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Colonialism and the Countryside: AHSEC Class 12 History notes
Get summaries, questions, answers, solutions, notes, extras, PDF and guide of Class 12 (second year) History textbook, chapter 9 Colonialism and the Countryside which is part of the syllabus of students studying under AHSEC/ASSEB (Assam Board). These solutions, however, should only be treated as references and can be modified/changed.
If you notice any errors in the notes, please mention them in the comments
Summary
This chapter explores how colonial rule affected rural India, focusing on Bengal, the Rajmahal hills, and the Deccan region. It begins with Bengal, where the British introduced the Permanent Settlement in 1793. This system fixed the revenue zamindars (landlords) had to pay to the East India Company. If zamindars failed to pay, their lands were auctioned. However, many zamindars used tricks to keep their lands, like fake auctions where their agents bought the land back. Despite these efforts, many zamindars struggled because the revenue demands were too high, and they often couldn’t collect enough rent from peasants. This led to the rise of jotedars, rich peasants who controlled large areas of land and had significant power in villages.
In the Rajmahal hills, the Paharias lived by hunting, gathering, and shifting cultivation. They resisted outsiders, including the British, who wanted to clear forests for settled agriculture. The British tried to control the Paharias through brutal force and later by offering allowances to their chiefs. However, the Paharias continued to resist. Meanwhile, the Santhals, another group, were encouraged by the British to settle in the hills and clear forests for farming. This led to conflicts between the Paharias and Santhals, as the Paharias lost access to fertile land. The Santhals, however, also faced problems like heavy taxes and exploitation by moneylenders, which eventually led to the Santhal Rebellion of 1855-56.
In the Deccan region, the British introduced the ryotwari system, where peasants paid revenue directly to the state. This system caused many peasants to fall into debt, especially during times of poor harvests. Moneylenders became powerful, and peasants often lost their land to them. The situation worsened during the American Civil War when cotton prices rose, and peasants took loans to grow more cotton. When the war ended, prices fell, and moneylenders stopped giving loans, leaving peasants in deep debt. This led to the Deccan Riots of 1875, where peasants attacked moneylenders and burned their account books.
The chapter also discusses how historians use official reports, like the Fifth Report and the Deccan Riots Commission, to understand these events. These reports provide valuable information but must be read carefully, as they reflect the views of the colonial government. The chapter shows how colonial policies disrupted rural life, leading to resistance and rebellion among peasants and tribal groups.
Textbook solutions
Answer in 100-150 words
1. Why was the jotedar a powerful figure in many areas of rural Bengal?
Answer: Jotedars were rich peasants who had acquired vast areas of land, sometimes several thousand acres. They controlled local trade and moneylending, exerting immense power over poorer cultivators. Unlike zamindars, who often lived in urban areas, jotedars resided in villages and had direct control over a significant section of poor villagers. They resisted attempts by zamindars to increase the village jama, prevented zamindari officials from executing their duties, mobilised dependent ryots, and deliberately delayed revenue payments to zamindars. When zamindari estates were auctioned for non-payment of revenue, jotedars were often among the purchasers. Their rise weakened zamindari authority, particularly in North Bengal, where they were most powerful. In different regions, they were also known as haoladars, gantidars, or mandals.
2. How did zamindars manage to retain control over their zamindaris?
Answer: The authority of the zamindars in rural areas did not collapse despite the high revenue demand and the threat of estate auctions. They used various strategies to retain control. One such method was fictitious sale, where zamindars’ agents manipulated auctions by deliberately withholding revenue, allowing unpaid balances to accumulate, and then repurchasing the auctioned estates through their own men. Additionally, the zamindars often transferred their estates to female family members since the Company had decreed that women’s property would not be seized. Furthermore, zamindars resisted outsiders who attempted to take possession of auctioned estates, sometimes using armed retainers (lathyals) to prevent new owners from taking control. Ryots also supported their zamindars, as they saw them as figures of authority. By the early 19th century, with economic recovery and flexible revenue rules, many zamindars consolidated their power once again.
3. How did the Paharias respond to the coming of outsiders?
Answer: The Paharias lived around the Rajmahal hills, depending on forest produce and shifting cultivation for their livelihood. They considered the entire region as their land and resisted the intrusion of outsiders. Their chiefs maintained the unity of the group and led them in battles. The Paharias regularly raided the settled villages of the plains for food grains and cattle, asserting their power over the plainspeople. Zamindars and traders had to pay tribute to the Paharia chiefs to ensure peace and safe passage. However, when the British began encouraging settled agriculture in the region, tensions escalated. The Paharias started raiding villages more frequently. The British initially responded with brutal extermination campaigns in the 1770s, but later adopted a policy of pacification in the 1780s by offering annual allowances to Paharia chiefs. Many chiefs refused, and those who accepted lost authority within their communities. Eventually, the Paharias retreated deeper into the hills as the Santhals and other settlers took over their lands.
4. Why did the Santhals rebel against British rule?
Answer: The Santhals rebelled against British rule due to the oppressive policies imposed on them. They initially settled in the foothills of Rajmahal and were encouraged to take up settled agriculture. However, over time, they found that the land they had cleared and cultivated was slipping away from them. The British government imposed heavy taxes, moneylenders (dikus) charged them high interest rates, and zamindars asserted control over the Damin-i-Koh region. By the 1850s, the Santhals felt they had no choice but to rebel against zamindars, moneylenders, and the colonial state. They aimed to create an ideal world for themselves where they would have control. The Santhal Revolt (1855-56) was a result of these grievances, after which the British created the Santhal Pargana, carving out land from Bhagalpur and Birbhum to conciliate them.
5. What explains the anger of the Deccan ryots against the moneylenders?
Answer: The anger of the Deccan ryots against the moneylenders stemmed from multiple factors. The moneylenders (sahukars) charged exorbitant interest rates, often manipulating the accounts to ensure that debts could never be fully repaid. They forced peasants to sign new bonds every three years, accumulating interest on unpaid balances, which kept the ryots trapped in a cycle of debt. Moneylenders also refused to provide receipts for payments, seized harvests without crediting them to the ryots’ accounts, and used legal loopholes to their advantage. The Limitation Law of 1859, intended to curb excessive debt accumulation, was turned against the peasants by compelling them to sign fresh bonds regularly. As cotton prices fell and revenue demands increased, the ryots found themselves unable to repay loans, leading to the Deccan Riots of 1875, where they attacked moneylenders, burned debt bonds, and looted shops.
Short essay-type answers
6. Why were many zamindaris auctioned after the Permanent Settlement?
Answer: The estates of the Burdwan Raj were not the only ones sold during the closing years of the eighteenth century. Over 75 per cent of the zamindaris changed hands after the Permanent Settlement. In introducing the Permanent Settlement, British officials hoped to resolve the problems they had been facing since the conquest of Bengal. By the 1770s, the rural economy in Bengal was in crisis, with recurrent famines and declining agricultural output. Officials felt that agriculture, trade, and the revenue resources of the state could all be developed by encouraging investment in agriculture.
Company officials felt that a fixed revenue demand would give zamindars a sense of security and encourage them to improve their estates. However, in the early decades after the Permanent Settlement, zamindars regularly failed to pay the revenue demand and unpaid balances accumulated. The reasons for this failure were various. The initial revenue demands were very high, as the Company feared losing its share of increased income from land when prices rose and cultivation expanded. Moreover, this high demand was imposed at a time when the prices of agricultural produce were depressed, making it difficult for the ryots to pay their dues to the zamindar.
