Administrative And Economic Policies Under British Rule Flashcards
Background
The British Rule in India can be divided into two phases. Phase 1, 1773-1857, the Company Rule, and second phase, 1857-1947, the Crown Rule. This is a popular classification because it was the year 1857 that completely changed the way British governed in India. They received a major jolt in the form of the Revolt of 1857 that compelled them to bring about some drastic changes in their administrative, economic, and social structure. The Revolt of 1857 is also stated as the first war of independence by B.D. Savarkar. It was the cumulative effect of British expansionist policies, economic exploitation, and administrative innovation over years. It had an adverse effect on all sections and classes of Indian society. Hence, people actively revolted against the government. It was an unexpected revolt from India which had shaken the Britishers. Hence, it became inevitable to bring changes in the administrative, economic, and social structure in the country. The nature and objective of these changes were to serve the British imperial ideology, but unintentionally they introduced elements of the modern state into India’s political and administrative system.
Phase 1: company rule (1773-1857)
After the Battle of Buxar in 1764, the East India Company got the Diwani right to collect revenue in Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa. The annual subsidy was to be paid to the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II and an annual pension to the Nawab of Awadh Shuja uddaullah. The Company appointed two Indians as the Deputy Diwans, Muhammad Reza Khan for Bengal and Raja Shitab Rai for Bihar. In 1767, British for the first time attempted to intervene in the economic affairs and demand a 10% share in the plunder, accounting to four million pounds annually. From the year 1765 to 1772, the dual system of government continued where the Company had the authority but no responsibility and Indian representatives had all the responsibility but no authority. This period was characterized by widespread corruption among the servants of the Company who made full use of private trading to enrich themselves, the excessive revenue collection, and oppression of the peasantry. The Company’s bankruptcy while the servants were flourishing. By now, the British Government decided to regulate the Company to bring some order into the business. From now, there would be a gradual increase in controlling laws.
Regulating Act of 1773
The Governor of Bengal was designated as the Governor General of Bengal and he was nominated as the Governor General for all the street residencies of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay. Executive Council of four members was created to assist Governor General in the administration. Supreme Court of Calcutta was established in 1774. It comprised of one Chief Justice and three other judges. Court of Directors governing body of the Company had to report on its revenue, civil and military efforts in India to British Government.
Amending Act of 1781 or Act of Settlement 1781
This Act was passed in order to rectify the loopholes of the Regulating Act of 1773. It was also known as the Act of Settlement. The activities of the Governor General, his Executive Council, and the servants of the Company were exempted from the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court had to consider religious and social systems of Indians while administrating the law. Act laid down that the appeals from the Provincial Courts could be taken to the Governor General in Council and not to the Supreme Court.
Pitts India Act of 1784
The Act made distinction between commercial and political functions of the Company. Board of Control was created to manage the political affairs of the Company. Board of Control were empowered to manage political affairs on the civil and the military Government or revenues of the British possessions in India. Court of Directors was empowered to manage commercial affairs. System of dual Governments was also established.
Act of 1786
Lord Cornwallis was appointed as the Governor General of Bengal in 1786 and the Act was enacted to endorse his demands. He demanded power to supersede decision of his Council and would operate as Commander-in-Chief.
Charter Act of 1793, Governor General of Bengal was given more power over the Governments of Bombay and Madras and trade monopoly of the Company was extended for another 20 years. Board of Control and its staff was to be paid out of the Indian revenues.
Charter Act of 1813
The Act abolished the trade monopoly of the East India Company in India and asserted sovereignty of the British Crown over the Company’s territories in India. It provided for the spread of Western education in India and permitted Christian missionaries to come to India. Local Governments were authorized to impose taxes.
Charter Act of 1833
The Act made Governor General of Bengal as Governor General of India with all civil and military powers. First Governor General of India was Lord William Bentick. Governor General of India was given all legislative powers. Laws that were made by this Act were known as Acts whereas previously they were known as Regulations. Activities of East India Company as commercial body was ended. Petition for selection of civil servants was introduced in which Indians could also participate without any discrimination.
