Colonialism and the CountrysideClass 12 History NCERT Solutions
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Q1Answer in 100-150 words
Why was the jotedar a powerful figure in many areas of rural Bengal?
Solution
The jotedars were a class of rich peasants who consolidated significant power in rural Bengal by the end of the eighteenth century. Their power stemmed from several factors:
- Land Ownership: Jotedars acquired vast areas of land, sometimes thousands of acres, which they cultivated through sharecroppers (adhiyars or bargadars). This control over land gave them immense authority over the poorer cultivators.
- Economic Control: They controlled local trade and moneylending, which made the poorer peasants dependent on them for credit and subsistence. This economic leverage translated into social and political power.
- Local Presence: Unlike zamindars who often lived in urban areas, jotedars were located within the villages. This allowed them to exercise direct and immediate control over the rural population.
- Resistance to Zamindars: They actively resisted the authority of the zamindars. They prevented zamindari officials from collecting revenue, mobilised ryots against them, and deliberately delayed revenue payments to weaken the zamindar. When zamindaris were auctioned, jotedars were often among the purchasers.
Q2Answer in 100-150 words
How did zamindars manage to retain control over their zamindaris?
Solution
Despite the pressures of the Permanent Settlement and frequent auctions of their estates, zamindars devised several strategies to retain control over their zamindaris:
- Fictitious Sales: A primary strategy was the use of fictitious or benami sales. The Raja of Burdwan, for example, transferred some of his zamindari to his mother, as the property of women was not to be taken over. His agents would then manipulate auctions by buying the property and repeatedly defaulting on the payment, forcing resale until the estate was sold back to the zamindar at a low price.
- Intimidation and Force: When an outsider purchased an estate, they often found it impossible to take possession. The former zamindar's lathyals (men armed with sticks) would attack the new owner's agents.
- Loyalty of the Ryots: The ryots (peasants) often felt a sense of loyalty to their zamindar, whom they considered a figure of authority and themselves as his proja (subjects). They resisted the entry of outsiders, as the sale of the zamindari disturbed their sense of identity and pride.
- Economic Recovery: By the early nineteenth century, the depression in agricultural prices was over, making it easier for zamindars who had survived the 1790s to pay revenue and consolidate their power.
Q3Answer in 100-150 words
How did the Paharias respond to the coming of outsiders?
Solution
The Paharias, who lived in the Rajmahal hills, had a deeply connected relationship with their forest habitat and resisted the intrusion of outsiders. Their response evolved over time:
- Raiding and Negotiation: Initially, the Paharias regularly raided the plains where settled agriculturists lived. This was a way to assert power, survive in times of scarcity, and negotiate political relations. Zamindars and traders on the plains often purchased peace by paying a tribute to the Paharia chiefs.
- Conflict with Settled Agriculture: In the late eighteenth century, as the British encouraged the expansion of settled agriculture, the conflict sharpened. The Paharias increased their raids on settled villages in response to the shrinking of their forest and pasture lands.
- Resistance to Colonial Policies: The British first responded with a brutal policy of extermination in the 1770s, which the Paharias resisted. Later, in the 1780s, a policy of pacification was proposed, offering allowances to chiefs. Many Paharias refused these, and those who accepted lost authority within their community.
- Withdrawal and Suspicion: Faced with these pressures and the influx of Santhal settlers, the Paharias withdrew deeper into the mountains, insulating themselves from hostile forces. They viewed officials like Buchanan with deep suspicion and distrust, shaped by their memories of brutal repression and the threat to their way of life.
Q4Answer in 100-150 words
Why did the Santhals rebel against British rule?
Solution
The Santhals rebelled against the British, moneylenders, and zamindars in 1855-56 due to severe exploitation and the loss of control over the lands they had cultivated. The key reasons for their rebellion were:
- Land Alienation: Although the British had encouraged the Santhals to settle in the Damin-i-Koh area to clear forests and practice agriculture, the Santhals soon found this land slipping from their hands.
- Heavy Taxation by the State: The colonial state began levying heavy taxes on the land that the Santhals had cleared and brought under cultivation, creating a significant financial burden.
