Class 9 Social Science Notes Chapter 6 (Peasants and farmers) – India and the Contemporary World-I Book

Alright class, let's focus on Chapter 6: Peasants and Farmers from your 'India and the Contemporary World-I' textbook. This chapter is crucial for understanding how rural life transformed dramatically across the globe – in England, the USA, and India – during the modern period. These changes were driven by new economic pressures, technological advancements, and, particularly in India's case, colonialism. Pay close attention, as these themes often appear in government exams.

Chapter 6: Peasants and Farmers - Detailed Notes

1. England: The Coming of Modern Agriculture

• The Pre-Enclosure Era: Open Fields and Common Lands

  • System: Much of England operated under an 'open field' system. Individual peasant families cultivated scattered strips of land within large, open fields. There were no permanent hedges or fences between these strips.
  • Common Lands: Crucially, villages also had access to 'common lands' (pastures, forests, marshes). These were vital for the survival of the poor, allowing them to graze animals, collect firewood, berries, fruits, and fish. This supplemented their income and diet.
  • Community Focus: The system emphasized community regulation and subsistence farming.

• The Enclosure Movement (Mainly late 18th - 19th Century)

  • Definition: The process by which common lands were divided up and allocated to individuals, and scattered strips were consolidated into compact, fenced-off blocks of land under single ownership.
  • Reasons/Drivers:
    • Profit Motive: Rising population, growing urban markets (fueled by the Industrial Revolution), and wartime demand (e.g., Napoleonic Wars) increased food grain prices. Landowners saw an opportunity to increase production and profits.
    • Wool Trade: Earlier enclosures (16th century onwards) were driven by high wool prices, leading landowners to enclose land for sheep farming.
    • Efficiency Argument: Landlords believed enclosed farms were more efficient, allowing for better crop rotation (like the Norfolk four-course system involving turnips and clover), controlled breeding of livestock, and investment in land improvement (drainage, etc.).
    • Parliamentary Action: Wealthy landowners used their influence in Parliament to pass Enclosure Acts, legally forcing the enclosure process.
  • Impact:
    • End of Common Rights: The poor lost access to common lands, depriving them of essential resources. Many smallholders couldn't afford the costs of enclosing their small plots and sold out.
    • Displacement & Proletarianization: Many peasants became landless agricultural labourers, forced to seek work from larger farmers or migrate to cities for factory work. This created a rural proletariat.
    • Rise of Capitalist Farming: Agriculture shifted towards large-scale, market-oriented production managed by wealthy farmers or landlords employing wage labour.
    • Increased Food Production: Enclosures, combined with new farming techniques, significantly boosted food grain production, which was necessary to feed Britain's growing industrial workforce.
    • Resistance: The introduction of labour-saving machines like threshing machines led to unemployment and hardship, sparking protests like the 'Captain Swing' riots (1830s), where labourers destroyed machines.

2. USA: The Breadbasket and the Dust Bowl

• Westward Expansion & Settlement:

  • Post-independence, white American settlers moved westward, displacing Native American populations and converting vast tracts of forest and grassland into agricultural land.
  • The focus shifted from subsistence farming to commercial grain production, especially wheat.

• The Wheat Boom (Late 19th - Early 20th Century):

  • Location: The Great Plains were transformed into America's 'breadbasket'.
  • Drivers:
    • Demand: Growing American cities and huge export demand from Europe required vast amounts of wheat.
    • Technology: Railways enabled transport to ports; new machinery like mechanical reapers (Cyrus McCormick), combine harvesters, and tractors allowed farmers to cultivate enormous areas efficiently.
    • End of the Buffalo: The near-extermination of the buffalo cleared the plains for agriculture.
  • Life of the Wheat Farmer:
    • Farmers became highly dependent on global market prices, leading to cycles of boom and bust.
    • Heavy investment in machinery often led to debt.
    • Highly mechanized farming reduced the need for year-round labour.

• The Dust Bowl (1930s):

  • Background: The Great Plains grasslands had evolved to withstand drought, with grass roots holding the soil together. Decades of relentless ploughing for wheat cultivation destroyed this natural protection.
  • Causes:
    • Over-Cultivation: Continuous ploughing turned the topsoil into dust.
    • Severe Drought: A prolonged period of drought struck the region in the 1930s.
    • Wind Erosion: Without grass cover, strong winds lifted the dry, loose topsoil, creating massive dust storms ("black blizzards") that choked the landscape.
  • Consequences:
    • Ecological Disaster: Millions of acres of farmland were damaged; topsoil was lost.
    • Economic Ruin: Crop failures, death of livestock.
    • Mass Migration: Thousands of farming families (nicknamed 'Okies') were forced to abandon their land and migrate, often to California, seeking work during the Great Depression. This was famously depicted in John Steinbeck's novel 'The Grapes of Wrath'.
    • Policy Changes: Led to awareness and implementation of soil conservation techniques.

3. India: The Indian Farmer and Opium Production

• Colonial Context: British rule aimed to integrate Indian agriculture into the global capitalist economy, primarily to serve Britain's interests – as a source of raw materials and revenue.

