Colonialism And Nationalism In India PDF

Appendix-115 Resolution No. 38 {38-1 [38-1-13(7)]} B. A. (Hons.) Political Science Semester-I Course Credits - 4 Discipline Specific Core Course (DSC-3) As per the UGCF - 2022 and National Education Policy 2020 S.NO. T...

Appendix-115 Resolution No. 38 {38-1 [38-1-13(7)]} B. A. (Hons.) Political Science Semester-I Course Credits - 4 Discipline Specific Core Course (DSC-3) As per the UGCF - 2022 and National Education Policy 2020 S.NO. TOPIC WRITERS Unit 1 A. Main perspectives on colonialism: Liberalism, Marxism, Shakti Pradayani Post-colonialism B. Approaches to the study of nationalism in India: Shakti Pradayani Nationalist, Imperialist, Marxist, and Subaltern Unit 2 A. Constitutional developments and the colonial state In Process B. Colonial ideology of civilizing mission: Utilitarian and Shakti Pradayani Missionaries C. Impact on agriculture, land relations, industry and Shakti Pradayani ecology Unit 3 A. The 1857 war of Independence Jeeta Misra Shakti Pradayani B. Major social and religious movements Gurpreet Kaur C. Education and the rise of the new middle class Monkia Batham Unit 4 A. Nationalist Politics and Expansion of its Social Base Revised by Shakti Phases of the Nationalist Movement: Liberal Pradayani constitutionalist, Swadeshi and the Radicals, Formation of the Muslim League B. Gandhi and mass mobilization: Non-cooperation, Vaishali Mann Civil Disobedience, and Quit India Movements C. Revolutionaries, Socialists and Communists Latika Vishnoi D. Communalism in Indian Politics In Process E. The two-nation theory, negotiations over partition In Process Unit 5 A. Social Movements : Peasants, Tribals, In Process B. Workers, Women Movements Monika Batham C. Anti-caste movements Khem Chand Unit 1. Colonialism and Nationalism: Main perspectives on colonialism: Liberalism, Marxism, Postcolonialism Approaches to the study of nationalism in India: Nationalist, Imperialist, Marxist, and Subaltern Unit 2. Colonial Rule in India and its impact: Constitutional developments and the colonial state Colonial ideology of civilizing mission: Utilitarians and Missionaries Impact on agriculture, land relations, industry and ecology Unit 3. Reform and Resistance: The 1857 war of Independence Major social and religious movements Education and the rise of the new middle class Unit 4. Nationalist Politics and Expansion of its Social Base Phases of the Nationalist Movement: Liberal constitutionalist, Swadeshi and the Radicals, Formation of the Muslim League 22 Gandhi and mass mobilisation: Non-cooperation, Civil Disobedience, and Quit India Movements Revolutionaries, Socialists and Communists Communalism in Indian Politics The two-nation theory, negotiations over partition Unit 5. Social Movements Peasants, Tribals, Workers, Women and anti-caste movements  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA Unit 1. Colonialism and Nationalism Lesson 1 Main perspectives on colonialism: Liberalism, Marxism, Postcolonialism Lesson 2 Approaches to the study of nationalism in India: Nationalist, Imperialist, Marxist, and Subaltern 1|Page © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA LESSON 1 Main perspectives on colonialism Dr.ShaktiPradayani Rout Asst.Professor School of Open Learning Universit of Delhi STRUCTURE 1.1 Learning Objectives 1.2 Introduction 1.3 Liberalism 1.4 Marxism 1.5 Postcolonialism 1.6 Summary 1.7 Glossary 1.8 Answers to In-text Questions 1.9 Self-Assessment Questions 1.10 References 1.11 Suggested Readings 1.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES The students would be able to understand the meaning of colonialism and nationalism as concept. Its various perspectives and approaches. 1.2 INTRODUCTION Colonialism is a way of domination or subordination where one country establishes an administrative hold over another country. Let us try to find the meaning of colonialism. A 2|Page © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA colony is as the Oxford English Dictionary defines it a country or area under the full and partial control of another country typically a distant one and occupied by settlers from that country. The Collins English Dictionary also seems to support the exploitative aspect of colonialism by defining colonialism as “the policy of acquiring and maintaining colonies, especially for exploitation.” The Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy adopts a historical approach and “uses the term colonialism to describe the process of European settlement and political control over the rest of the world, including Americas, Australia, and parts of Africa and Asia.” There is not a very clear difference between colonialism and imperialism. In the present scenario, we can look into colonialism from an Indian historical perspective where India was been colonialized for more than 200 years. The British can be said to have exploited the political weakness of the Mughal state, and, tried to bring change the traditional society and economy by incorporating various administrative majors. Let us find the difference between Colonialism and imperialism. So, colonialism is a bit different than imperialism. Imperialism is driven by the ideology of the superiority of center with the assertion and expansion of state power across the globe. Colonialism is normally a pragmatic state of activity at the periphery or colonies. Let us discuss various aspects of imperialis forms of imperialism. Imperialism generally related to the activities of some dominant nations in the world. Sometime its related to Pax Britannica and now may be its called as neo imperialism propagated by America. Somehow it is arelationship of effective domination or political and economic control over other nations across globe. Imperialism can be propagated by direct and indirect intervation of imperialist powers like Portugal, Fance and Britain.The significant forms of imperialism can be identified in the history during sixteenth and seventeenth century European states. Lenin had applied the Marxist interpretation of imperialism, which he said “ is the higest stage of capitalism”. The combined contribution of Rosa Luxemberg, Hilferding and Nekolai Bhukharin have made their own contribution to Marxist theory of imperialism. This approach is later been enriched by Paul Baran, Paul Swezzey and HarryMagdoff. 3|Page © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA Harry Magdoff in The Age of Imperialism(1969) traced the pattern of new imperialism and a new period in world capitalism. He distinguished between the old and new imperialism. To him new imperialism marks a new period in the United Sataes of America, Germany, France and Japan to challenge England. The power of monopoly capitalism has shifted to small, integrated industrial and financial firms-the multinationals (MNCs), which have become especially predominant since the Second World War. He examined patterns of US aid and trade and looked at the foundation of ever expanding US empire (Chilcote: 261), (Quoted from Jena, Shakti P, Political Development in Hungary, 1990-2006: Unpublished) Consequences of Colonialism: Colonialism had both positive and negative effects on Indian growth and development. According to Rupert Emerson, a few salient features of colonialism can be drawn and put forward as a conclusion: 1. Colonialism imposes alien and authoritarian regimes on subordinate societies. The regimes trained a few of their subjects in bureaucratic management and required passive submission. 2. It had a major purpose to exploit colonies economically. Colonies were used as sources and suppliers of raw materials and markets of the finished good. 3. In course of time, the core that is the UK became economically powerful and developed, and India as a periphery remained underdeveloped. 4. The authoritative attitude of the British Raj stimulated national liberation movements in India. However, colonialism remained a historical agent of change and transformation as well as spread liberal educational ideologies (Vermani:33). Nationalism can be said to be the expression of collective identity by a group of people living in a certain geographical territory who socially, culturally and economically, and politically identify themselves as one nation to be governed as such and by themselves. Nationalism emphasizes the collective identity were to be a nation a group of people must be autonomous politically, united significantly and substantially, and express a single national culture to a large extent. However, some nationalists have argued individualism can be an important part of that culture in some nations and thus be central to that nation’s national identity. In the modem world national flags (like the tri-color in India), national anthems, and 4|Page © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA other symbols of national identity are very often regarded as sacred as if they were religious rather than political symbols. The psychological aspect of feeling; unity and in also depicts the idea of nationalism within us. There are mainly three perspectives to understanding Colonialism and Nationalism in India Liberalism Marxism Postcolonialism Liberal Marxist Post- Colonial Fig 1.1: Perspectives to understanding Colonialism in India 1.3 LIBERAL What do liberals say about Colonialism in India? 5|Page © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA The liberal perspective generally accepts that colonialism is a normal phase of economic and political relationships which is rational. It brings changes in colonies which perhaps promote freedom, life, and liberty and protect individual rights in colonies. Many of the world's political systems are based on the values and concepts evident in liberalism. 1.3.1 Liberals see it as part of Capitalist expansion Colonialism came into world history as part of the global political-economic world order, that has been taking shape since the sixteenth century. Colonial power like Britain, France, and Italy tried to search markets for their finished good after industrialization in their respective states. As soon as the industrial revolution in Britain went to peak, India is been considered a big market for finished goods and a supplier of raw materials like cotton, indigo, coffee, and sugarcane. So, liberals see the colonial expansion of the British in India as part of Capitalist expansion. 