What were the economic factors for revolt of 1857
Answers
The British East India Company was demanding heavy taxes from the Indians which included an increase in the taxation on land. This was the prime reason for the spread of the rebellion. Many villages in northern India where farmers hurriedly tried to get back their unfairly grabbed title deeds. The advent of tax free land and confiscation of Jagirs brought about discontent among the Jagirdars and Zamindars. Before the sepoys' mutiny, Lord William Bentinck had attacked several Jagirs in western Bengal. These changes led to widespread resentment and anger to a larger section of the middle-class people. Lands were seized from the landlords and auctioned. Effulent merchants and moneylenders were therefore able to speculate in British land sales and drive out the most vulnerable peasant farmers.