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 THE CONSEQUENCES OF COLONIALISM Structure Objectives Introduction Defining Colonialism Consequencesof Colonialism 1.3.1 Nature and phases of the Colonial Empire 1.3.2 Impact: The First Phase-Peasantry and its Impoverishment 1.3.3 Imp...

 THE CONSEQUENCES OF COLONIALISM Structure Objectives Introduction Defining Colonialism Consequencesof Colonialism 1.3.1 Nature and phases of the Colonial Empire 1.3.2 Impact: The First Phase-Peasantry and its Impoverishment 1.3.3 Impact: The Second Phase-De-industrialisation and its Effects 1.3.4 Impact: The Third Phase-Imperialism and Industrialisation Let Us Sum Up Key Words some u s e h i Books and Articles Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises 1.0 OBJECTIVES To understand the challenges faced by India properly after Independence, it is necessary to study the consequences of colonial rule. Understanding the multiple and contradictory nature of consequences is itself an engrossing exercise. But the making of modem India is still more fascinating. After reading this unit, you should be able to: understand how India came to become what it was at the time of Independence; and grasp political, social and economic processes which took place in India after Independence. 1.1 INTRODUCTION /' The British built in India the largest colonial empire anywhere in the world. But it was a different kind of colony from most others. Many of the colonies especially in Latin America, with the exception of Dutch East Indies (now called Indonesia), were built.with either slaves or indentured labour. Most of the Indians that we find in Fiji (and many other places) today were taken as indentured labour. The British built their colony in India with peasants and freely recruited labour. There was a l s o e o white "settler population" in India like for example in Kenya or Zimbabwe which took control of land and became the edifice of colonial domination. While the peasant and the labour were coerced, the larger landowners and social notables were won over to the British side; sometimes after wars but nonetheless most of them eventually came over to the British side. They also created new groups to cooperate with them by granting them Zamindaries or other land rights by displacing the old ones. India therefore was a colony built on collaboration of "natives". The British ruled India by drawing a lion's share of surplus out of the Indan Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU  Historical Background economy through heavy exactions on peasanty in the shape of revenue demands, indirect taxation plus some tribute; in the earliest period there was plunder as well but this very soon stopped. How all this was done? What were ways in which it was done? Who were the gainers and losers among the classes and strata? What were the result for India? And finally, how did Britain gain out of it? Answers to these will tell us a fascinating story. A story which is our history. A history which is still alive for us. Before we do that let us take a brief pause and be clear about what colonialism was. Today there is imperialism and neocolonialism but colonialism has come to an end. 1.2 DEFINING COLONIALISM 1 Colonialism as a system started emerj$ng at the very beginning of the modern era, that is, the sixteenth century:To understand its distinctive character one difference fiom earlier eras has, to be noted. Colonies had always been there. The Greeks had established colonies in the pre-Christ era. The Indians had colonies; for example, the Cholas went overseas and established colonies in Indo-China and Indonesia; the famous Angkor Vat temple in Cambodia or the recital of Ramayana in Bali is surviving instance of the influence. Foreign domination is also as old as military conquest. But we never used the word "colonialism" for that period. So the question that needs to be asked is: what was it that was new in the 16th to 18th century colonisation that led to the term colonialism? What we witnessed from the 16th century onwards was the forced incorporation by one small part of the world of the rest of the globe. A few countries like Spain, Portugal, Holland, Britain and France established political domination over the rest of the world. Unlike earlier when the balance kept shifting between different powers, colonialism established an enduring pattern of rule and domination of a few countries over the entire world. This led over a short period of time to the economic integration of the colonised world into the needs of the economies of conquering powers through a process of deeply inequitable trade. Some people like Wallerstein have called it the emergence of a "world system". Nevertheless, there arose an interdependent world. But there is a peculiarity to this interdependence; it was from its very inception a dependent interdependence, unequally titled in favour of some against the rest. This is a feature of the international system which still persists to the disadvantage of the underdeveloped world; for example, the interdependence of say Germany on USA is not disadvantageous to any of the two. But one cannot say the same for the relationship of India or Brazil with USA or Germany. One last point needs to be made before we round up the discussion or! this point. Before the rise of colonialism the level of development of many countries like India or China or some Arab countries was as high or higher than that of the colonising powers. In fact the Mediterranean or the Indian Ocean trade was controlled by the Arabs. What gave the advantage to the European powers was a technological edge on a few counts like the invention of the mariner's compass or the iron hull for their ships which made it easy for them to subdue other ships on the high sea and establish Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU their hegemony. We must remember that the "industrial revolution" was gill  far off. India was conquered beginning with 1757, much after Latin America. The Consequences o f Colonialism Industrial revolution began a few decades later with the invention of steam engine, spinning jelly, etc., only during the 1780's and onwards. It was therefore only with the colonisation that the decline of countries like India begins. In a few decades the west had established absolute supremacy in most fields over the countries of what now are called the "third world". Some writers like Andre Gunder Frank have called this as the process of the "development of underdevelopment." ' Check Your Progress Exercise 1 Note: 9 Use the space given below for your answers. Check your answers with the model answers given at the end of the unit. 1) What was new to the 16-18th century colonisation? ' ~................................................................................................................. 2) Can you identify the main features of Colonialism? ' ' 3) How was India different from Latin America as a colony?................................................................................................................. I 1.3 CONSEQUENCES OF COLONIALISM. The defeat of Siraj-ud-Daula in 1757 at the battle of Plassey can be taken as the beginning of the colonial rule. After the battle of Buxar in 1765 the Diwani of Bengal passed into the hands of the British. (Bengal revenue circle then comprised what are now West Bengal, Bangladesh, Bihar and Orissa). The East India Company under the charter of British parliament was given the monopoly of trade with the East including hdia. After these battles they also acquired sole control over the collection of land revenue over the conquered territories. The British used their political control to bring the economy under their direct command. Rapidly the direction of Indian economy was changed to serve the interests of the British economy. Trade and revenue were then the two direct means through which they exercised their control to exploit the Indian economy and transfer the surplus to Britain which was soon to enter on the stage of a long Industrial revolution. All of this had very disastrous repercussions for India. Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU  Historical B a c k g r o u n d 1.3.1 Nature and Phases of the Colonial Empire Given that the main objective of colonialism is the exploitation of the colony and the appropriation (to take possession of) of its surplus for enriching the metropolitan society, the nature of colonialism can best be seen in terms of how this is effected. Methods of exploiting the colony went through different phases. The phases can be seen either in terms of the general tendency or in terms of the tendency combined with mechanism and instrumentalities. Either way there were drastic changes in the way the surplus was appropriated. Therefore, colonial exploitation was not a constant; it was ever changing. We will get two slightly different patterns depending on which of the two procedures we employ. Bipan Chandra relying on the general tendency argues that colonialism went through three stages, each a result of the changes in the metropolitan economy, society and polity. The first stage he identifies as "monopoly trade and revenue approphation" which was marked by the 'element of plunder and direct seizure of surplus" and absence of any significant import of manufactures. The second &age he considers as one of "exploitation through trade" wherein the colony became the market for (industrial) goods and a supplier of raw materials-the best known mode of colonial exploitation thereby converting the colony into a "subordinate trading partner". The third stage he calls the period of "Foreign investments and competition for colonies" during which surplus metropolitan capital was exported into the colonies for the direct exploitation of raw material by establishing industry and taking away the profits. We can notice in the above classification the basic mode of exploitation changes. The earlier ones do not disappear but continue in subsidiary way; that is, monopoly over revenue collection remains but it is supplemented by unequal trade and trade surpluses. The same remains thc case in the next stage where profit expropriation (to dispossess one of ownership) becomes the key mode but unequal trade continues as a secondary mode. Whichever way we look at the phases, such a pattern can be easily discerned. By combining the nature and source of political domination with mechanisms and instrumentalities of exploitation we get a slightly different picture of the phases of colonial rule, as we will find with Amiya Bagchi. The first period stretches from 1757 to 1858 beginning with the defeat of the Nawab of Bengal by Robert Clive to the Great Rebellion or the First War of Independence. This was the period when political power was exercised by the East India Company on a charter granted by the British parliament which also appointed the Governor-General. The second period extends from 1858 to 1947; that is the direct acquisition of power by the British parliament to the Independence of the country accompanied with the Partition. The first phase itself can be divided into two periods. The first sixty years, that is, from 1757-65 to 1813 was a pure merchantile period (in which the merchants were the dominant class controlling long distance trade). Britain was still to enter into the industrial revolution and therefore there was no question of large-scale exports of manufactured goods. During this period the East India Company enjoyed a monopoly of trade with the East including India and China. Then begins a different, a fresh period, when in 1813 the monopoly of the Company for trade with India was abolished (and in Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU  1834 with China too). By this time Britain had settled in as a leading The Consequences of Colonialism industrial nation of the world and a different type of mechanism of exploitation was the need of the time. The Company's position was taken over by a small number of "agency houses" which later became "managing agencies". These controlled all extemal trade (baring a portion of trade in westem India) and much of the wholesale internal trade especially in exportable commodities, badly needed by the metropolitan economy. The period following 1813 can be called one of exploitation through free trade. 1858 saw power pass directly into the hands of Crown or the British 9 parliament. The Governor general now also became the Viceroy. Though 1858 saw a legal change in the nature of political control, not much changed in the methods of exploitation. The period 1858 to 1914-18 saw the climax of exploitation based on free trade. But this period saw the opening up of Indian economy thoroughly to the influence of world capitalist market and its fill integration in the world capitalist economy. Without a change in the mode of exploitation, the integration into world capitalist economy provided with many different levers for the appropriation of domestic surplus. The development of railways and transport infrastructure also saw the blending of diverse internal economies into an integrated economic network, all of 11 which was directed towards world capitalist economy but principally towards Britain. This went on but the second decade of the 20th century, around I the period leading to the first world war, saw a new phase of exploitation 1 I which continued till 1947 but with political Independence did not cease to operate. In fact, in many, disguised forms it continues even today. I I 1 Let us call it the "neo-colonial" mode of exploitation. Capitalism in Britain had developed to a relative level of saturation. There was excess capital for investment then was possible in the British economy and likewise other developed capitalist countries. There was a rush to export capital to other countries. India became one of the important destinations. Capital from advanced capitalist countries but largely British capital started flowing into India in mining and industry. India saw a considerable growth of industry in certain regions; large-scale modem industry grew in certain enclaves like Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Ahmedabad, and many other places on a smaller scale. By using easily available raw material (instead of importing to England) and using locally available cheap labour the idea was to produce'goods in India (instead of exporting them from Britain). The super profits which were made were expropriated to Britain. This mode of industrialisation is also known as "import substitution". What also came along with this growth of modem industry was the rapid expansion in the ranks of Indian bourgeoisie and change in its status from one of being merchants to those of industrialists. This process got a big boost after the First World War when Indians forced the British, in relative decline to America, to mody free-trade and grant concessions and some protection to the Indian industrialists. Capitalism under the Indian capitalist got a great boost with this. In looking at the nature of colonialism and its different phases, one thing becomes clear. It is not the needs or requirements of the colony or home economy which determines the policies or choices made by the colonial powers. Much rather its is linked to the needs of the metropolitan economy in terms of the development of capitalism there. It is the requirements of the British capitalism that become the determining influence. So whatever Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, , IGNOU  Historical Background happens in India, let us say in terms of "development", is simply consequential. No favour was ever done by the colonial authorities to the Indian society. Thus having seen the nature of colonialism and its phases it will be much easier to understand now the detailed consequences. The remaining part of this unit will deal with the consequences of colonialism in India. 1.3.2 Impact: The First Phase-The Peasantry and Its Impoverishment We have all heard how colonialism destroyed the Indian agrarian economy which led to the impoverishment (the process by which one is made to become poor) of peasantry. It has also been pointed out by many writers that the British retained many of the features of Mughal land revenue system perfected by Todar Mal. We have earlier seen in this unit that during the 18th century there was little export of manufactures fiom Britain, so the handicrafts could not have been ruined putting pressure on the hand. So how did this happen? In other words, how did impoverishment start? This is an important question, a key point in all our further understanding of the process of the making of Indian poverty. While the British retained much of the Mughal revenue system, they made some drastic changes of detail within its overall structure. The first, though a minor one, was they raised the share of revenue collected enormously. It has been estimated that the total revenue collected fiom the Bengal Diwani in the first few years of British rule doubled whereas for the last 100 years it had remained the same. This was a huge increase. It is important to remember that this led to severe famines, a third of the population perished, but it is important to note that the revenue collected continued to grow. As an aside, it is important to remember that under the Mughals a part of the revenue collected was reinvested to help the economy and the growth of local product but very little came back under the British. Let us look at the changes they made in what they retained of the Mughal revenue system. One fundamental change they made was to make the revenue calculable on the total land entitled to cultivate rather than the land I actually cultivated. This was crucial; therefore, let us be clear through an example. Under the Mughal if the peasant was entitled to cultivate, for instance, 100 acres of land but actually cultivated only 55 acres, the revenue collected was only for 55 acres but the British assessed and collected the revenue for the entire 100 acres of land. Now imagine the enormous burden it may have put on the peasanJs because barring a few nobody cultivated the &tire land one was entitled to cultivate. In other words, the assessment under the Mughals can be said to be based on the produce and not on i holdings and therefore there was a flexibility in-built into the system. Sesondly, I it hasalso been noted by many that the actual rent in full was not always collected and considerations were given to the difficulties of the peasants. 