Charter Act of 1853
Legislative and executive functions of Governor General’s Council were separated and established Governor General’s Legislative Council known as Indian Central Legislative Council. Macaulay Committee was appointed on Indian Civil Services was appointed in 1864 for the recruitment and selection of civil servants. Local representation in Central Legislative Council was introduced. Four members were appointed from Governments of Bengal, Madras and Agra.
Phase 2: Crown rule (1858-1947)
After the revolt of 1857, the British were compelled to bring about some drastic change in administrative, economic, and social structure.
Government of India Act of 1958
This Act was passed due to the revolt of 1857. It was also known as the Act of Good Governance in India. It abolished the East India Company and transferred all its powers and possessions to the Crown. Power was now to be exercised by the Secretary of State for India and aided by a council. Secretary was a member of British Cabinet and was responsible to the British Cabinet. System of dual government was put to an end by abolishing the Board of Control and Court of Directors. Designation of Governor-General of India was changed to Vice-Royal of India, direct representative of the British Crown. Governor-General was to have an Executive Council member who were to act as heads of different departments and their positions were similar to that of the Cabinet Ministers.
Indian Councils Act of 1861
It enlarged Governor-General’s Council for the purpose of making laws known as Imperial Legislative Council. It was authorised to have 6 to 12 members, out of which at least half were to be Indians. It only acted as an advisory body. It provided that the viceroy should nominate some Indians as non-official members of his expanded council. In 1862, Lord Caning, the then viceroy, nominated three Indians to become Legislative Councils. Raja of Banaras, Maharaja of patiala and Sir dinkar Rao. It was initially the process of decentralisation by restoring the legislative powers to Bombay and Madras presidencies. It created new Legislative Councils for Bengal, Northwestern Provinces and Punjab in 1862, 1886 and 1897 respectively.
Indian Councils Act of 1892
Under this Act, number of non-official members were to increase but maintained official majority in them. Functions of Legislative Councils were increased and was conferred power to discuss budget and asking questions to executives. Under this Act, system of elections was introduced.
Indian Councils Act of 1909
Also known as Morley-Minto Reforms, increased the size of both Central from 16 to 60 and Provincial Legislative Councils and regained official majority in the Central Legislative Councils that allowed the Provincial Legislative Councils to have non-official majority. For the first time, it provided for the association of Indians with the Executive Councils of the viceroy and Governors. Satyendra Prasad Sinha became the first Indian to join the Vice-Roy’s Executive Council. He was appointed as the law member. It introduced the system of communal representation for Muslims by accepting the concept of separate electorate. Thus, the Act legalized communalism and Lord Minto came to be known as the father of communal electorate.
Government of India Act of 1919
Also known as the Montague-Chelmsford Reforms, the Central and Provincial Legislatures were authorized to make laws on the respective list of subjects. A new hierarchy system of government was introduced. It divided the Provincial subjects into two parts, transferred and reserved. The transferred subjects administered by the Governor with the aid of Ministers responsible for the Legislative Council. The reserved subjects administered by the Governor and his Executive Council without being responsible to the Legislative Council. By communalism and direct elections by introducing the country, Indian Legislative Council was replaced by a bicameral legislature consisting of an upper house, council of state and a lower house, civil assembly. The majority of members of both houses were chosen by the direct election. A Central Public Service Commission was set up in 1926 for recruiting civil servants.
Government of India Act of 1935
It provided for the establishment of an All-India Federation consisting of provinces and country states as units. The Act divided the powers between the Centre and Units in terms of three lists, Federal list for Centre with 59 items, Provincial list for Provinces with 54 items, Concurrent list for both with 36 items. Residuary powers were given to the viceroy, abolished hierarchy in the provinces and introduced Provincial autonomy in its place. Bicameralism was introduced in 6 out of 11 provinces. Legislatures of Bengal, Bombay, Madras, Bihar, Assam and United Provinces were made bicameral. The Act provided for setting up of following institutions in India. Reserve Bank of India, Federal Public Service Commission and Provincial Service Commission and Joint Public Service Commission, Federal Court of 1973.
