Q. What changes were brought about in the socio-economic scenario of Bihar during the British rule? [45 BPSC/2002]

Q. What changes were brought about in the socio-economic scenario of Bihar during the British rule? [45 BPSC/2002]
Ans:
Bihar was Establishment of British rule after battle of Buxar and battle of Plassey brought in the changes in all the dimensions of life. While the changes in the economic scenario was sudden, the changes in the social scenario was comparatively gradual because of the policy of non-intervention followed during til 1813. ©crackingcivilservices.com

Changes in social scenario of Bihar during the British rule:

• Education:
  • Earlier, traditional education was provided in mainly Sanskrit and Persian languages in 4 type of educational institutes- Pathsalas and Maktabs for elementary educations and Chatuspadi and Madrasas for higher educations. According to survey of Adam in 1837-38, there was about 1 lakh primary school in about 15 lakhs villages in Bihar and Bengal.
  • During British rule, Western education in English medium was introduced in Bihar from 1820s-30s.
  • The Charter act of 1813 directed the British government to spend 1 lakh rupees for education. But it was followed by the controversy regarding how this amount is to be spent.
  • Following the orientalist-anglicist controversy, a radical change was introduced in 1835 with introduction of Macaulay’s minutes on education. It favored to English education and directly impacted content, methodology and medium of Indian education system.
  • The government soon made English as the medium of instruction in its schools and colleges and opened a few English schools and colleges instead of a large number of elementary schools, thus neglecting mass education.
    • Though very few English schools and colleges were set up in Bihar. e.g. district school in Purnea, Ara, Chhapra and Biharsharif.
    • The first modern-western educational school was established in 1835 in Patna. In the same year, another Western school was opened in Purnea. And in the next year a number of District Schools were started in Biharsharif, Bhagalpur, Ara, Chhapra etc.
  • Later after Wood’s dispatch (1854) on educational system, the government assumed wider responsibility for the spread of education.
  • Patna college was established in 9-January, 1863 which became Patna university in 1917.
  • The education policies continued to evolve during the colonial rule. But, overall the mass education was neglected leading to widespread illiteracy (1911—84 per cent and in 1921—92 per cent) which created a wide linguistic and cultural gulf between the educated few and the masses. There was also almost total neglect of women’s education.
• The emergence of Middle Class:
  • In last 19th century there emerged English educated middle class in Bihar like in other parts of India. However, in Bihar, due to slower pace of the spread of education, it was comparatively sower than Bengal.
  • They became familiar with European liberal ideas and had the sense of pride in the country glorious past and gradually developed the connection that foreign domination was inherently opposed to the fulfilment of legitimate hopes and aspirations of the Indian people.
  • This newly emerged class played pivotal role in the emergence and progress of the freedom struggle for independence.
  • Sachchidanand Sinha, Mahesh Narayan etc. were among the earliest representatives of middle class in Bihar.
• Rediscovery of India’s (and Bihar’s) past by the British:
  • In order to rule India effectively, an understanding of her past traditions and culture was required.
  • Many European scholars and government employees became increasingly interested in India’s past.
  • William Jones founded the Asiatic Society. Jones himself was a great scholar of Sanskrit. He translated some ancient Indian works like the Manu Smriti.
  • Charles Wilkins translated the Bhagavad Gita into English. Max Mueller translated the Rig Veda. The Archaeological Survey of India was set up due to the efforts of Alexander Cunningham and John Marshall.
  • James Princep deciphered the Ashokan inscriptions which were written in Brahmi. The glory of ancient Magadha enpires was known for the first time.
  • Bihar’s rich and glorious history, as revealed by Western scholars, helped both Indians and Biharis to regain their lost pride and confidence and contributed to the development of nationalism.
• Emergence of Modern Press:
  • The second half of the nineteenth century saw an unprecedented growth of Indian owned English and vernacular newspapers, despite numerous restrictions imposed on the press by the colonial rulers from time to time.
  • Some of the well-known English language papers were Amrit Bazaar Patrika, Hindu Patriot and Som Prakash were published from Calcutta, Indu Prakash and Native Opinion from Bombay and The Hindu from Madras.
  • In Bihar, some of the major papers were Bihar Herald, Indian chronicle, motherland, Bihar standard, Bihar times, Bihar news etc in English and Bihar Bandhu, Hindi Bihari, Sarbhitasi,Dainik Bihari, Aryavarta etc. in Hindi. Sada-e-Aam and Nurul Anwar were famous Urdu daily.
  • The press while criticising official policies, on the one hand, urged the people to unite, on the other. It also helped spread modern ideas of self-government, democracy, civil rights and industrialization.
• Health:
  • Health system also received some attention as the survival of army, planters and colonisers was dependent on it.
  • Indian medical services was established but it was mainly to serve the army.
  • In 1925, Prince of Wales Medical College (Now Patna Medical College and Hospital) was established.
  • In the same year, the government school of Ayurveda was established at Patna. It was granted status of College in 1947.
  • In 1930. Patna veteniary college was established to improve breed etc.
  • Introduction of canal irrigation and large scale railway construction work resulted in the water logging that in turn led to increasing incidence of diseases like malaria.
• Spread of Christianity:
  • Christian groups were allowed to enter India after Charter act of 1813. They got involved in the conversion activities mainly in tribal areas.
  • Lex Loci Act was passed in 1850, which provided the right to inherit ancestral property to Hindu converts to Christianity.
  • The conversions activities injured the sentiments of native populations. It also contributed in the rise of various tribal rebellions in Bihar like Munda, Santhal rebellions.

