Indigo riots
The Indigo Riots were the first successful peasant movement against the exploitative methods used by European planters during British colonial rule in Bengal in 1859-62. In the end, in 1918, Mahatma Gandhi finally abolished the exploitative cultivation of indigo for land tenants after the Champaran campaign (northeastern Bihar) .
Basics
In the middle of the 19th century, European capitalists ("planters") began to acquire cultivation rights from the local large landowners ( Zamindar ) in the area of permanent settlement by means of so-called Tinkathia leases and to oblige the cultivators ( raiyat ) to do 3 / 20th to cultivate their best land with the indigo plant ( Indigofera tinctoria ).
The farmers had to accept interest-bearing advances through middlemen for the acquisition of the seeds, with fraudulent contracts and interest rates of 50 to 500% being common. However, the tenants did not receive a guaranteed price, but a price fixed at harvest time, which was below market value. Another problem was that indigo could not be integrated into the regular crop rotation. The dye was processed in local factories.
Towards the end of the 19th century, the naturally obtained indigo was more and more pushed out of the market by vat dye made from tar, mostly German production. When the sale of indigo was no longer profitable for the planters ( thikadari ) and their middlemen, they demanded “ redemption ” ( tawan ) and lease surcharges ( sharahbeshi ) from the farmers .
course
The farmers were intimidated in the 1850s by armed thugs ( lathiyals ) hired by the planters, and resistance was violently broken. The judges' decision was effectively closed, since the magistrates in the region were mostly planters themselves (appointed in 1857: 29 planters, 1 Indian).
Riots broke out in 1859 after the deputy magistrate Hem Chandra Kar misunderstood an official letter. He announced that the police would not intervene in disputes with raiyats and that farmers were free to sow whatever they wanted.
In the village of Govindpur in the Nadia district , sowing was refused in 1859. On September 13, planters sent a 100-strong troop of thugs to the village, against which the farmers defended themselves with the simple weapons available (spears, batons, pots). In the following spring, such actions spread across Bengal. The planters, in their capacity as zamindar, now tried to evict the farmers. As a result, rent payments were largely refused, and intermediaries in the villages were boycotted and social contacts were discontinued. By the end of 1860, indigo cultivation in Bengal came to a practically complete standstill.
A commission of inquiry uncovered the worst abuses by November 1860, which were subsequently alleviated. The cultivation requirement was formally abolished. Usury rates, excessive rent, etc. but remained. In the next few years, unrest continued throughout Bengal, as the tenants were denied ownership of the land they had cultivated, which they would have been entitled to under the provisions of Act X of 1859, through all kinds of fraudulent measures (p. 54ff).
20th century
In the years 1905-08 there was violent uprising in the Motihari and Bettiah area . The factory manager Bloomfield was killed. There were 277 convictions in 57 criminal cases. In the next few years the protest, now borne by the lower middle class, was limited to petitions and refused tax payments (S 156).
The last remnants of the Tinkathia were not abolished until 1917/18 after the Champaran campaign (northeastern Bihar ) Mohandas Gandhi . Raj Kumar Shukla had asked for assistance at the annual meeting of the Indian National Congress in 1916 . Immediately after Gandhi's arrival in the district, the local commissioner ordered his deportation. Gandhi refused to obey and was allowed to do so. Together with some helpers, u. a. Rajendra Prasad , Mahadev Desai and Nahari Parikh he examined the conditions in the villages, with 8000 farmers being interviewed. At the same time, the government convened a commission of inquiry. At Gandhi's suggestion, a quarter of the levy was repaid to the farmers and the Tinkathia system was abolished. Even the small amount was enough for the growers to make indigo cultivation ultimately unattractive. Ten years later all the planters had left the region (p. 178).
literature
- Kling, Blair B .; The Blue Mutiny: The Indigo Disturbances in Bengal 1859-62; Philadelphia 1966
- Mishra, G .; Agrarian Problems of Permanent Settlement: A Case Study of Champaran; New Delhi 1974
- Mitra, Din Bandhu; Neel Darpan (play)
- Pouchepadass, Jacques; Local leaders and the Intelligentsia in the Champara Satyagraha 1917…; in: Contributions to Indian Sociology 1978, No. 8
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Chandra, Bipan et al .; India's Struggle for Independence; New Delhi 1989; ISBN 0-14-010781-9
- ↑ Sarkar, Sumit; Modern India 1885-1947; New Delhi 1983; ISBN 0-333-90425-7
Web links
- Gandhi and Chaparam (Eng.)