Indian Independence Act of 1947
British rule in India came to an end and India was declared an independent and sovereign state from 15th August 1947. India was partitioned of India, independent dominance of India and Pakistan were created. Act abolished the office of Secretary of State for India and transferred its functions to the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs. Act designated the Governor General of India and the Provincial Governors as constitutional nominal heads of the state.
Provincial administration
For the administrative convenience, the British had divided India into provinces, of which Bengal, Madras, and Bombay were known as presidencies. They were administered by a governor and his three executive councils, who were appointed by the Crown. The central government exercised authoritarian control over the provincial expenditure, but this system proved quite wasteful in practice. In 1870, Lord Mayo had taken the first step in the direction of separating central and provincial finances. Lord Mayo’s scheme was enlarged in 1877 by Lord Lytton, who transferred to the provinces certain other heads of expenditure, such as land revenue exercise, general administration, and law and justice. The financial arrangements between the centre and the provinces were to be reviewed every five years.
Local Bodies
There were many factors which made it necessary for the British government in India to work towards establishing local bodies, such as financial difficulties faced by the government due to over-centralization made centralization imperative, the utilization of local taxes for local welfare could be used to counter any public racism of British, reluctant to draw upon an already overburdened treasury or protect the rich upper class. Local Bodies were first formed in the period between 1864 and 1868, but in most cases consisted of nominated members and were headed by district magistrates. In 1882, the government of Lord Ripon desired the provincial government to apply the same principle of financial decentralization in the case of local bodies implemented by Lord Mayo’s government. For his contributions, Lord Ripon is called the father of local self-government in India.
Rule of Law In India
British implemented the rule of law, i.e., their administration was guided by laws and rules, not by the wish or direction of the ruler. The law classified the rights of citizens, their responsibilities and special privileges.
Economic policies of the British
The major difference between the British colonists in India and early invaders was that none of the early invaders made any structural changes in India’s economy or drained away India’s wealth as tribute. British rule in India caused a transformation of India’s economy into a colonial economy i.e. the structure and operation of Indian economy were determined by the interest of the British economy. The economic policies of the British can be broadly divided into three phases:
Phase I was mercantilism. This phase was based on two basic principles to acquire monopoly of trade with India against other European merchants or trading companies as well as the Indian merchants to directly appropriate or take over governmental revenues through control over state power. This phase consisted of a large scale drain of wealth from India. There was no large scale import of British manufacturers into India but increase in export of Indian textiles.
Phase II of mercantilism, free trade, industrial capitalism. Free entry was also granted to the British capitalists to develop tea, coffee and indigo plantations, trade, transport and mining and modern industries in India. The permanent settlement and the riot party system in agriculture were introduced to transform the traditional agrarian structure into a capitalist one. The taxation and the burden on peasants rose sharply due to economic transformation and costly administration, civil as well as military.
Phase III of mercantilism, financial capitalism. The third stage is often described as the era of foreign investments and international competition for colonies. Britain’s industrial supremacy was challenged by several countries of Europe, United States and Japan. The strengthening of colonial rule over India was meant to keep out the rivals as well as to attract British capital to India and provide its security. As a result, a very large amount of British capital got invested in railways, loans. The government of India trade and to a lesser extent in plantations, coal mining, jute Mills, shipping and banking in India.
Land revenue system
Land revenue system
In order to have an effective control over economy, British introduced many land revenue systems in many areas, such as:
Permanent Settlement
The system of permanent settlement was introduced in Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa districts of Banaras and northern districts of Madras by Lord Cornwallis in 1793. According to the permanent land revenue settlement, the Zamindars were recognized as the permanent owners of the land and acted as the agents of the government. One-eleventh of the revenue could be retained by the Zamindars, while ten-eleventh was to be submitted to the company, the estate of the landlord was to be treated as his property and was divisible among his dependents upon his death. This system strengthened feudalism in upper sections and slavery in the lower sections of society. Due to fixation of land revenue, the income of government through land revenue could not increase even if the cost of agricultural land and production increased. Most of the Zamindars had their focus on collection of maximum revenue rather than focusing on the betterment of agricultural land, which degraded the condition of farmers. Zamindars started shifting to the cities, which gave rise to absentee landlordism. The sunset law was introduced in 1794, according to which if a Zamindar fails to submit the revenue from his land by the sunset of the fixed date, his estate would be confiscated and auctioned.
