Day - 81 | History | Economic Impact of British Rule | Mr. Kishore Kumar

Greetings to my dear friends. I am your Kishore Kumar. So, what we have seen so far is with respect to administrative changes after the revolt of 1857. So, what kind of administrative changes were made in the revolt, what kind of sections were looked at, what kind of suggestions were made in their administrative policies. Now, what we are going to see next is with respect to the economic impact of the British rule. The East India Company made a policy of 100 years from 1757 to 1857. So, we are going to see in this chapter what kind of effects these policies had. What kind of effects did each section have? What happened sector wise? For example, what happened to artisans and craftsmen? How much did peasants get affected? How much did the old farmers suffer? How did the modern industries emerge? How did feminism emerge? Next, what we are going to see in this class is the relationship with respect to the neighbors. We are going to see three important neighbors. First, Nepal. Second, Burma. Third, Afghanistan. If we look at the previous year question with respect to economic impact, this class is over. So, let's go to the class. First of all, with respect to administrative changes, India and neighbors. Next, with respect to economic impact. This is what we are going to see. Economic impact of British rule. So, what kind of rule did the British make? The British and the conquerors before them. The British were not the only conquerors. Others have also come. We have to accept that. For example, the Indo-Greeks came. We can say from that. We can trace from the Indo-Greeks. Without that, many people came. The Mughals came. The Delhi Sultanates came. So, even though many of them came, there is an important difference between them and the British. There is a difference. They came. They shifted the political system. They became the political head. Then, they ruled India politically. They conquered India politically. Political conquest and ruling. Eventually, even though they came from outside, they mixed with the Indians. They became Indians. They merged with the Indian culture. But, the British came, conquered and left. They are not intermingling with the Indians. Why is this happening? First of all, they thought that they were a superior race. So, they don't want to mingle with Indians. They remained here because they considered them as a perpetual foreigner. They are a perpetual foreigner. They came, they are a foreigner and they are going to be a foreigner. So, what is their goal? To exploit India, that's all. They don't want to become another culture. They want to exploit them, that's all. They want to exploit us. They want to exploit the Indians. So, it is from this thought that the difference arises. So, let's see how each sector is affected. Ruin of artisans and craftsmen. How are artisans ruined? Before the arrival of the British, In fact, what was the reason for the arrival of the British? To trade. Our handicrafts were so oppressed in the world market. Their name was lost. So, we believed that India was such an anti-craft country. It was a manufacturing hub before the arrival of the British. Before the arrival of the British. Or before the British rule. So, how is it changing little by little? After the Industrial Revolution. After the 1750s. Which was coincided with the Battle of Plassey. The Industrial Revolution is happening here. Similarly, what is happening on this side? Political power is given to the British East India Company. They are matching both. Because of the Industrial Revolution, Many cheaply machine-made goods are obtained. So, it has been flooded in the Indian market. So, total collapse of the Indian market is happening. First of all. What is the second? With respect to the building of railways. Because of the building of railways, Railways enter into the market that cannot be entered. Interiors of the villages. The self-sufficiency. Armed interior villages. The arm of the self-sufficient interior villages. Has been pierced. Through the steel railways. A historian says this. Self-sufficient. In the corner of Nuuk. Villages. The market of the village. Because of the railway. The goods of the British have gone there. So, what is happening? Indian manufacturers. They automatically lose their own market. This is the second thing. What is the first thing? Because of the cheap machine-made goods. Of industry. Industrial Revolution. Because of the Industrial Revolution. The second is. With respect to the railways. What is the third? It is with respect to the forceful practices of the British. The British are doing forceful practices. What are the forceful practices? We have already said this. But let's do a revision. Cotton. You have to buy for the price I say. Finished goods. You have to sell for the price I say. You have to sell only to me. You have to work only to me. What do you do specially? Tell me the trade secret. Like this. They destroy everything. Actually. Not only that. What they do next is. Even in this situation. Even in the situation