1.3.2 It is been seen as a totality and a unified structure of the world system India's economy and society were completely and intricately integrated into the global capitalist system during colonialism, which was carried out for roughly 200 years in a subordinate or passive position. It should be noted that the colonial economy and society's dependence or subservience was the most important or determining factor, "not mere linkage or integration with world capitalism or the world market."However, the Marxists like A.R Desai and R.P. Dutt had critical of the British administrative intervention in the Indian state. They said that with all its limitations the British rule played a positive and progressive role in respect of the rural life of India, as it elevated it to the status of national agriculture and linked it up with national agriculture and linked it up with the national and even world market. 1.3.3 Drain of wealth is the natural phenomenon of colonialism which comes along with natural foreign and foreign domination of colonies Economic drain is the natural phenomenon of East India company’s administrative and economic policies. The colonial power utilized the Indian revenue, infrastructures, and natural resources to strengthen the British administrative system. Even though the company 6|Page © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA had profited from oppressive land policies, unequal bullion trade, and acquisition of rare objects like diamonds and exporting them to Britain remain the priority of British rule in India. Dada Bhai Naroji mentioned this in his book Poverty and Un British rule in India. Students are requested to read this book. As it is been mentioned by Naroj and Gandhi that British rule was squarely responsible for the total ruination of the rural life of India, leading to the mass popularisation of the peasantry, handloom, and other handicraft industries. In his book Raj to Swaraj, Pradhan elaborately wrote about these phenomena. He wrote that the malfunctioning of British rule lead to rural indebtedness, fragmentation of landholdings, the emergence of middlemen or sahukars or money lenders, landless laborers, and absentee landlords in the forms of Zamindars (Pradhan: 36). I 1.4 MARXIST Let us examine, what Marxists say about Colonialism in India. The Marxist look at colonialism as the contradiction and conflict that developed between the interests of the Indian people and the British rulers and see that as the principal reason for the development of nationalism but they also recognize the inner contradictions and conflict of interests between the various economic classes. They highlight and bring out the difference in the interests of the Indian rich elite and the poorer classes and integrate that into their analysis of the development of Indian nationalism and the resistance to colonialism. They argue the Indian national movement was a movement of the bourgeois. Indeed while agreeing with the nationalist analysis that the British rule resulted in mass poverty because of the exploitative destruction of the rural economy of agriculture and handicrafts they also see it as having caused some good as it also caused a structural transformation of the Indian society by destroying the feudal systems and modes of production and replaced that by a capitalist machine led mode of production. As Bipin Chandra says: the Capitalist state is the instrument for enforcing the rule and domination of one class over another, and the colonial state is the organized power of the 7|Page © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA metropolitan ruling class for dominating the entire colonial society( essay on Colonialism: 13). To Marxists the colonial state is a bourgeoisie state. 1.4.1 To Marxists colonialism is a phase when is been completely integrated to world capitalist system in a subordinate and subservient position.Subordination means that the fundamental aspects of the colony’s economy and society are not determined by its own needs or the needs and interests of its dominant social classes but bye the needs and interest of its dominant social classes but by the needs and interests of the metropolitan economy and its capitalist class.( Bipin Chandra:Essays on Colonialism: 10) 1.4.2 The next feature of colonialism isencompassed by the twin notions of unequal exchange (Aghiri Emmanuel) and internal disarticulation of the colonial economy and articulation of its different disarticulated parts, through the world market and imperialist hegemony ,with the metropolitan economy (S. Amin and Hamza Alavi). For example, during British colonial period agriculture does not directly related to the colony’s industrial sector; rather artciculated to the world capitalist market and is linked to metropolitan market which buys its product like cotton, indigo, tea and coffee etc. The colony in that way experienced a “disarticulated generalized commodity production”. Thus, colonies are specialized by production of raw materials and metropolies is concerned of manufactured goods.Marxist look at colonies as a supplier of raw materials and metropolis or colonizers as specializing in manufactured goods, high technology, and finished goods.The role of railways was to take care of subserving the interest of British trade and needs if British industry. 1.4.3 Substantial part of the surplus generated in the colonies is being utilized in the imperialist center. Another important feature is the drain of wealth or unilateral transfer of social surplus went to metropolies through unreciprocated exports.Thus we can conclude that Marxsist look at colonial intervention by British government deformed economic and extended reproduction and long run lead to underdeveloped and dependendent model of economy at colonies or peripheries like India. 8|Page © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA 1.5 Post Colonialism Let us examine, what Postcolonialist says about Colonialism in India. Postcolonialism is the critical academic study of the cultural, political, and economic legacies of colonialism and imperialism. With an emphasis on the effects of human control and exploitation of colonized people and their territories, A critical theory analysis of the history, culture, literature, and rhetoric of (mostly European) imperial power is what it is particularly. The postcolonial ideas mainly questioned the generalized understanding that colonial powers are superior in their culture and tradition. Ultimately they wanted to destroy the main parts of native tradition and culture. Furthermore, they wanted to continuously reform the existing traditional pattern of life in colonies. The post-colonialist in the real sense oppose the change offered by British power and other colonial powers. Some of the eminent postcolnial theorists are Edward Said, Frantz Fannon , Gayatri Spivak Chakravorty. The ultimate goal of postcolonialism is to finish the enduring effects of colonial cultures. It vehemently opposes the western countries that had described all the ex-colonial countries under a uniform umbrella label such as the ‘ third world’ or ‘global south. However, post- colonialism demonstrated a culture of heterogeneity. It can be summarized that colonialism has an uneven impact in different places and on different cultures and places. Postcolonialism recognizes that there is still resistance to the west among various nations. This resistance is practiced by many including subalterns, marginalized groups, and other least powerful strata. Thus, the main objective of postcolonialist theories is to clear the space for multiple voices. The main objective of postcolonial writings is ‘to speak their voices’. Many writers like Frantz Fanon from Martinique or M. K. Gandi from India had contributed to Post Colonialism. Anti Colonial thinkers emphasized what they called ‘ subaltern perspectives. The perspective talks about the tales of ordinary people and their cultural impact on them. However, by colonial rule, all cultures have become increasingly mixed and hybridized. Anti-colonial thinkers had always insisted that decolonization had to begin by changing mentality. How we can also summarize that the impact of colonial rule still exists. 9|Page © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA Let us look at its impact on the international scenario, post-colonialism is concerned with disparities in global power and wealth accumulation. For example, global inequality, poverty, and underdevelopment have historical traces in unbritish rule taking place in India. However, post-colonialism owes a significant debt to Edward Said for his work on developing Orientalism. Said was been influenced by the writing of anti-colonial and nationalist thinkers such as Frantz Fanon (1967) and Albert Memmi (1991), whose works discuss the power of ‘others’. Fanon explains that the ‘black man is made to believe in his inferiority to the ‘white colonialized through psychological aspects of colonialization, such as impositions, the colonized came to believe they are culturally inferior to others. The internalization made it easier for colonizers to justify and maintain their rule in colonies. 1.6 SUMMARY To sum up, we can conclude that both colonialism and the emergence of nationalism in India have been drastic outcomes on Indian history. There are three perspectives to look at it; Liberalism, Marxism, and Postcolonialism. All these perspectives have their way of looking at colonialism in India. So, students are required to take multiple peaspecives to understand better about colonialism and its impact on Socio-economic and political aspects of colonialism. 1.7 GLOSSARY Colonialism:the practice by which a powerful country controls another country or countries, in order to become richer Nationalism:a political and ideplogical system in where a rich and powerful country controls other countries (colonies) which are not as rich and powerful Postcolonialism 10 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA 1.8 SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS Crititcally analyse the Marxist and Post colonial perspectives to understand Indian colonialism. 1.9 REFERENCES  Chandra, B. (1999) Essays on Colonialism, Hyderabad. Orient Longman, pp.1-22.  Chandra, B. (1988) India’s Struggle for Independence, New Delhi. Penguin, pp.13- 30. Fulcher, J. (2004) Capitalism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.  