Question

colorsal
© Explain the status of indias
agriculture during colonial period
​

Answer 1

Answer:

That Indigo played an important role in the freedom struggle of India is known from the account of R. C. Majumdar in his The History of Bengal where he says that the revolt against the indigo planters by the peasants in 19 century was the forerunner of the freedom movement. Again in his book British Paramountcy and Indian Renaissance he has elaborated on the indigo riots. The revolt was put down so ruthlessly that in front of the Indigo Commission (1860) E W L Tower who held the office of a District Magistrate confirmed his earlier statement that “not a chest of Indigo reached England without being stained with human blood”. He further added, “… and such a system carrying on indigo, I consider to be a system of bloodshed”

The play Nil Darpan (mirror of Indigo plantation) caused social awareness bringing to the fore the inhuman treatment meted out to the peasants of Bengal. Gandhiji’s first satyagraha was to support the cause of peasants of Indigo plantation in Bihar.

In this book, through an interesting narration, the story of indigo as a plant of importance in the economy and politics of both the time and space is told in full scale by Prakash Kumar in six chapters. The author records the colonial efforts to exploit the knowledge of Indigo plantation in India and use it to benefit themselves especially in Bengal. In this documentation, the peasants’ knowledge of indigo and its cultivation in Bengal together with the world position of this plant is explained.