1 Thirdly, under the Mughals the revenue was calculated in cash but more often it was collected in kind so the peasant did not have to go for distress sale. Finally, and very significantly, the failure to pay in time or repay other ~ - kinds of debt did not lead to the loss of land under the Mughals. The British forced the auction of land in case of failure to pay the revenue or I Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU other debts and for the first time allowed non-peasants to buy up land. -....... rn.......  not alienate peasant lands. So some transfer used to take place within the The Consequences o f Colonialism peasantry. It should be obvious fi-om the above that the system introduced by the British was inflexible in relation to the vagaries of agrarian economy in conditions like those prevailing in our tropical climate dependent on monsoon. It gave rise to the beginning of the conversion of land into a commodity like entity, even though land cannot become a commodity in the way cloth can be. Nevertheless massive alienation of land became a feature of the agrarian relations. A repercussion of this was, one, the ability of the superior holders - or the money-lenders to confiscate the land of the peasants for realisation of airears due to whatever reasons and, two, even the land of the superior holders, like Zarnindars, could be taken over the moneylender for failure to repay debt and the interest accumulated on it. The consequence was the emergence of absentee landlords as a sizeable proportion of land owners who then would let out land on back breaking rent or share-cropping. Lest it should be misunderstood, a clarification is necessary here. This was not confined to the Diwani of Bengal and the system of land tenure introduced there. But this was a common feature for the whole of India under the British administration, whichever land tenure system we look at. Look at the Permanent Settlement created by Cornwallis in Bengal, where the government gave over the right of revenue collection to a small number? of large Zamindars who had powers over cultivators now reduced to tenants. The Zamindars had to pay to government fixed amount which was fixed forever but no restriction on rent rates till late in the 19th century. Or look at the Ryotwari of Elphinstone in Bombay presidency and of Munro in Madras presidency where direct settlements were made with the peasant- proprietors and periodic revenue assessment was made every 20-30 years. The new features disadvantageous to the peasantry mentioned above were common. The ruin of the peasantry was only a question relative to the extent of pauperisation (Pauper is one who has to beg to live). Check Your Progress Exercise 2 Note: i) Use the space given below for your answers. iii Check your answers with the model answers given at the end of the unit. 1) What were the new measures introduced by the British in the area of revenue administration? 2) What were the results of these for the peasantry? I I................................................................................................................. Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU  Hlstorlcal Background 3) Where in History can we locate the origins of Indian, poverty?................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ \ 1.3.3 Impact: The Second Phase-De-industrialisation and its Effecks' During this phase the colonialism had dual impact on Indian political economy- the destructive and developmental. The Destructive Role India for long before the British came had a large and widely spread industry or secondary manufactures. In fact during the time of Akbar, it is said, ' that a Mahkarnai Karkhanai (Department of Industry) was started. The manufactures were largely organised under either the artisans working from within their households or handicraftsmen working in the guilds. Except for a few technological advantages gained by some countries in western Europe, as noted earlier, the national well-being or the wealth in possession'of rulers in our country was not any less; in fact, some estimates suggest that it was higher here. What, however, is more important here is that the (pre- capitalist) manufactures in India were spread all over the country and in many instances, with the exception of guilds, were closely tied up within the agrarian economy; the relation between the agriculture*and manufactures was mutually beneficial. Much of the secondary manufactures were destroyed during the course of the first half of the 19h century and during this period no new industry grew in India. This process has been called by economists as de-industrialisation. We will briefly look at this process and note its larger impact. The beginning of this process of de-industrialisation started, to link up with a point made earlier, with the ending of the monopoly of trade of East India Company in 1813 which itself overlapped with the Industrial Revolution gaining full momentum in Britak India, beginning with around 1800, entered into a classical mould of colonial exploitation, populady also rightly perceived as "import of raw material and export of finished goods" by the metropolitan economy or vice-versa if looked at from India's or any other colony's point of view. How did this de-industrialisation happen? And what wdre its consequences? ~ e f o r egoing into this one comment in passing may be appropriate for it can be a source of many an insights. Through the last quarter of the 18th century Britain was investing about 7 per cent of its gross domestic product on its industrialisation. During the same period, in fact beginning earlier from -1765, Britain was drawing out 6 to 7 per cent of the gross domestic product h m Bengal out of which over 4 per cent was invested in Britain (by transfer to Britain as unrequited surplus), this contributed enormously to rapid industrialisation of Britain; while the remaining was used for waging wars of conquest on*other parts of India. So the conquest of India afier the first victories did not cost Britain anything, it only impoverished some parts Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU n f Tnclia mnre hpraiice thev naicl fnr the rnnnii~ctnf nther nartc /Fnr cl~tailc  From around the first decade of the 19th century one-way free-trade was The Consequences of Colonialism introduced. (That is exports of goods from Britain would be exempt fiom custom duties). Let us look at one particular commodity, cotton textiles, for the quality of whole production India was famous all over and which it used to export in large quantities. Within a few decades cotton textiles completely disappeared from the list of India's exp~rts.There was a ruinous decline in the production of textiles in India. In place of this thke was \an excessive increase of cotton manufactures in the list of its imports. In the wake of industrial revolution Britain had become the leading producer of cotton textiles in the world. Indian market had become crucial for the expanding British industry. For example in the 1880s, one of the peak points of textiles production, India alone accounted for 40 per cent of Britain's world share. In exact figures calculated by Bagchi, in 1885 total exports of cotton goods from Britain came to 69 million Pounds and of this India's share was 28 million Pounds. Cotton goods produced in India had to pay a higher duty than those imported from Britain. The story was the same for a number of manufactures. For silk goods, the British forced the weavers under its control to give up weaving and replaced it with the production of raw silk as the sale of raw silk in Europe was found to be more profitable. Britain also monopolised the manufacture and sale of salt, opium (a key item in trade with China), indigo (very important in the bleaching of cotton goods), etc. Many other manufactures were also decimated. For example, with