28. Economic Impact of British Rule in India

• India's economy transformed to serve British interests
• World economy share: 23% (early 18th century) → 3% (independence)

Deindustrialisation

• Different Acts by the British#Charter Act 1813: one-way free trade benefiting Britain
• Indian products: 80% European tariffs, markets virtually closed after 1820
• Rail network: European products reached remote areas
• India: From net exporter to net importer

No Steps towards modern Industrialisation

• Europe: Rapidly industrialising
• India: Deindustrialised to serve British interest

Ruralisation

• Decline of cities
• Artisans abandoned crafts for agriculture → Increased pressure on already overburdened agriculture sector

Impoverishment of Peasantry

• Permanent Settlement: Transferable land $\stackrel{\text{Led To}}{\to }$ tenant insecurity
• Zamindars resorted to summary evictions, illegal dues, and "begar"
• Peasants
  • Sold grain at low prices to moneylender to clear zamindari dues
  • Under triple burden: Government, Zamindar, Moneylender

Emergence of Intermediaries, Absentee Landlordism, Ruin of Old Zamindars

• 1815: Half of Bengal land transferred to merchants/moneylenders
• New zamindars: Land grabbing, sub-infeudation, absentee landlordism
• No investment in agricultural improvements

Stagnation and Deterioration of Agriculture

• Cultivator: No means/incentives for investment + Minimal government agricultural support
• Land fragmentation → perpetually low productivity

Famines

• Caused by poverty, not just scarcity
• 1857-1900: 2.8 crore famine deaths

Commercialisation of Indian Agriculture

• Late 19th century: Agriculture shifted from subsistence to commercial enterprise
• Cash crops (cotton, jute, groundnut, oilseeds, sugarcane, tobacco) grown for national/international markets
• Plantation sector (tea, coffee, rubber): European-owned
• Factors encouraging commercialisation
  • Spread of money economy
  • Custom + Tradition $\stackrel{\text{Replace By}}{\to }$ Contract + Competition
  • Unified national market, British capital
• For peasants
  • Forced commercialisation process with limited investment surplus
  • 1860s: Cotton boom benefited intermediaries; 1866 price slump caused indebtedness, famine
  • Cultivators received minimal benefits from commercialisation

Destruction of Industry and Late Development of Modern Industry

• Systematic destruction of Indian industries
  • Textiles
    • British stopped paying in pounds
    • Paid from Bengal revenue at artificially low rates
  • Shipbuilding
    • Destroyed shipbuilding centres, West: Surat + Malabar, East: Masulipatnam + Bengal
    • British ships granted monopoly trade, Indian ships faced heavy duties
    • 1813: Ships below 350 tonnes prohibited from India-Britain routes
    • 1814: Indian-built ships denied "British-registered vessels" status for America/Europe trade
  • Steel
    • Tata → Forced to produce higher quality steel, Restricted to domestic market only
• Indian Traders, Moneylenders, and Bankers
  • Accumulated wealth but remained subordinate to English merchant capitalists
  • Moneylenders: Provided farmer loans, facilitating colonial revenue collection
  • Traders: Distributed British imports and collected agricultural exports
  • Indigenous bankers: Supported both distribution and collection systems
• Indigenous industries
  • 1854: First cotton textile mill in Bombay
  • 1855: First jute mill in Rishra (Bengal)
  • Handicaps
    • Credit problems
    • No tariff protection
    • Unequal foreign competition
  • Lopsided development
    • Core, heavy industries, power generation → Neglected
    • Regional disparities: Some region favoured more than others
    • No technical education

Nationalist Critique of Colonial Economy

• Early 19th century: Intellectuals supported British rule, expecting modernization
• 1860s: Disillusionment began; intellectuals examined British rule's reality
• Economic Analysts
  • Dadabhai Naoroji: Developed economic drain theory in "Poverty and UnBritish Rule"
  • Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade
  • Romesh Chandra Dutt: The Economic Theory of India

British Policies Making India Poor

• Nationalist View
  • India impoverished by British imperialism
  • Poverty viewed as national productive capacity issue
  • Advocated independent economy based on modern industries
  • Foreign capital: Suppressed Indian capital development + Created interests perpetuating colonial rule

