Class 12 History Notes Chapter 3 (Chapter 3) – Themes in Indian History-III Book

Right then, let's get straight into Chapter 3, 'Colonialism and the Countryside'. This is a very important chapter, especially for understanding the economic and social impact of British rule in India, which often forms the basis for questions in government exams. We'll break down the key themes, focusing on the information presented in your NCERT textbook.

Chapter 3: Colonialism and the Countryside: Exploring Official Archives

Core Theme: This chapter examines the profound changes British colonial rule brought to the Indian countryside, focusing primarily on Bengal, the Rajmahal Hills, and the Bombay Deccan. It explores the implementation of new land revenue systems, their impact on different social groups (Zamindars, ryots/peasants, Paharias, Santhals), and the resultant conflicts and resistance. A key aspect is understanding how we know about these events – primarily through official colonial records, and the need to critically evaluate these sources.

Detailed Notes for Exam Preparation:

I. Bengal and the Permanent Settlement (1793)

1. Context:

   • After acquiring the Diwani of Bengal (1765), the East India Company (EIC) needed a stable and predictable revenue income.
   • Early experiments with revenue collection proved problematic (frequent assessments, corruption).
   • Belief among officials (like Cornwallis) that investing Zamindars with secure property rights would encourage agricultural improvement and create a loyal landed class.

2. The Permanent Settlement (Introduced by Lord Cornwallis):

   • Key Feature: Revenue demand on Zamindars was fixed in perpetuity (permanently).
   • Role of Zamindars: Not landowners in the modern sense initially, but revenue collectors with hereditary rights. Under this settlement, they became proprietors responsible for paying the fixed sum to the EIC. If they collected more, it was their profit; if less, they still had to pay the fixed amount.
   • The 'Sunset Law': Revenue had to be paid by sunset on the specified date, failing which the Zamindari estate could be auctioned off.

3. Problems Faced by Zamindars:

   • High Initial Demand: The fixed demand was often set very high.
   • Agricultural Price Fluctuations: Low prices for produce made it difficult for ryots to pay dues, impacting Zamindar collections.
   • Inflexibility: The revenue demand was fixed, regardless of harvest quality.
   • Limited Power: Zamindars' powers to coerce ryots were initially curtailed by the Company.
   • 'Sunset Law' Rigidity: Led to frequent auctions of Zamindaris.

4. Strategies of Zamindars to Survive:

   • Fictitious Sales (Benami): Transferring property to female relatives (who couldn't have property taken) or servants during auctions, only to buy it back later at a lower price.
   • Withholding Revenue: Deliberately delaying payments.
   • Using Musclemen (Lathyals): Intimidating ryots or preventing auction purchasers from taking possession.
   • Creating Obstacles: Resisting dispossession through legal means and physical force.

5. The Rise of the Jotedars:

   • A class of rich peasants, prominent especially in North Bengal.
   • Controlled vast tracts of land, sometimes through sharecropping (adhiyars or bargasdars).
   • Dominated local trade and moneylending.
   • Exercised considerable influence over poorer villagers.
   • Often deliberately resisted Zamindars' efforts to collect revenue, contributing to the weakening of Zamindaris. Lived in villages, unlike absentee Zamindars, giving them more direct control.

II. The Fifth Report (1813)

1. Context: Submitted to the British Parliament. Part of a series of reports on EIC administration in India.
2. Content: A detailed report on the administration and activities of the EIC in India, heavily focusing on Bengal. It included petitions from Zamindars and ryots, reports from collectors, statistical tables on revenue, and notes on the revenue and judicial administration of Bengal and Madras.
3. Purpose & Bias: Highly critical of the EIC's administration, particularly the Permanent Settlement's impact. It fueled debates in Britain about the EIC's monopoly and governance. It's an important official archive source but reflects the perspective of those critical of the Company's rule in Bengal at the time. It exaggerated the collapse of the traditional Zamindari system and the extent of land auctions.
4. Significance: Crucial source for historians, but needs critical reading, understanding its political context and biases.

