What was the impact of british rule on indian agriculture?
Answers
The British Era is also known as a period of commercial revolution in the agricultural sector. Commercialization of agriculture was coincident with Industrial revolution and became prominent around 1860 A.D. This brought about a change from cultivation for home consumption to cultivation for the market. Cash transactions become the basis of exchange and largely replaced the barter system. The major reason of commercialization of agriculture was that India was now reduced to the supplier of raw materials and food grains to Britain and importer of British manufactured goods. This era saw the introduction and proliferation of many crops as cash crops such as Indigo, cotton, jute, tea, tobacco. The Land revenue payments were also monetized and India saw emergence of grain merchants. The increasing demand for some of the commercial crops in other foreign countries gave impetus to commercialization of agriculture.