of the Industrial Revolution. They want to save their own market. Through tariffs. So high tariffs. To the import of Indian goods. That too. The domestic market also goes to the Indian manufacturers. The foreign market also goes to the Indian manufacturers. So. Deindustrialization. What is the impact? Deindustrialization. Deindustrialization means. What they say is. Even the cities that have seen many wars. For 100 years. They could not bear the British rule. Be it Murshidabad. Be it Dhaka. Be it Banaras. All of this has been deindustrialized. But what is deindustrialization? They leave the industrial handicraft trade. They leave the handicraft trade of the artisans. They come back to the rural economy. They come back to agriculture. Agriculture is doing well. We are going to see their flight next. So many problems are running here. It is deindustrialized. What do the artisans do? They come back to agriculture. So what happens because of this? Fragmentation of agriculture happens. Fragmentation of the agricultural land. Apart from this. There is a balance. The artisans do the farming. They give the raw materials to the artisans. The artisans make the finished product. They give it to the peasants. There was a balance. There was an urban-rural balance. All of this was broken. During the British rule. Deindustrialization. Urban-rural balance. Collapse of village economy. Pressure on agriculture because of fragmentation. Apart from this. What happens next is. India. The supplier of finished goods. The manufacturer of finished goods. What happens now is. Cottage. Raw materials. They export the cotton. They import the finished goods. All of this. Artisans and handicrafts. We are talking about their impoverishment. Who is next? Next is. The next important sin. That is. Peasants. Impoverishment of the peasants. During the British rule. Peasants are the sinners. The story is very sad. Because. They were exploited from the three corners. British on this side. Landlord on the other side. Maniland on the other side. They were exploited from all three sides. How did they come to this stage? After the battle of Plassey. Again from the battle of Plassey. That is why the battle of Plassey is very important. What happens after the battle of Plassey is. We already know. The rights of the peasants. They get the rights of the landlord. Next. After the battle of Buxar. After the rights of the landlord. What happens is. They bring the land revenue settlement. In 1793. Cornwallis brings it. What happens with the permanent settlement? Exorbitant rate of interest. Price rates. From 33% to 50% of the land. The land that was exploited. 50% of the land. If the price of 100 eggs is given to the government. What are they going to do with just 50 eggs? Sell it or buy it and cook it? This is how difficult it is. First of all. Second. What happens is. The British. Not only in this. Not only in the permanent settlement. In Mahalwari and Rayatwari. This is the same problem. If the landlord improvises. Who is the landlord here? The British. They improvise. What happens next is. Deviation of money. What should the government do? Invest in an agricultural land. Only then will the productivity increase. But it's not like that. Are you going to buy 50%? What are you going to do with it? 50% of the revenue. Spend it on the army. The rest is drain of wealth. Give it to England. How does money become? Instead of increasing productivity. England is used to be sophisticated. Collection system is rigid. High rate rigid collection system. How do they do? There is a lot of drought. We will give something. We will give. When there is no drought. Sometimes the drought is less. Sometimes there is flood. Sometimes there is drought. Then there will be no drought. They sell it to money lenders. They take the money and give it. They think. Will our situation get better in a few days? Will we not recover it? This is the wrong calculation. Money lenders. This is the reason. If they take 100 rupees. They spend 500 rupees. They don't know to read. They spend 500 rupees. To buy the land. This is the reason. In 1857 revolt. The first place they attacked. Money lenders books. Peasants go and attack. They attack money lenders. This is the reason. 1857 revolt. Money lenders attack. The next important impact. Commercialization of agriculture. They sell food crops. They sell cotton. They sell indigo. They sell cotton. Commercialization of agriculture. Is one of the impact of British rule in India. Next is deindustrialization. Because of deindustrialization. Artisans come. Already the house is full. They also come. Fragmentation of land. Already the income. In modern day. Disguised unemployment. For example. There is a land. In this land. How much productivity I get. If I put two people. I get 50 eggs. If I put four people. I get 100 eggs. If I put two more people. I get 101 eggs. If I put two more people. I get 101 eggs. What is the limit of that land? 100 eggs. How many people can I hire? I can hire four people. The remaining four people. Who are they? They are jobless. So. For four