Datta, G. Sobhanlal. (2007) ‘Imperialism and Colonialism: Towards a Postcolonial Understanding’, in Dasgupta, Jyoti Bhusan (ed.) Science, Technology, Imperialism and War. New Delhi: Centre for Studies in Civilization Publication and DK, pp 423-466.  Metcalf, T. (1995) ‘Liberalism and Empire’ in Metcalf, Thomas. Ideologies of the Raj. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.28-65.  Young, R. (2003) Postcolonialism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 9-68.  Thapar, R. (2000) ‘Interpretations of Colonial History: Colonial, Nationalist, Post- colonial’, in DeSouza, P.R. (ed.) Contemporary India: Transitions. New Delhi: Sage, pp. 25-36. 11 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA LESSON 2 Approaches to the study of nationalism in India: Nationalist, Imperialist, Marxist, and Subaltern Dr. Shakti Pradayani Rout Asst.Professor School of Open Learning Delhi University STRUCTURE 2.1 Learning Objectives 2.2 Introduction :Approches to Study Nationalism 2.3 Nationalist Approach 2.4 Imperialist Approach 2.5 The Colonial Approach 2.6 Marxist Approach 2.7 Summary 2.8 Glossary 2.9 Self-Assessment Questions 2.10 References 2.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES The aim is to engage with theoretical explanations of colonialism and nationalism in India. At the end of the lesson, the student would 2.2 INTRODUCTION Let us discuss what you understand by nationalism. 12 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA Nationalism can be said to be the expression of a collective identity by a group of people living in a certain geographical territory who socially, culturally, economically, and politically identify themselves to one nation possibly governed by a government. Nationalism emphasizes the collective identity where to be a nation a group of people must be autonomous politically, united significantly and substantially, and express a single national culture. However, some nationalists have argued individualism can be an important part of that culture in some nations and thus be central to that nation's national identity. In the modem world national flags (like the tri-colour in India), national anthems, and other symbols of national identity are very often regarded as sacred as if they were religious rather than political symbols. Historically before the emergence of nationalism in India, people were generally loyal to a city or to a particular king, ruler, or leader rather than to their nation. Indeed they often had no notions of belonging to a nation. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica nationalism in a true sense developed with the late-18th century American Revolution and French Revolution. Let us find out who coined the word , nationalism? Anyway, the term nationalism it is believed was coined by Johann Gottfried Herder (who used the word nationalismus) during the late 1770s. Thus it is impossible to pinpoint where and when nationalism emerged but its development can be said to have happened alongside the emergence of the modern westphelianstate. The notion of rule by the people by popular will that were the underlying themes of the French Revolution and later the American Revolution in the late 18th century. Thus like other social phenomenon nationalism also evolved historically. Along with the emergence of social and historical conditions communities came up in various parts of the world. They often came up through tribal, slave and feudal phases of social existence. Nations came into being at a certain stage of social, economic and cultural development. It was distinguished by certain specific characteristics such as: (a) an organic whole of the members of the nation living in a distinct territory (b) a single economy (c) a consciousness of a common economic existence 13 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA (d) a common language and (e) naturally a common culture which evolved. And this process developed from sixteenth century onwards as a part of the development of human history. Generally speaking development of nationalism in various countries was a prolonged historical process. It is in the development of historical conditions that nation states developed and development of nationalism in different countries was determined by its social and cultural history – its political, economic and social structures. The character of its various classes also assumed importance often played the role of the vanguard in the struggle for a national social existence. Therefore every nation was born and forged in unique way. 2.3 Nationalist Approach The history of seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth century India is primarily the history of formation of a nation and the struggle against British Colonial rule. Indian nationalism is a historical phenomenon which happened in modern histrory. Nationalism in India evolved during the British colonial period as a result of various subjective and objective factors and forces, which developed within the Indian society under the conditions of British rule and has impactedacross the world. Pre­British India was unique,differently structured and traditionally set under various princly states which sharply differed from the pre-capitalist medieval societies of Europe. It was a vast country inhabited by huge population speaking many languages with different religions. Socially it was dominated by a population which was Hindu in character, but there was no homogeneity. This extreme social, and religious division of the Hindus in particular and the Indians in general presents a peculiar background to the growth of Indian nationalism. It was under the conditions of political subjection that the British introduced for their own purposes certain changes which introduced new social forces which radically changed the economic structure of Indian society. It established in particular: (a) a centralised state (with a modem civil service, centralised administration, a judiciary based on English common law substantially. new land ownership laws, the zamindari system etc.) 14 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA (b) modern education including in western sciences (with the establishment of universities and colleges) (c) modern means of transport and communication (postal system, railways, roads etc.) (d) the modern printing press (e) mechanised machine based industries Thus, British Raj has tried to brought changes to all social forces and tried to exploite the Indian society for the benefit of the British Crown. Revolting against all such exploitative character of British rule Indian nationalism has raise its voice and tried to manifest into a new nation. It has been argued by some scholars that the development of a nationalist consciousness happened as part of a historical process triggered by the national movement which to begin with was anti-colonial but later was deeply national. Professor Bipan Chandra (and others) have in this context commented: 'The national movement also played a pivotal role in the historical process through which the Indian people got formed into a nation or a people. National leaders from DadabhaiNaoroji, Surendranath Banerjea and Tilak to Gandhiji and Nehru accepted that India was not yet a fully structured nation but a nation-in-the-making and that one of the major objectives and functions of the movement was to promote the growing unity of the Indian people through a common struggle against colonialism. In other words, the national movement was seen both as a product of the process of the nation-in-the- making and as an active agent of the process. This process of the nation-in-the making was never counter-posed to the diverse regional, linguistic and ethnic identities in India. On the contrary, the emergence of a national identity and the flowering of other narrower identities were seen as processes deriving strength from each other'. (Bipan Chandra:23) On the very concept of nationalism in general (and not merely the development of nationalism in India) some of the nationalist approaches have been quite novel and different from each other.For example, J Anthony Smith has argued that there is a 'core doctrine of nationalism' which includes and fuses three ideals: (a) collective self determination of the people, (b) the expression of the national character and individuality and (c) the vertical division of the world into unique nations each contributing its special genius to the common fund of humanity. 15 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA Looking at the cultural aspects, Plamenatz has said nationalism is a cultural phenomenon which takes a political form by the acceptance of a common set of standards by which the state of development of a particular national culture is measured. Thus, to the nationalist approach it can be assumed that homogeneity between people in a group leads to the birth of a nation.As Gellner has said: 'it is not the case that nationalism imposes homogeneity, it is rather that a homogeneity imposed by objective, inescapable imperative eventually appears on the surface in the form of nationalism'. The objective inescapable imperative that Gellner refers to is the cultural homogeneity that he argued is the as an essential concomitant of the industrial society that evolves from the growth of industrial capitalism. Gellner also argued, nationalism though it may define and identify itself in the name of a folk culture or original culture of a particular people it may actually be just an imposition of a high culture on society. Anderson in his study of nationalism has found usually a historically political community always existed before the cultural systems of a religious community and the development of the dynastic realm. He had identified that the printing press and the spread of Christianity particularly Protestantism had played a substantive role in the emergence of nationalism. He has argued what made the new communities possible was interaction between system of production and productive relations(capitalism), technology of communication(print) and the fatality of human linguistic diversity by which he meant the tendency of diverse linguistic groups of not staying together as one nation. He argued three distinct models of nationalism appeared: 'creole nationalism' where the vertical identities were transformed to the horizontal identities because economic interests of certain classes clashed and the ideological criticism of imperialism strengthen