III. The Hoe and the Plough: Paharias and Santhals in the Rajmahal Hills

1. The Paharias:

   • Original inhabitants of the Rajmahal hills.
   • Practiced shifting cultivation (jhum) using a hoe, hunted, gathered forest produce.
   • Viewed forests as essential for identity and survival. Resisted intrusion by outsiders.
   • Often raided settled agricultural communities in the plains. Chiefs received tribute for protection.
   • British Policy: Initially extermination, later pacification (under Augustus Cleveland) by giving allowances to chiefs to maintain order. This had limited success.

2. The Santhals:

   • Seen by the British as ideal settlers to clear forests and practice settled plough agriculture.
   • Encouraged to settle in the foothills of the Rajmahal hills.
   • Granted land called Damin-i-Koh (meaning 'skirt of the hills') in 1832.
   • Rapidly expanded cultivation, pushing Paharias deeper into the hills.

3. Conflict & Exploitation:

   • Paharias vs. Santhals: Conflict over land and lifestyle (hoe vs. plough).
   • Santhals vs. Dikus (Outsiders): Santhals faced exploitation from moneylenders (mahajans) charging exorbitant interest rates and traders cheating them. Zamindars also began asserting control over the Damin area. The state levied heavy taxes.

IV. The Santhal Rebellion (1855-56)

1. Causes: Intense exploitation by moneylenders, traders, zamindars, and perceived injustice from the British administration. Loss of control over their lands and lives.
2. Leadership: Led by two brothers, Sidhu Manjhi and Kanhu Manjhi.
3. Nature: Aimed to create an ideal world where they would rule themselves. Attacked symbols of oppression: moneylenders, traders, zamindars, police stations, railway construction sites.
4. Suppression: Brutally crushed by the British army. Villages were destroyed, leaders killed.
5. Consequence: Led to the creation of the Santhal Pargana – a separate administrative territory carved out, with laws aimed at protecting Santhals from exploitation (though problems persisted). Showed the power of peasant resistance.

V. The Bombay Deccan and the Ryotwari Settlement

1. Context: Introduced in the Bombay Deccan region after annexation (post-Anglo-Maratha Wars).

2. Ryotwari System:

   • Revenue settled directly with the ryot (cultivator).
   • Land surveyed, and revenue assessed based on estimated soil quality and potential yield.
   • Demand was not permanent; subject to periodic revision (usually every 30 years).

3. Problems:

   • Excessive Revenue Demand: Often very high and difficult to pay, especially in dry regions with fluctuating yields.
   • Rigid Collection: Revenue had to be paid punctually, even during crop failures.
   • Dependence on Moneylenders: Ryots borrowed heavily from Sahukars (moneylenders, often Marwaris or Gujaratis) to pay revenue, buy seeds, and survive lean periods, leading to deep indebtedness.

VI. The Cotton Boom and its Aftermath (Mid-19th Century)

1. The Boom (Early 1860s): The American Civil War (1861-65) cut off cotton supplies from the US to Britain's textile mills. This led to a surge in demand for Indian cotton, especially from the Deccan.
2. Impact: Cotton prices soared. Export merchants and Sahukars readily gave advances/credit to ryots to encourage cotton cultivation. Ryots experienced temporary prosperity but also expanded borrowing.
3. The Crash (After 1865): American Civil War ended, US cotton supply resumed. Demand for Indian cotton plummeted, prices crashed.
4. Consequences: Merchants/Sahukars stopped credit and demanded repayment of old loans. Simultaneously, the government chose this time to increase the revenue demand (around 1867). Ryots were trapped between falling income, mounting debt, and high revenue demands.

VII. The Deccan Riots (1875)

1. Causes: Accumulated debt, high interest rates, moneylender manipulation (fraudulent contracts, refusal to issue receipts), falling agricultural prices, high government revenue demand, perceived insensitivity of the colonial legal system towards peasant grievances.
2. Trigger: Started in Supa village (Poona District). Ryots gathered and attacked shops and houses of moneylenders.
3. Nature of Riots: Primarily targeted moneylenders (especially Gujarati and Marwari Sahukars). The main objective was to obtain and destroy debt bonds, account books, and decrees. It was less about looting wealth and more about cancelling debt obligations. Spread to Ahmednagar and other districts.
4. Suppression: Suppressed by police and army action.