Growth of Trade and Railways to Help Britain

• Trade pattern: India relegated to raw material exporter, finished goods importer
• Railways
  • Not aligned with India's industrial needs
  • Enabled foreign goods to outsell indigenous products
  • Benefits from railway investments accrued to Britain
  • G.V. Joshi: Railway expenditure was "Indian subsidy to British industries"

One-Way Free Trade and Tariff Policy

• One way free trade ruined Indian handicrafts industry
• Taxes burdened poor while sparing British interests
• Government expenditure served colonial needs, ignored development

Effect of Economic Drain

• Denuded India of productive capital
• Drain estimated at
  • ≥ land revenue
  • Half government revenue
  • 8% of national product

Economic Issue a Stimulant to National Unrest

• Nationalist economic critique undermined British ideological hegemony
• Exposed myth that foreign rule benefited Indians
• Demonstrated India's poverty resulted from British interests
• Stimulated intellectual unrest during moderate phase (1875-1905)
• Late 19th century: Nationalists demanded share in political power
• Early 20th century: Began demanding self-rule

Stages of Colonialism in India

• British rule evolved over two centuries with changing world economy
• Rajni Palme Dutt identified three overlapping stages of imperialism
• Each stage built upon previous conditions
• Colonial exploitation patterns evolved → old forms integrated into new

29. Development of Indian Press

• 1780: Bengal Gazette / Calcutta General Advertiser: First Indian Newspaper, seized 1782 for government criticism. #Ind_Publications
• Early papers: Bengal Journal, Calcutta Chronicle, Madras Courier, Bombay Herald #Ind_Publications
• Company feared exposure of misdeeds in London ⇒ Press restrictions

Early Regulations

Censorship of Press Act 1799

• Lord Wellesley enacted anticipating French invasion
• Imposed wartime press restrictions including pre-censorship
• Restrictions relaxed under Lord Hastings with progressive views
• 1818: Pre-censorship dispensed with

Licensing Regulations 1823

• Enacted by acting Governor General John Adams with reactionary views

• Using press (journals, pamphlets, books) without license became penal offense

• Restrictions targeted Indian language newspapers and Indian editors

• Mirat-ul-Akbar: Rammohan Roy forced to stop publication #Ind_Publications

Press Act of 1835 or Metcalfe Act

• Metcalfe (Governor General 1835-36) repealed 1823 ordinance
• Earned title "liberator of Indian press"
• Required printer/publisher to provide premises account, cease if required
• Liberal press policy resulted in rapid newspaper growth

Licensing Act 1857

• Imposed during 1857 revolt emergency
• Added restrictions to Metcalfe Act registration procedure
• Government reserved right to stop publication/circulation

Registration Act 1867

• Replaced [[#Press Act of 1835 or Metcalfe Act]]
• Regulatory not restrictive nature
• Required printing printer name, publisher, publication place
• Copy submission to local government within one month

Struggle by early Nationalists to secure press freedom

• 1824: Rammohan Roy protested press restrictions
• 1870-1918: Press became crucial nationalist tool for propaganda, education; not yet used to mass agitation or active mobilisation of masses

Publications#Other Major Newspapers

Publications#Other Regional Newspapers

• Newspapers → Tools of Political education, Library movement, Government scrutiny than business venture
• Section 124A criminalised government criticism → journalists developed subversion strategies → Hostile writings prefaced with loyal sentiments or socialist quotes from newspapers in England

Vernacular Press Act, 1878

• Nicknamed gagging Act for English-vernacular discrimination

• Post-1857 racial divide

  • European press pro-government
  • Vernacular press critical → Targeted vernacular publications during Lytton administration (famine, expenditure controversies)

• Provisions

  • Press Control
    • Bonds required against disaffection/antipathy content
    • Security deposits forfeitable upon violation
    • Equipment seizure for repeat offenses
  • No legal appeal against Magistrate decisions

• Newspaper targeted: Som Prakash, Bharat Mihir, Dacca Prakash, Samachar #Ind_Publications

• Amrita Bazar Patrika: Switched to English to avoid restrictions #Ind_Publications

