What were the conditions of indigo cultivators?
Answers
Answer:
The condition of Indigo cultivators in British India was really bad. They are forced by the British and the local landlords to cultivate Indigo. The local landlords and the British Indigo planters forged the poor uneducated farmers and acquire their lands.
Answer:
•Indigo could only be cultivated on fertile lands. But these areas were densely populated and hence, only small plots could be acquired. This made it difficult to expand the area under nij cultivation.
•They attempted to lease in the land around the indigo factory. While doing so, they evicted the peasants from the area. Peasants’ eviction always created conflict and tension.
•A large plantation required a large number of workers. Work at indigo plantation coincided with the time when peasants were busy with rice cultivation. Hence, mobilizing the labour for indigo cultivation was a difficult task.
Large scale nij cultivation also required many ploughs and bullocks. It was a big problem to bur and maintain the ploughs. Since the ploughs and bullocks of the peasants were busy in rice cultivation hence it was not possible to hire from them.
•Till the late nineteenth century, planters were not willing to expand the area under nij cultivation; because of above mentioned problems. Less than 25% of the indigo cultivation was done under nij system.
Indigo cultivation was started by the French in St Dominique in the Caribbean islands. Similarly, the Portuguese began indigo cultivation in Brazil, the British in Jamaica and the Spanish in Venezuela. Indigo plantations were also started in many parts of North America.
By the end of the eighteenth century, industrialization began in Britain and cotton production expanded manifold. This created an enormous demand for cloth dyes. The existing supplies of indigo from the West Indies and America collapsed due to various reasons. The indigo production in the world fell by half between 1783 and 1789. This meant that there was increasing demand for Indian indigo.