Modern India: Company Rule, the Revolt of 1857, Social Reform and the National Movement (Class VIII History)

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From trade to territory

The East India Company received a charter from Queen Elizabeth I in 1600 and set up its first factory on the banks of the Hugli in 1651. At Plassey in 1757 Robert Clive defeated Siraj-ud-daulah, Nawab of Bengal, largely because the forces of Mir Jafar never fought; after the Battle of Buxar in 1764 the Mughal emperor appointed the Company Diwan of Bengal in 1765, giving it the land revenue. Tipu Sultan of Mysore was killed defending Seringapatam in 1799, and the Marathas were crushed in the war of 1817-19. Under Lord Wellesley's subsidiary alliance, Indian rulers could not keep independent armies and had to pay for Company troops; under Lord Dalhousie's doctrine of lapse, states whose rulers died without a male heir were annexed, such as Satara (1848), Nagpur (1853) and Jhansi (1854), and Awadh was annexed in 1856 on the charge of misgovernment.

Ruling the countryside and the forests

The Permanent Settlement of 1793 under Lord Cornwallis made rajas and taluqdars zamindars who paid a revenue fixed permanently. In the mahalwari settlement devised by Holt Mackenzie in 1822 for the North Western Provinces, the village headman collected revenue for the whole village (mahal), while the ryotwari system, developed by Thomas Munro in the south, settled revenue directly with the cultivators (ryots). Indigo planters forced ryots into contracts; the indigo revolt of 1859 in Bengal led to the Indigo Commission of 1860, and Gandhi's visit to Champaran in 1917 began a movement against indigo planters. Forest laws made forests state property and restricted jhum (shifting) cultivation. Birsa Munda, born in the mid-1870s, led the Mundas against dikus (outsiders such as moneylenders and traders) and the British, and died in jail in 1900.

The revolt of 1857

Annexations, heavy land revenue, interference in customs and rumours that new cartridges were coated with the fat of cows and pigs angered sepoys, rulers and peasants. On 29 March 1857 Mangal Pandey attacked his officers at Barrackpore and was hanged; on 10 May sepoys at Meerut rebelled, marched to Delhi and proclaimed Bahadur Shah Zafar their leader. Leaders included Nana Saheb at Kanpur, Rani Lakshmibai at Jhansi, Begum Hazrat Mahal at Lucknow, Kunwar Singh at Arrah and Tantia Tope. The British recaptured Delhi in September 1857, and Bahadur Shah was exiled to Rangoon, where he died in 1862. An Act of 1858 transferred power from the Company to the British Crown, created a Secretary of State for India and gave the Governor-General the title of Viceroy.

Women, caste and reform

Raja Rammohun Roy founded the Brahmo Sabha, later the Brahmo Samaj, and campaigned against sati, which was banned in 1829. Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar's efforts led to the widow remarriage law of 1856, and Swami Dayanand Saraswati founded the Arya Samaj in 1875. Jyotirao Phule wrote Gulamgiri (1873) and, with Savitribai Phule, opened schools for girls; Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain started schools for Muslim girls in Patna and Calcutta. Sri Narayana Guru in Kerala preached one caste, one religion, one god for humankind; Periyar began the Self-Respect Movement; and in 1927 B.R. Ambedkar led the Mahad satyagraha for the right of Dalits to draw water from a public tank (the NCERT book describes his campaigns of 1927 to 1935 as temple entry movements). The Child Marriage Restraint Act was passed in 1929. Macaulay's minute of 1835 and Wood's Despatch of 1854 favoured English education, while Tagore founded his school at Santiniketan in 1901 so that children could learn in harmony with nature.