- Exploitation by Moneylenders (Dikus): Santhals were forced to borrow from moneylenders, who charged them exorbitant rates of interest. When debts remained unpaid, the moneylenders would take over their land.
- Zamindari Control: Zamindars began asserting control over the Damin area, further encroaching upon the autonomy and land of the Santhals.
Feeling oppressed by all these external forces, the Santhals felt that the time had come to rebel and create an ideal world for themselves where they would rule. The rebellion was a fight against the entire system of exploitation that had been imposed upon them.
Q5Answer in 100-150 words
What explains the anger of the Deccan ryots against the moneylenders?
Solution
The anger of the Deccan ryots against moneylenders, which culminated in the Deccan Riots of 1875, was rooted in a deep sense of injustice and exploitation. The primary reasons were:
- Violation of Customary Norms: Moneylenders violated the traditional norm that the interest charged could not exceed the principal amount. Ryots complained of exorbitant interest rates, such as one case where over Rs 2,000 was charged as interest on a loan of Rs 100.
- Insensitivity and Refusal of Credit: After the American Civil War ended, the cotton boom collapsed. Moneylenders, who had freely given credit during the boom, now refused to extend loans. This was seen as deeply insensitive to the ryots' plight, as they faced falling prices and increased revenue demands.
- Manipulation of Laws: The British passed a Limitation Law in 1859, making loan bonds valid for only three years. Moneylenders turned this law against the ryots by forcing them to sign a new bond every three years, adding the accumulated interest to the principal. This led to a cycle of mounting debt.
- Deceitful Practices: Ryots accused moneylenders of forging accounts, refusing to give receipts for repayments, and acquiring their harvests and property through fraudulent means. Deeds and bonds became symbols of this new, oppressive system.
Q10Map and Project Work
On an outline map of the subcontinent, mark out the areas described in this chapter. Find out whether there were other areas where the Permanent Settlement and the ryotwari system were prevalent and plot these on the map as well.
Solution
This is a map-based activity. Based on the chapter, the following areas should be marked:
- Bengal: This is the region where colonial rule was first established and where the Permanent Settlement was introduced in 1793. Key locations within Bengal mentioned are Burdwan (Bardhaman) and Dinajpur.
- Rajmahal Hills (in present-day Jharkhand): This is the area described as the home of the Paharias and the later settlement of the Santhals in the Damin-i-Koh.
- Bombay Deccan (in present-day Maharashtra): This is the region in Western India where the Ryotwari System of revenue settlement was implemented. The Deccan Riots of 1875 began in Poona (Pune) district and spread to areas like Ahmednagar.
For the second part of the question, which requires external information beyond the immediate chapter text:
- Permanent Settlement: Besides Bengal, this system was also extended to Bihar, Orissa (Odisha), parts of the Northern Carnatic, and the districts of Benaras.
- Ryotwari System: This system was prevalent in large parts of southern and western India. Besides the Bombay Deccan, it was the major system in the Madras Presidency (covering much of present-day Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and parts of Karnataka and Kerala). The Fifth Report mentioned in the chapter also covered the administration of Madras, indicating the system's presence there.
Q11Map and Project Work
Francis Buchanan published reports on several districts of eastern India. Read one report and collate the information available about rural society, focusing on the themes discussed in this chapter. Highlight the ways in which historians can use such texts.
Solution
This is a research-based project. To complete this task, a student would need to:
- Locate a Report: Find one of Francis Buchanan's published surveys, such as his account of the districts of Bhagalpur, Dinajpur, or Shahabad.
- Read and Collate Information: While reading the selected report, the student should focus on themes discussed in the chapter, such as:
- Rural Society: Descriptions of different social groups like zamindars, jotedars, ryots, and artisans.
- Agricultural Practices: Details on crops grown, methods of cultivation, irrigation, and tools used.
- Land Use and Environment: Observations on forests, pastures, soil types, and how the landscape could be made more 'productive' from Buchanan's perspective.
- Economic Activities: Information on local trade, crafts, moneylending, and markets.
- Analyse the Source: The student should then highlight how historians can use such a text. This involves:
- Extracting Factual Data: Using the report as a rich source of empirical information about the economy, society, and ecology of the region in the early nineteenth century.
