3 Ruling the Countryside - NCERT

1 OUR PASTS III26 Fig. 1 Fig. 1 Fig. 1 Fig. 1 Fig. 1 Robert Cliveaccepting the Diwaniof Bengal, Bihar andOrissa from the Mughalruler in 1765 The Company Becomes the DiwanOn 12 August 1765, the Mughal emperor appointed the East IndiaCompany as the Diwan of Bengal. The actual event most probablytook place in Robert Clive s tent, with a few Englishmen andIndians as witnesses. But in the painting above, the event isshown as a majestic occasion, taking place in a grand painter was commissioned by Clive to record the memorableevents in Clive s life. The grant of Diwani clearly was one suchevent in British Diwan, the Company became the chief financialadministrator of the territory under its control.

2 Now it had tothink of administering the land and organising its revenueresources. This had to be done in a way that could yield enoughrevenue to meet the growing expenses of the company. A tradingcompany had also to ensure that it could buy the products itneeded and sell what it the Countryside32022-2327 Over the years the Company also learnt that it had tomove with some caution. Being an alien power, it neededto pacify those who in the past had ruled the Countryside ,and enjoyed authority and prestige. Those who had heldlocal power had to be controlled but they could not beentirely was this to be done?

3 In this chapter we will seehow the Company came to colonise the Countryside , organiserevenue resources, redefine the rights of people, and producethe crops it for the CompanyThe Company had become the Diwan, but it still saw itselfprimarily as a trader. It wanted a large revenue income butwas unwilling to set up any regular system of assessmentand collection. The effort was to increase the revenue as muchas it could and buy fine cotton and silk cloth as cheaply aspossible. Within five years the value of goods bought by theCompany in Bengal doubled. Before 1765, the Company hadpurchased goods in India by importing gold and silver fromBritain.

4 Now the revenue collected in Bengal could financethe purchase of goods for it was clear that the Bengal economy was facinga deep crisis. Artisans were deserting villages since theywere being forced to sell their goods to the Company at lowprices. Peasants were unable to pay the dues that were beingdemanded from them. artisanal production was in decline,and agricultural cultivation showed signs of collapse. Thenin 1770 a terrible famine killed ten million people in one-third of the population was wiped THE COUNTRYSIDEFig. 2 A weekly marketin Murshidabad in BengalPeasants and artisansfrom rural areas regularlycame to these weeklymarkets (haats) to selltheir goods and buy whatthey needed.

5 These marketswere badly affected duringtimes of economic PASTS III28 The need to improve agricultureIf the economy was in ruins, could the Company becertain of its revenue income? Most Company officialsbegan to feel that investment in land had to beencouraged and agriculture had to be was this to be done? After two decades of debateon the question, the Company finally introduced thePermanent Settlement in 1793. By the terms of thesettlement, the rajas and taluqdars were recognisedas zamindars. They were asked to collect rent fromthe peasants and pay revenue to the Company. Theamount to be paid was fixed permanently, that is, itwas not to be increased ever in future.

6 It was felt thatthis would ensure a regular flow of revenue into theCompany s coffers and at the same time encouragethe zamindars to invest in improving the land. Sincethe revenue demand of the state would not beincreased, the zamindar would benefit from increasedproduction from the problemThe Permanent Settlement, however, created officials soon discovered that the zamindarswere in fact not investing in the improvement of revenue that had been fixed was so high that thezamindars found it difficult to pay. Anyone who failed topay the revenue lost his zamindari. Numerous zamindariswere sold off at auctions organised by the the first decade of the nineteenth century thesituation changed.

7 The prices in the market rose andcultivation slowly expanded. This meant an increase inthe income of the zamindars but no gain for theCompany since it could not increase a revenue demandthat had been fixed permanentlyEven then the zamindars did not have an interest inimproving the land. Some had lost their lands in theearlier years of the settlement; others now saw thepossibility of earning without the trouble and risk ofinvestment. As long as the zamindars could give out theland to tenants and get rent, they were not interested inimproving the 3 Charles CornwallisCornwallis was the Governor-General of India when thePermanent Settlement onBengal ryotsIn many villages ofBengal, some of thepowerful ryots did notcultivate, but insteadgave out their lands toothers (the under-tenants),taking from them veryhigh rents.

8 In 1806, H. described theconditions of these under-tenants in Bengal:The under-tenants,depressed by anexcessive rent in kind,and by usurious returnsfor the cattle, seed, andsubsistence, advancedto them, can neverextricate themselvesfrom debt. In so abjecta state, they cannotlabour in spirit, whilethey earn a scantysubsistence withouthope of bettering Why do you think Colebrook is concerned with theconditions of the under-ryots in Bengal? Read thepreceding pages and suggest possible ,2022-2329On the other hand, in the villages, the cultivatorfound the system extremely oppressive. The rent he paidto the zamindar was high and his right on the land wasinsecure.

9 To pay the rent he had to often take a loanfrom the moneylender, and when he failed to pay therent he was evicted from the land he had cultivatedfor new system is devisedBy the early nineteenth century many of the Companyofficials were convinced that the system of revenuehad to be changed again. How could revenues be fixedpermanently at a time when the Company neededmore money to meet its expenses of administrationand trade?In the North Western Provinces of the BengalPresidency (most of this area is now in Uttar Pradesh),an Englishman called Holt Mackenzie devised the newsystem which came into effect in 1822. He felt thatthe village was an important social institution in northIndian society and needed to be preserved.

10 Underhis directions, collectors went from village to village,inspecting the land, measuring the fields, and recordingthe customs and rights of different groups. Theestimated revenue of each plot within a villagewas added up to calculate the revenue that eachvillage (mahal) had to pay. This demand was to berevised periodically, not permanently fixed. The chargeof collecting the revenue and paying it to the Companywas given to the village headman, rather than thezamindar. This system came to be known as themahalwari Munro systemIn the British territories in the south there was a similarmove away from the idea of Permanent Settlement.