The revenue was invariable, regardless of the harvest, and had to be paid punctually. According to the Sunset Law, if payment did not come in by sunset of the specified date, the zamindari was liable to be auctioned. The Permanent Settlement also initially limited the power of the zamindar to collect rent from the ryot and manage his zamindari. The Company sought to control and regulate zamindars, subdue their authority, and restrict their autonomy. Their troops were disbanded, customs duties abolished, and their “cutcheries” (courts) brought under the supervision of a Collector appointed by the Company.
At the time of rent collection, an officer of the zamindar, usually the amlah, would visit the village. But rent collection was a persistent problem. Sometimes bad harvests and low prices made payment of dues difficult for the ryots. At other times, ryots deliberately delayed payment. Rich ryots and village headmen—jotedars and mandals—were only too happy to see the zamindar in trouble. The zamindar could prosecute defaulters, but the judicial process was long drawn. In Burdwan alone, there were over 30,000 pending suits for arrears of rent payment in 1798.
Due to these various pressures, many zamindaris were eventually auctioned, as zamindars were unable to meet their revenue demands. However, some zamindars devised ways to retain control by engaging in fictitious sales, transferring their estates to female relatives, and using agents to repurchase their own lands at auctions.
7. In what way was the livelihood of the Paharias different from that of the Santhals?
Answer: The Paharias lived around the Rajmahal hills, subsisting on forest produce and practicing shifting cultivation. They cleared patches of forest by cutting bushes and burning the undergrowth. On these patches, enriched by the potash from the ash, they grew a variety of pulses and millets for consumption. They scratched the ground lightly with hoes, cultivated the cleared land for a few years, then left it fallow so that it could recover its fertility and moved to a new area. They also collected mahua (a flower) for food, silk cocoons and resin for sale, and wood for charcoal production. They considered the entire region as their land and resisted the intrusion of outsiders. Their chiefs maintained the unity of the group, settled disputes, and led the tribe in battles with other tribes and plainspeople. The Paharias regularly raided the plains, taking food grains and cattle from settled agriculturists. They also demanded tribute from zamindars and traders in return for peace and protection.
The Santhals, in contrast, were pioneer settlers who moved into the Rajmahal hills around 1800. Unlike the Paharias, they cleared forests permanently and took to settled plough agriculture. Encouraged by the British and zamindars, they brought new lands under cultivation, producing rice and cotton. The British demarcated a large area, Damin-i-Koh, for them to settle, ensuring they remained agriculturalists. Over time, the Santhals became part of the market economy, dealing with traders and moneylenders, growing commercial crops for sale. However, they soon faced exploitation from the state and moneylenders, which led to conflicts and ultimately the Santhal rebellion of 1855-56.
The key difference between the two was that the Paharias were shifting cultivators and forest dwellers who resisted settled agriculture, while the Santhals became settled agriculturalists, embracing plough cultivation and expanding farming in the region.
8. How did the American Civil War affect the lives of ryots in India?
Answer: The American Civil War (1861–1865) had a significant impact on the lives of ryots in India, particularly in the Bombay Deccan. Before the war, three-fourths of the raw cotton imports into Britain came from America. When the war broke out, cotton supplies from America drastically reduced, and British industries turned to India as an alternative source. The demand for Indian cotton increased, leading to a boom in cotton cultivation.
To meet the growing British demand, export merchants in Bombay provided advances to urban sahukars, who then extended credit to rural moneylenders. These moneylenders, in turn, offered loans to the ryots, encouraging them to grow more cotton. Many ryots took loans, expecting profits from cotton cultivation.
During the boom years, cotton acreage doubled, and more than 90% of cotton imports to Britain came from India by 1862. However, this prosperity was short-lived. When the Civil War ended in 1865, American cotton production resumed, leading to a steep decline in the demand for Indian cotton. As prices fell, Indian ryots found themselves unable to repay the loans they had taken during the boom. Credit from moneylenders dried up, and many ryots became heavily indebted.
The situation worsened when the British administration increased the revenue demand at a time when cotton prices were plummeting. Ryots who had once benefited from easy loans now faced mounting debts and land seizures. Their frustration led to widespread anger against the moneylenders, culminating in the Deccan Riots of 1875, where ryots attacked moneylenders, burned account books, and protested against the oppressive debt system.
9. What are the problems of using official sources in writing about the history of peasants?
Answer: Official sources pose several problems when writing about the history of peasants. Firstly, they are often biased as they reflect the perspectives and interests of the colonial administration rather than the peasants themselves. Official records like the Fifth Report exaggerated the collapse of traditional zamindari power and overestimated the scale on which zamindars were losing their land. They were produced to critique the East India Company’s maladministration, not to provide an unbiased history.
Secondly, these sources were written by officials who had specific instructions on what to record, which influenced their observations. Buchanan’s reports, for example, were shaped by the commercial interests of the British East India Company, focusing on land productivity rather than the experiences of local people. His reports suggested how landscapes could be transformed for revenue benefits rather than documenting the actual living conditions and challenges faced by the rural population.
Thirdly, the use of legal documents, contracts, and reports often misrepresented the lived experiences of peasants. Moneylenders manipulated laws, and peasants were often forced to sign bonds and deeds they did not fully understand. Colonial records emphasized these legal documents, ignoring the fact that they were often instruments of exploitation.
Finally, official sources rarely captured peasant resistance in their own terms. Instead, they framed acts of defiance, such as the Deccan riots, as lawlessness rather than legitimate struggles against exploitation. These sources must be read critically and supplemented with local records, oral histories, and unofficial accounts to construct a more accurate picture of peasant history.
Extras
Additional questions and answers
1. What was the Sunset Law?
Answer: According to the Sunset Law, if payment of revenue did not come in by sunset of the specified date, the zamindari was liable to be auctioned.
2. Define ‘Taluqdar’?
Answer: Taluqdar literally means “one who holds a taluq” or a connection. Taluq came to refer to a territorial unit.
3. Who was Charles Cornwallis?
Answer: Charles Cornwallis (1738-1805) was the commander of the British forces during the American War of Independence and the Governor General of Bengal when the Permanent Settlement was introduced there in 1793.
4. Who were the amlah?
Answer: At the time of rent collection, an officer of the zamindar, usually the amlah, came around to the village.
5. Define ‘ryot’?
Answer: Ryot is the way the term raiyat, used to designate peasants, was spelt in British records. Ryots in Bengal did not always cultivate the land directly, but leased it out to under-ryots. Under the ryotwari settlement, the revenue was directly settled with the ryot.
6. Who were the jotedars?
Answer: Jotedars were a class of rich peasants who, by the early nineteenth century, had acquired vast areas of land, controlled local trade as well as moneylending, and exercised immense power over the poorer cultivators of the region, particularly in North Bengal.
7. Who were the adhiyars or bargadars?
Answer: Adhiyars or bargadars were sharecroppers who cultivated the land of jotedars. They brought their own ploughs, laboured in the field, and handed over half the produce to the jotedars after the harvest.
8. What does ‘haoladar’ mean?
Answer: In some parts of Bengal, rich peasants and village headmen who were emerging as commanding figures in the countryside were called haoladars.
9. Define ‘jama’?
Answer: Jama referred to the revenue demand distributed over villages within a zamindari. It was also used to mean the assessment, for example, the jumma or assessment of land advertised for sale. Zamindars resisted efforts to increase the jama of the village.
10. What is a ‘benami’ transaction?
Answer: Benami, literally anonymous, is a term used in Hindi and several other Indian languages for transactions made in the name of a fictitious or relatively insignificant person, whereas the real beneficiary remains unnamed.
11. Who was Augustus Cleveland?
Answer: Augustus Cleveland was the Collector of Bhagalpur in the 1780s who proposed a policy of pacification towards the Paharias. He was also a friend of the British artist William Hodges, whom he invited to the Jangal Mahals in 1782.
