Ruling the Countryside
Welcome to HSLC Guru! In this article we present a complete English-medium study guide on Class 8 Social Science History Chapter 3 — Ruling the Countryside, prepared strictly according to the ASSEB (Assam State School Education Board) syllabus. This chapter explores how the East India Company transformed itself from a trading body into a ruling power, how it reorganised land revenue collection, how peasants suffered under new revenue settlements, and how forced cultivation of commercial crops like indigo led to powerful peasant movements such as the Indigo Revolt of 1859 and the Champaran Movement of 1917. The chapter is essential for understanding the economic foundations of British colonial rule in India.
Chapter Summary
On 12 August 1765, the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II appointed the East India Company as the Diwan of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. As Diwan, the Company gained the right to collect land revenue from a vast and fertile region. The Company, however, was primarily a trading body and did not yet know how to administer or assess land. Its revenue demand was so high that artisans deserted villages, peasants could not pay rent, and a terrible famine broke out in Bengal in 1770 killing nearly ten million people. To bring stability to revenue and to create a class of loyal landlords, Lord Cornwallis introduced the Permanent Settlement of 1793 in Bengal. Under it, the rajas and taluqdars were recognised as zamindars who had to pay a fixed revenue forever, but the system soon failed because the demand was too high and zamindars lost their lands.
By the early nineteenth century, the Company realised that the Permanent Settlement was not bringing in expected income. So new revenue systems were tried. Holt Mackenzie devised the Mahalwari Settlement in 1822 for the North-Western Provinces, in which revenue was assessed village by village (mahal) and the village headman collected it. In the south, Captain Alexander Read and Thomas Munro developed the Ryotwari System, applied in the Madras and Bombay presidencies, where the settlement was made directly with the cultivator (ryot). Both systems involved high revenue demands, were periodically revised, and pushed peasants into debt and poverty. Many ryots fled their villages because they could not bear the burden.
The Company also forced Indian peasants to grow commercial crops needed for European markets — indigo, opium, jute, tea, sugarcane, cotton and wheat. The demand for indigo, used as a blue dye in the British textile industry, grew sharply from the late eighteenth century. Indigo was cultivated mainly in Bengal and Bihar through two systems — the nij system, where the planter cultivated indigo on land directly controlled by him, and the ryoti system, where planters forced ryots to sign a contract (satta) and grow indigo on their best land for very low prices. The system was deeply oppressive, and in March 1859 the ryots of Bengal refused to grow indigo, leading to the famous Indigo Revolt (Blue Rebellion). The government appointed the Indigo Commission in 1860 and indigo cultivation collapsed in Bengal.
After Bengal, indigo planters shifted to Bihar. There, in 1917, Mahatma Gandhi visited Champaran at the invitation of peasant Raj Kumar Shukla and led the Champaran Satyagraha, his first movement on Indian soil, which forced the government to abolish the tinkathia system. Apart from indigo, the British promoted the opium trade with China, growing opium in Bihar and Bengal and exporting it illegally to China to balance their tea imports — leading to the Opium Wars. The British also began large-scale tea plantations in Assam after 1830, clearing forests in Brahmaputra valley and bringing in indentured labour from Bihar, Odisha and Jharkhand to work on the gardens. These developments laid the economic foundation of colonial exploitation in India.
Textbook Questions and Answers
Very Short Answer Questions (1 Mark)
Q1. When did the East India Company become the Diwan of Bengal?
Answer: The East India Company became the Diwan of Bengal on 12 August 1765.
Q2. Who introduced the Permanent Settlement?
Answer: Lord Cornwallis introduced the Permanent Settlement in 1793.
Q3. Who designed the Mahalwari Settlement?
Answer: The Mahalwari Settlement was designed by Holt Mackenzie and came into effect in 1822.
Q4. Name the British officers who developed the Ryotwari System.
Answer: The Ryotwari System was developed by Captain Alexander Read and Thomas Munro.
Q5. What is meant by “ryot”?
Answer: Ryot means a peasant cultivator who pays land revenue directly to the state.
Q6. What is a “mahal”?
Answer: A mahal is a revenue estate which may be a village or a group of villages.
Q7. When did the Indigo Revolt take place?
Answer: The Indigo Revolt took place in March 1859 in Bengal.
Q8. Who led the Champaran Movement?
Answer: Mahatma Gandhi led the Champaran Movement in 1917 in Bihar.
Q9. What is “nij” cultivation?