• 1882: Repealed by Lord Ripon after opposition

Repression against Nationalist Journalists Continues

• 1883: Surendranath Banerjee first imprisoned Indian journalist, criticized judge in The Bengalee
• Prominent Men#Bal Gangadhar Tilak
  • Led nationalist press freedom fight through Kesari and Mahratta newspapers
  • Built anti-imperialism through Ganpati/Shivaji festivals, advocated mass participation
  • 1896 - 1897: Tilak organized cloth boycott, no-tax campaign during famine
  • 1897: Plague in Poona led to harsh government measures → popular unrest → Rand's murder
  • Government targeted Tilak for Kesari publication, imprisoned him 18 months for sedition
  • Tilak's imprisonment sparked protests, earned him "Lokmanya" (respected by people) title
  • & First person to be convicted of sedition. (First person to be tried of sedition was Jogendra Chunder who criticised British govt raising of age of consent in an article)
• 1898: Government amended Penal Code (Sections 124A, 153A) criminalising government contempt
• Swadeshi Movement intensified nationalist press activity → more repressive laws

Newspaper (Incitement to Offences) Act, 1908

• Empowered magistrate to confiscate press property who published objectionable material

Indian Press Act 1910

• Revived features of [[#Vernacular Press Act, 1878]]
• Required security deposit from printer / published, forfeiture if published against colonialism, submission of copies to government
• 1000+ newspaper prosecuted under the act, ₹ 5L+ collected

During and After the First World War

• Defence of India Rules restricted political criticism
• 1921: 1908/1910 Press Acts (Chapter 28 - 32#Newspaper Incitement to Offences Act 1908 / Chapter 28 - 32#Indian Press Act 1910) repealed after Sapru Committee recommendations

Indian Press (Emergency Power) Act, 1931

• Authorized provincial governments to suppress Civil Disobedience Movement propaganda

During the Second World War

• Pre-censorship imposed (all content had to be check and approved by govt before it could be published), Press Emergency Act amended, all Congress-related news declared illegal

30. Development of Education

Under Company Rule

• First 60 years: East India Company showed no interest in education
• 1781: Calcutta Madrasah (Muslim law)
• 1791: Sanskrit College (Hindu law)
• 1800: Fort William College at Wellesley (closed 1802)
• Institutions designed to supply qualified Indians for Company's administration
• Missionaries and enlightened Indians advocated Western education

Charter Act of 1813

• First official recognition of educating Indians in modern sciences
• One lakh rupees sanctioned (available 1823)
• 1817: Calcutta College established by Raja Rammohan Roy

Orientalist-Anglicist Controversy

• Orientalists
  • Traditional learning, vernacular languages
  • Early phase seen under British#Warren Hastings (1772-1785) who believed conquered people should be ruled by their own laws
• Anglicists
  • English medium, modern studies
  • Orientalist policy was abandoned by British#Lord Cornwallis (1786-1793, 1805) supported by British#Lord Wellesley (1798 - 1805)
• Limited resources created implementation conflicts

Lord Macaulay's Minute (1835)

• Favoured Anglicists, declared Indian learning inferior
• & English only became instruction medium
• Established [[#Downward Filtration Theory]]

Downward Filtration Theory

• Created English-educated elite class as intermediaries
• Focused resources on upper/middle classes only
• Knowledge expected to "filter down" to masses through elites

Thomson's Efforts (1843-53)

• Developed vernacular village education in NW Provinces
• Focused on practical subjects for government departments

Wood's Despatch (1854)

• Magna Carta of English Education in India
• Asked government to assume responsibility for mass education
• Systematised hierarchy
  • Villages: Vernacular primary schools
  • District: Anglo-Vernacular High Schools + Affiliated colleges
  • Presidencies (Bombay + Calcutta + Madras): Universities
• English for higher education, vernaculars for schools
• Promoted female education, secular instruction, grants-in-aid system

Developments

• Wood's Despatch dominated education for five decades
• 1857: Universities established at Calcutta, Bombay, Madras
• 1849: Bethune School for women's education
• Gradual emergence of private Indian educational efforts

After the Crown Takeover

Hunter Education Commission (1882-83)

• 1882: W.W. Hunter Commission reviewed education progress since 1854
• Recommendations
  • Govt should focus on primary education in vernacular
  • District and municipal board control of primary education
  • 2 divisions in secondary education
    • Literary $\stackrel{\text{Leading to}}{\to }$ University
    • Vocational $\stackrel{\text{Leading to}}{\to }$ Commercial careers
  • Female education