the spread of that identity, 'linguistic nationalism' of kind that was seen in Europe and 'official nationalism' typically of the type seen in Russia where there was imposition of cultural homogeneity from the top, through state action. Russian ' Slavic nationalism' is been created on the basis of linguistic homogeneity. You can see the resurgent Russian Slavic culture across the Eurasian space till now. 16 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA 2.4 Imperialist Approach In many ways India had never been a nation until the British had came and ruled us for centuries. In a land as vast and inhabited by a population as large and as varied as India's, the process of the growth of Indian nationalism has been very complex and interesting.The Indian population spoke many languages, followed many religions and sects (within a religion) and the population of the most populous faith, Hindus, was divided along caste lines.With the existing diversity, Indian nationalism simply been strengthened by the anti- colonial spirit. Thus many thinkers, particularly many British historians, have taken the view that Indian could not have seen the development of nationalism and become one united nation unless the British had come and established (as they did) a colony by uniting the nation into one administrative whole. So, students its always important to think now, " could India have developed to a greater extent if colonial rule had not intervened?". Some how we can conclude that the nationalism in India has ivolved in the back ground to eradicate the exploitative characterstic of British administration. Let us discuss about the various definition of nationalism and try to find out how and why India wasn't readily regarded as a nation by various eminent histories. It si been said that India is a state but "nation in Making". The thinkers British historian E.H. Carr termed nationalism as the term nation has been used to denote a human group with the fol1owing characteristics: (a) The idea of a common government whether as a reality in the present or past or as an aspiration of the future. (b) A certain size and closeness of contact between all its individual members. (c) A more or less defined territory. (d) Certain characteristics (of which the most frequent is language) clearly distinguishing the nation from other nations and non-nationa1 groups. (e) Certain interests common to the individual members. 17 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA (f) A certain degree of common feeling or will, associated with a picture of the nation in the minds of the individual members' ( E.H.Carr (1939), NATIONALISM, quoted in R.P. Dutt:21) It is evident from the above definition, that India could hardly have been called a nation by them when they arrived. In fact the early British imperialists before any sort of national fervour bad made a beginning were convinced that India wasn't a nation. In fact, it is evident that the Britishers found it difficult to mentally cope with the idea of a national India even as late as the 1930s when the Simon Commission's Report was published. Even as late as the 1930s the British were holding on to their belief that India was somehow being held and governed by them and without them would break into pieces. But in reality that nationalist conception among the masses had set in. British scholars like L.F. Rushbrook Williams whom R.P. Dutt bas described as one of the 'modem imperialist apologists' had tried to suggest that it was the civilised British reign itself and its modernising and influence that contributed to the creation of a national consciousness. They have suggested that Indian educated by the British in the democratic liberal ways of English history and its gradual acquisition of popular liberties impressed British trained and educated Indians who then as the next step demanded or started wishing for the same standards for themselves and for the Indian people. In the words of R.P. Dutta, the democratic evolution of the modern age, which developed in many lands, including England as one of its earliest homes, is not the peculiar patent of England. Nor is it correct that it requires the alien domination of a country in order to implant the seeds of democratic revolution. The American Declaration of Independence, and still more the great French Revolution with its gospel of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, far more than the already ageing English parliamentary-monarchical compromise, were the great inspirers of the democratic movement of the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, the Russian Revolutions of 1905 and 1917 have performed a corresponding role as the signal and starting point of the awakening of the peoples, and especially of the awakening consciousness of the subject peoples of Asia and all the colonial countries to the claim of 18 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA national freedom since colonial rule.The Indian awakening has developed in unison with these world currents can be demonstrated from the stages of its growth. The idea of Indian nationalism has evolved when Raja Ram Mohan Roy, while going to England in 1830, has enthusiasistically supported for the principles of the French Revolution. The idea has also been strengthened by creation of The Indian National Congress (INC). INC was originally instituted under official inspiration as an intended instrument of safty valve between the rising movement of the people and safeguard British rule in India. 2.5 The Colonial Approach The colonial approach mainly supported and believed in the benevolent attitude of British administration. They wished to emphasis the benevolent effect of the British rule and many of them genuinely believed what they said. The colonial approach was theorised for the first time by Bruce T. McCully, an American scholar, in 1940. The liberal academic structure to this approach was developed by Reginald Coupland and after 1947 by Percival Spear who argued the British proved their benevolent intentions by ultimately agreeing to grant India independence which they could have easily refused and held on. A new group of neo- traditionalist historians who are referred to as the Cambridge School with prominent thinkers being Anil Seal, John Gallagher, Judith Brown and others have also argued along essentially adopting the colonial approach when they have argued that India was not even a 'nation-in­ making' but a conglomeration of castes, religious and ethnic communities and linguistic groups of masses. They have argued the national movement was basically a forum for the various divisions to compete for favours and to strengthen their own positions and pursue their narrow communities. The basic contradiction between the interests of the Indian people and the British rulers that led to the rise of the Indian national movement is denied by them. They also vehemently deny or refuse to accept that the economic, social, cultural and political development of India required the overthrow of colonialism. They do not agree that India was in the process of unfolding into a nation and insist India was just a conglomeration of castes and communities. The nationalism that was expressed was merely a cover for political 19 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA organisations who were formed basically along caste and community lines and were competing with each for favours and gains from the state. Anil Seal of the Imperialist writes: 'What from a distance appear as their political strivings were often, on close examination, their efforts to conserve or improve the position of their own prescriptive groups'. ( Anil Seal:342) The colonial approach ignores the effects of war, inflation, disease, drought, depression etc as causative factors in the rise of Indian nationalism not to mention spiritual and other reasons and the kinship of religious culture that existed between peoples from different regions who spoke different languages but shared similar religious beliefs.The school of analysis that adopts the colonial approach has argued the Indian national movement was a cover for the struggle for power between various sections of the Indian elite, and between them and the foreign elite. 2.6 Marxist Approach The Marxist approach can be said to have been pioneered by R. Palme Dutt and later by A.R. Desai but many others have contributed. The Marxist approach recognises the contradiction and conflict that developed between the interests of the Indian people and the British rulers. They have seen that as the principal reason for the development of nationalism but they also recognise the inner contradictions and conflict of interests between the various economic classes. They highlight and bring out the difference in the interests of the Indian rich elite and the poorer classes and integrate that into that into their analysis of the development of Indian nationalism and the resistance to colonialism. They argued that the Indian national movement of India was a movement of the bourgeoisie class. Indeed while agreeing with the nationalist analysis that the British rule resulted in mass poverty because of the exploitative destruction of the rural economy of agriculture and handicrafts they also see it as having caused some good as it also caused a structural transformation of the Indian society by destroying the feudal systems and modes of production and replaced that by a capitalist machine led mode of production. Thus the feudal caste and class hierarchies of the villages were weakened, and new classes emerged in Indian 20 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA society particularly as people migrated to the cities to work in factories. Also a new state structure was created based on a new administrative and judicial system of the English. 