History Flashcards
Subsidiary Alliance
Lord Wellesley - 1798-1905
between EIC and princely state
by virtue of which the Indian kingdoms lost their sovereignty to the English. It also was a major process that led to the building of the British Empire in India. It was framed by Lord Wellesley, the Governor-General of India from 1798 to 1805. It was actually used for the first time by the French Governor-General Marquis Dupleix.
The Nawab of Awadh was the first ruler to enter into the subsidiary alliance with the British after the Battle of Buxar. However, the Nizam of Hyderabad was the first to accept a well-framed subsidiary alliance.
Order in which Indian state enter into subsidiary alliance- also termed as non interventionist policy
Hyderabad (1798)
Mysore (1799 – After Tipu Sultan was defeated in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War)
Tanjore (1799)
Awadh (1801)
Peshwa (Marathas) (1802)
Scindia (Marathas) (1803)
Gaekwad (Marathas) (1803)
who introduced subsidiary alliance in Awadh?
Lord Clive
Treaty of Allahabad was signed where the British promised protection from their enemies Marathas.
Land Revenue system in British India - Ryotwari settlement
Ryotwari system- by Sir Thomas Munro- Governor of Madras in 1820- Madras, Bombay, Coorg and Assam.
In this system peasants or cultivators were regarded as owners of land.
They had ownership rights, could sell, mortgage or gift the land.
The taxes were directly collected by the government from the peasants.
The rates were 50% in dryland and 60% in the wetland.
The rates were high and unlike the Permanent System, they were open to being increased.
If they failed to pay the taxes, they were evicted by the government.
Ryot means peasant cultivators.
Here there were no middlemen as in the Zamindari system. But, since high taxes had to be paid only in cash (no option of paying in kind as before the British) the problem of moneylenders came into the show. They further burdened the peasants with heavy interests.
Mahalwari System
- Holt Mackenzie
in 1822 and it was reviewed under Lord William Bentinck in 1833.
This system was introduced in North-West Frontier, Agra, Central Province, Gangetic Valley, Punjab, etc.
This had elements of both the Zamindari and the Ryotwari systems.
This system divided the land into Mahals. Sometimes, a Mahal was constituted by one or more villages.
The tax was assessed on the Mahal.
Each individual farmer gave his share.
Here also, ownership rights were with the peasants.
Revenue was collected by the village headman or village leaders.
It introduced the concept of average rents for different soil classes.
The state share of the revenue was 66% of the rental value. The settlement was agreed upon for 30 years.
This system was called the Modified Zamindari system because the village headman virtually became a Zamindar.
Santhal Rebellion
agricultural people settled in Rajmahal Hills of Bihar.
British turned to them for the expansion of the revenue through agriculture. Santhals agreed to clear forests to practice settled agriculture. In 1832, a large number of areas were demarcated as Damin-i-Koh or Santal Pargana. However, gradually the exploitation started from the British side and to such an extent, that it gave rise to Santhal Rebellion.
Santhals
are the largest tribal group in India native to Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha
On 30th June 1855, two years before the Great Revolt of 1857, two Santhal brothers Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu organised 10,000 Santhals and proclaimed a rebellion against the British. The tribals took an oath to drive away from the British from their homeland. The Murmu brothers’ sisters Phulo and Jhano also played an active part in the rebellion.
When the police came to arrest the brothers, the villagers killed the policemen. They were able to capture large parts of land including the Rajmahal Hills, Bhagalpur district and Birbhum.
Although the rebellion took the government by surprise, they crushed it with a heavy hand. The British firepower was no match for the tribal methods of warfare composed of spears and arrows. About 15000 Santhal villagers including the Murmu brothers were killed and their villages destroyed.
Santhal Rebellion
The Santhal Revolt took place in 1855-56. Santhals are a tribal group concentrated in the state of Jharkhand. This was the first peasant revolt that occurred in India. The revolt can be attributed to the introduction of the Permanent Land Settlement of 1793.
Indigo Rebellion
Indigo cultivation started in Bengal in 1777
The indigo farmers revolted in the Nadia district of Bengal by refusing to grow indigo. They attacked the policemen who intervened. The planters, in response to this, increased the rents and evicted the farmers which led to more agitations.
In April 1860, all the farmers in the Barasat division of the districts Nadia and Pabna went on a strike and refused to grow indigo.
The strike spread to other parts of Bengal.
The farmers were led by the Biswas brothers of Nadia, Rafiq Mondal of Malda and Kader Molla of Pabna. The revolt also received support from many zamindars notably Ramrattan Mullick of Narail.
The revolt was suppressed and many farmers were slaughtered by the government and some of the zamindars.
Nil Darpan was written by
by Dinabandhu Mitra in 1858-1859 portrayed the farmers situation accurately
Michael Madhusudan Dutta translated the play into English on the authority by the Secretary to the Governor of Bengal, W S Seton-Karr.
the indigo revolt was largely non violent one.
By the end of 1860, indigo cultivation was literally washed away from Bengal since the planters closed their factories and left for good.
Munda Rebellion
in 1899-1900 led by Birsa Munda in south Ranchi
The land policies of the British were destroying their traditional land system.
Hindu landlords and moneylenders were taking over their land.
Missionaries were criticizing their traditional culture.
It forced the colonial government to introduce laws so that the land of the tribals could not be easily taken over by dikus (Chotanagpur Tenancy Act, 1908)
Ghadar Party/ initially called Pacific coast Hindustan association
The Ghadar Party was an international political movement consisting of expatriate Indians to overthrow British rule in India. The official founding has been dated to a meeting on 15 July 1913 in Astoria, Oregon, the United States of America. leadership of Lala Har Dayal, Sant Baba Wasakha Singh Dadehar, Baba Jawala Singh, Santokh Singh and Sohan Singh Bhakna as its president. The Ghadar party found a large support base among Indian expatriates living in the United States, Canada, East Africa and Asia.