- Understanding the Colonial Perspective: Analysing Buchanan's language and priorities to understand the colonial mindset. His obsession with classifying, mapping, and assessing resources reveals the Company's commercial and administrative motives.
- Reading Critically: Recognizing the biases in the report. Buchanan was an agent of the East India Company, and his assessments were shaped by Western notions of progress. His views on forest dwellers, for example, reflect a colonial prejudice against non-settled lifestyles. Historians use this to understand not just the rural society itself, but how it was perceived and sought to be transformed by the colonial state.
Q12Map and Project Work
In the region where you live, talk to the older people within a rural community and visit the fields they now cultivate. Find out what they produce, how they earn their livelihoods, what their parents did, what their sons and daughters do now, and how their lives have changed over the last 75 years. Write a report based on your findings.
Solution
This is a project based on oral history and fieldwork. To complete this task, a student would need to follow these steps:
- Identify a Community: Select a rural community in their local region.
- Conduct Interviews: Approach older members of the community for interviews. The questions should be structured around the themes mentioned:
- Current Livelihood: What crops do they grow now? Is farming their only source of income?
- Past Practices: What did their parents and grandparents do? What crops did they grow? Were the farming methods different?
- Generational Changes: What are the occupations of their children and grandchildren? Have they moved away from agriculture? Have they migrated to cities?
- Changes over Time: Ask about significant changes they have witnessed over the last 75 years in terms of technology (tractors, irrigation), government policies, market access, land ownership, and overall quality of life.
- Field Observation: Visit the fields to observe current agricultural practices, crops, and land use.
- Write a Report: Synthesize the information gathered from interviews and observations into a structured report. The report should compare the past and present, highlighting key transformations in the rural economy and society of the region. It should aim to capture the lived experiences and perspectives of the people interviewed, providing a micro-level historical account of change over time.
Q6Write a short essay (250-300 words) on the following
Why were many zamindaris auctioned after the Permanent Settlement?
Solution
The Permanent Settlement, introduced by the East India Company in Bengal in 1793, was intended to secure a stable revenue stream and create a loyal class of landowners. However, it led to the widespread auctioning of zamindaris in its early decades due to a combination of harsh policies and structural weaknesses.
First, the initial revenue demand fixed by the Company was exorbitantly high. Officials pegged the demand high to minimize any anticipated loss from a permanently fixed rate, assuming that as cultivation expanded and prices rose, the burden on zamindars would decrease. This high demand was imposed in the 1790s, a period when agricultural produce prices were depressed, making it extremely difficult for ryots to pay their dues to the zamindar, and consequently, for the zamindar to pay the Company.
Second, the system of revenue collection was inflexible. The revenue was invariable, meaning it had to be paid regardless of the harvest's success or failure. Furthermore, the 'Sunset Law' stipulated that if the payment did not arrive by sunset on the specified date, the zamindari was liable to be auctioned. This left no room for delays or shortfalls, even in times of genuine crisis like bad harvests.
Third, the Permanent Settlement curtailed the power of the zamindars. While they were recognized as important, the Company wanted to regulate and control them. Their troops were disbanded, customs duties were abolished, and their courts (cutcheries) were brought under the supervision of a Company-appointed Collector. This loss of authority made it difficult for zamindars to assert power over ryots and village headmen (jotedars) to collect rent effectively. The judicial process to prosecute defaulters was long and cumbersome. Consequently, with high demands, rigid payment schedules, and diminished power, many zamindars defaulted on their payments, leading to their estates being put up for auction. The text notes that over 75 per cent of zamindaris changed hands after the Permanent Settlement.
Q7Write a short essay (250-300 words) on the following
In what way was the livelihood of the Paharias different from that of the Santhals?
Solution
The livelihoods of the Paharias and the Santhals, two communities inhabiting the Rajmahal hills, were starkly different, representing a conflict between two modes of existence: one rooted in the forest and the other in settled agriculture. This contrast was famously symbolized as the battle between the hoe of the Paharias and the plough of the Santhals.