12. Name one product collected by the Paharias for sale?
Answer: One product collected by the Paharias from the forests for sale was silk cocoons.
13. Who was Sidhu Manjhi?
Answer: Sidhu Manjhi was the leader of the Santhal rebellion.
14. Define ‘Damin-i-Koh’?
Answer: Damin-i-Koh was a large area of land demarcated by 1832 in the foothills of Rajmahal, which was declared to be the land of the Santhals.
15. What was the Santhal Pargana?
Answer: The Santhal Pargana was a territory created after the Santhal Revolt (1855-56), carving out 5,500 square miles from the districts of Bhagalpur and Birbhum, hoping to conciliate the Santhals by imposing special laws within it.
16. Who were ‘dikus’?
Answer: In the context of the Santhals in the Damin area, dikus referred to moneylenders who were charging them high rates of interest.
17. Define ‘sahukar’?
Answer: A sahukar was someone who acted as both a moneylender and a trader.
18. What is the ryotwari settlement?
Answer: The revenue system that was introduced in the Bombay Deccan came to be known as the ryotwari settlement. Unlike the Bengal system, the revenue was directly settled with the ryot. The average income from different types of soil was estimated, the revenue-paying capacity of the ryot was assessed and a proportion of it fixed as the share of the state. The lands were resurveyed every 30 years and the revenue rates increased.
19. Define ‘rentier’?
Answer: Rentier is a term used to designate people who live on rental income from property.
20. Why did the Raja of Burdwan’s estates come up for auction?
Answer: In 1797, a number of mahals (estates) held by the Raja of Burdwan were being sold because the Permanent Settlement had come into operation in 1793, the East India Company had fixed the revenue that each zamindar had to pay, and the estates of those who failed to pay were to be auctioned to recover the revenue. Since the Raja of Burdwan had accumulated huge arrears, his estates had been put up for auction.
21. Why was the Permanent Settlement introduced?
Answer: In introducing the Permanent Settlement, British officials hoped to resolve the problems they had been facing since the conquest of Bengal, such as the crisis in the rural economy with recurrent famines and declining agricultural output in the 1770s. Officials felt that agriculture, trade and the revenue resources of the state could all be developed by encouraging investment in agriculture. This could be done by securing rights of property and permanently fixing the rates of revenue demand.
If the revenue demand was permanently fixed, the Company could look forward to a regular flow of revenue, while entrepreneurs could feel sure of earning a profit from their investment, since the state would not siphon it off by increasing its claim. The process, officials hoped, would lead to the emergence of a class of yeomen farmers and rich landowners who would have the capital and enterprise to improve agriculture, and this class, nurtured by the British, would also be loyal to the Company.
22. Why did zamindars fail to pay revenue regularly after the Permanent Settlement?
Answer: In the early decades after the Permanent Settlement, zamindars regularly failed to pay the revenue demand and unpaid balances accumulated for various reasons:
(i) The initial demands were very high because the Company felt that if the demand was fixed for all time, it would never be able to claim a share of increased income from land when prices rose and cultivation expanded. To minimise this anticipated loss, the Company pegged the revenue demand high.
(ii) This high demand was imposed in the 1790s, a time when the prices of agricultural produce were depressed, making it difficult for the ryots to pay their dues to the zamindar. If the zamindar could not collect the rent, he could not pay the Company.
(iii) The revenue was invariable, regardless of the harvest, and had to be paid punctually. According to the Sunset Law, if payment did not come in by sunset of the specified date, the zamindari was liable to be auctioned.
(iv) The Permanent Settlement initially limited the power of the zamindar to collect rent from the ryot and manage his zamindari. The Company wanted to control and regulate the zamindars, subdue their authority and restrict their autonomy. Zamindars’ troops were disbanded, customs duties abolished, their courts brought under the Collector’s supervision, and they lost the power to organise local justice and police. The collectorate emerged as an alternative centre of authority.
(v) Rent collection was a perennial problem. Sometimes bad harvests and low prices made payment difficult for ryots. At other times ryots deliberately delayed payment. Rich ryots and village headmen – jotedars and mandals – were often happy to see the zamindar in trouble. The zamindar could not easily assert power over them. While zamindars could prosecute defaulters, the judicial process was long drawn.
23. Describe briefly the rise of the jotedars in Bengal?
Answer: While many zamindars faced a crisis at the end of the eighteenth century, a group of rich peasants, known as jotedars, were consolidating their position in the villages. By the early nineteenth century, jotedars had acquired vast areas of land, sometimes several thousand acres. They controlled local trade and moneylending, exercising immense power over poorer cultivators. A large part of their land was cultivated through sharecroppers (adhiyars or bargadars) who brought their own ploughs, laboured, and gave half the produce to the jotedars.
Within villages, jotedars’ power was more effective than zamindars’. Unlike zamindars who often lived in urban areas, jotedars lived in villages and exercised direct control over many poor villagers. They fiercely resisted zamindars’ efforts to increase the village jama, prevented zamindari officials from executing duties, mobilised dependent ryots, and deliberately delayed revenue payments. When zamindars’ estates were auctioned for non-payment, jotedars were often among the purchasers. They were most powerful in North Bengal, though similar figures (haoladars, gantidars, mandals) emerged elsewhere. Their rise inevitably weakened zamindari authority.
24. How did zamindars resist displacement?
Answer: Faced with high revenue demands and possible auction of their estates, zamindars devised ways of surviving the pressures and resisting displacement.
(i) Fictitious sale was one strategy. The Raja of Burdwan, for instance, first transferred some zamindari to his mother, as the Company had decreed women’s property would not be taken over. Then, his agents manipulated auctions by deliberately withholding revenue, allowing unpaid balances to accumulate. When part of the estate was auctioned, the zamindar’s men bought it, outbidding others. They then refused to pay the purchase money, forcing a resale. This process was repeated, exhausting the state and other bidders, until the estate was sold at a low price back to the zamindar. Such benami purchases were common; between 1793 and 1801, over 15 per cent of auction sales were fictitious.
(ii) When people from outside the zamindari bought an estate at auction, they could not always take possession. Sometimes their agents were attacked by lathyals (strongmen) of the former zamindar. Sometimes even the ryots resisted the entry of outsiders, feeling bound by loyalty to their own zamindar, whom they saw as an authority figure and themselves as his proja (subjects). The sale disturbed their sense of identity and pride. Thus, zamindars were not easily displaced.
25. What was the Fifth Report?
Answer: The Fifth Report was one of a series of reports on the administration and activities of the East India Company in India, submitted to the British Parliament in 1813. It ran into 1002 pages, with over 800 pages being appendices that reproduced petitions of zamindars and ryots, reports from collectors, statistical tables on revenue returns, and notes on the revenue and judicial administration of Bengal and Madras written by officials.
It was produced by a Select Committee appointed by the British Parliament, which passed Acts in the late eighteenth century to regulate and control Company rule and forced the Company to produce regular reports. The Fifth Report became the basis of intense parliamentary debates on the nature of the East India Company’s rule in India and has shaped our conception of what happened in rural Bengal in the late eighteenth century.
26. What was the lifestyle of the Paharias?
Answer: The Paharias were hill folk who lived around the Rajmahal hills in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. They subsisted on forest produce and practised shifting cultivation. They cleared patches of forest by cutting bushes and burning undergrowth; on these patches, enriched by potash from the ash, they grew pulses and millets for consumption using hoes. After a few years, they left the land fallow to recover fertility and moved to new areas.
From the forests, they collected mahua (a flower) for food, silk cocoons and resin for sale, and wood for charcoal production. The undergrowth and fallow lands provided pasture for cattle. They lived in hutments within tamarind groves and rested in the shade of mango trees. They considered the entire region as their land, the basis of their identity and survival, and resisted outsider intrusion. Their chiefs maintained group unity, settled disputes, and led the tribe in battles.