• Socio- religious reform:
  • Educated Indians like Raja Rammohan Roy worked systematically to eradicate social evils. Some Governor Generals like wellesley, Lord William Bentinck, Dalhousie took steps in this direction.
  • Infanticide was first recognized as illegal by the British in 1804 by Regulation III. The Regulation deemed female infanticide as murder and thus punishable by fine or imprisonment.
  • In 1829, Sati was made illegal or punishable by law.
  • In 1843, Slavery was declared illegal.
  • With Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar’s assistance, the Widow Remarriage Act was passed by Lord Dalhousie in 1856.
  • Vidyasagar also campaigned against child marriage and polygamy.The cruel custom of offering little children as sacrifice to please God, practised by certain tribes, was banned by Governor General Lord Hardinge.
  • The various social and religious reform movements which took place in India during the British rule were nothing but expression of the rising national consciousness of the people.
    • The new educated class who imbibed the liberal western culture, recognized the need of reforming social institutions and religious outlooks as these were regarded as obstacles to national advance.
    • A number of organisations like Arya Samaj, Brahmo Samaj, Rama Krishna Mission, Theosophical society etc. helped in bringing movements of reformation and renaissance in India.
  • These movements aimed to eliminate privilege from the social and religious fields, to democratize social and religious institutions of the country and to promote individual liberty and social equality.
    • They sought to establish equal rights of all individuals irrespective of their caste or sex.
  • In this way, the national democratic awakening found expression in all fields of national life. In politics, it gave birth to the movement of administrative reform, self-government, Home Rule and finally independence.
• One of the outcome of the Zamindari system was the breaking of traditions bond between the peasants and the Zamindars as mostt of the old zamindars were replaced under sunset law.
• Experiments and changes in the administrative system created further gaps between the rulers and the ruled. The new officer called daroga was most feared by the people. By the nineteenth century the daroga-zamindar nexus thus emerged as a new instrument of coercion and oppression in Bihar’s rural life.

Changes in economic scenario:

• Post battle of Plassey, drain of wealth started in different forms e.g. Plassey plunder, misuse of dastak by the European traders, using revenue to finance the trade, home charges etc.
  • Earlier nationalists like Dada bhai naoroji, M.G. Ranade, R.C. Dutt etc had given detailed picture of drain of wealth during British rule.
  • Dadabhai Naoroji stated that out of the revenues raised in India nearly one-fourth goes out of the country.
  • While R.C. Dutt observed that one-half of the net revenue of India flows annually out of India.
  • If this wealth was invested in Bihar it could have helped enormously improved the economy.
• Subordination of native capitals:
  • After establishment of British rule, the local traders’ position was reduced to that of dependent agents.
  • In the middle of 18th century there were flourishing native business communities in Bihar like other parts of India. Earlier, these traders and bankers played vital role in the economy- facilitated tax collection in cash, facilitated remittance of revenue and they were also source of loans during crises.
  • But their status changed during colonial rule-
    • The banking house of Jagat Seth ceased to be the state banker and repository of revenue in 1765 when the Company became Dewan of Bengal: the minting rights of Jagat Seth were gradually taken away by the English
  • Earlier, the Company had to depend on the Bihari merchants to procure cloth. After gaining the political power, new systems like contract system and system of direct agency was introduced which removed the Bihari middlemen altogether.
  • Thus step by step lndian businessmen were reduced to a subordinate position or virtually excluded.
• Diminishing the centrality of Patna in trading activities:
  • Patna was located at the crossroads of the long-distance riverine and overland routes. Earlier, it was a major trans-shipment hub. Textiles, saltpetre, opium were some of the major items of trade in Patna which attracted the traders from the different parts of the world.
  • For more than 300 years, Patna remained one of the most important trading centres in northern India.
  • However, the arrival of the Railways in the early 19th century changed the equation. Railway ended the city’s role as a forwarding station and diverted all commercial traffic away from River Ganga. Railways diminished the centrality of Patna in two respects:
    • The traffic, particularly that conveyed by country boats, which converged on Patna en route to its hinterland or to other areas, no longer needed this intermediate stop.
    • The new railway lines in the north enabled small traders especially to remit their goods directly to Calcutta instead of sending them on to Patna. With freight charges lower for goods transferred directly between the place of origin and Calcutta without stopovers, many traders opted for the better rates and bypassed Patna.
• Land revenue settlement:
  • The chief aim of the colonial state was to maximise the appropriation of agrarian surplus through land-revenue. Being an agrarian economy, land revenue continued to the main source to be exploited.
  • Frist Ijardari settlement was introduced by Warren Hasting in 1772. Right to collect was given to the highest bidder. However, due to uncertainty of the revenue collection and exploitation of peasants the system was replaced by Permanent settlement in 1793.
  • Earlier peasants had occupancy rights over the land. But, after the introduction of permanent settlement, the Zamindars became the owner of the land and peasants became a mere tenants on their own lands.
  • In Bihar, Permanent settlement possessed its worst elements and contained none of its redeeming features. The feudal Bihari leadership closely allied with outside capital was opposed to any radical tenancy reform and indifferent to indigenous industrial development.
  • The land revenue assessment was initially set so high that extensive default and sale of zamindari followed. Old Zamindars were replaced with the new Zamindars. There were absence of traditions social bond between the new Zamindars and peasants. It led to further exploitation of peasants.
• De-industrialisation, ruralisation and collapse of external trade:
  • The villages were a holistic and integrated system which gave all its people a respectable job and sufficient income out of it.
    • But with the advent of the external traders and successive invasions as well as the internal weaknesses, the village economy started to degrade. The cheaply available British finished products such as clothes made the rural economy to deteriorate.
  • With the decline of native ruling class, the traditional industries was adversely affected. These ruling houses consumed articles of pleasures, weapons, items of decoration etc. Decline of these houses led to the decline of such demands.
    • Newly emerged middle class imitated British people and they were not consumer of the products of the traditional industries.
  • British rule adversely affected the craft’s guilds and crafts’ organisations which had dampening impact on traditional handicrafts.
  • Earlier, Indian handloom had a big market in Europe. After industrial revolution in Britain and establishment of British rule, there was now a reverse of the direction of textile trade between Britain and India.
    • There was a massive import of machine made clothes from English factories to Bihar markets. This import of large amount of products manufactured by mechanical looms in England led to increase threat for the handicraft industries as the British goods were sold at a much cheaper price.
    • The British succeeded in selling their goods at a cheap price as foreign goods were given free entry in India without paying any duty. On the other hand, Indian handicrafts were taxed heavily when they were sent out of the country.
  • Besides there were protective tariff on Indian textiles. Therefore, within a few years, India from being an exporter of clothes became an exporter of raw cotton and an importer of British clothes.
  • Thus there was virtual collapse of the traditional industries. It led to the change in the contemporary economic structure. It also created unemployment for a large community of artisans. Many of them migrated to rural areas to work on their lands as agricultural labourers. This in turn put increased pressure on the rural economy and livelihood.
  • The main aim of the British was to transform India into a consumer of British goods. As a result, textile, metal work, glass and paper industries were soon out of work.
  • Bihari goods could not compete with the British factory-made products where machines were used.
  • The poverty of Indian in general and of Bihar in particular is associated with the decline of these industries.
