Popular Resistance to Company Rule

The early years of the English East India company’s rule in India witnessed a large number of uprisings and rebellions. Over a period of 100 years, starting from 1750s to 1850s, the English East India company adopted various measures to transform India into a colony.

Different policies followed by the British in India during this period were primarily in the interest of the British. A number of land revenue experiments were made which caused hardship to cultivators. Local administration failed to provide relief and natural justice to the rural poor.

The British rule in India had a number of changes in socio-economic life of the Indian people. The industrial Revolution made it necessary for England to look for raw materials and markets in other countries. This necessity guided the policy of the colonial ruler in India. Indian economy was geared to serve the interests of the British masters.

Some of the important changes in Indian economy during this period:

• A new set of property relations was introduced and land was made saleable commodity.
• Private ownership of land was recognized and a number of intermediaries came into existence in between the owner and cultivator of the land.
• Commercial crops were encouraged in place of food crops to serve the British capitalists.
• Speculation and investment in land by merchants, bureaucrats and landlords led to the growth of absentee landlordism.
• Growing burden of taxation made the cultivators an easy prey to the revenue collections, merchants and money lenders.
• Transfer of wealth from India to England became a common feature.
• Local industries were suppressed in order to make way for the British manufactured goods.
• Tribals lost their traditional rights in land due to the land revenue policy of the British government.

All these changes dealt a serious blow to the rural society, particularly the cultivators and tribals. For the peasant, the new changes in agrarian economy and social structure meant more intensive and systematic exploitation.

The colonial rulers were concerned only with the collection of revenues in time which were fixed at high rates. Zamindars and others who were engaged in collecting the revenue were least concerned about the paying capacity of the cultivators and forcefully collected the taxes.

In meeting the increasing demand of taxes, the peasants were compelled to sell their lands or they were caught in the trap of money lenders. Justice could not be expected from the local administration because it was under the influence of the rich. Thus, under the colonial rule, the nexus of the official, the landlord and the money lender combined together to exploit the peasantry.

Bengal famine of 1770, bear testimony to the devastating effect of the British policy over the rural society. Along with the colonization of the economy, changes introduced by the British in local administration and society created discontent and resentment among local population. This discontent at various junctures took the form of rebellion.