27. Describe the relationship between zamindars and the Paharias?
Answer: With their base in the hills, the Paharias regularly raided the plains where settled agriculturists lived. These raids were a way of asserting power over settled communities and negotiating political relations. The zamindars on the plains had to often purchase peace by paying a regular tribute to the Paharia hill chiefs.
28. What was Buchanan’s role in documenting colonial India?
Answer: Francis Buchanan, a physician who served in the Bengal Medical Service (1794-1815), was an employee of the British East India Company. At the request of the Government of Bengal, he undertook detailed surveys of the areas under the Company’s jurisdiction. His journeys were not simply inspired by discovery but were funded by the EIC, which needed the information he collected. He travelled with a large team and had specific instructions on what to look for and record.
As the Company consolidated power and expanded commerce, it sought natural resources to control and exploit, surveyed landscapes and revenue sources, and sent experts like Buchanan to collect information. Buchanan obsessively observed geology, soil, minerals (iron ore, mica, granite, saltpetre), and local practices like salt-making and iron-ore-mining, noting their commercial value. When describing landscapes, he focused not just on what he saw but also on how they could be transformed and made more productive (suggesting crops to cultivate, trees to cut down or grow), guided by the Company’s commercial concerns and Western notions of progress. He was critical of forest dwellers’ lifestyles and believed forests should be converted into agricultural lands.
29. What caused conflicts between hill folk and settled cultivators in the Rajmahal hills?
Answer: Conflicts between hill folk (Paharias) and settled cultivators sharpened in the last decades of the eighteenth century when the frontiers of settled agriculture were being aggressively extended in eastern India. The British encouraged forest clearance, and zamindars and jotedars turned uncultivated lands into rice fields. As settled agriculture expanded, the area under forests and pastures contracted, intensifying the conflict. The Paharias began to raid settled villages with increasing regularity.
30. How did the British government initially attempt to pacify the Paharias?
Answer: After a brutal policy of extermination in the 1770s failed to control the Paharias, the British, by the 1780s, adopted a policy of pacification proposed by Augustus Cleveland, the Collector of Bhagalpur. Under this policy, Paharia chiefs were given an annual allowance and made responsible for the proper conduct of their men. They were expected to maintain order in their localities and discipline their own people.
31. Why were the Santhals encouraged to settle in the Rajmahal hills?
Answer: The Santhals were encouraged to settle in the foothills of Rajmahal because the British had failed to subdue the Paharias and transform them into settled agriculturists. The Paharias refused to cut forests, resisted using the plough, and continued to be turbulent. In contrast, the Santhals appeared to be ideal settlers, capable of clearing forests and ploughing the land with vigour. Zamindars had already begun hiring them to reclaim land around the 1780s, and British officials invited them to settle in the Jangal Mahals as part of the effort to expand settled agriculture.
32. What were the immediate causes of the Santhal Revolt?
Answer: By the 1850s, the Santhals found that the land they had cleared was slipping from their hands. The state was levying heavy taxes on their land, moneylenders (dikus) were charging high interest rates and taking over land when debts remained unpaid, and zamindars were asserting control over the Damin-i-Koh area (the demarcated Santhal land). Feeling oppressed by zamindars, moneylenders, and the colonial state, the Santhals felt the time had come to rebel and create an ideal world where they would rule.
33. What sparked the Deccan riots of 1875?
Answer: The Deccan riots movement began at Supa in Poona district on 12 May 1875, when ryots from surrounding rural areas gathered and attacked shopkeepers and moneylenders (sahukars). They demanded their bahi khatas (account books) and debt bonds, burning the khatas, looting grain shops, and sometimes setting fire to sahukars’ houses. This anger was sparked by the refusal of moneylenders to extend loans after the cotton boom collapsed, which enraged the ryots. They felt the moneylenders were being insensitive to their plight and violating the customary norms of the countryside regarding debt and interest.
34. Why did peasants borrow from moneylenders during colonial rule?
Answer: Peasants borrowed from moneylenders during colonial rule for several reasons. The revenue demand imposed by the British, particularly under the ryotwari system in the Bombay Deccan, was very high and had to be paid punctually, regardless of harvest quality. In areas with poor soil and fluctuating rainfall, peasants found it impossible to pay revenue when rains failed or harvests were poor. Collectors extracted payments severely. Peasants inevitably borrowed to pay the revenue.
They also borrowed to procure consumption needs, purchase ploughs and cattle for cultivation, or get their children married. Revenue could rarely be paid without a loan. As debt mounted, peasants became dependent on moneylenders even for everyday needs and production expenditure. Later, to expand cultivation, peasants needed money for seeds, land, ploughs, and cattle, again turning to moneylenders. When credit dried up and revenue demand increased simultaneously, they had no option but to seek loans again.
35. How did the cotton boom affect peasants in the Deccan?
Answer: The cotton boom, driven by the American Civil War (1861-65), had a profound impact on the Deccan countryside. Ryots suddenly found access to seemingly limitless credit, receiving advances (e.g., Rs 100 per acre) for planting cotton. Sahukars became willing to extend long-term loans. Consequently, cotton acreage doubled between 1860 and 1864. However, these boom years did not bring prosperity to all cotton producers. While some rich peasants gained, for the large majority of peasants, the expansion of cotton cultivation meant incurring heavier debt.
36. Why did credit suddenly dry up in the Deccan in the 1860s?
Answer: Credit dried up suddenly in the Deccan after 1865 because the American Civil War ended. Cotton production in America revived, leading to a steady decline in Indian cotton exports to Britain. Export merchants and sahukars in Maharashtra could see the demand for Indian cotton falling and cotton prices sliding downwards. Consequently, they were no longer keen on extending long-term credit. They decided to close down their operations, restrict their advances to peasants, and demand repayment of outstanding debts.
37. What is the Limitation Law of 1859?
Answer: The Limitation Law was passed by the British in 1859. It stated that the loan bonds signed between moneylenders and ryots would have validity for only three years. This law was intended to check the accumulation of interest over time.
38. How did moneylenders circumvent the Limitation Law?
Answer: Moneylenders turned the Limitation Law around to their advantage. They forced the ryot to sign a new bond every three years. When a new bond was signed, the unpaid balance – which included the original loan and the accumulated interest – was entered as the principal amount. A new set of interest charges was then calculated on this inflated principal. Ryots described how this process led to debts mounting exponentially over time. Moneylenders also used other means like refusing to give receipts when loans were repaid, entering fictitious figures in bonds, acquiring the peasants’ harvest at low prices, and ultimately taking over peasants’ property.
39. Why was the Deccan Riots Commission set up?
Answer: When the revolt spread in the Deccan in 1875, the Government of Bombay was initially unwilling to see it as anything serious. However, the Government of India, worried by the memory of the 1857 revolt, pressurised the Government of Bombay to set up a commission of enquiry. This commission, known as the Deccan Riots Commission, was tasked to investigate into the causes of the riots.
40. Discuss the consequences of the Permanent Settlement for the zamindars?
Answer: The Permanent Settlement had several consequences for the zamindars. The East India Company had fixed the revenue that each zamindar had to pay, and the estates of those who failed to pay were to be auctioned to recover the revenue. In the early decades after the Permanent Settlement, zamindars regularly failed to pay the revenue demand and unpaid balances accumulated, leading to over 75 per cent of the zamindaris changing hands.