the loss of political power, the gun- making industry (important in pre-colonial India) was destroked and with that there was large-scale closure of iron foundries. I I By the second half of the 19th century de-industrialisation was complete. Its consequence on agriculture, to note in passing, was extremely damaging. People thrown out of secondary manufactures were thrown in on the agriculture for direct sustenance, land had to support so many more millions of people. This led to a W h e r ruination of an already, as we have seen earlier, impoverished peasantry. As the number of people on land went on increasing, the relations of peasants with the landlord (or the superior owners) were worsening on the one had and the number of landless agricultural labourers increasing enormously. The result of this process was immediately of a two-fold character: there was first the absolute reduction in the wages of workers in agricultural operations and then there was secondly the increase --in the rent the peasants were forced to pay (rack-renting became a common -feature) and in failure to pay rents fully or on time. This led to the easy eviction of the tenants as share-croppers. Poverty, not in a relative sense but of an absolute kind became wide-spread. The countryside in India till today reeks of terrible suffering for those who have little or no land. Developmental Impact The.colonialism had following deve)opmental impact on Indian political economy... First, the British, beginning with the 19th century,set up a modem admmdrative apparatus and subsequently a judicial system and. together with merchantile " firms. This was a social infrastructure of a new kind for India. Large number 'of Indians were needed to run it. The British also therefore set up a new type of educational system to run these institutions both public and private. After much debate, from 1830's a complete shift to English both in Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU  Historical Background administration and education was effected. A new class of Indian well versed in English emerged. In the beginning they were mostly drawn fiom the Hindus and largely from among the three upper castes who established a monopoly first over the jobs and then over profession like lawyers. Doctors, engineers, journalists, company executives, and so on; a lund of highly privileged group among the Indians. The upper stratum of this was the new Indian elite. Their hegemony continues even today causing resentment among lower castes like the Dalits and the Backward Castes and sometimes among the Muslims who lagged behind in education from the beginning of the colonial rule. The second very important development during this period was the beginning of the construction of railways. Starting in 1854 the first two-truck routes were started and then its construction was taken up in a big way. By 1914, 34,000 miles of railways were constructed linking all the major areas of I q a. By comparison with China we can see how extensive was this network. In China a much larger country, at the end of semi-colonial control it had a railroad network of a mere 12,000 miles. The railways by making the easy mobility of goods and people across India contributed enormously to the development of trade and capital. It thus brought about the integration _ of various local economic zones into an interacting economy. It also facilitated the developnent of a pan-Indian market. Today the railways remain the one physical infrastructure which plays the most significant role in the movements of goods and people and trade and commerce and supply of inputs to the rapidly expanding Indian industrial economy. But the railways also surprisingly contributed to a greater integration of Indian economy into the metropolitan one and thus contributed to the augmentation of India's economic exploitation. It did so by a peculiar route alignment and fare-structure. Apart from the trunk routes linking the main cities to \ the capital, the railroad primarily were so aligned so as to link the interiors to the port cities from hich finished goods were exported into India and raw material was takenT lut, facilitating the to and for trade between India and Britain. The fare for goods were higher if transported between two interior places, e.g., between Indore and Gwalior but much lower. (almost half) if the same were to move from interior to the port cities, e.g. from Gwalior or Indore to Bombay or Calcutta. So that these would discourage internal trade but help external trade with Britain. That is how the process of "finished goods for raw material" got a huge spurt and so was the exploitation of India augmented. Such were the developments to which the great nationalist economist and freedom fighter Dadabhai Naoroji gave the name of '.drain theory'. The third important change to which reference has to be made is the development of modem irrigation networks. Around the same time as the development of railways, there also took place rapid expansion in irrigated areas. The construction of vast irrigation networks were undertaken though confined to a few areas but this was also accompanied by the neglect of traditional inigation works like wells and village ponds. So the gross command area did not equal the net increases in the irrigated area. By 1914, 25 million acres came under irrigation. The earlier traditional system was under the control of the farmers so they could control crop mixture and rotation of crops. The modern networks made the peasants at the compassion of Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU scarely c o n 9 d landlords who controlled the government public works like  the canals for instance. This resulted in the relative increase of the power T h e Consequences of Colonialism of landlords over the agrarian economy'and also therefore a miserable existence for the peasantry. One important feature of investment in irrigation is worth remembering. Almost the entire investment went into two, three areas of the British India, and the out of these bulk of it went into Punjab. Estimates show the 315 of the entire investment (in the earlier period but marginally declining later yet remaining a sizeable proportion) went into Punjab, the remaining being divided between some coastal areas of Madras presidency and some around a few areas in Bombay presidency. These then were the areas which witnessed considerable increases in productivity. It is not as if f m e r s in these areas , are more hard working, as the modem myth about the Punjab farmers seems. to suggest, but they put more labour and capital in these regions because of assured production. The skewed nature of this investment gave rise to a new type of disparity among the various regions of India. Two important results followed with the development of irrigation, a brief mention of these is important. Irrigation led to some significant changes in the cropping pattern. It helped the growth of exportable food grains and commercial crops, by direct impact in the imgated areas but also by showing the n h r e of profitable agriculture to other areas. These new exportable food grains marginalised the production of millets (a sturdy cereal requiring little water and the staple food of the poor) and the pulses (the chief and the only source of protein for the poor). The entire nature of a development in agriculture was of a very uneven nature between regions and different classes. Among the peasantry leading to the emergence of a stratum called the rich peasants emerged. Also to note is that by 1914, an area approximately 25% of the total cropped area came under the cash crops, many of these are also for the nature of inputs for industry, viz., tobacco, jute, cotton, sugarcane (by displacing the production of jaggery and crude brown sugar in favour of refined sugar), etc. Modem agriculture in India, since 1947, has changed a lot but the basic structure has remained quite strikingly similar. Together with railways, irrigation with the development of cash crops, and large-scale mining gave a big push to the growth of trade both within India , and between India and other countries especially Britain. Therefore by 1880's fairly sizeable Indian capitalist class was getting formed and was present in many areas but largely concentrated in and around the port-towns. This led in small ways to the beginning of capitalism under Indian entrepreneurs and a slow growth of modem Industry. This was a feature of far reaching significance for future. Check Your Progress Exercise 3 Note: i) Use the space given below for your answers. ii) Check your answers with the model answers given at the end of the unit. 1) Why did the British shift the emphasis of ekploitation to "export of raw material and import of finished goods?' Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU  Hlstoricai Background................................................................................................................ 2) What did it do to the Indian economy?................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ ' 3) How did de-industrialisation effect the agrarian economy?............................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1.3.4 Impact: th, Third Phase-Imperialism and ~ndus'tri isation "? In the last decades of the 19th century the nature of capitalism was changing. Different types of capital like the industrial and the banking capitals were getting merged. This gave rise to large financial oligarchies within advanced capitalist countries like Britain, Germany, France, USA, etc., with excess of capital to export. There was intense competition among these countries to export capital to countries like India, for example, and establish industries. Infact such competition gave birth to the first world war. The idea of such competition was to make huge profits and export these to the home countries This was a way of capturing the domestic market of the colonies, along other countries, for the benefit of metropolitan economy. A famous liberal econc. ;st called Hobson and the well known revolutionary Lenin came to the same conclusion that capitalism now has entered, what they termed, the phase of Imperialism. (1, ::perialism is therefore not the same as colonialism, i f continued even after colonialism came to an end and is with us even today under the new na.e of Globalisation). By the turn of the century an.. before 1914 India had developed a pretty good industry. These industriez. were riot wide-spread but were concentrated in certain enclave like the Jute Textiles around Calcutta, Cotton Textiles around Bombay, etc. Other industries, viz., rice-mills, for making refined sugar, cement and so on also started coming up. Tatas (the only Indian allowed to do so) had also established a heavy igdustry for making steel. This process got a big push after the h t world war. The important feature, in this period, w& that the Indian capitalist who had accumulated large capital through trade started establishing industries on their own. After the war, Britain's position relatively declined within the advanced capitalist world and it faced strong competition h m other industrial powers. The Indian capitalist wrested large concessions from Britain to start industries and also forced it to modifL the one-way flee-trade, with the result that Indian industrialist got some state protection. The rise of the mass-based national movement also helped the aspiring Indian industrialist to bargain better with Britain. Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU For the first time since the establishment of the British colonial control, the T h e Consequences o f Coloninllsrn assets of the Indian capitalist in industry grew faster than those of the British capitalists. There was no state assistance for Indian industry but Britain was forced to grant protective tariff to Indian industry vis-a-vis other imperialist powers, although its own goods continued to enjoy preferential treatment. By the time of the second world war, India had achieved a good measure of self-sufficiency in, apart from Industries mentioned above, consumer goods as also in crude and intermediate goods like pig-iron, steel, cement, etc. Much of what was imported from Britain earlier was being produced within the country itself; this pattern of industrialisation has been referred to by the economists as "import-substitution" industrialisation. One important feature of this industrialisation has to be emphasised before we end this discussion. The colonial mode of development imposed a serious disjunction, as pointed out by Bagchi, between industry and agriculture. Most areas which developed industry remained agriculturally backward and those which became agriculturally advanced like Punjab remained industrially backward. The result was that the agricultural areas became hinterlands for the industry. This is very unlike the pre-colonial pattern where industry and agriculture were closely tied in a mutually beneficial relationship. This was to result in a peculiar pattern of uneven development all over India. Also almost all the areas where Muslims constituted a majority of the population did not 'develop any industry and remained as hinterlands. No large Muslim bourgeoisie also developed. This too contributed to the Muslim sepakitism which as we know led to the partition of the country and the creation of. Pakistan-a complex story which cannot be gone into here. Check Your Progress Exercise 4 Note: i) Use the space given below for your answers. i Check your answers with the model answers given at the end of the unit. 1) What led to the growth of modem industry in ~ndia?' 2) Where and in what sectors did industry grow? 3) What were the main social forces which emerged in India? Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU  Historical Background What is "import substitution7'industrialisation? 4) - - 1.4 LET US SUM UP When India gained Independence, industrially it was the most developed outside the advanced capitalist countries. It had the largest capitalist class well-versed in influencing politics from behind as well as the largest and most accomplished middle class and numerically a huge proletariat with a large concentration of skilled workers. It paradoxically also had the highest irincidence of poverty both urban but especially rural with all that goes with it; undernourishment, ill-health, illiteracy, lack of shelter quite apart from the fact that the means to become what we are capable of being were so thinly spread in the society. The colonialism was very decisive in the making of modem India. 1.5 KEY WORDS Colonialism: A system where a country dominates and exploits another country in all aspects of life, especially economic. Neo-colonialism: It is a system in which the economy of the colony gets integrated with that of the metropolitan country by development of inhstmctu~ like railways and transport. De-industrialisation: A process of ruination of the traditional industries of the colonies due to the competition with the modem industries of the metropolitan countries. 1.6 SOME USEFUL BOOK AND ARTICLES Bagchi, Arniya Kumar, Political Economy of Underdevelopment, CUP, Cambridge, 1982; an Indian edition is also available. See especially Ch. 4 and Chs. 2, 6 & 7. And see also his "Reflections on Patterns of Regional Growth in India During the Period of British Rule", Bengal Past-and-- Present, Vol. XCV, Part 1, No. 180, January-June 1976. Chandra, Bipan, Essays on Colonialism, Orient Longman, Delhi, 1999; see Chs. 3 & 4. Habib, Irfan, "Colonisation of the Indian Economy, 1757-1900", Social Scientist, March 1975; also in his, Essays in Indian History: Towards a Marxist Perspective, Tulika, New Delhi, 1995. Sarkar, Sumit, Modern India, Macmillan, Delhi, 1983. Pavlov, V., "India's Socio-Economic Structure from the 18th to mid-20th Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU Century", in Pavlov, V., Rastannikov,-V. -.- - and Shirov, - - G. India: --- Social and  T h e ~onse'quenceso f 1.7 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS Coloniatlsm EXERCISES Check Your Progress 1 1) The new feature of the 16-18" century colonialism was that unlike 1 the earlier colonialism it saw the forced incorporation of the major part of world by a small part of it. 2) i) Forced incorporation of the major part of the world by a small group of countries. ii) Exploitation of the resources of the colonies by a small number of metropolitan countries, and ruination of the economy of the colonies. 3) Latin America was conquered much before India. In India it was followed by the industrial revolution, which adversely affected Indian economy. Check Your Progress 2 1) They raised the share of revenue. The rent was collected on the basis of the land held by the peasant, not on the basis of the area sown. 2) It resulted in the extraction of rent from the peasants. Failure to pay rent led to their eviction from land. The peasants became pauper. 3) It can be located in the colonial period. Check Your Progress 3 1) They wanted market for the goods produced in England. 2) It ruined the traditional economy of India, which is known as the process of de-industrialisation ' 3) Due to de-industrialisation, the traditional industries and crops related to Indian agriculture got ruined. It pauperised the Indians. Check Your Progress 4 1) In the wake of the first world war the position of Britain declined in relation to other advanced countries. It gave an opportunity to Indian industrialists to get concessions (protective tariff policy) h m the British government. It helped in the growth of modem Indian industry. 