brief note on Indigo Commission
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Indigo Commission was formed following the movement of the raiyats of Bengal against the European indigo planters in the late 1850s. From the beginning, indigo cultivation in Bengal was associated with coercion and oppression. The planters, when they got the right to own land, used the right to force the raiyats to cultivate indigo, and threatened to enhance rent unless raiyats increased its production. Besides, the planters deprived the raiyats of the due price for the crop. The situation deteriorated all the more in the middle of the 19th century, when the price of indigo fell in the international market, following the fall in the price of gold. The indigo raiyats refused to cultivate indigo, but the planters forced them to continue with the production.