The initial revenue demands were very high because the Company felt that if the demand was fixed for all time, it would never be able to claim a share of increased income from land when prices rose and cultivation expanded. This high demand was imposed in the 1790s when agricultural prices were depressed, making it difficult for ryots to pay dues to the zamindar, and consequently, for the zamindar to pay the Company. The revenue was invariable, regardless of the harvest, and had to be paid punctually; according to the Sunset Law, failure to pay by sunset on the specified date could lead to the auction of the zamindari.
Furthermore, the Permanent Settlement initially limited the power of the zamindar to collect rent and manage his zamindari. The Company subdued their authority and restricted their autonomy; zamindars’ troops were disbanded, customs duties abolished, and their courts (cutcheries) were brought under the supervision of a Collector. Zamindars lost their power to organise local justice and the local police. The collectorate emerged as an alternative centre of authority, severely restricting what the zamindar could do. Rent collection was a perennial problem, hindered by bad harvests, low prices, or deliberate delays by ryots, especially rich ryots and village headmen (jotedars and mandals) who were happy to see the zamindar in trouble. While zamindars could prosecute defaulters, the judicial process was long drawn out.
However, by the beginning of the nineteenth century, the depression in prices was over, and those zamindars who had survived the troubles consolidated their power. Rules of revenue payment were also made somewhat flexible, resulting in the zamindar’s power over the villages being strengthened, until they finally collapsed during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
41. Explain how the jotedars undermined the authority of zamindars?
Answer: Jotedars, a group of rich peasants, consolidated their position in the villages while many zamindars faced a crisis. By the early nineteenth century, jotedars had acquired vast areas of land, controlled local trade and moneylending, and exercised immense power over the poorer cultivators. Within the villages, the power of jotedars was more effective than that of zamindars because, unlike zamindars who often lived in urban areas, jotedars were located in the villages and exercised direct control over a considerable section of poor villagers.
They fiercely resisted efforts by zamindars to increase the jama (revenue demand) of the village, prevented zamindari officials from executing their duties, mobilised ryots who were dependent on them, and deliberately delayed payments of revenue to the zamindar. Buchanan noted that these jotedars were very refractory, knew the zamindars had no power over them, paid only a few rupees on account of their revenue, fell in balance almost every instalment, and held more lands than they were entitled to. If summoned or reprimanded by zamindar’s officers, they would complain to the police station or the lower court and instigate the petty ryots not to pay their revenue. When the estates of the zamindars were auctioned for failure to make revenue payment, jotedars were often amongst the purchasers. Their rise inevitably weakened zamindari authority.
42. Describe the strategies zamindars used to evade revenue payments?
Answer: Faced with an exorbitantly high revenue demand and possible auction of their estates, zamindars devised ways of surviving the pressures, using new strategies in new contexts. Fictitious sale was one such strategy, involving a series of manoeuvres. For instance, the Raja of Burdwan first transferred some of his zamindari to his mother, since the Company had decreed that the property of women would not be taken over. Secondly, his agents manipulated the auctions. The revenue demand was deliberately withheld, and unpaid balances were allowed to accumulate. When a part of the estate was auctioned, the zamindar’s men bought the property, outbidding other purchasers. Subsequently, they refused to pay up the purchase money, forcing the estate to be resold. This process was repeated endlessly, exhausting the state and other bidders, until the estate was sold at a low price back to the zamindar. Such transactions happened on a grand scale, with benami purchases (made in the name of a fictitious or insignificant person) collectively yielding significant amounts; over 15 per cent of total auction sales were fictitious.
Another way zamindars circumvented displacement was that when people from outside the zamindari bought an estate at auction, they could not always take possession. At times their agents would be attacked by the lathyals (strongmen) of the former zamindar. Sometimes even the ryots resisted the entry of outsiders, feeling bound to their own zamindar through loyalty and perceiving him as a figure of authority.
43. Discuss the significance of the Fifth Report in colonial history?
Answer: The Fifth Report, submitted to the British Parliament in 1813, was the fifth in a series of reports on the administration and activities of the East India Company in India. It was a substantial document of 1002 pages, with over 800 pages of appendices containing petitions of zamindars and ryots, reports from collectors, statistical tables on revenue, and notes on the revenue and judicial administration of Bengal and Madras.
The Report became significant because, from the mid-1760s, the EIC’s activities in India were closely watched and debated in England. Various groups opposed the Company’s trade monopoly, private traders wanted a share in the India trade, and industrialists sought to open the Indian market. Many political groups argued that the conquest of Bengal benefited only the EIC, not the British nation. Information about Company misrule, maladministration, and the greed and corruption of its officials was widely publicised and hotly debated. Consequently, the British Parliament passed acts to regulate Company rule and forced it to produce regular reports, appointing committees to inquire into its affairs.
The Fifth Report was one such report produced by a Select Committee and became the basis of intense parliamentary debates on the nature of the East India Company’s rule in India. For over a century and a half, it shaped the conception of what happened in rural Bengal in the late eighteenth century. While its evidence is invaluable, recent research suggests it exaggerated the collapse of traditional zamindari power and the scale of land loss, partly because it was intent on criticising the maladministration of the company.
44. Describe the ways the Paharias resisted British attempts at pacification?
Answer: The Paharias resisted British attempts at pacification in several ways. Following a brutal policy of extermination in the 1770s, the British, through Augustus Cleveland in the 1780s, proposed a policy of pacification where Paharia chiefs were offered an annual allowance to maintain order. Many Paharia chiefs refused the allowances. Those chiefs who did accept often lost authority within their community, as they came to be seen as subordinate employees or stipendiary chiefs of the colonial government.
As the pacification campaigns continued, the Paharias withdrew deep into the mountains, insulating themselves from hostile forces and carrying on a war with outsiders. Their experience of pacification campaigns and memories of brutal repression shaped their perception of British infiltration, viewing every white man with suspicion and distrust as representing a power that was destroying their way of life and control over their forests and lands. When the Santhals began settling in the lower hills, clearing forests and expanding cultivation, the Paharias resisted but were ultimately forced to withdraw deeper into the Rajmahal hills, confined to the dry interior and the more barren and rocky upper hills.
45. Discuss how Santhal settlement affected the livelihood of the Paharias?
Answer: When the Santhals settled on the peripheries of the Rajmahal hills, the Paharias resisted but were ultimately forced to withdraw deeper into the hills. Restricted from moving down to the lower hills and valleys, they were confined to the dry interior and to the more barren and rocky upper hills. This severely affected their lives, impoverishing them in the long term.
Shifting agriculture, which the Paharias practised, depended on the ability to move to newer and newer land and utilisation of the natural fertility of the soil. When the most fertile soils became inaccessible to them, being part of the Damin-i-Koh (the demarcated land for Santhals), the Paharias could not effectively sustain their mode of cultivation. Furthermore, when the forests of the region were cleared for cultivation by the Santhals, the hunters amongst the Paharias also faced problems.
46. Explain the events leading to the Santhal Revolt?
Answer: The Santhals soon found that the land they had brought under cultivation was slipping away from their hands. The colonial state was levying heavy taxes on the land that the Santhals had cleared. Moneylenders, known as dikus, were charging them high rates of interest and taking over the land when debts remained unpaid. Additionally, zamindars were asserting control over the Damin area, which had been demarcated as Santhal land. By the 1850s, the Santhals felt that the time had come to rebel against these zamindars, moneylenders, and the colonial state, in order to create an ideal world for themselves where they would rule.
47. Discuss the significance of Buchanan’s surveys for the British East India Company?
Answer: Francis Buchanan was an employee of the British East India Company, and the costs of his travels and surveys were borne by the Company because it needed the information that Buchanan was expected to collect. As the Company consolidated its power and expanded its commerce, it looked for natural resources it could control and exploit. It surveyed landscapes and revenue sources. Buchanan had specific instructions about what he had to look for and what he had to record.