Answer: Nij cultivation is the system in which planters produced indigo on land they directly controlled.
Q10. Where were the first British tea plantations established in India?
Answer: The first British tea plantations in India were established in Assam in the 1830s.
Short Answer Questions (2-3 Marks)
Q1. Explain the meaning of “Diwani”. Why was it important to the East India Company?
Answer: Diwani means the right to collect land revenue and administer civil justice. After the Battle of Buxar in 1764, the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II granted the Diwani of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa to the East India Company in 1765. This was important because it gave the Company access to the vast revenue resources of one of India’s richest provinces, enabling it to finance its trade, maintain a large army and meet expenses of its administration without sending gold and silver from Britain.
Q2. What were the main features of the Permanent Settlement?
Answer: The main features of the Permanent Settlement of 1793 were — (i) the rajas and taluqdars were recognised as zamindars; (ii) they had to collect rent from peasants and pay revenue to the Company; (iii) the revenue demand was fixed permanently and could not be raised in future; (iv) if the zamindar failed to pay the revenue on the fixed date, his lands would be auctioned (Sunset Law); (v) the system was applied in Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and parts of Banaras.
Q3. Why did the Permanent Settlement fail?
Answer: The Permanent Settlement failed for several reasons. The revenue fixed was too high and zamindars often could not pay it; many lost their estates in auctions. Because the revenue was fixed forever, the Company did not gain when prices and production rose. Zamindars showed little interest in improving the land, preferring to extract higher rents from peasants. Peasants suffered heavy oppression, fell into debt and lost their customary rights over land.
Q4. Distinguish between Mahalwari and Ryotwari settlements.
Answer: Under the Mahalwari Settlement (1822, NW Provinces), the revenue was assessed village-wise (mahal) and collected by the village headman; the demand was revised periodically. Under the Ryotwari Settlement (Madras and Bombay), the settlement was made directly with the individual cultivator (ryot) without any intermediary; the assessment was based on the soil and crop. Mahalwari retained the village community as the unit; Ryotwari ignored it and treated the ryot as the proprietor.
Q5. Why did the British want to expand indigo cultivation?
Answer: By the late eighteenth century, the British textile industry was expanding rapidly and required large quantities of blue dye. Indian indigo gave a rich blue colour and was much superior to the woad dye of Europe. After the American War of Independence cut off supplies from the West Indies and the Caribbean, Britain turned to India. The Bengal climate and soil were ideal for indigo, so the Company aggressively expanded indigo plantations to feed British factories.
Q6. Why did ryots refuse to grow indigo in 1859?
Answer: Ryots refused to grow indigo in 1859 because the prices paid to them were extremely low, the planters forced them to grow indigo on their best land which left no space for paddy, the satta (contract) trapped them in endless debt, and indigo cultivation exhausted the soil so that no rice could be grown afterwards. When the planters tried to physically force them, the ryots organised, refused to take advances, attacked indigo factories and started the Indigo Revolt or Blue Rebellion.
Long Answer Questions (5-6 Marks)
Q1. Describe the circumstances under which the East India Company became the Diwan of Bengal and explain the consequences for the Bengal countryside.
Answer: After defeating the combined armies of the Mughal emperor, the Nawab of Awadh and the Nawab of Bengal at the Battle of Buxar in 1764, the East India Company emerged as the most powerful force in eastern India. On 12 August 1765, Mughal emperor Shah Alam II issued a farman granting the Company the Diwani of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, with the right to collect revenue and administer civil justice in return for a fixed annual payment.
The consequences were disastrous. Being a trading company, the East India Company had no experience of land administration, yet it raised revenue demands sharply to finance its trade and wars. Peasants were forced to sell crops and even cattle to pay revenue. Artisans were paid less than the market price for goods and many abandoned their crafts. In 1770 a terrible famine swept Bengal in which nearly ten million people, almost one-third of the population, perished. Cultivation declined, villages were deserted and the rural economy collapsed. This crisis forced the Company to look for a stable system of revenue, leading eventually to the Permanent Settlement of 1793.
Q2. Compare the three revenue settlements introduced by the British — Permanent, Mahalwari and Ryotwari.
Answer: The British introduced three major revenue settlements in different parts of India. The Permanent Settlement was introduced by Lord Cornwallis in 1793 in Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and parts of Banaras. Zamindars were recognised as proprietors, and the revenue was fixed permanently. The Mahalwari Settlement was devised by Holt Mackenzie and introduced in 1822 in the North-Western Provinces (parts of present-day UP, Punjab and central India). Here, revenue was assessed for each mahal (village or group of villages) and collected by the village headman; it was periodically revised.