The national movement

The Indian National Congress was founded when 72 delegates met at Bombay in December 1885. Lord Curzon's partition of Bengal in 1905 sparked the Swadeshi movement and the rise of radicals such as Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal and Lala Lajpat Rai; the Muslim League was formed at Dacca in 1906. Gandhi returned from South Africa in 1915 and led movements at Champaran, Kheda and Ahmedabad. The Rowlatt Act of 1919 and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre at Amritsar on 13 April 1919 led to the Khilafat and Non-Cooperation movements, which were withdrawn after violence at Chauri Chaura in February 1922. The Lahore Congress of 1929 adopted Purna Swaraj, and 26 January 1930 was observed as Independence Day; the Dandi March, begun on 12 March 1930, launched Civil Disobedience. The Congress formed ministries in 7 of 11 provinces in 1937. The Quit India movement began in August 1942 with the call 'Do or die', and India became independent on 15 August 1947, with Partition.

India after independence

The Constituent Assembly, of about 300 members, met between December 1946 and November 1949, with B.R. Ambedkar as chairman of the Drafting Committee; the Constitution came into force on 26 January 1950 with universal adult franchise. Potti Sriramulu fasted for a separate state for Telugu speakers and died after 58 days, on 15 December 1952; Andhra state was formed on 1 October 1953, and states were reorganised on linguistic lines in 1956. The Planning Commission was set up in 1950, and the Second Five Year Plan, from 1956, stressed heavy industry, such as the steel plant at Bhilai. Under Jawaharlal Nehru, India followed non-alignment, staying out of both Cold War blocs.

Key facts

Plassey 1757 (Clive defeats Siraj-ud-daulah; Mir Jafar's forces never fought); Buxar 1764; Diwani of Bengal to the Company 1765; Tipu Sultan killed at Seringapatam 1799.
Subsidiary alliance: Lord Wellesley; doctrine of lapse: Lord Dalhousie, from Satara 1848 to Jhansi 1854; Awadh annexed in 1856 for 'misgovernment'.
Permanent Settlement 1793 (Cornwallis, zamindars); mahalwari 1822 (Holt Mackenzie, village headman); ryotwari (Thomas Munro, cultivators directly).
Indigo revolt 1859 and Indigo Commission 1860; Champaran 1917; Birsa Munda fought the dikus and the British and died in jail in 1900.
1857: Meerut, 10 May; Bahadur Shah Zafar proclaimed leader; Nana Saheb (Kanpur), Lakshmibai (Jhansi), Hazrat Mahal (Lucknow), Kunwar Singh (Arrah); the Act of 1858 transferred rule to the Crown.
Reformers: Rammohun Roy (Brahmo Samaj; sati banned 1829), Vidyasagar (widow remarriage 1856), Dayanand (Arya Samaj 1875), Phule (Gulamgiri 1873), Sri Narayana Guru, Periyar, Ambedkar (Mahad satyagraha 1927; NCERT calls his 1927-1935 campaigns temple entry movements).
Congress 1885 (72 delegates, Bombay); partition of Bengal 1905; Muslim League 1906; Jallianwala Bagh 13 April 1919; Chauri Chaura 1922; Purna Swaraj 1929; Dandi 1930; Quit India 1942.
Constitution adopted 26 November 1949, in force 26 January 1950; Andhra state formed 1 October 1953 after Potti Sriramulu's death; states reorganised on linguistic lines in 1956.
In class: give groups a British officer's account of 1857 and a rebel proclamation, and ask why one calls it a mutiny while the other speaks of defending faith, land and rulers.

Quick revision

Company charter 1600; Plassey 1757, Buxar 1764, Diwani 1765; subsidiary alliance (Wellesley), doctrine of lapse (Dalhousie), Awadh 1856; Permanent Settlement 1793, mahalwari 1822, ryotwari; Birsa Munda; 1857 from Meerut, Act of 1858; reformers Rammohun, Vidyasagar, Phule, Narayana Guru, Ambedkar; Congress 1885, Bengal partition 1905, Purna Swaraj 1929, Quit India 1942; Constitution in force 26 January 1950; linguistic states 1956.

Practise this topic

All 10 lessons on Social Studies and its Pedagogy (Paper II)