Everywhere he went, he obsessively observed stones, rocks, different strata and layers of soil. He searched for minerals and stones that were commercially valuable, recording all signs of iron ore, mica, granite, and saltpetre. He also carefully observed local practices of salt-making and iron-ore-mining. When describing a landscape, Buchanan focused not just on what he saw, but also on how it could be transformed and made more productive – what crops could be cultivated, which trees cut down, and which ones grown. His assessment was shaped by the commercial concerns of the Company and modern Western notions of progress, leading him to be critical of forest dwellers’ lifestyles and advocating for forests to be turned into agricultural lands.
48. Explain how the British revenue policies led to peasant indebtedness in the Deccan?
Answer: The first revenue settlement introduced in the Bombay Deccan in the 1820s, known as the ryotwari settlement, demanded revenue that was so high that in many places peasants deserted their villages. The problem was particularly acute in areas with poor soil and fluctuating rainfall. When rains failed and harvests were poor, peasants found it impossible to pay the revenue. Collectors extracted payment with utmost severity, seizing crops and imposing fines on the whole village if someone failed to pay. By the 1830s, a sharp fall in agricultural prices further declined peasants’ income, while a famine in 1832-34 devastated the countryside. Unpaid balances of revenue mounted.
Consequently, peasants inevitably had to borrow money. Revenue could rarely be paid without a loan from a moneylender. Once a loan was taken, the ryot found it difficult to pay it back. As debt mounted and loans remained unpaid, peasants’ dependence on moneylenders increased, needing loans even for everyday needs and production expenditure. Later, in the next revenue settlement, the demand was increased dramatically, by 50 to 100 per cent, at a time when prices were falling. This inflated demand forced ryots to turn again to moneylenders, contributing further to their indebtedness.
49. How did the American Civil War impact cotton production in India?
Answer: Before the 1860s, Britain imported three-fourths of its raw cotton from America. When the American Civil War broke out in 1861, raw cotton imports from America to Britain fell drastically. This caused panic in British cotton circles, and frantic messages were sent to India to increase cotton exports. Cotton merchants in Bombay visited cotton districts to encourage cultivation.
As cotton prices soared, export merchants in Bombay were keen to secure as much cotton as possible and gave advances to urban sahukars, who in turn extended credit to rural moneylenders to secure the produce. Consequently, while the American crisis continued, cotton production in the Bombay Deccan expanded significantly. Between 1860 and 1864, cotton acreage doubled, and by 1862, over 90 per cent of cotton imports into Britain were coming from India.
50. Explain the revenue policies implemented by the East India Company in Bengal and their impact on rural society?
Answer: In Bengal, the English East India Company (E.I.C.) established its raj and implemented revenue policies. The earliest attempts were made to reorder rural society and establish a new regime of land rights and a new revenue system. In 1793, the Permanent Settlement came into operation. The East India Company had fixed the revenue that each zamindar had to pay. The estates of those who failed to pay were to be auctioned to recover the revenue.
The Permanent Settlement was made with the rajas and taluqdars of Bengal, who were classified as zamindars. They had to pay the revenue demand fixed in perpetuity. The zamindar was not a landowner in the village, but a revenue Collector of the state. The Company fixed the total demand over the entire estate, and the zamindar collected rent from different villages, paid the revenue to the Company, and retained the difference as his income. He was expected to pay the Company regularly, failing which his estate could be auctioned.
However, zamindars regularly failed to pay the revenue demand due to various reasons: initial demands were very high; the high demand was imposed in the 1790s when agricultural produce prices were depressed; the revenue was invariable and had to be paid punctually by sunset (Sunset Law); and the Permanent Settlement initially limited the zamindar’s power to collect rent and manage his zamindari. The Company also controlled and regulated zamindars, subdued their authority, restricted their autonomy, disbanded their troops, abolished customs duties, and brought their courts under the supervision of a Collector. This led to over 75 per cent of zamindaris changing hands after the Permanent Settlement.
51. Discuss the rise of jotedars and their relationship with zamindars in Bengal?
Answer: While many zamindars were facing a crisis at the end of the eighteenth century, a group of rich peasants known as jotedars were consolidating their position in the villages, particularly in North Bengal. By the early nineteenth century, jotedars had acquired vast areas of land, sometimes several thousand acres. They controlled local trade and moneylending, exercising immense power over poorer cultivators. A large part of their land was cultivated through sharecroppers (adhiyars or bargadars) who brought their own ploughs and handed over half the produce to the jotedars.
Within villages, the power of jotedars was more effective than that of zamindars because, unlike zamindars who often lived in urban areas, jotedars were located in the villages and exercised direct control over a considerable section of poor villagers. They fiercely resisted efforts by zamindars to increase the jama (revenue demand) of the village, prevented zamindari officials from executing their duties, mobilised ryots dependent on them, and deliberately delayed payments of revenue to the zamindar. When zamindar estates were auctioned for failure to make revenue payment, jotedars were often amongst the purchasers. Their rise inevitably weakened zamindari authority. Landlords (zamindars) did not like this class of men, who were described as refractory, paying only a few rupees of revenue and then falling into balance, holding more lands than entitled by their pottahs (deeds of contract), and instigating petty ryots not to pay their revenue.
52. Compare the livelihoods of the Paharias and the Santhals?
Answer: The Paharias lived around the Rajmahal hills, subsisting on forest produce and practising shifting cultivation. They cleared patches of forest by cutting bushes and burning the undergrowth, grew a variety of pulses and millets for consumption using hoes, and then moved to a new area, leaving the land fallow to recover its fertility. Their life as hunters, shifting cultivators, food gatherers, charcoal producers, and silkworm rearers was intimately connected to the forest. They collected mahua for food, silk cocoons and resin for sale, and wood for charcoal production. They lived in hutments within tamarind groves and rested in the shade of mango trees, considering the entire region as their land. Their life was symbolised by the hoe, and shifting agriculture depended on the ability to move to newer land. They also regularly raided the plains where settled agriculturists lived.
In contrast, the Santhals were pioneer settlers who cleared forests, cut down timber, and ploughed the land with vigour, growing rice and cotton. They practised plough agriculture and became settled peasants. The British turned to the Santhals as they appeared to be ideal settlers, unlike the Paharias who resisted touching the plough. The Santhals were given land in the foothills of Rajmahal, demarcated as Damin-i-Koh, where they were to live, practise plough agriculture, and become settled peasants. They gave up their earlier life of mobility and settled down, cultivating a range of commercial crops for the market, and dealing with traders and moneylenders. The settlers, like the Santhals, came to represent the power of the plough.
53. Describe the impact of the Santhal Revolt on British colonial policies?
Answer: After the Santhal Revolt of 1855-56, the Santhal Pargana was created. This involved carving out 5,500 square miles from the districts of Bhagalpur and Birbhum to form a new territory for the Santhals. The colonial state hoped that by creating this new territory and imposing some special laws within it, the Santhals could be conciliated. The rebellion also changed the British perception of the Santhals. Furthermore, after the rebellion was crushed, the British demonstrated their might and ability to impose colonial order by searching the region, picking up suspects, and setting villages on fire.
54. Discuss the agrarian crisis in the Deccan during colonial rule and its causes?
Answer: In the Bombay Deccan, under colonial rule, a new revenue system known as the ryotwari settlement was introduced in the 1820s. Unlike the Bengal system, the revenue was directly settled with the ryot. The average income from different types of soil was estimated, the revenue-paying capacity of the ryot was assessed, and a proportion of it was fixed as the share of the state. The lands were resurveyed every 30 years, and the revenue rates increased, meaning the revenue demand was no longer permanent.