Universities established: Punjab (1882), Allahabad (1187)

Indian Universities Act, 1904

• 1902: Raleigh Commission examined university conditions
• 1904 Act
  • Provisions
    • Enhanced research focus
    • Government control over fellows + university regulations
    • Strict conditions for affiliation of private colleges
    • ₹ 5L grant for higher education
  • Prominent Men#Gopal Krishna Gokhale: "Retrogade measure"

Government Resolution on Education Policy - 1913

• 1906: Baroda introduced compulsory primary education
• 1910: Gokhale's Resolution demanded compulsory primary education, department of education, education secretary
• & 1911: Gokhale's bill for free compulsory education rejected
• 1913: Govt introduced Resolution on Education Policy
  • Refused compulsory education
  • Focussed on illiteracy removal
  • Urged provincial govt to provide free elementary education to poor and more backward sections
  • Recommended university establishment in each province
  • Curriculum for practical utility of girls

Sadler University Commission (1917-19)

• 1917: Michael Sadler Commission studied Calcutta University but made broadly applicable recommendations
• Key proposals
  • 12-year schooling
  • Intermediate stage before university
  • Separate secondary and intermediate education boards
  • Advocated centralized residential universities, less rigid regulations, expanded female/technical education
• 1916-1921: Seven new universities established beyond the existing examination-focused institutions
• Earlier universities: Provided affiliation, conducted examinations, conferred degrees
• Post-implementation of Sadler
  • Teaching and residential universities increased
  • Creation / introduction of: Honour courses, Research facilities, Education departments, Post of Professor, Inter University Board, Student Welfare Board

Education Under Dyarchy

• Different Acts by the British#Government of India Act 1919 transferred education to provinces
• Government ceased direct interest and grants
• Financial constraints limited expansion
• Growth primarily through philanthropic efforts

Hartog Committee (1929)

• Formed under Philip Hartog to address deteriorating education standards

Primary Education

• Issues
  • Insufficient school expansion and poor quality
  • High wastage and stagnation rates
  • Withdrawal causes: poverty, caste barriers, religious conservatism
  • Unqualified teachers, inadequate inspection, lack of women teachers
• Recommendations
  • Government control of primary schools with four-year duration
  • Locally-adapted curriculum and teacher training
  • Schools as community centers for rural areas

Secondary Education

• Issues
  • Examination-focused
  • High failure rates
• Recommendations
  • Diversified curriculum
  • Aptitude based alternative course selection
  • Inclusion of commercial and industrial subjects

Higher Education

• Issues
  • Low standards, overcrowding, poor libraries
• Recommendations
  • Residential universities
  • Improved libraries
  • Merit-based admissions

Women's Education

• Equal importance for both genders
• More girls' schools with practical curriculum

Sargent Plan (1944)

• Long-term plan targeting universal literacy within 40 years
• Key proposals
  • Age 3-6: Free pre-primary education with women teachers
  • Age 6-14: Universal, free education in two stages
    • Junior Basic (6-11)
    • Senior Basic (11-14)
    • Activity-based learning with local craft focus
  • Age 14+ :
    • Six-year high schools for exceptional students in 2 streams: Academic + Technical / vocational
    • Mother tongue instruction with English as second language
  • University reforms
    • Improved selection
    • 3-year degrees
    • Abolished intermediate course
  • Additional initiatives
    • Adult literacy
    • Special education for physically handicapped / mentally retarded
    • Employment bureaus
• Criticized as too slow, expensive, and utopian for Indian conditions

Development of Vernacular Education

• Early 19th century: Vernacular education dependent on zamindars' contributions
• 1835-38: William Adam's reports identified system defects in Bengal/Bihar
• 1843-53: James Jonathan established model schools and teacher training in UP
• 1854: [[#Wood's Despatch (1854)]] provisions for vernacular: Standards improvement, government supervision, teacher training
• 1854-71: Five-fold increase in vernacular schools with government support
• 1882: [[#Hunter Education Commission (1882-83)]] advocated state efforts for vernacular education
• 1904: Policy increased grants for vernacular education
• 1929: Hartog Committee reported poor primary education conditions
• 1937: Congress ministries supported vernacular schools