The ryotwari system
It was introduced in the territories of the company by Thomas Munroe and Captain Reed in 1820. Ryots were recognized as owners of the land they cultivated and the revenue was to be collected directly from them. The farmers had to pay revenue between 45% and 65% to the company. The system was revised and improved by Wingate and Goldsmith after 1836. Revenue was not fixed so that government can increase revenue in case of more production. Also the settlement was not fixed and could be revised between 20 to 30 years when the revenue demand was usually raised.
Mahalwari system
This system was devised after permanent settlement and ryotwari system. Mahalwari system was formally launched in 1822 based upon the regulation of East India Company Secretary Holt McKenzie. It was used in 30% area of British India, Northwest provinces, parts of Central India, Punjab and Ganga Valley. Under this system, revenue was fixed on the basis of assessment of production of the complete village or Mahal and was fixed collectively for all the landowners. This revenue settlement was done with the landlords who collectively claimed to be the landlords of the village. Mahalwari system was basically a dual system in which settlement was done collectively with the whole community and also with the individual landlords. The revenue was periodically revised in the system.
The Talukdari system
The term talukdar has different meanings in different parts of India. In Aoud, talukdar is a great land holder but in Bengal, a talukdar is next to a zamindar in the extent of land control and social status. Government made an agreement with the talukdar for a period of 30 years. He collected the revenue from the villages under his charge. Then he deposited with revenue the government after deducting the cost of collection and his own remuneration.
Banking system under British rule
The banking system in India is not a new phenomenon and its earliest evidence can be traced back to the Vedic civilization. But the evolution and development of the modern banking system can be traced back to the British era. The first modern bank was set up in India was the Bank of Hindustan in 1770. The development of the Indian banking system can be segregated into two phases: The pre-independence era from 1786 to 1947 and post-independence era after 1947.
The roots of the modern banking system can be traced back to the establishment of the Bank of Calcutta in 1786. Later on, the British set up the Presidency Banks at Bengal, Bombay, and Madras. The Bank of Calcutta was set up on 2nd June, 1806. The Bank of Bombay was set up on 15th April, 1840. And the Bank of Madras was established on 1st July, 1843. These three Presidency Banks were merged in 1921 and a new bank was formed which was later named as the Imperial Bank of India. Later on, in 1955, the Imperial Bank of India was nationalized by the government and was renamed as the State Bank of India. Allahabad Bank, established in 1855, was the first Indian-owned bank. The Punjab National Bank was set up in 1895. The Bank of India was established in Mumbai in 1906. Between 1906 and 1913, many commercial banks including the India Bank, Central Bank of India, Bank of Mysore, Canara Bank, and Bank of Baroda were set up under the Indian ownership. The Reserve Bank of India was established in 1935 on the recommendations of the Hilton Young Commission, the Royal Commission on Indian Currency, and the finance set up by the British government. The RBI started functioning as the Central Bank of the country. It is a statutory body established through the RBI Act of 1934. During this phase, the development of the existing system in India was very slow and it experienced periodic failures. The banking system neglected the rural and agricultural sector and was mostly concentrated in the urban areas.
Evolution and reforms under civil services
The Regulating Act of 1773 brought the company’s management under the control of British government. Lord Cornwallis, after becoming the Governor General of India in February 1786, brought about a series of legal and administrative reforms. He enacted the Cornwallis Code in 1793 to improve overall governance of East India Company in India and separated revenue administration and judicial administration by establishing the Cornwallis Code. He is also referred to as the father of civil service in India, as he reformed and reorganized administration for the company. To check rampant corruption among company servants, Lord Cornwallis debarred civil servants from taking presents, bribes, etc. He even raised their salaries and debarred private trade for such servants. Governor General Wallis Lee established Fort William College for training new recruits, which was later disapproved by the directors of the company.
