UNDERSTANDING THE COLONIAL POLICY AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS OF THE INDIGO REBELLION’S PEASANT

Abstract

This study investigates some social factors that instigated Bengal’s peasants to revolt against the British colonial raj repeatedly. The majority of peasant rebellions of Bengal have been examined from the view of political economy, where the general perspective is that peasants revolted because of economic exploitations by planters, landlords, and other classes. However, this study argues for extending beyond the political-economic view, and for the importance of also bringing in overall social conditions in examination of peasant rebellions. This study finds that colonial policy and institutional arrangement created conditions to exploit the peasants’ labor and wealth. The first significant change brought in Bengal by colonial power was the change in land ownership. Because of the Permanent Settlement Act, land became a product of money-making in the colonial state. The second significant effect of colonial rule is the change of agricultural mode of production. The study also shows the commercialization of agriculture that transformed the traditional method of agriculture, shifted the entire ‘production risk’ on the peasants’ shoulders, and created insecurity of peasants’ subsistence. Thus, this study indicates that Bengal’s peasants repeatedly revolted because of colonial institutional arrangements and extractive land, and socio-economic policies.

Keywords

• peasant rebellion
• colonialism
• imperialism
• commercialization of agriculture
• indigo rebellion
• bengal peasant rebellion
• british colonialism