VIII. The Deccan Riots Commission

1. Purpose: Set up by the Government of India to investigate the causes of the riots.
2. Findings: Produced a report (presented to Parliament in 1878) acknowledging peasant anger against moneylenders and debt burdens. However, it largely refuted claims that excessive government revenue demand was a primary cause, framing it more as a conflict between peasants and moneylenders. This is another example of an official archive shaping the narrative.
3. Consequence: Led to the Deccan Agriculturists' Relief Act (1879), which aimed to provide some protection to ryots by restricting moneylender practices (e.g., ensuring loan bonds were fair, preventing arrests for debt).

Key Takeaway on Sources: Understand that our knowledge of these events largely comes from official sources (EIC records, Parliamentary reports, Commission reports). These sources reflect the perspectives, biases, and concerns of the colonial rulers. They focused on aspects relevant to governance and revenue, often overlooking or misinterpreting the nuances of rural life and peasant perspectives. Therefore, critical analysis is essential.

Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) for Practice:

1. The Permanent Settlement of Bengal was introduced in 1793 by:
   (a) Warren Hastings
   (b) Lord Cornwallis
   (c) Lord Wellesley
   (d) Lord William Bentinck

2. Under the Permanent Settlement, the revenue demand was fixed on:
   (a) The Ryots (cultivators)
   (b) The Jotedars (rich peasants)
   (c) The Zamindars (revenue collectors/proprietors)
   (d) The Village Headman

3. What was the 'Sunset Law' associated with the Permanent Settlement?
   (a) A law prohibiting agricultural work after sunset.
   (b) A law requiring revenue payment by a specific deadline (sunset), failing which the estate was auctioned.
   (c) A law granting ownership rights to cultivators at sunset.
   (d) A law fixing the time for revenue assessment meetings at sunset.

4. The Fifth Report, submitted to the British Parliament in 1813, primarily focused on:
   (a) The military campaigns of the East India Company.
   (b) The administration and activities of the East India Company, especially in Bengal.
   (c) The social customs and traditions of Indian society.
   (d) The promotion of education in India.

5. The Paharias of the Rajmahal Hills primarily practiced:
   (a) Settled plough agriculture
   (b) Shifting cultivation (jhum) using the hoe
   (c) Nomadic pastoralism
   (d) Intensive rice cultivation

6. The land granted to the Santhals by the British in the Rajmahal hills area was known as:
   (a) Ryotwari
   (b) Mahalwari
   (c) Damin-i-Koh
   (d) Jagir

7. The Santhal Rebellion (1855-56) was led by:
   (a) Tipu Shah and Karim Shah
   (b) Sidhu Manjhi and Kanhu Manjhi
   (c) Birsa Munda
   (d) Alluri Sitarama Raju

8. The Ryotwari system of land revenue was predominantly introduced in:
   (a) Bengal and Bihar
   (b) Punjab and North-West Provinces
   (c) Bombay Deccan and Madras Presidencies
   (d) Central Provinces

9. The immediate trigger for the surge in demand for Indian cotton in the early 1860s was:
   (a) The Industrial Revolution in Britain
   (b) The opening of the Suez Canal
   (c) The American Civil War
   (d) A major crop failure in Egypt

10. The main targets of the ryots during the Deccan Riots of 1875 were:
    (a) British officials and police stations
    (b) Zamindars and their agents
    (c) Moneylenders (Sahukars) and their account books/bonds
    (d) Christian missionaries and churches

Answers to MCQs:

1. (b) Lord Cornwallis
2. (c) The Zamindars (revenue collectors/proprietors)
3. (b) A law requiring revenue payment by a specific deadline (sunset), failing which the estate was auctioned.
4. (b) The administration and activities of the East India Company, especially in Bengal.
5. (b) Shifting cultivation (jhum) using the hoe
6. (c) Damin-i-Koh
7. (b) Sidhu Manjhi and Kanhu Manjhi
8. (c) Bombay Deccan and Madras Presidencies
9. (c) The American Civil War
10. (c) Moneylenders (Sahukars) and their account books/bonds

Make sure you revise these points thoroughly. Pay attention to the specific terms like Jotedar, Ryot, Damin-i-Koh, Dikus, Benami, Sunset Law, the different revenue systems, the key events like the rebellions and riots, and the significance of the official reports like the Fifth Report and the Deccan Riots Commission Report. Understanding the cause-and-effect relationships is crucial for analytical questions. Good luck with your preparation!