The Ryotwari System was developed by Captain Alexander Read and Thomas Munro and applied to the Madras and Bombay presidencies in the early nineteenth century. The settlement was made directly with each individual ryot, who became the legal owner; rates were based on the productivity of land and were revised every twenty to thirty years. While the Permanent Settlement created a class of zamindars, Ryotwari treated peasants as proprietors and Mahalwari preserved the village community. All three, however, imposed a heavy revenue burden, indebted the peasants, and broke down the older social fabric of the Indian countryside.
Q3. Describe the nij and ryoti systems of indigo cultivation. Why was the ryoti system disliked by peasants?
Answer: Indigo was cultivated under two systems — nij and ryoti. In the nij system, the planter produced indigo on lands which he directly controlled, either by buying or renting from zamindars. He hired labourers, used bullocks and ploughs, and managed the entire production. But nij cultivation expanded slowly because planters could not get enough fertile lands together, peasants resisted leasing their land, and large bullock teams were difficult to maintain.
In the ryoti system, planters forced ryots to sign a contract (satta) to grow indigo on their own land. They were given a small advance at low interest and had to plant indigo on at least 25 per cent of their holding. After harvest, the crop was given to the planter at a price fixed by him, which was very low. The ryots disliked this system because the planters insisted on indigo being grown on their best land where they wanted to grow rice; indigo had deep roots that exhausted the soil; the cycle of advances and low prices kept them in eternal debt; and any refusal was met by physical violence from the planter’s lathiyals. This is why the ryots rose in revolt in 1859.
Q4. Write a short note on the Indigo Revolt of 1859 and the Champaran Movement of 1917.
Answer: The Indigo Revolt, also called the Blue Rebellion, broke out in March 1859 in the Nadia district of Bengal. Led by Digambar Biswas and Bishnu Biswas, ryots refused to take advances from the planters and refused to grow indigo. The revolt soon spread across Bengal. Peasants attacked indigo factories with spears and swords; women joined with pots and pans. Intellectuals supported them, and the play Nil Darpan by Dinabandhu Mitra exposed the cruelty of the planters. The government appointed the Indigo Commission in 1860 which held planters guilty. After this, indigo production virtually collapsed in Bengal.
The planters then shifted to Bihar, especially Champaran district, where the tinkathia system forced peasants to grow indigo on three-twentieths (3/20) of their holding. In 1917, on the persuasion of Raj Kumar Shukla, Mahatma Gandhi visited Champaran. He launched the Champaran Satyagraha, his first satyagraha on Indian soil. He defied government orders to leave the area, conducted a survey of peasant grievances, and forced the government to set up an inquiry committee. The committee accepted his demands, and the tinkathia system was abolished in 1918. Champaran also brought Gandhi to the centre of Indian national politics.
Q5. Discuss the British opium trade with China and the rise of tea plantations in Assam.
Answer: By the early nineteenth century, tea had become a popular drink in Britain, but China was the only source. Britain had to pay China in silver, which drained its treasury. To balance this trade, the British encouraged the cultivation of opium in Bihar and Bengal, especially around Patna and Banaras, and smuggled it into China. The Chinese government banned opium because of its harmful effects, but British merchants continued the trade illegally. This led to the two Opium Wars (1839-42 and 1856-60), which China lost, opening its markets to British goods.
To break China’s tea monopoly, the British also experimented with tea plantations in Assam. Tea was discovered growing wild in the hills of Upper Assam, and in 1838 the first Indian tea was sent to England. The Assam Tea Company was set up in 1839. The British cleared vast tracts of forest in the Brahmaputra valley and granted them to European planters at very low rates under the Wasteland Rules of 1838. Since local Assamese people were unwilling to work in the plantations, indentured labourers were brought from Bihar, Odisha and Jharkhand under harsh contracts. They lived in extremely difficult conditions. Tea soon became a major export of British India, and Assam became one of the most important plantation regions in the world.