people. They should get 25 eggs. For eight people. They get only 12 eggs. This is disguised unemployment. This is what happens here. Even now this is happening. That is why. From agriculture. How many people maximum. I can bring out. In the manufacturing sector. How many people. I can hire. Government of India is thinking about it. So. Unemployment. How many people can I bring out. I can bring out. I have to bring out. Only then fragmented land. I can join together. I can do agriculture commercially. Those who do less. I get more profit. Everything happens from the doubling of the income of farmers. Here it is exactly the opposite. Because of deindustrialization. Next. It is with respect to the. Ruining of the old Zamindar system. Old Zamindars will be there. In the rural area. They know about the land. They know about the people. They are a little lenient. Not much. Only a few. But now. After the land. Becomes a commercial property. What happens. After that. The land itself. Becomes a property. Many Zamindars. Old Zamindars. Half of the Zamindars in Meghalaya. Has lost their Zamindari rights. Because of their leniency. They have been replaced by whom. City dwellers. Rich merchants in the city. Money lenders in the city. Industrialists in the city. What do they do. They take the land. Not confiscated. They turn the land into their Zamindar. What is the name of this. Absentee Landlordism. Who is a Landlord. The owner of the land. The rightful owner of the land. The one who lives next to the land. But the people in the city. He has a land in the rural area. So what does it mean. He is in the city. But he does not come to the rural area. This is called Absentee Landlordism. He does not know who he is. Or what he does. For example. He has a property in Chennai. But he lives in Delhi. He rents it out. What do they do. They rent it out. To the locals. See. I have to give this much to the British. 1000 Rupees. You give me 1500 Rupees. Ok. You give me 1500 Rupees. And you keep it. That is what they say. So what do they do. They take 1500 Rupees. And rent it out again. To another person. This is called. Sub-Infiduation. There will be intermediaries. Think about the situation. Think about the situation of the tenant. You have to give everything. But they were like that. Once upon a time. In a land. There were 50 intermediaries. In Bengal. NCRT says. This is called Sub-Infiduation. Absentee Landlordism. And Sub-Infiduation. These are the products of. The Permanent Settlement. Ok. The government. Didn't want to increase. The productivity. Neither did the landlords. What was easy for them. To the last drop of blood. It was easy to earn. Ok. Next. It is with respect to. The modern industries. Indian Industries. Came after the 1850s. And where. It is in certain sectors. Cotton. Jute mill. Sugarcane mill. It is like that. That is all. So, for example, initial industries in first textile mill started in Bombay by Kowasji Nanoboy. Kowasji Nanoboy in 1853 in the pair in the here in the first jute mill in Risha in Bengal in 1855. So, there are some discriminatory policies followed by British with respect to Indian entrepreneurs. Indian entrepreneurs have discriminatory practices, because they are not able to control capital easily. Why? Because the insurance companies and banks are controlled by Britishers, Britishers are capitalists. So, they are giving support to them. Even if they get it, they get it at a high interest rate. Similarly, even if they get a permission to start an industry, Indian capitalists are struggling a lot. Even if they get a permission, the British governments are very keen to discourage them under the pressure of European manufacturers. So, they are not giving support, they are trying to bring them down. What do we know about this? Indiscriminatory tariff practices which they are following. British goods have a low tariff in railways. Indian goods have a high tariff. Similarly, if you want to buy a manufacturing product, a supply, a material, a consumer product, even if you want to buy an industrial product, it is easy for Britishers to get it, because they know the suppliers. They know the British supplier, they know the British insurance agent. It is easy for them to get everything, but it is not easy for Indians. So, apart from these problems, Indians are starting to set up industries. Apart from this, as I said in the last class, they are not allowing them to manufacture goods under the labor law. There are so many problems for Indians. Next, let's look at the indigo plantation. Indigo is a plant which is used for dyeing. It is used for dyeing blue color dye. European plantations are exploiting peasants to make them pay compulsorily. This is happening in Bengal and Bihar. So, how was their exploitation? Dean Pandu Mitra wrote a book called Neel Darban. Neel means blue. Neelam means blue color. Darban means mirror. He wrote a book called Neela Kannadi. He described all their problems in that book. Neel Darban, 1860s. This year is also very important. All the years that I am telling are important. Please note them down. You