2.6.1 In the words of Prof. Irfan Habib has put it thus that the unification of the country on an economic plane by the construction of railways and the introduction of the telegraph in the latter half of the nineteenth century, undertaken for its own benefit by the colonial regime, and the centralisation of the administration which the new modes of communications and transport made possible, played their part in making Indians view India as a prospective single political entity. The modernization of education (undertaken in a large part by indigenous effort) and the rise of the press disseminated the ideas of India's nationhood and the need for constitutional reform. A substantive basis for India's nationhood was laid when nationalists like DadabhaiNaoroji (Poverty and UnBritish Rule in India, 1901) and R.C. Dutt (Economic History of India, 2 vols., 1901 and 1903) raised the issues of poverty of the Indian people and the burden of colonial exploitation, which was felt in equal manner throughout India.We see, then, that three complex processes enmeshed to bring about the emergence of India as a nation:the preceding notion of India as a country, the influx of modern political ideas, and the struggle against colonialism. The last was decisive: the creation of the Indian nation can well be said to be one major achievement of the national movement.' (Irfan Habib, 'The nation that is India'. The little Magazine, Vol I/I: issue 2) The imperialist exploitation of India for instance and the role of the British finance-capital (business groups like Andrew Yule and Jardine Skinner), of the profits made by the British ruling class and the common misery of the people as a consequence of that exploitation and the struggles that that misery inevitably led to among the masses irrespective of religious or racial divisions and the ruthless suppression of those struggles by the British administration all combined and added up and piled up over the years to cause the birth and growth of a national consciousness among the Indian people. During the British colonial rule, first under East Indian Company and subsequently under the British government from 1858 onwards, the Indian people entered into a period of severe repression and exploitation. There were a number of peasant rebellions, which was prominent in the history of eighteen-century India. There were of course a large number of famines, diseases and death dring this period. 21 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA 2.6.2 As R. Palme. Dutt himself summarises the rise of Indian nationalism in his words. According to him, the Indian National Movement arose from social conditions, from the conditions of imperialism and its system of exploitation, and from the social and economic forces generated within Indian society under the conditions of that exploitation; the rise of the Indian bourgeoisie and its growing competition against the domination of the British bourgeoisie were inevitable, whatever the system of education also strengthened the bourgeoisie ,clearks or Babus.(R. Palme Dutt: 303) The Marxist approach sees the natural uprising of the poor in reaction to British exploitation having been usurped by the elite bourgeois leadership that develop particularly in the Congress. The Marxist approach has been criticised for having ignored the mass aspects of the national movement and the emotive religious and cultural aspects and reactions. Professor Bipan Chandra (and others) for instance have commented: 'They see the bourgeoisie as playing the dominant role in the movement - they tend to equate or conflate the national leadership with the bourgeoisie or capitalist class. They also interpret the class character of the movement in terms of its forms of struggle (i.e., in its non-violent character) and in the fact that it made strategic retreats and compromises'. (Bipan Chandra: 22) 2.7 Sublatern Approach The subaltern approach or school is the most recent and was mainly developed by historian Ranjit and Ramachandra Guha, who had been deeply influenced by the writings of Gramsci, a Neo Marxist an Italian thinker. Subsequently others like Partho Chatterjee and Sumit Sarkar also did notable work following this approach. The Subaltern Studies Collective, founded in 1982, was begun with the goal of establishing a new critique of both colonialist and nationalist perspectives in the historiography of colonized countries. They focused on the course of 'subaltern history' or the history of ordinary people by studying peasant revolts, popular insurgencies etc to the complex processes of domination and subordination in a variety of the changing institutions and practices of evolving modernity. They examined institutions such as colonial law and colonial prisons, popular notions of kinship and disease, 22 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA the position of women in colonial society, popular memories of anti-colonial and sectarian violence etc. The subaltern approach seeks to study the development of history and the evolution of Indian nationalism from the viewpoint of subordinate masses like poor peasants, tribals, women, untouchables and other non-elite powerless dispossessed sections of Indian society. They argued Indian society had always been divided into the elite and the subaltern. There had always exited a fundamental contradiction between the interests of these two groups. They argued history had always been studied and recorded or written for posterity from the point of view of the elite dominant classes and groups. They also argued there was no real conflict of interest between the Indian elite (or the elite of Indian origin like zamindars and industrialists) and the British elite (whether business or bureaucratic) and the Indian National Congress was only a cover under which the real battle for power was being fought by the competing elite groups. It was actually the subaltern groups who were the real victims of colonial rule and many of the Indian elite actually gained. The subaltern groups reacted by launching various small relatively unknown and un-celebrated revolts all over the country whereas it was only the role of the Indian National Congress and elitist movements like that were assumed to have been the main constituents of the national movement. They argued there was a great need to study and analyse the role and contribution of these political and social rebellions and eruptions. The subaltern school rested their analytical structure on some Gramscian concepts: (a) that the state is a combination of official coercion plus elite hegemony and (b) there is a struggle for power for this hegemony or domination and for assuming the moral and intellectual leadership of the new evolving nation which (c) would be in the nature of a kind of 'passive revolution' of the owners of capital and productive resources. For in situations where the emerging bourgeoius does not have the social conditions to establish complete hegemony over the new nation, it resorts to passive revolution by attempting a 'molecular transformation' of the old dominant classes into partners in a new historical bloc and only partially appropriate the popular masses, in order to first create a state as a necessary precondition for the establishment of capitalism as a dominant mode of production. Since frontal attack on the state is not possible hence they resort to a struggle for positions, ideological political positioning etc. 23 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA 2.7.1 The subaltern thinkers like Partho Chatterjee have argued in the context of the Indian national movement the new powerful native Indian classes that emerged tried to assert their intellectual moral leadership over a modernizing Indian nation and stake its claim to power in opposition to the British colonial masters. That is the analytical approach followed by the subaltern thinkers in understanding the Indian national movement and the growth of nationalism in India. As Ranjit Guha puts it: "The domain of politics was 'structurally split'– not unified, homogenous, as elite interpretations of nationalism and nation-state had made it out to be....What is clearly left out in this un-historical [elitist] historiography is the politics of the people. For parallel to the domain of elite politics there existed throughout the colonial period another domain of Indian politics in which the principle actors were not the dominant groups of the indigenous society or the colonial authorities but the subaltern classes and groups constituting the mass of the labouring populations and intermediate strata in town and country - that is, the people. This was an autonomous domain, for it neither originated from the elite politics nor did its existence depend on the latter. (Source: Guha, Ranjit., Subaltern Studies I, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1982, p4) The subaltern thinkers argue recognizing the structural split between elite and subaltern is fundamental to the study of colonial history, politics and culture in India. The subalterns also reject the 'spurious claims' by Indian elite readings of nationalism as people's consent to a rule of their 'own' bourgeoisie in the anti-colonial movements led by the Indian nationalist elite. They provide empirical evidence to claim "how on one occasion after another and in region after region the initiative of such campaigns passed from elite leaderships to the mass of subaltern participants., who defied high command and headquarters to make these struggles their own by framing them in codes specific to traditions of popular resistance and phrasing them in idioms derived from the communitarian experience of working and living together". (Source; Ibid.) 2.8 Summary Indian nationalism had evolved and been strengthened by the notion of British administrative exploitation. It took 200 years to consolidate the idea of nationalism in India. The national understanding can be seen through various perspective as we have discussed above. Each 24 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA perspective had given separate but integrated view that nationalism had been forced all Indian citizens to dream about India that is Bharat today. Thus , it is not at all a overnight evolution. It is been deepen by the contribution of reformers, nationalist, writers ,sublaterns and many who lost their precious lives to the national independence movements. 2.9 Glossary Nationalism:Nationalism is an ideology that emphasizes loyalty, devotion, or allegiance towards own nation and holds that some amount of obligation is also demanded. Subaltern: "Subaltern", meaning "of inferior rank", is a term adopted by Antonio Gramsci to refer to those working-class people in the Soviet Union who are subject to the hegemony of the ruling classes. Subaltern classes may include peasants, workers and other groups denied access to hegemonic power. Gramsci was interested in the historiography of the subaltern 'classes'. 