summary of ncert history class 8 chapter 3
Answers
The summary of chapter 3 Ruling the countryside is as following-
The East India Company was primarily known as the trading company.
During the rule of the Mughal, the diwan served as the chief revenue officer.
In 1770 a terrible feminine killed 10 million peoples in Bengal, so that company had to resort to new policies to improve agriculture.
A new system of revenue collection created by the company, that as necessary to create a company needs more revenue.
Get an increment in their revenue; the British decided to cultivate in the Indian soils, crops that were demanded in the British market.
Indian farmers revolted against being forced to produce indigo plants in March 1859.
This was known as the ‘Blue Rebellion.
Now the Company felt the need of improvement in the field of agriculture because only then its revenue income was sure.
Finally, the Company introduced the Permanent Settlement in 1793. The rajas and talukdars were asked to collect rent from the peasants and pay revenue to the Company. The amount to be paid was fixed permanently.
It was felt that this would ensure a regular flow of revenue into the Company’s treasury and at the same time encourage the zamindars to invest in improving the land.
But the zamindars were not capable of investing in the improvement of land. The revenue that had been fixed was so high that they found it difficult to pay.
By the first decade of the 19th century, 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.
The Permanent Settlement was oppressive for the cultivators. The rent they paid to the zamindars was high and their right on the land was insecure.
Finding the Permanent settlement a failure, Holt Mackenzie, an Englishman, devised a new system called Mahalwari Settlement which came into effect in 1822. The collectors were asked to visit villages, inspect the land, measure the fields and record the customs and right of different groups. The estimated revenue of each plot within a village was added up to calculate the revenue that each village or mahal had to pay. This demand was to be revised periodically.
In the British territories in the south ryotwar (or ryotwari) system was devised. It was initiated by Captain Alexander Read and developed by.Shomas Munro. This system was gradually extended all over South India.
The Ryotwari Settlement was made directly with the cultivators (ryots).
All the new systems proved to be failure. The Company had imposed these systems in order to increase the income from land, but its purpose was not solved becuase the revenue demand was very high.
By the late 18th century the Company was trying to expand the cultivation of opium and indigo.
Indian indigo was in great demand in Europe. Hence, the Company in India looked for ways to expand the area under indigo cultivation.
From the last decades of the 18th century Bengal indigo came to dominate the world market. In 1788 only about 30% of the indigo imported into Britain was from India. By 1810 the proportion had gone up to 95%.
As the indigo trade grew, commercial agents and officials of the Company began investing in indigo production.