will hear them in chronology. Next, with respect to it. When is the decline? When synthetic dye is invented, the mouse of indigo cultivation automatically decreases. There is a connection between indigo cultivation and Gandhiji. We will see that in the Gandhian phase. Next, with respect to their condition. Near slave-like conditions. Even if it is cheap labor, they are treated like slaves. When is success for the Indian industry? It is only in the 1920s and 30s. Because of the increase of nationalistic struggle. And labor unions. Next, with respect to industrialization. There is a lot of regional imbalance. In places like Bombay, Madras, Kolkata, there is a lot of industrialization. In other places, there is no industrialization. This is a very important problem. Regional imbalance. When it comes to industrialization, there will be haves and have nots. There will be capitalists. If there is a capitalist, there will be communists. There will be workers. There will be middle class intelligentsia. There will be such people. These two classes are the first to appear in Indian society. Next is feminine poverty. If you look at feminine poverty. The rise of poverty. The rise of poverty is because of British imperial economic policies. Land revenue settlement. The destruction of artisans. Deindustrialization. If you look at where all of this comes together as a story. It is in poverty. What are the reasons for poverty? Economic exploitation. British economic exploitation. Decay of indigenous industries. Indigenous industries have decayed. But failure to replace indigenous industries with modern industries. Indigenous industries have decayed. Did modern industries come? No. It has not replaced it. High taxation. Drain of wealth. Drain of wealth of Britain. Backward agriculture. Agrarian structure. Exploitation of the poor by the landlords. Reduced the Indians to mere poverty. These 5-6 points are the reasons for poverty. These are the main answers. If you write down these 5 points and give examples. You will have the main answer. Next is with respect to it. Major femines are happening. Major femines. Femine commission is also happening. What are the femine commissions? What are their features? What are their recommendations? Read this once. Starchy femine commission is a very important commission. Starchy femine commission. Next is with respect to India and her neighbors. India and her neighbors. With respect to India and her neighbors. Relations with neighbors. There is a scientific frontier for India. No ruler has ever crossed it. Neither in ancient nor in medieval. From Afghanistan. Mauryan period. Then Mughal period. This is the height. India's territorial extension was at the imperial height. If you look at this. We go up to Kabul. We go down to Tamil Nadu. We go up to Bengal on this side. We go down to Gujarat on this side. These were our boundaries. But the British are pushing these boundaries. There are two important reasons. The first important reason is. Modern means of communication. And political consolidation of India. What is the next step? This is what the Britishers think. Because they are greedy. They are imperial. That's all. Imperial to the core. We should like the country as much as we like it. Because we can exploit it as much as we like it. We can turn it into a market as much as we like it. That's all. Economic sense. That's all. The next important thing is. Alien character of the government. Why alien character? If someone thinks that it's enough to be like this. He thinks that the people of that country. The people who love those people. He thinks that he is ruling for those people. He is ruling from somewhere else. He doesn't care about the people of that country. Why should we care about them? What we need is. Very alien character of the British. Induced it to extend the boundaries. Beyond the territorial limits of the ancient medieval Indian boundaries. These are two important reasons. Reason for aggression against neighbors. What is the reason? The first important reason is. Economic. Well being of the British. Or economic greed of the British. You can call it whatever you want. First. Because it was seen as a market. The next is strategic consideration. For example, Afghanistan. For Russia and India. It should act as a buffer. On this side is Burma. Burma is a big market. Then French industrialists. Or American imperialists. No one should come to Burma. We should influence them. Like this. Economic interest. Geopolitical interest. It was more for them. That's why they are putting neighbors in an aggressive policy. Okay? When we look at it like that. The first important thing is. It is with respect to the war with Nepal. 