2.10 Self-Assessment Questions 1. Distinguish between the various approaches to the study of colonialism and nationalism. 2. What is nationalism? Write a short essay on nationalism and discuss various approaches to it. 3. Give a brief outline of colonialism and nationalism in the context of India. 2.11 References Chandra, B. (1999) Essays on Colonialism, Hyderabad. Orient Longman, pp.1-22. Chandra, B. (1988) India’s Struggle for Independence, New Delhi. Penguin, pp.13- 30. Fulcher, J. (2004) Capitalism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Datta, G. Sobhanlal. (2007) ‘Imperialism and Colonialism: Towards a Postcolonial Understanding’, in Dasgupta, Jyoti Bhusan (ed.) Science, Technology, Imperialism and War. New Delhi: Centre for Studies in Civilization Publication and DK, pp 423-466. Metcalf, T. (1995) ‘Liberalism and Empire’ in Metcalf, Thomas. Ideologies of the Raj. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.28-65. 25 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA Young, R. (2003) Postcolonialism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 9-68. 26 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA Unit 2. Colonial Rule in India and its impact: Lessonn 3 Constitutional developments and the colonial state (Not Recived) Lesson 4 Colonial ideology of civilizing mission: Utilitarians and Missionaries Lesson 5 Impact on agriculture, land relations, industry and ecology 27 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA LESSON 4 Colonial ideology of civilizing mission: Utilitarian and Missionaries Dr. Shakti Pradayani Rout Asst. Professor School Of Open Learning University of Delhi STRUCTURE 4.1 Learning Objectives 4.2 Introduction 4.3 Colonial Ideology: Civilizing Mission 4.3.1 Utilitarian 4.3.2 Missionary 4.3.3 Difference between Utilitarian and Missionary 4.4 Understanding Orientalism 4.5 Critique of Colonial ideology of Civilising Mission 4.5.1 Mission of Civilization and Rise of National Reform and Revival 4.6 Summary 4.7 Glossary 4.8 Self-Assessment Questions 4.9 References 4.10 Suggested Readings 4.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES After completion of this lesson student would understand the reasons and objectives of English colonial rule in India. Thus, in the end student would get to know various angles of intellectual foundations of British administration in India. 28 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA 4.2 INTRODUCTION After reading the chapter on approaches and perspectives of colonialism and nationalism in India you may have learned that what is colonialism and how colonialism is being used to subordinate Indian people. The purpose and mission of British colonialism can better understood by analysing the major purpose and intention of British Raj. Searching & Spreading of Market Exploitation Cultural of Natural Imperialism Resourses Purpose Settlement Civilizing in Colonies Mission Conversion of indigenous population Objective of Colonial Ideology ( Author’self Analysis) 4.3COLONIAL IDEOLOGY After the conquest of Ireland in Siteenth century, the English gradually emerged as the biggest and strong empire of the world. It had self incurred its duty to “ civilize the backward people” and tried to spread the idea from Asia, Africa and Latin America. The acquiring the new territories and spreading of imperial mission brought new grandur and glories which can 29 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA be summarized as “ the sun never set in British Empire”. The foundation for ‘imperial’ attitude was been instilled in the British administrative outlook and they have established a Britishness which can be said as superior in quality. The civilising mission, a political justification for colonialism and military intervention that had objectives to modernise and Westernize indigenous peoples, particularly during the period from the 15th to the 20th century. In the late-15th to the middle of the 20th century, the phrase was most frequently employed to support French colonialism as a tenet of European civilization. French Algeria, French West Africa, French Indo-China, Portuguese Angola and Portuguese Guinea, Portuguese Mozambique, and Portuguese Timor, among other possessions, were colonially exploited under the guise of a “civilising mission,” which served as a cultural rationale. The colonial activities of the British, Germans, and Americans were also often justified as part of a civilising mission. It was linked to the Russification and the Russian invasion of Central Asia inside the Russian Empire.Western European colonial powers asserted that they had a duty to spread Western civilization to what they saw as the barbaric and primitive civilizations of the East since they were Christian states. This ideology of civilizing mission provided the justification of reforming the social, cultural and facilities of colonies. During pre independent era British Raj tried to interferere many of the religious practices and wanted to reform them. For example British Raj had tried to bring Sharada Act to increase the marriageable age of girls; wanted to eradicate the Sati as a practice etc. During the late 18thcentury the British government tried to reform the culture and society to more liberal form which is being argued by Metcalf as ‘evangelicals’. Metcalf along with cilvlizing mission the recruited evangelicals who came from Britain as free traders, law reformers , educationists and utilitarian theorist also tried to penetrate the socio- cultural aspects of the then India and tried many time to convert them in to Christianity. They had a mission that India is in stagnant condititon, so, reform is needed to liberate Indians from the religious trap which is full of superstition and societal illusions.The missionaries argued that rather than bringing legislative changes, teaching Western ethics and values can bring substantive change in a consistent manner. In the beginning of the imperial and colonial rule the government of East India Company functioned very apathetic way and recognized the authority of the decaying Mughal 30 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA emporers. Lord Clive himself had recommended a system of ‘double government’ as a matter of expediency under which the criminal justice system would be left in the hands of nawabi officials, while civil and fiscal matters would be controlled by the company( Bandyopadhyay: 66). The policy of non -interference were basically very pragmatic in the context that the company needed to avoid civil disobidence and soomth understanding of new acquired territory, culture, fundamental intricaries of the society. 4.3.1 Missionaries English missionaries came to India to teach Indian population about the western ethics and values which remain the foundational stone of Christianity reforms in a more consistent manner.The idea of British missionaries was to help Indians to improve and strengthen religious outlook. During that time Indian tradition and culture were full of with supersititon and prejudice. The missionaries started a mission against Indian un development and brought a mission to change the very nature of ‘Hindostan’. The chief exponent of the changes came from Charles Grant who was located at Srirampur near Calcutta.The principal problem of India , he argued in 1792, was religious idea which perpetuate ignorance and superstition. His ideas been legitimated by the then British parliament by the Charter Act of 1813, which allowed Christian missionaries to enter into India without restriction. 4.3.2Utilitarians Utilitarianism is an ethical theory based on the moral philosophy of pleasure and pain. The pleasure is been calculated by felicific calculaus. The felicific calculus says that an action which produces greater pleasure to greater number of people to be considered as right action and pain need to be avoided. It is one of the liberal ideology of English administration during 18th and 19th century. On the basis of this the whole English administration is been reformed. The propagators of this philosophy are Bentham, James Mill, Lord William Bentick, Lord Dalhousie and J. S Mill. James Mill also searved as an administrator in British India. James Mill also wrote a book “ History of British India”which was published in 1817 and tried to strengthen Indian British administration by bringing new reforms. In his book he denied all the glorious claim of India in the field of culture, religion and tradition. In the 31 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA same time he suggested needed change and strengthen societal norms on the basis of scientific precision. James Mill was highly influenced by Scottish Enlightenment tradition where true measure of civilizational value can be seen on the basis of scientific temper. 4.3.3 Difference between Utilitarian and liberals Majorly utilitarian were influenced by liberal notion of bringing reforms in Indian society. They wanted to assimilate India as a colony to British empire but there was a diffence of outlook in both in the early phase of colonialism. In the beginning the Orientalist viewed Indian culture as Utilitarians differed from liberals majorly on the introduction of English language in education and administration During early 18th century India debated between Orientalist and Anglicist on the nature of education to be introduced in India. For example: the liberal Lord Macaulay in his famous Education Minute of 1835strongly recommended English education. But in the same time utilitarian Mill favoured vernacular education which was suitable for Indian needs. Lord Bentick who was ardent follower of Mill who had tried to abolish sati and child infanticide through legislation. He justified his legislation on the ground of western education and scientific understanding. The spread of modem western British education is undoubtedly another of the great phenomenon that went a long way in ultimately forging a national consciousness. Initially the British government had organised a huge state machinery to run India and a large number of educated people were needed to staff the huge government organisation and such a large number of people could not be sourced from England. So it became necessary to start schools and colleges in India, which would turn out large numbers of usable graduates who could be used to fill the sub-ordinate posts after filling the top posts with the British. Also there was a school of thought among the British, which believed that the British liberal culture of democracy and rule of law was the best in the world and favoured its introduction in India. Britishers introduced a liberal eduction system during colonial phase. They also believed that with the introduction of this education and culture worldwide gradually social and political unification of the world could be achieved. Consequently many Britishers like Macaulay were infused with a missionary zeal to spread British education in India. Apart from the need of British imperialism for educated people to 32 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA run it’s shop and the missionary zeal of some of it’s statesmen like Macaulay, the third important factor that played a major role was the enthusiastic adoption by some Indians themselves like Raja Ram Mohan Roy. Raja Ram Mohan Roy became the pioneer of progressive modern education in India and hailed the English education as the key to the treasures of scientific and democratic thought of the modem west. He declared that the perpetuation of the traditional systems of education would only perpetuate the old superstitions and regressive lines of social authority. Thus, some of the British India administrator wanted some reforms in Indian society and others wanted to just do business and make profits. 