British Policies and Impacts

In order to bring a fixed income, Lord Cornwallis fixed the land revenue of Bengal and Bihar on a permanent basis in 1793. This practice came to be known as the Permanent Settlement. Under it, the zamindar became the owners of the entire land in their zamindari.

Two features of this system of revenue are:

1. The right of ownership was made hereditary and transferable.
2. The Zamindar had to pay a fixed amount of revenue by a fixed date to the government every year.

Three effects of the revenue systems introduced by the British in India were:

1. A new class of landlords was created. They exploited and tortured the peasants.
2. The peasants suffered as they remained at the mercy of the landlords. They became poorer.
3. Land became a saleable property. It could be mortgaged. This gave rise to the borrowing of money on the mortgage of land and the division of land into smaller units

The British exploited the Indian artisans and weavers which led to the decline of Indian handicrafts and cottage industries. The British exploited the Indian artisans and weavers in following ways:

1. The handloom and cottage industries could not compete with the British industries, where cloth was cheaper and finer-made by machines.
2. The English never patronised the Indian artists and craftsmen like the Indian princes and nobles whom they replaced.
3. Duty was not charged on British goods brought into India while high duty was charged on Indian goods exported to Britain.
4. India became a good market for the sale of British goods at the cost of Indian products, thus impoverishing Indian artisans.
5. With better means of transport, like the railways, it became easier to supply cheap Indian raw material for British mills and import finished products. Thus, money went out of the Indian market and the Indian industries began to decline.

The transfer of wealth from India to England for which India got no proportionate return, is called the Drain of Wealth.

India's wealth drained to Great Britain in the following ways:

1. High Rate of Land Revenue — Huge Land Revenue was collected by unjust revenue systems like the Ryotwari system, the Mahalwari systems and Permanent Settlement. A part of it was transferred to England.
2. Payment to the British Government — In 1767, a law was passed, according to which a sum of £400 lakhs was to be paid annually to the British government by the Company.
3. Money spent on the British Army — A huge sum of money was spent on the British army staying in India to fight with Myanmar and Afghanistan. The Indian rulers paid a heavy price under the Subsidiary system, according to which English army were to stay in the state to control its administration and man its defence.
4. Payment to the Civil servants — The Civil Servants and company's officials were paid high salaries. A large part of it was also sent to England
5. Bribes and Gifts — The Company's officials collected wealth through bribes and gifts given by Indian rulers and businessmen which was sent to England. For example, when Clive returned to England, he had amassed wealth and property which yielded £40,000 interest every year.
6. Investment — After getting the Diwani of Bengal in 1765, the Company collected huge revenue from Indian rulers and used it to purchase and export Indian goods to Britain, free of export duty.

The education system in India was traditional and unaware of the rapid developments in the west. Elementary education was quite widespread and imparted in pathshalas to the Hindus and in maktabs situated in mosques to Muslims. The students were taught to read, write and memorise various religious texts. Higher education was mostly in Sanskrit for Hindus and Persian for Muslims. Learning was confined to literature, religion, law, philosophy and logic. It did not promote original thinking and excluded the study of physical and natural sciences. Girls were seldom given education. Only some women from the higher classes had the privilege of receiving education.

Three reasons which made the British to change the educational policy in India were:

1. To cut the cost of administration by employing educated Indians to manage the large number of clerical posts in administration and British business concerns.
2. The British believed that educated Indians would help expand the markets for British manufacturers in India and would also reconcile the people of India to British rule as western education glorified the British conquerors of India.
3. The Christian missionaries believed that modern western education would help them in their work.

The recommendations of the wood's Despatch of 1854 were the following:

1. It asked the Government of India to take responsibility for the education of the masses.
2. The medium of instruction should be vernacular languages at the primary level, followed by Anglo-vernacular (English and local languages) in schools at the middle and high school levels and through the English medium at College and University levels.
3. Setting up of universities at Calcutta (Kolkata), Bombay (Mumbai) and Madras (Chennai).
4. The aim of education in India was to be the diffusion of European languages.

The impact of the introduction of modern western education in India were:

1. It helped the Indians to imbibe a modern, rational, secular, democratic and nationalist outlook.
2. Western learning encouraged vernacular languages and literary works. The masses began to have common views, feelings, ideas and aspirations. Large number of nationalist newspapers were published, the Indian point of view was put forward and the people were asked to unite and work for national welfare.
3. It exposed the weakness and decay of Indian society and influenced educated Indians to start socio-religious reform movements. Reformers and scholars like Raja Rammohan Roy and Swami Vivekananda spread the rich Indian culture to many western countries.
4. Rousseau, Paine, John Stuart Mill and other western thinkers became the political guides for Indian students of western education. They admired and tried emulating the nationalist movements of European nations. Mazzini, Garibaldi and Irish nationalist leaders became their political heroes.
5. It enabled Indians to unfold and revive India's cultural past in the fields of literature, philosophy, religion, art and archaeology.

(a) The Picture depicts Impoverished Peasants.

(b) As a result of the revenue systems introduced by the British the peasants became poor. They became tenants from owners of the land. The landlords exploited and tortured the peasants. The revenue fixed was very high and the collectors were harsh. They were forced to pay revenues even if the crops failed for which they depended on money lenders who further exploited them. Thus we can say that the British worsened the living conditions of peasants.

(c) Following were the impacts of these changes on the Indian economy:

1. It led to the exploitation of artisans and weavers and finally the decline of Indian handicrafts and cottage industries.
2. A new class of landlords was created who exploited peasants and were loyal to the British.
3. The peasants became poor and remained at the mercy of the landlords who exploited them.
4. The main aim of the British was to extract more revenue and transfer India's wealth to England. The British made the Indian economy subservient to their interests.
5. Land became a saleable property. It could be mortgaged. Due to this the entire structure of rural society began to break up.