1814. How did the war with Nepal start? It started with minor skirmishes. There was a small fight in a small frontier. Small fights. Because it was an unspecified border. They went a little. There were clashes. What happens in the border clashes is. A full scale war comes. What happens when it comes? Nepal is British. It can be equal in bravery. Otherwise men and material. In all of this, the British are superior. The British Indian army is superior. Then Nepal is automatically easily defeated. Then who? That emperor Amar Singh Thapa. He surrenders. Okay? Because he surrenders. They make an agreement. They bring it into the subsidiary alliance. So what happens when it comes like this? Through this agreement. Many benefits are obtained by the British Indians. First of all. We get the Himalayan states above Nepal. Garhwal. Kumaon. Such areas. Like Uttarakhand. Himachal Pradesh. Uttarakhand. We get all this from Nepal. So this opens up the Central Asian trade for us. First of all. We can go to Central Asian trade through Tibet on this side. The second important thing is. It is with respect to. The hill stations. Whether it is Kulu or Manali. Whether it is Shimla. We get such stations. Not for us. The British get them. The third is. A brave soldier like Gurkhas can join our army. It is adding more strength to the British Indian forces. We get all this. The next important thing is. With respect to the conquest of Burma. The conquest of Burma. To put it in the same way. It is a pure imperialistic conquest. Imperialistic conquest. There are three important reasons. The first reason is. Expansionist urge. We have to expand. We have land. We have to go and get it. That is the desire. The second important thing is. It is with respect to geopolitical reasons. The French commercial. We have to reduce their trade. The third is the market. The market of Burma. Not only that. We can control China through Burma. That is the desire. All these are the reasons to conquer Burma. To conquer Burma. We need a pretext. What happens is. The Arkanese separatists. There is a movement. In Burma. They are in Chittagong. They have Chittagong as a base. Chittagong is a Bengal province. They have Chittagong as a base. They go to Arkanese. They disturb them. The second is. To stop this. They come to the Burmese army. They capture Manipur. They come to Assam. They capture it. They use this as a pretext. In 1826. The British Indian army. The Burmese army. The Burmese army clashes. Initially the British Indian army. Loses. But after that. The British India conquers Burma. What is the reason for this? It led to the treaty of Yandabo. What is the sign in Yandabo? First of all. The capital of Burma is Ava. AVA. The first point is. There are two important places in the Marine border. Arkanis. Thannis. They capture these two places. Okay. Next is Assam. It is the Jainthya Hills. The climbing was prohibited. It was declared a private province. Then my British agent will be in your capital. It's like a subsidiary alliance. In this kind of treaty, they get signed. The second Burmese war happened in 1856. This was the commercial greed of the British. That's all. Nothing to say. It was the commercial greed of the British. The reason for this is that the British were interested in the Burmese market. The Burmese officers in Rangoon didn't respect the British. The Burmese were proud of the British. The British didn't respect the superior race. Next comes Dulloves. He was already an imperialistic person. He wanted to be the imprint of British imperialism. In 1853, Burma was attacked. At this time, the General Services Establishment Act was passed. During the second Burmese war, many people protested against crossing the sea. Some people were shot and some were dismantled. The General Services Establishment Act was passed to ban anyone from crossing the sea. This happened during the second Burma war. This happened. The Burmese easily won the second Burma war. After winning the second Burma war, the Burmese captured the remaining areas. The Burmese completely captured Lower Burma. Now, only Upper Burma is left. The Burmese annexed Third Burmese War in 1885. The Burmese used this as an excuse to annex other areas. The Burmese treated the area as their own. The Burmese used this as an excuse to annex other areas. The Burmese provided shelter to other rebel groups. The Burmese provoked the rebels. The Burmese King made a grave mistake by signing an agreement with the French. The Burmese government is complaining that they are trading twice as much and that they are stealing timber. This is shocking. Using this as a pretext, the British are saying, will you make me sit on my own company? In 1885, the King of Burma, Thimbu, is sent out. They capture Burma in 1885. After that, they unite India and Burma. Many Burmese nationalists and Indian nationalists join forces and fight. In the 1935 act, they divide Burma into separate provinces. They want to weaken Burma. And then there is a leader who rose. He is called Aung San Suu Kyi. Aung San Suu Kyi is the father of Aung San Suu Kyi. He is a great leader. In 1948, Burma gains independence. Next is Afghanistan. The reason for Afghanistan is very simple. Afghanistan should not interfere with Russia. It should be a buffer. That is the idea of the British. Afghanistan should be a buffer. At the same time, Afghanistan should not be too strong. It should listen to us. That's it. They want to have a puppet ruler like that. Not only