Development of Technical Education

• 1847-58: Engineering colleges established at Roorkee, Calcutta, Poona, Guindy
• 1835: Medical education began in Calcutta
• Lord Curzon: British#^Lord-Curzon-Agriculture-College

Evaluation of British Policy on Education

• British Education Motives
  • Education policy driven by administrative needs, not philanthropy
  • Education used to strengthen British authority and create market for British goods
• Language Policy Impact
  • English emphasized as administrative language
  • Traditional Indian learning declined after 1844 English requirement
• Educational Access and Inequality
  • Mass education neglected → 92-94% illiteracy (1911-22)
  • Education became upper class, urban monopoly due to cost
  • Women's education and scientific/technical training severely neglected
  • By 1857: Only three medical colleges and one engineering college, primarily serving Europeans

31. The Movement of the Working Class

Peasantry Under Colonialism

• Colonial policies transformed agrarian structure → peasant impoverishment due to
  • Handicrafts collapse
  • Land overcrowding
  • New revenue system
  • Exploitative administration
  • High rents
  • Illegal levies
  • Evictions in zamindari areas
  • Heavy revenue in Ryotwari regions
• Debt trap: farmers $\stackrel{\text{took loan from}}{\to }$ moneylenders $\stackrel{\text{couldn’t pay back}}{\to }$ property loss $\stackrel{\text{reduced to}}{\to }$ tenants/laborers
• Resistance emerged as peasants identified colonial state as enemy
• Crime (robbery, dacoity) became survival strategy

A Survey of Early Peasant Movements

Indigo Revolt (1859-60)

• Bengal planters forced unprofitable indigo cultivation through coercion
• 1859: Peasants under Biswas leaders (Digambar Biswas + Bishnu Biswas) resisted planters and their enforcers
• Tactics: Counter-force, Rent strikes, Legal machinery
• Bengali intelligentsia provided crucial support
• 1860: Government notification ended forced cultivation
• British#Indigo Commission 1860: to investigate peasant grievances

Pabna Agrarian Leagues

• 1870s-1880s: Eastern Bengal zamindars imposed illegal rents, prevented occupancy rights
• Yusufshahi Pargana peasants formed leagues → organized resistance
• Used rent strikes, legal challenges funded by collective action
• 1885: Specific Sectoral Regulations#Bengal Tenancy Act 1885 passed after partial resolution
• Intellectuals (Bankim Chatterjee, R.C. Dutt) supported peasant cause

Deccan Riots

• Ryotwari taxation + outsider moneylenders trapped Deccan peasants
• 1864: Cotton crash after American Civil War worsened conditions
• 1867: 50% land revenue increase followed by harvest failures
• 1874: Social boycott → agrarian riots against moneylenders
• Response: Government repression + 1879 Deccan Agriculturists Relief Act (Conciliatory measure)

Changed Nature of Peasant Movements after 1857

• Peasants became main agrarian force fighting for economic demands
• Targeted immediate enemies: planters, zamindars, moneylenders
• Specific objectives without challenging colonial system
• Limited reach, no continuity or long-term organization
• Strong legal rights awareness developed
• Weaknesses
  • Poor understanding of colonialism
  • Lacked new ideology or alternative social vision
  • Operated within existing societal framework

Later Movements

• 20th century movements influenced national freedom struggle

The Kisan Sabha Movement

• Post-1857: Awadh taluqdars regained power, imposed high rents
• WWI worsened conditions; Home Rule activists organized kisan sabhas
• 1918: UP Kisan Sabha founded by Gauri Shankar Mishra + Indra Narayan Dwivedi
• 1920: Awadh Kisan Sabha founded, opposed bedakhali land (no tilling) and forced labor (hari / begar)
• 1921: Tactics evolved from meetings to direct action
• Declined due to repression and Awadh Rent (Amendment) Act

Eka Movement

• 1921: Northern UP peasants protested excessive rents (≥ 50% of recorded rates) and oppression of thikadar (in charge of revenue collection)
• Vows
  • Pay only recorded rent on time
  • Not leave when evicted
  • No forced labour
  • Abide by panchayat decisions
• Led by low-caste leaders; crushed by March 1922