2) In Jute textiles, cotton textiles, refined sugar, cement, etc. 3) Middle classes, landlords, a small group of industrialists. 4) "Import-substitution" means an economic system in which the goods which are imported are produced in the country itself. There is no need for import of such goods. Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU  RESPONSES OF INDIAN SOCIETY Structure 2.0 Objectives 2.1 Introduction 2.2 India and the Colonial Experience 2.3 The World of the Peasantry 2.4 The Tribal Response. 2.5 Middle Class, Intelligentsia and Social Reform 2.5.1 The Ideas and Vision of New Class 2.5.2 Social Reformers and Public Debate 2.6 Reform Movements 2.7 Reform or Revival? 2.8 Social or Political Reform? 2.9 The Intelligentsia, Reforms and the Colonial State 2.10 Critique of Colonialism 2.1 1 Let Us Sum Up 2.12 Some Useful Books 2.13 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises 2.0 OBJECTIVES This unit is about the responses of Indian society to the arrival colonialism ' in India. After reading this unit, you will be able to understand: The response of the peasantry to the colonial' policies; The reaction of the tribals to it; The reaction of the middle classes and intelligentsia to it; and The context of the rise of the social and cultural movements during the colonial period. 2.1 INTRODUCTION Colonialism radically changed the face of Indian society. It also resulted in a churning within that society. The society responded to colonialism in multiple ways. The responses were, however, influenced by the context in which people lived, the way they perceived the colonial rule and their vision of a future society. In this unit we shall try and examine these various responses in their proper historical context. This will enable us to view properly the historical development of our society, and the manner in which this society responded to the range of forces it encountered over the past two hundred years or more. \ 2.2 INDIA AND THE COLONIAL EXPERIENCE You have read in unit 1 that the trading companies from Europe, i.e, Great Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU Britain, France, Spain, Portugal and Holland, entered India during the sixteenth Company received the Dewani of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, when its armies Responses af Indian Society defeated the combined forces of the Nawabs of Bengal and Oudh and the Mughal prince Shah Alam. By the first decades of the nineteenth century, a mere trading company established its authority over a vast tract of the Indian subcontinent. While on the one hand, colonialism impoverished the society and used political power to exploit it economically, it also unleashed the force of ideas to usher in an entirely new age. The British brought with them the message of the English (1688) and French (1789) revolutions. The notion of freedom, equality and a scientific world-view, derived from the scientific revolution and the enlightenment ideas of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Europe, also travelled to India with the colonial powers. Colonialism, therefore, presented itself as the purveyor of ideas for a radical social reorganisation, even though it changed the economic, political and cultural mosaic of the subcontinent in a fundamental way. 2.3 THE WORLD OF THE PEASANTRY In the areas occupied by the British new land revenue systems, such as the Permanent Settlement in Bengal and the Ryotwari system in other areas, were introduced. Both these were-alien to the subcontinent, and implied the superseding of the traditional rights of the village community over their land. Two forms of property now came into being. In Bengal where the Permanent Settlement was implemented, Zamindars became the intermediaries between the state and the peasants. In other are&, the peasants were directly burdened with very high taxes. The company began to extract revenue with a vengeance. In Bengal alone the total revenue collected doubled from Rs. 63.4 lakh in 1762-63 to Rs. 147.0 lakh in 1765-66. R.C. Dutt, who studied the impact of colonialism on the Indian economy, estimated the extraction to have increased from Rs. 2.26 crore in 1765-66, to 3.7 crore in 1769-70. Even the severe famine caused no decline in the taxat$n,,reflecting the unscrupulous greed of the P new rulers. This created a s&er crisis for the old Zamindars, who were now reduced to the status of revenue farmers. The new land revenue arrangements also affected the/class of people dependant on State patronage, such as traditional scholars, fakirs, artists, etc. The revolts of the Zamindars and other dispossessed people formed the earliest responses to colonial power. The peasantry was the worst victim of the new system. The peasants reacted in the form of protest against the colonial oppression. The section provides some examples of the peasant's response. The peasant reaction came in many forms. Titu Mir's (1782) rebellion was one such early response to the British rule. Titu Mir led the poor peasants near Barasat in 24 Parganas (Bengal) against the Zamindars, both Hindus and Muslims. He instructed his followers to follow pure and simple Islamic practices. The movement began to spread into the adjoining districts of Nadia and Faridpur. Its popularity finally forced the colonial authorities to kill Titu Mir and suppress his movement. In November 1831 Titu Mir's headquarter at Narkulbaria in Barasat district was destroyed. He and fifty of his followers were killed, and several hundreds of his followers were arrested. Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU  Historical Background The more widespread Farazi movement of Haji Shariatullah (1781- 1840) in eastern Bengal followed this. Shariatullah asked his poor peasant followers to strictly observe the duties (far'iz, hence far'izi) enjoined by the Quran and Sunna (Islamic law), and to maintain God's unity. He stressed that so long as the British rule Bengal the congregational prayers on jumma and Id should not be performed, as according to tradition they must only be performed in a misr aljami (a town where an amir and a qazi, properly appointed by an independent Khalifa are stationed). This was one of the strongest indictments of British rule. Under his son Duda Mian (18 19-1862), the impoverished and landless peasants, artisans and weavers joined the Farazi ranks. The Farazis attacked both the landlords in the area, who incidentally were Hindus, as well as the British Indigo factory owners. The colonial authorities tried very hard to suppress the Farazis and to rescind Shariatullah's indictment of British rule. It was finally in the last decades of the nineteenth century that the movement's new leaders asked the population to extend ioyalty to the British. The anti-British felling was so strong that people were not allowed to seek redressal of grievances in the British courts without permission from the Farazi leaders. # In 1859-60, the peasants in Nadia district of Bengal heard that the new Lt. Governor was sympathetic to their condition. They refused to accept the advance paid by the indigo planters coercing them to grow indigo. The movement spread through the delta region. Indigo planters were attacked and soon the entire system began to collapse. The active interest of the intelligentsia in Calcutta focussed the attention of the colonial authorities too on the oppression of the Indigo planters. As a result of this revolt, the indigo cultivation system came to an end in the area. In the 1870s, there were protests in Pabna (Bengal). The peasants organised themselves into agrarian leagues here. In 1873, a large-scale movement of the peasantry in Pabna and the adjoining areas was another strong indictment of colonial rule. In the Ryotwari areas, the peasantry came under increased pressure of revenue demanded in cash. The situation was aggravated with the introduction of commercial crops such as cotton. This W h e r increased the monetary requirements of the peasant; at the same time it dimibished his self-sufficiency. The moneylenders in Bombay Presidency were mostly outsiders in the local peasant communities. They began approaching law courts for the settlement of debts. This. resulted a massive alienation of peasantry from their lands. Community bonds among the peasantry against the moneylenders strengthened, and they rose against the moneylenders in 1875 in the districts of Ahmednagar and Poona. 2.4 THE TRIBAL RESPONSE A significant number of people in the subcontinent for centuries lived in socio- cultural and economic worlds different fiom other social formations based on caste or other principles of hierarchy. The word tribe, an import from the European language and knowledge systems, was used to describe these people. The relatianship between the two formations varied fiom contzxt to context. Colonialism created spaces and conditions for non-tribal outsiders to move in large numbers into the habitat of the tribal people. The colonial Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU rule brought about other fundamental changes in the life of tribals.  