describe the lives of the indigo factory workers under British rule
Answers
Answer:
On 12 August 1765, the Mughal emperor appointed the East India
Company as the Diwan of Bengal. The actual event most probably
took place in Robert Clive’s tent, with a few Englishmen and
Indians as witnesses. But in the painting above, the event is
shown as a majestic occasion, taking place in a grand setting.
The painter was commissioned by Clive to record the memorable
events in Clive’s life. The grant of Diwani clearly was one such
event in British imagination.
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. This had to be done in a way that could yield enough
revenue to meet the growing expenses of the company. A trading
company had also to ensure that it could buy the products it
needed and sell what it wanted.
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Over the years the Company also learnt that it had to
move with some caution. Being an alien power, it needed
to pacify those who in the past had ruled the countryside,
and enjoyed authority and prestige. Those who had held
local power had to be controlled but they could not be
entirely eliminated.
How was this to be done? In this chapter we will see
how the Company came to colonise the countryside, organise
revenue resources, redefine the rights of people, and produce
the crops it wanted.
Revenue for the Company
The Company had become the Diwan, but it still saw itself
primarily as a trader. It wanted a large revenue income but
was unwilling to set up any regular system of assessment
and collection. The effort was to increase the revenue as much
as it could and buy fine cotton and silk cloth as cheaply as
possible. Within five years the value of goods bought by the
Company in Bengal doubled. 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.
Soon it was clear that the Bengal economy was facing
a deep crisis. 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. Artisanal production was in decline,
and agricultural cultivation showed signs of collapse. Then
in 1770 a terrible famine killed ten million people in Bengal.
About one-third of the population was wiped out.
RULING THE COUNTRYSIDE
Fig. 2 – A weekly market
in Murshidabad in Bengal
Peasants and artisans
from rural areas regularly
came to these weekly
markets (haats) to sell
their goods and buy what
they needed. These markets
were badly affected during
times of economic crisis.
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The need to improve agriculture
If the economy was in ruins, could the Company be
certain of its revenue income? Most Company officials
began to feel that investment in land had to be
encouraged and agriculture had to be improved.
How was this to be done? After two decades of debate
on the question, the Company finally introduced the
Permanent Settlement in 1793. 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, that is, it
was not to be increased ever in future. 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. Since
the revenue demand of the state would not be
increased, the zamindar would benefit from increased
production from the land.
The problem
The Permanent Settlement, however, 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. Numerous zamindaris
were sold off at auctions organised by the Company.
By the first decade of the nineteenth century the
situation changed. The prices in the market rose and
cultivation slowly expanded. This meant an increase 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
Even then the zamindars did not have an interest in
improving the land. Some had lost their lands in the
earlier years of the settlement; others now saw the
possibility of earning without the trouble and risk of
investment. As long as the zamindars could give out the
land to tenants and get rent, they were not interested in
improving the land
Explanation:
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They were heavilty taxed and forced to look at the production of Indigo only. Not producer-friendly as the British forced them to sell it at a very low price. They weren't tortured or brutally treated by the British though.