Progress made under Lord Macaulay
The Charter Act of 1833 allowed Native Indians to be part of the administration in British India. The Charter set up India’s first law commission under the chairmanship of Lord Macaulay, which recommended codification of the Penal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code, and other legal provisions. The concept of a merit-based modern civil service in India was introduced in 1854 after the submission of Lord Macaulay’s report of the Select Committee of British Parliament. The report recommended that patronage-based system of East India Company should be replaced by a permanent civil service based on a merit-based system with entry through competitive examinations. Recommendations of Macaulay led to the enactment of Indian Civil Services Act in 1861. It allowed Indians to compete at par with the Britishers in an open merit-based recruitment. In 1864, Satyendranath Tagore became the first Indian to succeed at the exam.
Reforms under Lord Dufferin
Formation of Indian National Congress in 1885 led to a growing demand for simultaneous examination both in India and London, including the demand for raising the upper age limit. On the basis of these rising demands by the moderate faction of Indian National Congress, Lord Dufferin appointed a Aitchison Committee on Public Services in 1886. It aimed to investigate the problems of the civil services in India. The commission rejected the idea of simultaneous examination but rather proposed setting up of provincial civil service. The members of this service would be separately recruited in every province, either by promotion from lower ranks. The recommendations of H. Aitchison Committee were accepted and the covenanted civil service came to be known as the Civil Service of India. The provincial service was called after the particular province.
Royal Commission on the Superior Civil Services in India, Lee Commission, 1923
The next major development in the permeation of civil services in Indian roots was the appointment of the Royal Commission on the Superior Civil Services in India. It was also called the Lee Commission. The commission was appointed by the British government in 1923 to consider the ethnic composition of the superior Indian public services in the government of India. It had equal numbers of Indian and British members. Earlier, Islington Commission, 1917, in its report of 1917 had recommended that 25% of the higher government post should go to the Indians. The Lee Commission examined the recommendations of the Islington Commission report and reviewed the existing propositions of two groups of services, that is, all India services and the central services. The provincial services were not considered as they had already come under the control of the provincial government. On the basis of Islington Commission’s report and the Lee Commission proposed in 1924 that 20% of the superior post should be filled out by promotions from provincial civil services. Out of the remaining 80%, 40% would be British and 40% would directly be recruited Indians. The Lee Commission in its report in the year 1924 recommended that the statutory Public Service Commission contemplated by the Government of India Act 1919 should be established without delay. So on the 1st of October 1926, for the first time, the Public Service Commission was set up in India.
Police system under British rule
The Indian Council’s Act of 1861 created a professional police bureaucracy in India and it developed over the years under different governors.
Cornwallis’ system
With the rise of the company’s authority and need, was felt for the creation of a police force which maintained the law and order. The new system of forged dars being replaced by the English magistrate as police functions proved to be inadequate in bringing down the crime rate. Hence, Lord Cornwallis realized the need for police reforms and he made many changes in the police organization. Lord Cornwallis denied the zoning powers of their policing powers, divided the districts into thanas or units of police jurisdiction up to 20 to 30 miles. Each unit was under an officer called the darogas who was appointed by the magistrates and placed under their supervision. The darogas came to be seen as the medium of the company’s power and control over the rural areas. This came to be known as the Cornwallis system.
Changes made in the 19th century
The daroga system was formally abolished in 1812. The tehsildars were deprived of their police duties much earlier in 1807. The district collector was made in charge of the village police. This led to an extreme concentration of power in the office of the collector since he was responsible for revenue, police, and magisterial functions.