• The Opium Trade:

  • British Problem: The British East India Company imported large amounts of Chinese tea but struggled to find British goods that the Chinese wanted to buy, leading to a trade deficit paid in precious silver.
  • British 'Solution': Cultivate opium in British-controlled India (primarily Bengal and Bihar) and illegally smuggle it into China to trade for tea. This reversed the trade imbalance and fueled widespread addiction in China, leading to the Opium Wars.

• Forcing Opium Cultivation:

  • Peasant Reluctance:
    • Best Land: Opium poppy required fertile land, often the same land peasants preferred for growing essential food crops like pulses (dal).
    • Intensive Labour: Opium cultivation was demanding and time-consuming, clashing with the labour needs of other crops.
    • Low Prices: The British government held a monopoly on opium purchase and offered deliberately low prices, much less than what peasants could earn from other crops or by selling opium on the (illegal) open market.
  • Methods of Control:
    • Monopoly: Peasants could only sell to the government agents (Gomasthas).
    • System of Advances (Peshgi): Village headmen (often pressured by the British) forced unwilling cultivators to accept cash advances. Accepting the advance legally obligated the peasant to grow opium on a specified area and sell the produce to the government at the fixed low price.
    • Debt Cycle: The low prices ensured peasants often couldn't repay the advance, trapping them in debt and forcing them to continue cultivating opium year after year.

• Impact on Indian Peasants:

  • Loss of autonomy in choosing crops.
  • Diversion of fertile land from food production to cash crops, potentially impacting food security.
  • Indebtedness and exploitation by the colonial state and its intermediaries.
  • Integration into a global trade network dictated by colonial interests, often to their detriment.

Conclusion:

This chapter reveals that the transition to modern agriculture was not a uniform or universally beneficial process. While it led to increased production in places like England and the USA, it often involved the displacement of small farmers, the destruction of traditional livelihoods, ecological damage, and colonial exploitation. Peasants and farmers across the world found their lives increasingly tied to distant markets and forces beyond their control.

Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) for Exam Preparation:

1. In pre-industrial England, 'common lands' were primarily used by:
   a) Wealthy landlords for large-scale farming.
   b) The church for religious ceremonies.
   c) Villagers, especially the poor, for grazing animals and collecting resources.
   d) The monarchy for hunting grounds.

2. The Enclosure Movement in England led to:
   a) Strengthening of the open field system.
   b) An increase in the number of small, independent peasant farmers.
   c) Consolidation of landholdings and displacement of many poor villagers.
   d) A decrease in overall agricultural production.

3. The 'Captain Swing' riots were primarily a response to:
   a) High taxes imposed by the government.
   b) The introduction of labour-saving agricultural machinery like threshing machines.
   c) The forced cultivation of new crops like turnips.
   d) The enclosure of common lands by landlords.

4. Which factor was MOST crucial for the large-scale expansion of wheat cultivation across the American Great Plains in the late 19th century?
   a) Discovery of new, highly fertile soil types.
   b) A government policy favouring small family farms.
   c) Introduction of irrigation systems from major rivers.
   d) Development of railways and mechanised farming technology (reapers, tractors).

5. The 'Dust Bowl' of the 1930s in the USA was an ecological crisis caused mainly by:
   a) A sudden increase in rainfall leading to soil erosion.
   b) Industrial pollution poisoning the farmland.
   c) Years of over-ploughing grasslands followed by severe drought and wind.
   d) A disease that destroyed the native grasses of the plains.

6. The British East India Company promoted opium cultivation in India primarily to:
   a) Meet the medicinal needs of the Indian population.
   b) Provide a profitable cash crop for Indian peasants.
   c) Finance its purchase of tea from China by trading opium.
   d) Prevent Indian farmers from growing crops that competed with British agriculture.

7. Why were many Indian peasants unwilling to grow opium for the British?
   a) The opium plant frequently failed in the Indian climate.
   b) It required the best land needed for food crops, and the price offered by the British was very low.
   c) There was a religious taboo against growing opium.
   d) The British forced them to grow indigo instead.

8. The system of 'advances' (peshgi) used for opium cultivation in India often resulted in:
   a) Peasants becoming wealthy from opium profits.
   b) Improved relations between peasants and village headmen.
   c) Peasants being trapped in a cycle of debt and forced cultivation.
   d) A shift towards organic farming methods.

9. Which of the following best describes the impact of enclosures on the English poor?
   a) They gained ownership of small plots of enclosed land.
   b) Their access to common resources was lost, often forcing them into wage labour.
   c) They benefited from increased employment opportunities on large farms.
   d) Their traditional rights and livelihoods were strengthened.

10. The experiences of English peasants during enclosures, American farmers during the Dust Bowl, and Indian opium cultivators all illustrate:
    a) The universal benefits of agricultural modernization.
    b) The decreasing importance of agriculture in the modern world.
    c) The ways rural societies were profoundly reshaped by economic pressures, technology, and global markets.
    d) The successful resistance of traditional farming methods against change.

Answer Key:

1. c
2. c
3. b
4. d
5. c
6. c
7. b
8. c
9. b
10. c

Study these notes carefully. Understanding the causes, processes, and impacts discussed here is key. Good luck with your preparation!