Additional Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
Q1. The East India Company became the Diwan of Bengal in —
(a) 1757 (b) 1764 (c) 1765 (d) 1772
Answer: (c) 1765
Q2. Permanent Settlement was introduced by —
(a) Warren Hastings (b) Lord Cornwallis (c) Lord Wellesley (d) Lord Dalhousie
Answer: (b) Lord Cornwallis
Q3. The Mahalwari Settlement was devised by —
(a) Thomas Munro (b) Alexander Read (c) Holt Mackenzie (d) Cornwallis
Answer: (c) Holt Mackenzie
Q4. Ryotwari System was applied in —
(a) Bengal and Bihar (b) NW Provinces (c) Madras and Bombay (d) Awadh
Answer: (c) Madras and Bombay
Q5. The Bengal Famine of 1770 killed about —
(a) 1 million (b) 5 million (c) 10 million (d) 15 million
Answer: (c) 10 million
Q6. Indigo Revolt began in —
(a) 1857 (b) 1858 (c) 1859 (d) 1860
Answer: (c) 1859
Q7. The Champaran Movement was led by Gandhi in —
(a) 1915 (b) 1916 (c) 1917 (d) 1919
Answer: (c) 1917
Q8. The play that exposed the cruelty of indigo planters was —
(a) Anandamath (b) Nil Darpan (c) Gora (d) Devdas
Answer: (b) Nil Darpan
Q9. Who invited Gandhi to Champaran?
(a) Raj Kumar Shukla (b) Rajendra Prasad (c) Vallabhbhai Patel (d) Tilak
Answer: (a) Raj Kumar Shukla
Q10. The first Assam Tea Company was set up in —
(a) 1830 (b) 1838 (c) 1839 (d) 1845
Answer: (c) 1839
Q11. The Indigo Commission was appointed in —
(a) 1858 (b) 1859 (c) 1860 (d) 1865
Answer: (c) 1860
Q12. The system that forced Bihar peasants to grow indigo on 3/20 of their land was called —
(a) Satta (b) Tinkathia (c) Nij (d) Mahalwari
Answer: (b) Tinkathia
Fill in the Blanks
Q1. The East India Company became the ________ of Bengal in 1765.
Answer: Diwan
Q2. The Permanent Settlement was introduced in ________.
Answer: 1793
Q3. Under the ________ system, planters cultivated indigo on lands they directly controlled.
Answer: nij
Q4. The Champaran Satyagraha was launched in ________.
Answer: 1917
Q5. The first British tea plantations in India were set up in ________.
Answer: Assam
True or False
Q1. The Permanent Settlement was introduced by Lord Cornwallis in 1793.
Answer: True
Q2. Mahalwari Settlement was applied in the Madras Presidency.
Answer: False (it was applied in the North-Western Provinces).
Q3. The Indigo Revolt began in Bengal in 1859.
Answer: True
Q4. Gandhi launched the Champaran Movement in Gujarat.
Answer: False (Champaran is in Bihar).
Q5. Opium was exported from India to China by the British to balance the tea trade.
Answer: True
Q6. The Indigo Revolt is also known as the Blue Rebellion.
Answer: True
Glossary
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Diwan | The chief financial officer; the right to collect revenue and administer civil justice in Mughal provinces. |
| Diwani | The right of revenue collection granted to the East India Company in 1765 for Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. |
| Permanent Settlement | Land revenue system introduced by Cornwallis in 1793 fixing revenue forever with zamindars. |
| Zamindar | A landholder recognised by the Company who collected rent from peasants and paid revenue to the state. |
| Mahalwari | Revenue system devised by Holt Mackenzie (1822) where each mahal (village) paid revenue collected by headman. |
| Ryotwari | Revenue system of Read and Munro under which the settlement was made directly with the ryot. |
| Ryot | A peasant cultivator. |
| Mahal | A revenue estate consisting of a village or group of villages. |
| Nij | System where the planter cultivated indigo on land directly controlled by him. |
| Ryoti | System in which ryots were forced by contract to grow indigo on their own land. |
| Satta | The contract signed by ryots with the indigo planter. |
| Tinkathia | Bihar system that forced peasants to grow indigo on 3/20 part of their land. |
| Indigo | A plant from which a deep blue dye is produced, used in the textile industry. |
| Lathiyal | Hired sticks-men used by planters to enforce indigo cultivation. |
| Bigha | A unit of measurement of land in India. |
| Plantation | A large estate growing a single commercial crop like tea, indigo or coffee. |
| Indentured Labour | Bonded labourers brought to plantations under restrictive long-term contracts. |
| Champaran | District in Bihar where Gandhi led his first satyagraha in 1917. |
| Nil Darpan | Bengali play by Dinabandhu Mitra (1860) exposing the cruelty of indigo planters. |
| Opium | A narcotic drug obtained from the poppy plant; exported by the British to China. |