Ghadar Party Association
The party was built around the weekly paper The Ghadar, which carried the caption on the masthead: Angrezi Raj Ka Dushman (an enemy of the British rule). “Wanted brave soldiers”, the Ghadar declared, “to stir up rebellion in India. Pay-death; Price-martyrdom; Pension-liberty; Field of battle-India.
Following the Komagata Maru Incident in 1914, a direct challenge to Canadian anti-Indian immigration laws, several thousand Indians resident in the United States sold their business and homes ready to drive the British from India, bolstering the ranks of the Ghadar Party.
People associated with Ghadar Party
Prominent Ghadar leaders included Tarak Nath Das, Barkatullah and Sohan Singh.
People Associated with the Ghadr Party Response:
Kartar Singh Saraba and Raghubar Dayal Gupta left for India.
Rashbehari Bose and Sachin Sanyal were asked to lead the movement
Indian National Army
also known as Asad Hind Fauj was an armed force formed by Indian Nationalists in 1942, through the patronage of the Imperial Japanese Army, to secure the Independence of India.
formed by Mohan Singh
Subhash Chandra Bose and second INA
The Indian National Army, was first formed on 17 February 1942 by Captain General Mohan Singh in Singapore but was disbanded due to the differences that had emerged between Captain Singh and the Japanese.
the mutiny of the Royal Indian Navy
Woods dispatch-1854
Charles Wood was the President of the Board of Control (Introduced through Pitt’s India Act, 1784) of English East India Company. He had also been the Secretary of the state of India. He had a great impact on disseminating education in India.
In 1854 he sent a despatch to Lord Dalhousie, the then Governor-General of India. Wood’s despatch suggested that primary schools must Adopt vernacular languages. Through the despatch, he also suggested that high schools use anglo-vernacular medium and that English should be the medium for college-level education. Hence, the Wood’s Despatch is considered as ‘Magna-Carta’ of English Education in India.
impact of wood dispatch
Bombay, Madras and Calcutta universities were set up in 1857
In all provinces, education departments were set up
Bethune School (founded by J.E.D. Bethune) was started for women education
Agriculture Institute at Pusa (Bihar) and an Engineering Institute at Roorkee were started
British India witnessed rapid westernisation of education system with European headmasters and principals in schools and colleges
Private Indian educators appeared
The English Education Act, 1835
was a legislative Act of the Council of India, gave effect to a decision in 1835 by Lord William Bentinck, then Governor-General of the British East India Company, to reallocate funds it was required by the British Parliament to spend on education and literature in India.
Education system during British India?
The Charter Act of 1813 was the first step towards education being made an objective of the government.
The act sanctioned a sum of Rs.1 lakh towards the education of Indians in British ruled India. This act also gave an impetus to the missionaries who were given official permission to come to India
Macaulay Minutes
English education should be imparted in place of traditional Indian learning because the oriental culture was ‘defective’ and ‘unholy’.
He believed in education a few upper and middle-class students.
In the course of time, education would trickle down to the masses. This was called the infiltration theory.
He wished to create a class of Indians who were Indian in colour and appearance but English in taste and affiliation.
In 1835, the Elphinstone College (Bombay) and the Calcutta Medical College were established.
GOI Act 1919 Montagu Chelmsford reform
introduced dyarchy- introduction of Provincial government
Education, health, local government, industry, agriculture, excise, and other subjects were divided into two categories: “reserved,” which included subjects like finance, irrigation, law and order, land revenue, and so on, and “transferred,” which included subjects like local government, health, education, excise, industry, agriculture, and so on.
Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms which came into force in 1921.
The sole purpose of this Act was to ensure Indians of their representation in the Government.
There had to be the Executive Council of the Viceroy of eight members, out of which three were to be Indians.
The governor-general could restore cuts in grants, certify bills rejected by the central legislature and issue ordinances.
who is known as the father of local self government
Lords Ripon
Ilbert bill controversy 1883
during the tenure of Lord Ripon
Earlier Indian judges could not try European but this bill gave them power to do the same it was withdrawn but reintroduced in 1884
father of civil services in India
Though the foundation of civil services was laid by Warren Hastings
but Lord Cornwallis reformed, organized and modernised in 1793 the civil services in India and he is called the father of civil services
1853 they became open to Indians also after charter act of 1853.
Wellsley role in civil services
1800 he established fort william college in calcutta
Tribal movements- Chuar Uprising- 1776
- Bengal
- Raja DhalBhum of Jaganath Dal led the mvt. in 1768
- most significant uprising was under Durjan 1798
- the tribe people were basically farmer and hunter
- famine, enhanced land revenue demand
Bhil uprising 1818-1831
Bhil were concentrated in Khandesh of Maratha territory
- revolted again in 1825 under the leadership of Sewaram
Ho and Munda uprising 1820-37
Jharkhand
Raja of Parahat
continued till 1827
In 1831 they again organized the rebellion they were joined by Mundas of Chotanagpur to protest against the newly introduced farming revenue policy
Kuki uprising 1826-50
hill tribes of Lushai hills were affected by the economic policies of British which was later suppressed. Kukis raided British territories resurfaced in 1917-1920 but was again suppressed
Ahom Revolt 1828
when British decided to add some of the Assam territory into British India which infuriated Ahom who raised under the leadership of Gomdhar Konwar in 1828.
as a result British restored upper Assam to Maharaja Purandhar
Jantia, Garo, Khasi Rebellion
- Garo, Khasi, Jantia, Singphos and Khampis organize themselves under the leadership of Khamptis