1 Living in relative isolation, the tribal population had, over the centuries, Responses of Indian Society evolved social, cultural and political patterns differently. The colonial state I L facilitated penetration of revenue farmers, forest contractors and Christian I L missionaries in a large number into the tribal habitat. The British with little knowledge of the communities living in forests and hilly terrain like Chhota Nagpur and Santhal Parganas acknowledged the outsiders who had established themselves in the area as the ruling potentates over the tribal lands too. They entered into revenue arrangements with them. The latter in tum transformed their customary gifts and tributary relationship with the tribals into a compulsory revenue relationship. The new legal system forced this relationship on the b tribal people, with the colonial masters as the supreme revenue lord. Thus, the tribal people were deprived of their traditional rights over the land, forest and all that they were familiar with for centuries. With little knowledge of p the new legal system, which had no notion of the rights of tribal people, the latter found no sympathy with the rapidly penetrating agricultural communities too. The central Indian tribes, particularly those living in the Choota Nagpur and Santhal Parganas area, were the worst sufferers in the new situation. When the British began penetrating the Jangal Mahals and Chhota Nagpur after 1780, thikadars and other intermediaries also entered into the system. The heightening of certain internal differences within the tribes in the colonial perception precipitated these changes. The colonial system and the outsiders began treating individuals within tribes like the Pahan (priests) or the Munda ~ (leader) or the Munda tribe, whose status was that of one amongst equals, as landlords or political and social leaders. This attached the relatively egalitarian structure of communities such as that of the Mundas and the Oraons in Chhota Nagpur. The coming of the missionaries and the large scale conversions, particularly in the last decades of the nineteenth century, also created new inter and intra-tribal differentiation. The atrangements evolved over centuries between the tribal differentiation. The arrangements evolved over centuries between the tribal populqon and the neighbouring communities were also distributed. The Ghatwals in the Jangal Mahals were traditionally the police force of the local ruling potentates in Chhota Nagpur. The abolition of this arrangement resulted in the famous Chuar rebellion of the Chatwals in-the 1790s. Similarly, the reservation of forest land for colonial purposes altered the tribals relationship with the forest and his habitat. But the most radical change came in the shape of the large-scale intrusion of the outsiders. The most powerful expression against the outsiders, who mostly came as moneylenders, revenue contractors, lawyers and landlords, was the famous Hul rising of the Santhals in Darnni-1-koh (modem day Santhal Pargana district). In 1855 under the leadership of Sidho and Kanu, the Santhals attacked the colonial authorities as well as outsiders whom they called dikus. In 1832-33 the Bhumiji in the Jangal Mahals revolted against the colonial authorities, while in the 1850s the tribal leaders called Sardars in Ranchi district revolted against the rapid land alienation. The Christian missionaries in the Chhota Nagpur area provided a helping hand to the exploited tribal people. They not only opened hospitals and schools, but also enlightened the colonial authorities about the tribals and their problems, taking up their cause with the administration. On the question of land. however, neither the colonial authorities nor the missionaries had Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU  Historical Background any intention of intervening. A large section of the tribal people in Chhota Nagpur, therefore, began to see the missionaries as no'different fiom the colonial matters. It is in this context that Birsa Munda and his Lngulan (the great tumult) emerged in Ranchi district in 1899-1900. The followers of Birsa attacked all visible symbols of colonial authority like police stations. The entire tribe participated. When Gaya Munda and his men returned from an attack on the Khunti police station, the Munda women gave them a traditional welcome reserved for men returning from a hunting expedition. Assam came under British rule only in 1826, and the colonial penetration in the Naga hills ahd in the Manipur area was relatively late. In Assam, Vaisnavism had exerted a great influence on the local population over the centuries. Contact with Calcutta opened the area to new influences. One such influence was an alternative to the available mode of Hinduisation. Kalicharan Mech of Dhubri was inspired by a Hindu sanyasi of Calcutta and started a new faith, eschewing the expensive rituals attached to the prevailing hinduising modes in the area. The new converts, called Brahrnas, engaged themselves in the eradicating illiteracy of their tribes. There was also a move towards abstinence fiom rice, beer, meat, etc. The forces of change were too large and too rapid for the tribal people to adjust. For inspiration, therefore, they looked back to their past. All their revolts were characterised by a conscious invocation of a lost but golden past. Sidho, Kanu and Birsa Munda, all of them painted a glorious picture of their tribe in a bygone age, Satjug, vis-a-vis the tribe's present suffering Kalijug. Birsa blamed the white fathers, the black fathers (the converted tribals), and the colonial authorities for the miseries of his tribe, which had lost its land and religion and had become a victim of overall degeneration. This consciousness provided the ideological basis for solidarity behind all these movements. Attempts to revive community memories of the pre- Christian days by those who were disturbed by the growing divide between the Christian and non-Christian world-views. This was combined with an attack against the outsiders and British rule in the last decades of the 19th century. The Khasi tribe made such an attempt. The ongoing national movement influenced the tribal movements in the early decades of 20th century: The Tana Bhagat movement of Gumla in Ranchi district, and the Zeliangrong movement in the Naga hills were two such instances. Jadonang (1905-193I), who set up the Haraka religious cult with three basic objectives started the complex Zeliangrong or Haomei movement in 1925. The first aimed at reformation of the tribes, particularly the Zemi, Liangrnei and Rangmei, to enable them to face the onslaught of Christianity. Secondly, the overthrow of the exploitative colonial laws by attacking British rule. And third, establishment of the Naga Raj. The movement was also aimed against the Kuki tribe, the "outsider". From 1927 onwards, influenced by Gandhi, Jadonang began a civil disobedience movement in the area. On 13 June 1931, Jgdonang was arrested and sentenced to death, and finally hanged on 29 August 1931. Gaidinliu a teenaged girl, took over the leadership of the movement. In March 1932, the entire village of Bopugoanrni in the Naga hills was burnt down by the government forces, ?n retaliation to the attack on the Assam Rifles outpost by Gaidinliu's followers. Finally the seventeen year old leader, called Rani Gaidinliu by'Nehru, was arrested Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU on 17 October 1932, and sentenced to life imprisonment. Thus, when she was set free in 1947 on Nehru's personal insistence, she had already spent Responses of. Indian Society all her youth in jail.. ,' Check Your Progress Exercise 1 Note: 9 Use the space given below for your answers. n Check your answers with the model answers given at the end of the unit. 1) How did the peasant respond to the colonial rule? 2) What were the symbols of tribal reaction against the colonial rule?................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 2.5 MIDDLE CLASS, INTELLIGENTSIA AND SOCIAL REFORM.