4.4 What do you understand by Orientalism? It means ‘ European idea of Orient’ Orientalism is type of domination, a persuasion to change and reform the Orient ( the east) for improvement.Some how orientalism is a cultural and political fact where Western authority tries to reform Asian societies according to the norms of the Western society. Edward Said’s landmark text Orientalism brought the dabate on the cultural imperialism into account. Orientalism in practice in its early phase could be seen in the policies of the Company’s government under Wareen Hastings. The fundamental principle of this tradition was that the conquered people were to be ruled by their own laws (Bandyopadhyay: 68) In the initial phase Orientalism had given respect for the ancient Indian traditions. But later on this policy was been abandoned and legitimized the more Aliglicisation of the administration. The policy of domination was called as “ oriental despotism”. The idea of despotism was something which distinguished the Oriental state from its European counterparts. From the beginning European wanted to free Indian society from the despotioc activities of the Rajas,the zamindars, the local remnants of the Mughal states. Through various new policies British administration wanted to reform such traditions. For example- to bring change the land relationship it had introduced systems like Permanent settlement act.Lord Cornwallis who introduced Permanent settlement with the hope that the rule of lawand private property rights would liberate individual from the shackle of customs 33 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA and traditions of zamindari system (ibid: 69). In this way British intervention had tried to modernized and commercialized the land right. ACTIVITY : Try to find out the difference between Occident (rational and superior) and Orient (aberrant and inferior) in world Politics. Why the terms like first, second, third world are being used to define developed, underdeveloped and developing nations are being used in political writitngs. What is the best term to define Indian development today? How India would show case Indian uniqueness to the world? 4.5Critique of Colonial ideology of Civilising Mission Many scholars, argued that the colonial ideology of civilizing mission did not work very well in India. In India, colonial control could not function properly and had not have any moral ground of justifications. There are many reasons of it , let us discuss two must important reasons. First, there weren't enough financial rewards for liberal education in India, and second, educated Indians used this knowledge to question colonial rule itself.As a result, this civilizing mission did not result in colonial power gaining hegemony.To gain control over colonial society, they had to use force and establish a military like Indian National Congessny Subhas Chandra Bose. 4.5.1 Mission of Civilization and Rise of National Reform and Revival Through Indian modernist and nationalist ideologies, the colonial ideology of civilizing mission also paved the way for social reform in India.Indian indigenous social reform and Hindu revivalism emerged in response to utilitarian and missionary perspectives on reform. Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Rabindra Nath Tagore, two modernist social reformers, provided an extensive and more in-depth critique of Indian society through the lenses of contemporary ideals like liberty, equality, justice, and rationality.Tagore argued in 1893 about the public's rise in India during this time.Social reform became a major nationalist agenda at that time 34 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA because of this.These modern Indian nationalists demonstrated their undying faith in the Enlightenment’s utilitarian justification of the civilizing mission.Social reformers and patriot buckled down for bringing social changes.Indian nationalists opposed child marriage, the dowry system, caste taboos, sati, and kulin polygamy, among other unjust social systems in India. Hindu revivalism among Indian nationalists was born out of missionary, a colonial ideology of civilizing mission.Hindu revivalists began the process of reform in Hindu Colonial Ideology of Civilising Mission Utilitarian and Communitarian perspective Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi religion from within, in opposition to the missionary's primary goal of bringing about reform through religious conversion.Hindu revivalists attempted to define India specifically in terms of Hindu religion, myths, and history, despite the existence of various strands and contradictory tendencies. Revivalists like Ramakrishna Paramhans, Vivekananda, and later Bal Gangadhar Tilak advocated for religious reform to protect Hindus from missionaries' assault. As a result, we now understand how the Civilizing mission helped the colonists achieve their goal of dominating the Indian population they had colonized. But at the end, we also realized how this process helped nationalists in India become reformers and counter reformers.We understood how Indian nationalism emerged in India as a result of colonial ideology. 4.6 SUMMARY Let us conclude and summerize that colonialism denote a set of unequal relationship between colonial power and the colnies. British colonial power came into India with a vision and mission to rule and reform. The mission was to civilize the non European and traditional societies. In the same time they are also tried to do some amount of trading with us. But the way colonial power had segregated the world has an impact still exist, in the mind of the people. The superiority and subordinate relationship evolved during that time has not completely disappeared from Indian mind set. 35 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA 4.7 GLOSSARY Orientalism:Orientalism is type of domination, a persuasion to change and reform the Orient ( the east) for improvement. Utilitarianism:Utilatarianism is a normative ethical principle based on consequentialism. Jeremy Bentham propounded this theory which was being followed by James Mill and J.S. Mill. According to his thesis the world is ruled by two important aspects of pleasure and pain. The main objective of human being is to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. The most popular principle is called greatest happiness of greatest number. Civilizing Mission:Civilising mission, is a political justification for colonialism and military intervention that had objectives to modernise and Westernize indigenous peoples,particularly during the period from the 15th to the 20th century. Evangelical: It is related to a Christian church belief where they have the mission to convert, non Christian people to Christianity all over the world. 4.8 SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS 1.What do we understand by imperial or colonial ideology? How it was being used to colonialize India. 2.Briefly discuss the utilitarian and missionaries perspective of civilizing mission. 3. Write an essay on the colonial mission to orient non European people. 4.9 REFERENCES 36 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA Bandopadhyay, S. (2015 revised edition) From Plassey to Partition and After: A History of Modern India. New Delhi: Orient Longman, pp. 37-65; 66-138. Chandra, B. (1999) Essays on Colonialism. Hyderabad: Orient Longman, pp. 58-78. Metcalf and Metcalf. (2002) A Concise History of India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 55-80. Sarkar, S. (1983) Modern India (1885-1847). New Delhi: Macmillan. Sen, A.P. (2007), ‘The idea of Social reform and its critique among Hindus of Nineteenth Century India’, in Bhattacharya, Sabyasachi (ed.) Development of Modern Indian Thought and the Social Sciences. Vol X. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. Guha, R. and Gadgil, M. (1989) ‘State Forestry and Social Conflict in British India’, in Guha, R. and Gadgil, M. Past and Present: A Journal of Historical Studies. May: 123, pp. 141-177. Mann, M. (2004) ‘Torchbearers Upon the Path of Progress: Britain's Ideology of a Moral and Material Progress in India’, in Mann, M. and Fischer-Tine, H. (eds.) Colonialism as Civilizing Mission: Cultural Ideology in British India. London: Anthem, pp. 1-26. 4.10 SUGGESTED READINGS Chandra, B. (1988) India’s Struggle for Independence, New Delhi. Penguin. Chatterjee, P. (2010) ‘A Brief History of Subaltern Studies’, in Chatterjee, ParthaEmpire& Nation: Essential Writings (1985-2005). New Delhi: Permanent Black. Metcalf, T. (1995) Ideologies of the Raj. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 37 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA LESSON 5 Impact on Agriculture, Land Relations, Industry and Ecology Dr. Shakti Pradayani Rout Asst.Professor School of Open Learning STRUCTURE 5.1 Learning Objectives 5.2 Introduction 5.3 Agriculture and Change in Land Relations Section 1 5.3.1 Permanent Settlement Act 5.3.2 Ryotwari Settlement 5.3.3 Mahalwari Settlement 5.3.4 Consequences of the British land revenue systems 5.4 Industry 5.4.1 Decline of Indian Handicrafts 5.4.2 Decline of Village Artisans 5.4.3 Impact of British Industrialization on Indian Market 5.5 Ecology 5.6 Summary 5.7 Glossary 5.8 Self-Assesement Questions 5.9 References 5.10 Suggested Readings 5.