were socially boycotted and the gomasthas means agents of planters, who came to collect rent were beaten up.
  5. Ryots swore they would no longer take advances to sow indigo nor be bullied by the planters’ lathiyals.
  6. Even in some places, the zamindars went around villages urging the ryots to resist the planters.
  7. These zamindars were unhappy with the increasing power of the planters and angry at being forced by the planters to give them land on long leases.

Question 2.
The planters reluctant to expand the area under nij cultivation till the late 19th century. Why?
Answer:
The planters reluctant to expand the area under nij cultivation till the late 19th century because the planters many problems in the nij system. They were as follows.

  1. The planters found it difficult to expand the area under nij cultivation. Indigo could be cultivated only on fertile lands and these were all densely populated
  2. Only small plots scattered over the landscape could be acquired Planters needed large areas in compact blocks to cultivate indigo in plantations.
  3. Nor was labour easy to mobilise. A large plantation required a vast number of hands to operate. And labour was needed precisely at a time when peasants were usually busy with their rice cultivation.
  4. Nor could supplies be easily got from the peasants since their ploughs and bullocks were busy on their rice fields and again exactly at the time that the indigo planters needed them.
  5. Investing on purchase and maintenance of ploughs was a big problem.

JAC Class 8 Social Science Solutions