The first revenue settlement in the 1820s demanded revenue so high that in many places peasants deserted their villages and migrated. In areas of poor soil and fluctuating rainfall, the problem was particularly acute. When rains failed and harvests were poor, peasants found it impossible to pay the revenue. Collectors went about extracting payment with utmost severity; when someone failed to pay, his crops were seized, and a fine was imposed on the whole village. By the 1830s, the problem worsened as agricultural product prices fell sharply after 1832 and did not recover for over a decade and a half, further declining peasants’ income. A famine in 1832-34 devastated the countryside, killing cattle and people, leaving survivors with no agricultural stocks. Unpaid balances of revenue mounted.
To pay revenue, procure consumption needs, purchase ploughs and cattle, or get children married, cultivators inevitably borrowed. Revenue could rarely be paid without a loan from a moneylender. Once a loan was taken, the ryot found it difficult to repay. As debt mounted and loans remained unpaid, peasants’ dependence on moneylenders increased, needing loans even for everyday needs and production expenditure. By the 1840s, officials found alarming levels of peasant indebtedness.
While there were signs of economic recovery by the mid-1840s and the revenue demand was moderated to encourage cultivation expansion, peasants still needed to turn to moneylenders for loans to buy seeds, land, ploughs, and cattle. The cotton boom, spurred by the American Civil War (1861 onwards), led to expanded cotton production and seemingly limitless credit access for ryots initially. Sahukars extended long-term loans, and advances flowed from export merchants to urban sahukars to rural moneylenders. However, for the large majority, cotton expansion meant heavier debt.
When the American Civil War ended by 1865, cotton production in America revived, Indian cotton exports declined, and prices slid downwards. Export merchants and sahukars became reluctant to extend long-term credit, restricted advances, and demanded repayment of outstanding debts. Simultaneously, the revenue demand increased dramatically in the next settlement, rising by 50 to 100 per cent. Ryots could not pay this inflated demand with falling prices and disappearing cotton fields. They turned again to the moneylender, who now refused loans, having lost confidence in the ryots’ capacity to repay. This refusal enraged the ryots, who felt moneylenders were insensitive and violating customary norms, such as charging interest exceeding the principal. Moneylenders manipulated laws like the Limitation Law of 1859, forcing ryots to sign new bonds every three years, adding accumulated interest to the principal. They were accused of forging accounts, refusing receipts, entering fictitious figures, acquiring harvests at low prices, and ultimately taking over peasants’ property through legally enforceable deeds and bonds, which became symbols of oppression.
55. Explain the circumstances leading to the Deccan riots of 1875 and their aftermath?
Answer: The Deccan riots of 1875 were preceded by a period of increasing agrarian distress. Following the collapse of the cotton boom after the American Civil War ended in 1865, credit dried up as export merchants and sahukars became unwilling to extend long-term loans and demanded repayment of debts. Simultaneously, the state’s revenue demand was sharply increased in the new settlement, by 50 to 100 per cent. Peasants, facing falling prices and disappearing cotton fields, could not meet this demand and turned to moneylenders, who now refused loans, lacking confidence in the ryots’ repayment capacity.
This refusal enraged the ryots. They felt infuriated not just by their deepening debt and dependence, but also by the moneylenders’ perceived insensitivity and violation of customary norms of the countryside, such as limits on interest rates. Moneylenders were seen as devious, manipulating laws like the Limitation Law of 1859 by forcing new bonds periodically, forging accounts, and using legally binding deeds and bonds, which peasants feared, to oppress them and take over their property.
The movement began at Supa, a large village in Poona district, on 12 May 1875. Ryots from surrounding areas gathered and attacked shopkeepers, demanding their bahi khatas (account books) and debt bonds. They burnt the khatas, looted grain shops, and sometimes set fire to the houses of sahukars. The revolt spread from Poona to Ahmednagar and further, covering over 6,500 sq km and affecting more than thirty villages over the next two months. Everywhere, sahukars were attacked, account books burnt, and debt bonds destroyed. Terrified sahukars fled the villages.
In the aftermath, British officials, seeing the spectre of 1857, established police posts to frighten peasants and quickly called in troops. 951 people were arrested, and many were convicted, though it took several months to bring the countryside under control. Worried by the memory of 1857, the Government of India pressurised the Government of Bombay to set up a commission of enquiry. The commission produced the Deccan Riots Report in 1878, presented to the British Parliament. It held enquiries in affected districts, recorded statements from ryots, sahukars, and eyewitnesses, compiled statistical data on revenue rates, prices, and interest rates, and collated district collectors’ reports. The commission was specifically asked to judge if the government revenue demand caused the revolt. It concluded that the government demand was not the cause of peasant anger, blaming the moneylenders instead. This finding reflected a persistent reluctance by the colonial government to admit that its actions caused popular discontent.
Additional MCQs
1. In which year did the Permanent Settlement come into operation in Bengal?
A. 1773
B. 1793
C. 1818
D. 1845
Answer: B. 1793
2. In which town was a notable auction held in 1797 due to unpaid revenue by the raja?
A. Burdwan
B. Calcutta
C. Dinajpur
D. Bhagalpur
Answer: A. Burdwan
3. What percentage of the auction sales in Burdwan were fictitious?
A. 50%
B. 70%
C. 95%
D. 100%
Answer: C. 95%
4. Under the Permanent Settlement, who were classified as zamindars?
A. Local peasants
B. Revenue collectors of the state
C. British officials
D. Tribal chiefs
Answer: B. Revenue collectors of the state
5. Approximately how many villages could fall under one zamindari?
A. 50
B. 100
C. 200
D. 400
Answer: D. 400
6. Which group of rich peasants consolidated their power in North Bengal?
A. Zamindars
B. Jotedars
C. Ryots
D. Paharias
Answer: B. Jotedars
7. Which tribal group practised shifting cultivation in the Rajmahal hills?
A. Santhals
B. Jotedars
C. Paharias
D. Zamindars
Answer: C. Paharias
8. What was Buchanan’s profession during his service in India?
A. Surveyor
B. Physician
C. Soldier
D. Artist
Answer: B. Physician
9. Which tool did the Paharias use for shifting cultivation?
A. Plough
B. Hoe
C. Axe
D. Sickle
Answer: B. Hoe
10. Around which decade did the Santhals begin to come into Bengal?
A. 1760s
B. 1780s
C. 1800s
D. 1840s
Answer: B. 1780s
11. What revenue system was introduced in the Bombay Deccan?
A. Permanent Settlement
B. Ryotwari settlement
C. Zamindari system
D. Dual Revenue System
Answer: B. Ryotwari settlement
12. Which major event in America in 1861 affected cotton imports to Britain?
A. World War I
B. American Civil War
C. Great Depression
D. Industrial Revolution
Answer: B. American Civil War
13. In response to the American cotton crisis, which organisation was founded in 1857?
A. Cotton Supply Association
B. Manchester Cotton Company
C. Bombay Cotton Merchants
D. Lancashire Cotton Trust
Answer: A. Cotton Supply Association
14. Which mode of transport was predominantly used for cotton before the advent of railways?
A. Railways
B. Bullock carts
C. Automobiles
D. Airplanes
Answer: B. Bullock carts
15. What is the name of the report produced in 1878 that investigated the causes of the Deccan riots?
A. The Fifth Report
B. The Deccan Riots Report
C. The Permanent Settlement Report
D. Buchanan’s Report
Answer: B. The Deccan Riots Report
16. Which law stipulated that loan bonds between moneylenders and ryots were valid for only three years?
A. Revenue Act
B. Limitation Law
C. Sunset Law
D. Deccan Act
Answer: B. Limitation Law
17. What consequence did the Sunset Law impose if revenue was not paid by the specified time?
A. Fines were imposed
B. Loans were cancelled
C. The estate was auctioned
D. Revenue demand was lowered
Answer: C. The estate was auctioned
18. What is the term used for account books in the context of the Deccan riots?
A. Khatas
B. Bonds
C. Deeds
D. Mandals
Answer: A. Khatas
19. Which crop’s boom led to increased credit and indebtedness among Deccan ryots?
A. Rice
B. Cotton
C. Tobacco
D. Mustard
Answer: B. Cotton
20. Which British artist accompanied the Collector of Bhagalpur on a journey to the Jangal Mahals in 1782?
A. Thomas Gainsborough
B. William Hodges
C. Satyajit Ray
D. Augustus Cleveland
Answer: B. William Hodges
21. According to Buchanan, what should replace the woods to boost cultivation?
A. Palm groves
B. Rice fields
C. Plantations of Asan and Palas
D. Fruit orchards
Answer: C. Plantations of Asan and Palas
22. Under which system did zamindars retain the difference between collected rent and the fixed revenue paid to the Company?