this, Afghanistan is in a good strategic location. We can get Central Asian trade through Afghanistan. These two things. After that, These are the two important things. For this, There is a war. What happens in the war? First of all, there are strategic reasons. Dost Mohammad is the ruler of Afghanistan in the 1840s. His rule is a bit shaky. There are internal and external problems. What they do by using this? His name is Lord Auckland. He asks you to sign the treaty of the subsidiary alliance. He says, I can't do the subsidiary alliance. Because if I sign the subsidiary alliance, I am virtually signing my sovereignty. We have already seen that. I can't be a puppet ruler. I can be a friend with you. But I can't be a puppet. He refuses. When Auckland thinks about what to do, There is a person who lost the throne of Afghanistan. Who is he? Shah Shuja. He is a British-Frenchman. Okay, catch him. Dost Mohammad is now the ruler of Shah Shuja. With the help of Punjab. With the help of the Punjab, He took a stand for Afghanistan. He rejected Dost Mohammad and replaced him with Shah Shuja. So far, all is fine. But the manner in which Shah Shuja came With the help of foreigners It hurts and angers the proud Afghans. It's not only painful, but it's also angry. They don't accept their rule. They also fight against the British. Afghanistan is a tough territory. You can't easily capture it from the outside. Whether it's the British or Russia, or the USSR, or the U.S., they understand only after hardships. That's why they call Afghanistan the graveyard of superpowers. Because no superpower can conquer Afghanistan. Only those people can rule Afghanistan. No one else can. Let's get back to the story. Kabul falls, but Dostali is restored. Dostali is restored in 1841. Afghanistan signs a treaty. Afghanistan and the British. We will be in Afghanistan under non-interference policy. You can be friendly with us. Because the British have learned their lesson. They don't want any trouble in Afghanistan. Because of the treaty, Dostali didn't help the rebels in 1857. But we won't sit idly by. After the second Afghan war, Lord Lytton, who did everything wrong, said he didn't need the policy of interference. He said he would intervene actively. He said he would keep his feet on the ground. He kept his feet on the ground and took up arms against Afghanistan. Sher Ali was the ruler at that time. He was involved in offensive operations. He was involved in wars. Lytton was replaced by Rippon. Rippon decided to go back to the non-interference policy. As I said in the 1870s, the imperialistic policy reaches its peak. That's why the people who are the product of it take such impulsive decisions. The next important thing is the Treaty of Gandamak. Rippon signed the treaty with the son of Sher Ali, Yaqub Khan. According to the treaty, Yaqub Khan said he would not associate with any foreign power without the permission of the British. But he would not interfere in internal matters. That's all. He signed the non-interference policy. That's all. Next, with respect to it, the third Anglo-Afghan war comes. When does it come? In 1919. In 1917, the Russian Revolution comes. After the Russian Revolution, the communist forces of the USSR abandon their imperialistic ambitions. They adopt an anti-imperialistic policy. The Russian threat goes to Afghanistan. Russia's threat is no longer to Afghanistan. At the same time, Abdur Rahman's son, Abibullah, is killed. His son, Amanullah, openly declares war on the British. The war takes place. He becomes independent, both internally and externally. The British lose. The war with Afghanistan ends. Afghanistan becomes fully sovereign. This is how the war with Afghanistan becomes uncontrollable. The historians say that it is utterly useless, imperialistic, immature, and politically unnecessary. The first Afghan war cost 1.5 crores. Even after spending 1.5 crores, the war was uncontrollable. The second war was partially successful. The third war was abandoned. This is why Afghanistan is a graveyard of superpowers. The next topic is questions. In economic policies, indigo cultivation in India declined by the beginning of the 20th century. Why? Peasants' resistance to the oppressive conduct of planters. Unprofitability of the world market because of new inventions. National leaders' opposition to the cultivation of indigo. Government control over the planters. We saw how synthetic dye was invented. We can answer this using the NCRT concept. Economically, one of the results of British rule in India in the 19th century is the increase of export. Is export increased? Wrong. Growth in the number of Indian-owned factories? Wrong. Commercialization of Indian agriculture? Correct. Rapid increase in the urban population? Wrong. De-urbanization and de-industrialization? The answer is commercialization of Indian agriculture. C is the answer. I hope you understood this chapter and found it useful. In the next session, we will see the growth of nationalism. We will see the growth of nationalism and socio-economic, religious, etc. Thank you. All the best.