• Exploiting common resources like forests, waste lands, water etc.
  • Many social groups like hunter gatherers, pastoralists, fishers, tribals etc depended on these common resources for there livelihood.
  • However, during the British period, the common resources were depleted and access to them became more and more difficult. Colonial state ignored the collective customary rights of these social groups.
  • The colonial rulers reserved the access to forests and almost tried to monopolise the use of commercially valuable forest produce especially timber mainly for shipbuilding, railway sleepers etc. The Forest Act of 1878 was passed for this.
    • Under pre-colonial regime the state control of forest was restricted to the right of the use of certain valuable plant and animal species.
  • In the 19th century, the colonial state embarked on the construction of a number of canals cut out of the perennial rivers.
    • Sone canals, Saran canal, Triveni canal etc are some of the example in Bihar.
    • It is viewed that canal irrigation under colonial rule had a harmful effect on the natural drainage system. This led to water logging and increased the salination vast tracts of fertile lands.
    • The canal also induced a bias towards cultivation of cash crops land intensive cropping pattern.
    • However, it also enabled the rise in yield per acres, reduced the fluctuation in harvesting, raised the living standards and encouraged industries like sugar-refining.
• Commercialisation of agriculture:
  • The commercialisation of agriculture doesn’t indicate any new event in Bihar economy rather it indicate that the new form of commercialisation of agriculture emerged during this period.
  • The high assessment of revenue and demand of revenue in cash, and objective of gaining profit through export of agricultural commodities stimulated the production of cash crops like Opium, sugarcane, cotton, indigo etc.
  • However, the commercialisation of agriculture didn’t give boost to the agricultural production and the condition of peasants remained as before.
  • Owing to this process, the agricultural product got linked with Indian and world markets. The peasant class got adversely affected owing to imbalances in market conditions.
  • It adversely affected the self-sufficiency of village economy and acted as a major factor in bringing the declining state in rural economy.
  • Another impact was that the peasants dependence on moneylenders increased and peasants received only small fraction of profit.
  • It also led to emergence of some exploitative system like tinkathia system in Bihar. Which created ground for the peasants movement in early 20th century.
  • However, there were some positive aspect of this process:
    • linking of agriculture with global market was a step in modernisation of agriculture,
    • growth of regional specialisation.
    • in mid fifties 25% of India’s sugar output was from Bihar. And Bihar was truly a agriculture power house of India at the time of independence.
    • Dalmianagar emerged at a large agro-industrial town.
• Mineral resources:
  • Between 1890-1920, domestic coal production increased from 2.2 million to 22.6 million tons.
  • Although, state did not directly control the reserves of coal resources in India, but general economic incentive provided to the British agency houses. The European managing agencies owned most of the joint stock companies engaged in coal mining in Bihar.
• Labour:
  • When the interest of British plantation owners in India was involved the state regulated the control of the labour flows.
  • The indentured labourers were taken from Chotanagpur, Orissa and tribal districts to work in the tea plantations in Assam.
  • To help the plantation owners, the legislations were also passed that restrained the workers from leaving the tea-gardens, whereas the law governing the working conditions were introduced at a very low pace.
  • After abolition of slavery, indentured labourers also emigrated to the other parts of British empires like Fiji, Mauritius, West-Indies etc to work in sugar and other plantations.
    • Initially, the indentured labourers were mainly recruited from Bihar.
• Growth of Modern Industries:
  • In 2nd half of 19th century, there was establishment some large-scale machine-based industries in Bihar. Although it was mainly confined to the plantations and a few consumers goods industries like textiles. There was limited development of mining like coal and iron. But ownership of these industries was predominantly European.
  • Infact, the industrial developments of India began only when Britain had sufficient surplus capital at home which needed investment sphere abroad.
  • The First Word War 1914-1918) provided a good opportunity for industrial development in India because foreign competition was eliminated during those years and necessity was felt of producing many articles in India.
  • However, Indian industries were concentrated in a few regions and cities. It resulted in unequal industrial development of different regions. Industrial development in Bihar remained very restricted.
  • In 1907, the iron and steel plant was established by Jamshedji Tata.
• Transport and Communication:
  • The vast network of railways and telegraph was laid down during the latter half of the 19th century. This opened avenue for British bankers and investors to invest surplus wealth and material in the construction of railways.
  • Although it was intended to serve the interest of the Britishers, it was a step in direction of modernisation of transport and communication in India and .
• Famine:
  • Occurrences of famine and severe scarcities were a constant feature during the colonial rule. The first of such was Bengal Famine of 1769-70 which claimed a third of the population of the province. Other incidence of Famine in Bihar was seen in 1837, 1866 etc.
    • The Golghar in Patna was constructed as a huge grain stores as a measure for prevention of famine in the province.
  • During Company rule no significant relief measures were taken rather the Company servants made large profits by buying up rice and retailing it at high prices.
  • Under crown administration, some the relief measures were taken and policies were formed to dealt with the famines. e.g. Formulation of Famine Code in 1883,
  • However, it remained a perpetual problem through out the colonial rule the policy response andrelief measures remained half-hearted.

To conclude, the colonial rule brought about drastic changes in the socio-economic scenario of Bihar. There were both positive and negative developments. While motivation behind almost all the policies was to serve the colonial interest, the positive outcomes were mostly unintended byproducts of these policies. ©crackingcivilservices.com