The Sindh model
The existing system hardly produced satisfactory results in terms of upholding the law and order throughout the empire. Then a new model was experimented within Sindh after it was conquered by Sir Charles Napier in 1843. The previous practice of trying to adopt the indigenous systems to the needs of the colonial state was discarded. A separate police department with its own officers was established on the lines of the Royal Irish Constabulary which was found to be ideally suited for colonial conditions. The Sindh model was extended to Punjab in 1849, Bombay in 1853, and Madras in 1859, but with various modifications.
Indian Police after 1857
The revolt of 1857 had shaken the foundations of the British Empire and made them more conscious about the need to have an effective machinery for collection of information and for policing the empire’s territories. The police commission appointed in 1860 had provided a basic structure for the police establishment needed by the empire. It led to the enactment of the Police Act of 1861. In the new organization, military police were eliminated and the civilian police were organized on a provincial basis. The entire police organization was placed under the control of the civilian authorities. For a long time, the positions of the inspector general were filled by the civil servants. The district superintendents were to be in charge of rural police and the daroga became the sub-inspector. The new system had solved the age-old problem of integrating the rural police into the imperial structure. The police commission of 1902 had provisions for the appointment of educated Indians to the position of officers, but below the rank of European officers. The police under the colonial rule gradually became successful in reducing the major crimes like dacoit. They were also able to prevent the organization of a large-scale conspiracy against the colonial rule.
Judicial policies under British rule
The judicial system in India was neither adopted proper procedures nor had the proper organization of the law court from the ancient India to Mughal India. The beginning of a common law system based on the recorded judicial proceedings can be traced back to the establishment of mayor’s courts in Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta in 1726 by the East India Company with the company’s transformation from a trading company into a ruling power. New elements of the judicial system replaced the existing Mughal legal system. Various governor generals introduced various reforms in judicial system like:
Reforms under Warren Hastings
District Diwani adalats were established in districts to solve civil disputes. These adalats were placed under the collector and had Hindu law applicable for Hindus and the Muslim law for Muslims. And district faujdari courts were set up to track criminal disputes. Under the Regulating Act of 1773, the Supreme Court was established in Calcutta.
Reforms under Cornwallis
The district faujdari courts were abolished and instead circuit courts were established at Calcutta, Decca, Murshidabad, and Patna. The district bhiwani adalat was now designated as the district, city, or the zilla court and placed under a district judge.
Reforms under William Bentinck
The four circuit courts were abolished and their functions transferred to collectors under the supervision of the Commissioner of Revenue and Circuit. Sadar diiwani adalat and Sadar Nizamat adalat were set up at Allahabad for the convenience of the people of upper provinces. In 1860, it was provided that the Europeans can claim no special privileges except in criminal cases and no judge of an Indian origin could try them. In 1865, the Supreme Court and the Sadar adalat were merged into the three high courts at Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras. In 1935, the Government of India Act provided for a federal court set up in 1937 which could settle disputes between the governments and could hear limited appeals from the high courts.
Transport and communication system under British rule
Up to the middle of the 19th century, the means of transport in India were backwards. They were confined to bullock carts, camels, and packhorses. The British rulers soon realized that a cheap and easy system of transport was a necessity if British manufacturers were to flow into India on a large scale. The British rulers introduced steam ships on the rivers and also improved the roads. Work of the Grand Trunk Road from Calcutta to Delhi began in 1839 and completed in 1850. Efforts were also made to link by road the major cities, ports, and markets of the country.
Development of the Railways
The first railway engine designed by George Stephenson was put on the rail in England in 1814. Railways developed rapidly during the 1830s and 40s. In 1831, the earliest suggestion to build a railway in India was made in Madras, but the wagons of this railway were to be drawn by horses. Construction of steam driven railways in India was first proposed in 1834 in England. It was given strong political support by England’s railway promoters and mercantile houses trading with India. The first railway line running from Bombay to Thane was opened in 1853. Lord Dalhousie, who became the Governor General of India in 1849, was an advocate of the rapid railway construction. Dalhousie proposed a network of four main trunk lines which would link the interior of the country with the big ports and interconnect the different parts of the country. The railway lines were laid primarily with the view to link India’s raw material producing areas in the interior with the ports of export. The Britishers neglected the needs of the Indian industries regarding their markets and their sources of raw materials. Moreover, the railway rates were fixed in a manner so as to favour the imports and exports and to discriminate against the internal movement of goods. Several railway lines in Burma and north-western India were built at high cost to serve the British imperial interests.