The Paharias practiced a lifestyle intimately connected to the forest. Their subsistence was based on shifting cultivation, where they used hoes to scratch the ground, grew pulses and millets for a few years, and then left the land fallow to move to a new patch. Their economy was supplemented by hunting, food gathering (like collecting mahua flowers), rearing silkworms, and producing charcoal. They considered the entire forest region their domain, resisted the intrusion of outsiders, and often raided the settled communities in the plains for survival and to assert their power. They staunchly resisted adopting plough agriculture and the settled life it entailed.
In contrast, the Santhals were pioneer settlers who were seen by the British as ideal for their policy of expanding cultivation. Their livelihood was based on plough agriculture. They cleared forests with great vigour, settled the land, and cultivated a range of crops, including commercial ones like rice and cotton. They were settled peasants who lived within the territory demarcated for them, the Damin-i-Koh. Unlike the Paharias who shunned outsiders, the Santhals engaged with the market economy, dealing with traders and moneylenders. While the Paharias' life was defined by mobility and dependence on the forest's natural produce, the Santhals' life was defined by settled cultivation and integration into the wider colonial economy, which ultimately led to their exploitation and rebellion.
Q8Write a short essay (250-300 words) on the following
How did the American Civil War affect the lives of ryots in India?
Solution
The American Civil War (1861-1865) had a profound and dramatic impact on the lives of ryots in the Deccan region of India, creating a cycle of boom and bust that ultimately led to widespread distress and rebellion.
Before 1861, Britain's booming cotton textile industry sourced about three-fourths of its raw cotton from America. The outbreak of the Civil War cut off this supply, causing panic in British manufacturing circles. To meet the demand, Britain turned to India. This created an unprecedented cotton boom in the Deccan, a region with suitable soil and climate. Cotton prices soared, and export merchants in Bombay rushed to secure as much cotton as possible. They provided advances to urban sahukars, who in turn extended seemingly limitless credit to rural moneylenders and directly to the ryots. For a few years, ryots were given large advances to cultivate cotton, and cotton acreage in the Bombay Deccan doubled between 1860 and 1864. While some rich peasants gained from this boom, for the vast majority it meant taking on heavier debt to expand cultivation.
The end of the Civil War in 1865 led to the revival of American cotton production, causing the bubble to burst. British demand for Indian cotton plummeted, and prices crashed. Export merchants and sahukars in Maharashtra, seeing the downturn, decided to close down their operations. They stopped extending long-term credit and began demanding repayment of outstanding debts. At this very moment of crisis, the colonial government introduced a new revenue settlement, increasing the land revenue demand by 50 to 100 per cent. Caught between falling prices, mounting debt, and an increased revenue demand, the ryots turned to moneylenders, who now refused them loans. This combination of factors created immense hardship and a deep sense of injustice, directly leading to the Deccan Riots of 1875.
Q9Write a short essay (250-300 words) on the following
What are the problems of using official sources in writing about the history of peasants?
Solution
Official sources, such as the Fifth Report or the Deccan Riots Commission Report, are invaluable for historians studying the history of peasants under colonial rule, but they are fraught with problems and must be interpreted with extreme care.
One major problem is their inherent bias. These reports were written by colonial officials and reflect official concerns, priorities, and prejudices. They were not created to understand the peasant's world from their perspective but to serve the needs of administration, revenue collection, and control. For example, Francis Buchanan's surveys were guided by the East India Company's commercial interests, leading him to view landscapes in terms of their potential for exploitation and to be critical of the lifestyles of forest dwellers, which he deemed unproductive.
Another issue is that official sources often serve to justify government policies and actions. The Deccan Riots Commission, for instance, was tasked with investigating the causes of the riots but concluded that the government's revenue demand was not the cause of peasant anger; rather, the moneylenders were to blame. This finding conveniently absolved the colonial government of responsibility and demonstrated a persistent reluctance to admit that popular discontent could stem from official policies.
Furthermore, official reports can contain exaggerations or misrepresentations. The Fifth Report, which was produced by a Select Committee critical of the East India Company, is now known to have exaggerated the collapse of the traditional zamindari system and the scale on which zamindars were losing their land. Recent research using local records has shown that zamindars often found ingenious ways to retain their estates.
Therefore, to write a balanced history of peasants, historians cannot rely solely on official sources. They must read them critically, understanding the motives behind their creation, and juxtapose them with evidence from other sources like newspapers, legal records, unofficial accounts, and oral traditions.