Mappila Revolt

• Muslim tenants in Malabar opposed Hindu landlords
• Grievances: tenure security, high rents, renewal fees
• Merged with Khilafat movement; supported by national leaders
• August 1921: Ali Musaliar's arrest triggered riots
• Initially targeted British authority and Hindu landlords
• Acquired communal character after martial law
• Isolated from national movement by December 1921

Bardoli Satyagraha

• 1926: Authorities increased Bardoli taluka land revenue by 30%
• Congress investigation found hike unjustified
• Vallabhbhai Patel
  • Sardar: Title given by women of Bardoli
  • Led peasants' refusal to pay increased assessment
  • Organized 13 workers' camps (chhavanis) and published Bardoli Satyagraha Patrika
  • Women's participation earned Patel title Sardar
• 1928: Government committee reduced increase to 6.03%

All India Kisan Congress/Sabha

• April 1936: Founded in Lucknow by Sahajanand Saraswati (president), N.G. Ranga (secretary)
• Issued kisan manifesto, started periodical Indulal Yagnik, influenced 1937 Congress election manifesto

Under Congress Ministries (1937-39)

• Peasant movement peak under Congress provincial rule
• Mobilization through kisan conferences, village campaigns

Provincial Peasant Activities

During War

• Communist adopted pro war stance → AIKS was split

Post war phase

Balance Sheet of Peasant movement

• Created foundation for post-independence agrarian reforms
• Abolished zamindari, eroded landed class power
• Nationalist ideology unified diverse regional movements

32. The Movement of the Working Class

• Mid-19th century: Modern industry entered India via railways, followed by coal, cotton, jute industries
• Indian workers faced dual exploitation: imperial rule and capitalist exploitation (foreign and native)
• Under the circumstances: working class movement merged with national liberation struggle

Early Efforts

• Moderates: Indifferent to labor, opposed factory legislation, feared competitive disadvantage for Indian owner industries
• Early improvements: Isolated philanthropic efforts targeting local grievances
• 1870: Sasipada Banerjee established workingmen's club, Bharat Shramjeevi newspaper
• 1878: Sorabji Bengalee attempted labor legislation in Bombay
• 1880: Narayan Lokhande started Bombay Mills and Millhands Association, Deenbandhu newspaper
• 1899: First major strike by Great Indian Peninsular Railways, occurred after Tilak campaigned in Kesari and Maharatta

During Swadeshi Upsurge

• Workers joined political movements
• Strikes in government press, railways, jute industry
• Trade union formation attempts largely failed
• Subramaniya Siva and Chidambaram Pillai led southern India strikes, faced arrest
• Largest strike followed Tilak's arrest

During the First World War and After

• War: Exports and prices rose, industrialists profited while workers suffered
• Gandhi mobilised workers and peasants in national movement
• Trade union organization became priority
• International developments (Soviet Union, ILO, Comintern) influenced Indian labor movement

The AITUC

• 1920: All India Trade Union Congress founded
• Key personalities
  • First President: Lala Lajpat Rai
  • CR Das, JL Nehru, SC Bose, Sarojini Naidu3
• Ideology: Social democratic ideas of British Labour Party (initially) + Gandhian philosophy (non violence, trusteeship)

The Trade Union Act, 1926

• Recognized unions legally, established regulations
• Provided immunity for legitimate activities, restricted political actions

Late 1920s

• Communist influence brought militancy, 1928 saw major strikes (6 month long Bombay Textile Mills strike) and unrest
• Government responded with restrictive legislation
  • Public Safety Ordinance
  • Trade Disputes Act 1929
    • Mandatory dispute resolution bodies
    • Required one-month strike notice in utilities
    • Prohibited political/coercive union activities

Meerut Conspiracy Case (1929)

• 1929: 31 labor leaders arrested, weakened labour class movement
• 1931: Movement split when N.M. Joshi faction left AITUC to form All India Trade Union Federation
• 1935: Communists rejoined AITUC
• Left front: Communist, Congress socialist, leftist nationalist (Bose, Nehru)

Under Congress Ministries

• 1937 elections: AITUC supported Congress candidates
• Congress governments enacted pro-worker legislation

During and After Second World War

• Workers opposed war until 1941, then communists supported as "peoples' war" after Russia joined Allies
• Communists rejected Quit India Movement, advocated industrial peace
• 1945-1947: Workers joined national upsurges through dock worker boycotts, Naval Ratings support strikes