- The colonial rule saw the emergence of g'8ew class whose members came mostly from the newly educated sectiajs and the professionals created by the colonial establishment. This class &is not attached to any royal court or religious establishment and was entirely on its own, except that it depended on the new colonial economy for its sustenance. Well versed; in their own traditions, this class encountered the full blast of the new ideas shaping the west, equipping them to view their own society and its institutions on their own merit. They found that-infanticideypolygamy, sati, practice of untouchability, prohibition of female education and widow remarriage, and absence of any critical knowledgd system characterised their society. Further, reli6ous and social practices were inseparable, tt+usylegitimising all inhuman practices through recourse to religion. Education in the classical mode imparted in Sanskrit, Arabic or Persian was devoid of any critical component. It was also based on caste and gender discriminations-non-Brahmins and women were not allowed Sanskrit education. The first generation of intellectuals and refomm, particularly the father of the Indian refom movement Raja Rammohun Roy (1 772- 1833), realised their unusual predicament very early in their careers.,While they had to defend the societies, religions and traditions of India against the evangelical and utilitarian attacks, they also had to eradicate the evil and inhuman practices that prevailed in the society. The evangelists had been criticising Hindu and Muslims practices and institutions a s inhuman, and had presented Christianity as the means of deliverance. The educated class was the first to face this onslaught on their religion and society. A large section of the educated was converted to Christianity. Those like Raja Rammohun Roy who did not think conversation was the answer, worked towards reforming their own society. Their vision of a new society was i n f m d b y the ideas of freedom, equality and fraternity; and a religious universalism, which advocated a common core among the world's religions. Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU  Historical Background 2.5.1 The Ideas and Vision of New Class The ideas and vision of this new class was articulated best in the work, of Raja Ramrnohun Roy. With sound knowledge of Persian Arabic, Sanskrit, Hebrew and several Ewpean and Asian Languages, Rammohun Roy a c q W a deep insight into different religious traditions. He was well versed with the movement of ideas taking place in Europe. He realised that a critique of tradition was necessary for removing wide spread illiteracy, ignorance and practice of inhuman and cruel practices like widow burning, infanticide, excessive ritualism, polygamy, and prohibition on rernaniage of Hindu windows. These practices were legitimised by invoking religious texts and traditions. Ram Mohun Roy and later Vidyasagar in Bengal, Veershalingam in Andhra and Krishna S h a h Chiplunkar in Maharashtra studied the shastras themselves to prove that the Hindu religion never sanctioned such practices, which were based on the wrong and often false interpretations of the Brahmins. They were also clear that tradition had to face the test of reason and social good. And that social good was to be based on notions of equality, liberty and fraternity. Rammohun Roy was the forerunn~rin this. 2.5.2 Social Reformers and Public Debate The reformers never rejected traditions but rather put them to critical evaluation. Such a critique required engagement of an informed and critical mass of people. Thus, the reformers made it a point to engage in public debate through newspapers and journals, as Ram Mohun Roy did through Mirat-ul-Akhbar, Keshub Chandra Sen through Indian Mirror and Sulabh Sarnachar, Bal Shastri Jarnbhekar through Darpan (1832), Lpkhitadi through Prabhakar. Almost d l issues related to social reforms were debated publicly, reflecting a core democratic principle, which came to fruition during the national movement, gaining ground during this time. A significant result of these literary outpourings was that the vernacular languages were enriched. Bengali, Assamese, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telgu and other major languages were enriched by this. The reformers indirectly contributed to the growth of linguistic communities, which was recognised clearly in the 1890s and in the long run contributed to the demand for a separate Orissa, Andhra, etc. The reformers also realised that to defend their society against missionary and colonial criticism and also for permanent reform, it was important that education be imparted not only to all sections of men, but to women too. They campaigned for a critical and scientific education system. What India required was "not the revival of Sanskrit learning", Rammohun Roy argued, "but promotion of a more liberal and enlightened system of instruction, embracing Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, Chemistry and Anatomy with other useful subjects." It was Lord Macaulay, the Law Member in the Viceroy Council, whose decisive intervention was crucial in winning the case for English education. Though Lord Macaulay's intention was to produce a class of Indian in colour but British in taste, yet Rammohun Roy and others wished to bring the fruits of new knowledge into India and infuse Indians with these new ideas and spirit. Check Your Progress Exercise 2 Note: 3 Use the space given below for your answers. n Check your answers with the model answers given at the Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU end of the unit.  1 1) In which way the middle class/intelligentsia was different from the peasantry and tribals? Responses of Indian Society , I 2) In which way did they respond to colonialism? !................................................................................................................. F................................................................................................................. i 3) How did the intelligentsia generate public debate? 2.6 REFORM MOVEMENTS The ideas and their propagation soon produced the desired result. There were efforts to bring changes in the caste system, position of women and the system of education. The reforms for which Rarnrnohun Roy stood were eradication of the kulin system (marriage of young girls to higher subcaste Brahmins, often much older, resulting in the practice of polygamy), stopping the sale of young girls in marriage, abolition of cas: system, introduction of widow remarriage and abolition of sati. Sati was a prevailing practice among the high caste Hindus where the widow had to die, at times forcibly, ,along with the dead husband on the latter's funeral pyre. Rammohun Roy considered this cruel practice to have no sanction in the shastras. He and his friends led an agitation, which finally resulted in Sati being banned by Legislative Council Act of 1928. Rarnrnohun Roy also engaged the Christian missionaries in public debates over their attacks on oriental religions. He criticised the missionaries for presenting a caricatured version of Christianity and distorting its essence. l h s attack was from the standpoint of religious universalism. He established the Brahrno Samaj in 1828 to provide space for all those who believed in nonsectarian religion. He did in 1833 in Bristol, England. The Brahrno Samaj became the nucleus of reform activities in Bengal and throughout India. I Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, who became the principal of ~&skritCollege, I opened the gates of Sanskrit learning to non-Brahmin students. He worked t tirelessly for widow remarriages and education for the girls. It was through 1 I his efforts that in 1856 widpw remarriage was made legal. Keehub Chandra Sen, one of the most gifted successors of Rammohun Roy, took the latter's I message across the country. His visit to Bombay and Madras in 1864 and I 1 N.W.F.P in 1868 resulted in the formation of Prarthana Samaj in Bombay Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU  Historleal Background Maharashtra, with a strong tradition of reforms dating back to the days of the B e i saints in the medieval period, produced Bal Shastri Jambhekar and Gopal Hari Deshrnukh who assumed the name Lokahitawadi. They criticised the privileges of the Brahmins, and the devaluation of women and lower castes fiom a rationalist viewpoint. Gopal Ganesh Agarkar and Krishna Shastri Chiplunkar, a Sanskrit pandit with an extremely critical perspective on the challenges facing Hindu religion and society, joined them. The Scientific and Literary Society formed in Bombay in 1848 and the ~ r a r t h h aSamaj (1864) became the centers of the reform movement. The new ideas soon swept the Parsi community of Bombay Presidency. Cursetjee Nusserwanjee Cama, Nowrojee Furdonjee and Sorabjee Shapoorjee Bengalee took the lead in this. The emphasis was on the status and education of women. CursdJee Cama started regular schools for girls and Sir Jamshetjee Jeejibhai opened four schools for Parsi girls, which were taken over by the Parsi Girls Association in 1856. Furdonjee's Gujarati periodical Vidyasagar and Bengalee's Jagatmitra and the Dyan Prakashak Mandali disseminated