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES After completeing this lesson the learner would become familiar with the state of Indian economy during colonial time. The lesson would discuss on agriculture , land relations, 38 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA idustry and ecology of India during British Raj and the new changes brought to it by the administration. 5.2 INTRODUCTION Before the arrival of British authority, India had a self-sufficient economy. It was regulated by traditional or convensional style by the decrees of Raja and implemented by Zamindari system. Although most people made their living via agriculture, the nation's economy was characterised by a variety of manufacturing industries. India was renowned for its handicraft industries in the production of metal, precious stone, and textiles made of cotton and silk, among other things. Based on the good reputation of the premium materials used and the high levels of craftsmanship evident in all imports from India, these products enjoyed a global market. Emergence of new classes like money llenders, land less Krisaks and absentee zamindars Ruining Indian Commercialization handloom and of Agricultural artisans Land Imapct of Unbritish Rule Lopsided import Disruption of self- and Export reliant village policies system Papurization of Indian Industries Impact of British rule on Indian Industries (self Analysis) 39 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA 5.3 Agriculture and Change in Land Relations During British colonial rule, the economy of India remained primarily agrarian.Almost 85% of the people lived predominantly in villages and relied on agriculture for a their lavilihood. Even though a major portion of the population works in agriculture, still the sector remained static and frequently experienced drought. Agricultural productivity decreased, because of traditional style of land holding and methods whch are old in nature This stagnation in the agricultural sector was mostly brought on by the numerous land settlement methods that the colonial authority imposed. Particularly, under the zamindari system, which was put in place in the former Bengal Presidency, which had entitled Zamindars to collect revenue on behalf of the colonial authority. Both colonial authority and zamindars did nothing to improve the conditionof the state of agriculture and farmers. All the zamindars had to collect taxes from villages and to provide fixed payment to the government of the East India Company.The East India Company also created a group of landlords out of the military petty chiefs from the past by taking over their military, political and administrative powers and converting their earlier ‘tributes’ into revenue of their government. Some persons who had aided them militarily or otherwise were gifted land and made landlords. Later when the British found that it was economically disadvantageous to have fixed permanent revenue from the landlords, the new land settlements were introduced on a temporary basis. While the landlords created under the temporary land settlements were given proprietary rights over land, the revenue they had to pay to the government could be subsequently revised. Permanent Zamindari Settlements prevailed in Bengal, Bihar and sections of North Madras and in total covered about 20 per cent of the British Indian territory. The Temporary Zemindari Settlements covered the major portion of the United provinces, certain zones of Bengal and Bombay, the Central Provinces, and the Punjab and constituted about 30 per cent of the British Indian territory. In 1820, Sir Thomas Munro introduced the Ryotwari system in 40 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA Madras, where be was Governor because he felt that the landlord system was alien to Indian tradition. Time to time British administration brought various reforms in land revenue system. ACTIVITY What were the various forms of revenue settlement adopted by the British in India? Where did they implement them and to what effect? How far do you think those settlements have a bearing on the current agricultural scenario in India? (In your attempt to find answers to these questions, you may refer to Ramesh Chandra Dutt’s Economic History of India, which comes in three volumes. Students are also suggested to read DadabhaiNaroji’s book Poverty and Un-British Rule. In this book author had highlighted how British economic policies extracted wealthfrom India to finance Britain’s administration The theory is popularly known as ‘Drain of Wealth’. 5.3.1 Permanent Settlement Act: There was extreme suffering and social unrest among the cultivators as a result of the zamindars' exploitation of them. The British administration did nothing to alleviate it. The low agricultural production was also persisting by low levels of technology, a lack of irrigational infrastructure, and a minor usage of fertilisers.It was brought in 1793 by the Company administration headed by Charles, Earl Cornwallis.The Cornwallis Code, a wider body of legislation, brought many changes in the land owning rights and other administrative changes. The East India Company divided land relation system into three sections under this: revenue, judicial, and commercial. Zamindars, native Indians who were considered to be landowners, were assigned in charge of collecting taxes. This divide had given rise to an Indian landed class that backed by British rule. 41 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA 5.3.2 Ryotwari Settlement: This system of land revenue was instituted in the late 18th century by Sir Thomas Munro, Governor of Madras in 1820.This was practised in the Madras and Bombay areas, as well as Assam and Coorg provinces.The taxes were directly collected by the government from the peasants, Zamindar as intermediataries are being abolished.In this system, the peasants or cultivators were regarded as the owners of the land. They had ownership rights, could sell, mortgage or gift the land.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. 5.3.3 Mahalwari Settlement: The Mahalwari system was introduced by Holt Mackenzie in 1822 and it was reviewed under Lord William Bentinck in 1833. Like Ryotwari system it was another system of land revenue system 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. All the cultivators had a joint responsibility for payment of rent.Each individual farmer gave his share. The 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. 42 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA 5.3.4 Consequences of the British land revenue systems After the intervantion of British administration the land became a commodity.Earlier there was no private ownership of land in rural India. Even kings and cultivators did not consider land as his ‘private property’. There was existing ‘Jajmani System’ which was working on the basis of barter exchange inside a self- reliant village system. During Mughal period the land revenue system was introduced and distorted. The revenue system was been further depleated due to exploitative nature of the British administration. Due to the very high taxes, farmers resorted to growing cash crops instead of food crops. This led to food insecurity and even famines.Taxes on agricultural produce were moderate during pre-British times. The British made it very high.Insistence on cash payment of revenue led to more indebtedness among farmers. Moneylenders became landowners in due course.Bondedlabour arose because loans were given to farmers/labourers who could not pay it back.When India achieved freedom from colonial rule, 7% of the villagers (Zamindars/landowners) owned 75% of the agricultural land. Even with all these changes, the peasants of India were constantly stuggling with starvation and exploitation by Zamindars. Let us finally disscuss on British administrative impact on agriculture , industry and ecology. We can conclude that commercialization of agriculture was brought by British involvement only. Though various intervention British brought many changes to old and traditional system of zamindari system. The commercialization led by Britisher forced Indian peasants to shift from agro-based crops to cash crops like tea, coffee , Indigo and cotton. In that way India became the kraw material supplier to Manchester cotton industry. However, all these changes had hardly intensified the precarious condition of peasants who had hardly any right over the land. Thre were some long term consequences of land settlement- Rural indebtedness Fragmentation of Land holdings 43 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi  DSC 3 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA Emergence of new classes in respect of rural India viz, money lenders, landless labourers, absentee landlords in the forms of zamindars Many Indian historian blame British administration that it had disrupted the million – old village systems; destroyed social and economic fabric. Some Marxist historians like A.R Desai and R.P Dutta linked the changes in Indian agriculture to the world market. They looked into the matter as the capitalist core as Britain and India as periphery ,supplying raw materials. On the other hand , Gandhi looked into the agricultural change from criticizing modernity and industrialization. The most important change which affected the agricultural sector though was the change in the system of collection of land revenue. Before the British when the village ownership of land was recognised, the village was taken as the unit of assessment and the village community through the headman or the panchayat paid the state or the intermediary a specific proportion of the annual agricultural produce as revenue. This proportion may have varied under different kings or dispensations, but it was, excepting in rare cases, the village which was the unit of assessment and the payer of revenue. The British of course destroyed this system and made the individual holders of land the unit of assessment and responsible for paying revenue. Even more debilitating than this change was the new method of calculating revenue. Villagers had previously always paid a specific portion of their annual produce