Development of the port and telegraph system
The British also established an efficient and modern postal service system and introduced the telegraph. The first telegraph line from Calcutta to Agra was opened in 1853. Lord Dalhousie introduced postal stamps. Previously, cash payment had to be made when a letter was posted. He also cut down postal rates and charged a uniform rate.
Impact of economic policies of British India
Indian goods were purchased at a cheap rate and sold in high prices in England
Cheap and machine made imports flooded the Indian market after the charter act of 1813 allowing a one way free trade for the Britishers citizens
On the other hand Indian products founded more and more difficult to enter the European markets
The newly introduced rail network help the European products to reach the remotest corners of the country. Thus, from being a net exporter India became a net importer
The loss of traditional livelihood was not accompanied by a process of industrialisation in India
By 1815, half of the total land in Bengal had passed into new hands (merchants and money lenders)
Increase in the number of intermediaries to be paid give a rise to absentee landlordism and increase the burden on the peasant
The cultivator had neither the means nor an incentive to invest in agriculture
The zamindar had no roots in the village, while the government spent little on agriculture, technical or mass education. All these was significant causes for low level of productivity
Regular famines became a common feature in India. This commands were not just because the food grains scarcity, but where a direct result of poverty imposed by colonial forces in India
Commercialisation of agriculture
The later half of the 19th century saw the rise of commercialisation of agriculture. Now the agricultural begin to be influence by commercial consideration
Certain specialized crops begin to be grown not for consumption in the village but for sale in the national and even International markets
For the Indian peasant, commercialisation seen the forced process as there was hardly any surplus for them to invest in commercial crops
Commercialisation linked Indian agriculture with international market trends and their fluctuation
Possible growing of commercial crops prove hazardous for peasants because they had to buy food grains at high prices and sell crash crops at low prices
Commercialisation of agriculture result in reduced area of cultivation for food crops due to the substitution of commercial non food grains instead of food grains
This had a devastating effect on the rural economy and got manifested in the form of a series of famines
The devastating effects of 1876-78 famine compare the British government to do something substantial to check the recurrence of famines in India. Hence, they formed three famine Commissions in 1878, 1897 and 1900 respectively.
Destruction of traditional Indian industries
Indian industry such as ship building and steel industries were crushed
The development of railways was not coordinated with India’s industrial needs and a demanded in a commercial rather than an industrial revolution
Such developments were considered more for benefits of British rather than Indians
It was only in the second half of the 19th century that modern machine based industries started coming up in India
In 1853 the first cotton textile mill was set up in Bombay by Cowasjee Nanabhoy and the first jute mill came up in 1855 in Rishra (Bengal). Most of the modern industries were foreign owned and controlled by British managing agencies
The basic assertion of these early intellectual was that India was poor and growing poorer due to British imperialism
Since, the causes of India’s economic backwardness were man made, they were explainable and removable. The problem of poverty was seen as a problem of raising productive capacity and energy of the people or as a problem of National development.
Impact of powerful class of manufacturers
The class of manufacturers begin to attack the monopolisation of the company rule
They discouraged imports of manufacturers from India and encourage exports of its own products to India
From 1793 to 1813, they launched a powerful campaign against the company and its commercial privileges. In 1813, The finally succeeded in abolishing its Monopoly of Indian trade
The Government of India now followed a policy of free trade of British goods. However this free trade imposed on India was one sided
Indian handicrafts were exposed to the unequal competition of the machine made products of Britain and gradually faced extinction
Indian handmade goods were unable to compete against the much cheaper products of British Mills
These mills were rapidly improving their products capacity by using inventions and a wider use of system power
Instead of exporting manufactured products India was now forced to export raw materials like raw cotton and raw silk, plantation products like Indigo, tea or food grains, which were in short supply in Britain