A. Limitation Law
B. Permanent Settlement
C. Ryotwari system
D. Sunset Law
Answer: B. Permanent Settlement
23. In colonial India, what does the term ‘benami’ refer to?
A. A fictitious sale
B. A moneylender
C. A tribal chief
D. An auctioneer
Answer: A. A fictitious sale
24. What was one major reason for zamindars’ failure to pay the revenue under the Permanent Settlement?
A. Low revenue demand
B. Exorbitantly high fixed revenue demand
C. Abundance of agricultural produce
D. Efficient rent collection
Answer: B. Exorbitantly high fixed revenue demand
25. What challenge did zamindars frequently face during rent collection?
A. Timely payments
B. Overcharging tenants
C. Delayed payments by ryots
D. Excess agricultural production
Answer: C. Delayed payments by ryots
26. Which area was demarcated as Damin-i-Koh for the Santhals?
A. Bengal plains
B. Rajmahal foothills
C. Bombay Deccan
D. Poona district
Answer: B. Rajmahal foothills
27. What was the main trigger for the peasant revolt in the Deccan in 1875?
A. Famine
B. High revenue demand and oppressive moneylending
C. Introduction of the Permanent Settlement
D. Flooding
Answer: B. High revenue demand and oppressive moneylending
28. What does the economist David Ricardo’s theory, which influenced the revenue settlement in the Bombay Deccan, emphasise?
A. Landowners should receive a fixed subsidy
B. Taxation only on surplus over the average rent
C. Complete state control of land revenue
D. Abolition of all rent payments
Answer: B. Taxation only on surplus over the average rent
29. Which report, running into 1002 pages with over 800 pages of appendices, documented revenue records and petitions?
A. The Deccan Riots Report
B. The Fifth Report
C. Buchanan’s Journal
D. The Limitation Report
Answer: B. The Fifth Report
30. What strategy did zamindars employ to avoid losing their estates at auction?
A. Paying the full revenue
B. Fictitious sale
C. Selling to outsiders
D. Declaring bankruptcy
Answer: B. Fictitious sale
31. Which statement best describes the role of jotedars in village politics?
A. They were subordinates of zamindars
B. They resisted zamindar authority and mobilised ryots
C. They collected revenue for the Company
D. They worked as government officials
Answer: B. They resisted zamindar authority and mobilised ryots
32. What valuable natural resource did Buchanan carefully observe during his surveys?
A. Timber
B. Iron ore
C. Spices
D. Tea
Answer: B. Iron ore
33. In colonial records, what does the term ‘ryot’ refer to?
A. Landowner
B. Peasant
C. Moneylender
D. Collector
Answer: B. Peasant
34. Which catastrophic event struck the Bombay Deccan between 1832–34?
A. Cotton boom
B. Revenue increase
C. Famine
D. Industrialisation
Answer: C. Famine
35. How did the American Civil War impact cotton exports to Britain?
A. Exports increased sharply
B. Exports became unpredictable
C. Exports fell drastically
D. Exports remained stable
Answer: C. Exports fell drastically
36. Between 1860 and 1864, how did the cotton acreage in the Bombay Deccan change?
A. It halved
B. It doubled
C. It remained unchanged
D. It tripled
Answer: B. It doubled
37. What was the consequence when moneylenders eventually refused to extend further loans after the cotton boom?
A. Increased agricultural investment
B. Lower revenue demand
C. Ryots’ credit dried up
D. Surplus production
Answer: C. Ryots’ credit dried up
38. According to the Deccan Riots Commission, who was primarily to blame for the peasant revolt?
A. Excessive government revenue demand
B. Moneylenders’ oppressive practices
C. Prolonged famine conditions
D. Harsh weather conditions
Answer: B. Moneylenders’ oppressive practices
39. What does the term ‘lathyal’ literally refer to?
A. Moneylender
B. One who wields a stick
C. Fictitious purchaser
D. Tribal chief
Answer: B. One who wields a stick
40. What does the term ‘taluqdar’ literally mean?
A. Landowner
B. One who holds a connection
C. Moneylender
D. Surveyor
Answer: B. One who holds a connection
41. In colonial India, what does the term ‘benami’ refer to?
A. An anonymous transaction
B. A peasant
C. A revenue officer
D. A type of loan
Answer: A. An anonymous transaction
42. What document was used to record the agreements between peasants and moneylenders for hiring animals?
A. Deed of hire
B. Khata
C. Revenue contract
D. Bond
Answer: A. Deed of hire
43. Who supervised the zamindars’ local courts (cutcheries) under Company rule?
A. The Collector
B. The jotedar
C. The sarkar
D. The moneylender
Answer: A. The Collector
44. What was the primary function of zamindars under the Permanent Settlement?
A. Land cultivation
B. Revenue collection
C. Military service
D. Law enforcement
Answer: B. Revenue collection
45. What incentive did the British provide under the Permanent Settlement to encourage agricultural investment?
A. Variable revenue demand
B. Fixed revenue demand
C. High taxes
D. Direct subsidies
Answer: B. Fixed revenue demand
46. What role did moneylenders (sahukars) play in the agrarian economy of the Deccan?
A. Investing in infrastructure
B. Providing loans to peasants
C. Collecting taxes
D. Managing revenue records
Answer: B. Providing loans to peasants
47. Which crop was central to the cotton boom in the Bombay Deccan?
A. Wheat
B. Rice
C. Cotton
D. Mustard
Answer: C. Cotton
48. According to Buchanan’s observations, what forest produce did the Paharias collect?
A. Spices and tea
B. Mahua, silk cocoons, resin, and wood
C. Cotton and tobacco
D. Rubber and coffee
Answer: B. Mahua, silk cocoons, resin, and wood
49. What method did some zamindars use to circumvent revenue payment and retain control of their estates?
A. Increasing rent
B. Fictitious sale
C. Lowering revenue demand
D. Declaring insolvency
Answer: B. Fictitious sale
50. Which report is noted for containing extensive appendices with petitions, revenue returns, and local records?
A. The Deccan Riots Report
B. The Fifth Report
C. Buchanan’s Journal
D. The Revenue Review
Answer: B. The Fifth Report
51. Buchanan commented that the local settlers were clever in clearing land but lived in what manner?
A. Lavishly
B. Meanly
C. Elegantly
D. Superficially
Answer: B. Meanly
52. Which group did not play a direct role in revenue collection under the Permanent Settlement?
A. Zamindars
B. Jotedars
C. Ryots
D. British soldiers
Answer: D. British soldiers
53. According to the Limitation Law, what happened when a new bond was signed after three years?
A. Interest was reduced
B. The unpaid balance was reset as the new principal
C. Debts were forgiven
D. Harvest yields were recorded
Answer: B. The unpaid balance was reset as the new principal
