Chapter 7 · Topic 7.1 · Prelims + Mains1 of 3
Peasant Movements: Indigo, Pabna and Deccan
Key points
- Indigo Revolt (Prelims 2020).
- Pabna and Deccan riots.
2 PYQs 2007–2016
Prelims box: facts and traps
| Indigo Revolt | Key facts |
|---|---|
| Where and when | Nadia and nearby districts of Bengal, 1859–60 |
| Grievance | European planters forced ryots to grow indigo on advances, at a loss, using kidnapping, beatings and fake contracts |
| Leaders | Digambar Biswas and Bishnu Biswas of Nadia |
| Support | Harish Chandra Mukherji's paper 'Hindoo Patriot'; Dinabandhu Mitra's play 'Nil Darpan' (1860) |
| Result | Indigo Commission (1860); ryots could not be forced to grow indigo; planting moved to Bihar. |
- After 1917 their protests joined the national movement.
- Grievance Ryotwari revenue and debt to Marwari and Gujarati moneylenders, made worse when cotton prices fell after the American Civil War
- The Bengal Tenancy Act, 1885 followed the Pabna unrest, and the Punjab Land Alienation Act, 1900 dealt with land transfers to moneylenders in Punjab.
- Trap: “Eka movement stayed within the discipline of Congress non-violence throughout” is wrong. Once grassroots leaders such as Madari Pasi took over, the movement moved away from Congress control and would not remain confined to non-violence; it was suppressed by March 1922.
- Trap: “The movements were sustained by a continuous, all-India peasant organisation” is wrong. These movements were territorially confined and lacked continuity or a long-term organisation; an all-India peasant body came only with the All India Kisan Sabha in 1936.
Peasant protest and the Indigo Revolt (1859–60)
Under British rule, peasants carried heavy revenue, high rents, debt and forced cropping. In the 19th century they mostly fought particular planters, landlords or moneylenders, not British rule as a whole. After 1917 their protests joined the national movement.
| Indigo Revolt | Key facts |
|---|---|
| Where and when | Nadia and nearby districts of Bengal, 1859–60 |
| Grievance | European planters forced ryots to grow indigo on advances, at a loss, using kidnapping, beatings and fake contracts |
| Leaders | Digambar Biswas and Bishnu Biswas of Nadia |
| Support | Harish Chandra Mukherji’s paper ‘Hindoo Patriot’; Dinabandhu Mitra’s play ‘Nil Darpan’ (1860) |
| Result | Indigo Commission (1860); ryots could not be forced to grow indigo; planting moved to Bihar |
Prelims 2020 asked: ‘Indigo cultivation in India declined by the beginning of the 20th century because of Prelims 2020 ‘ what? The answer: it became unprofitable once synthetic dye was invented, not because of peasant resistance alone.
Indigo cultivation in India declined by the beginning of the 20th century because of
- peasant resistance to the oppressive conduct of planters
- its unprofitability in the world market because of new inventions
- national leaders’ opposition to the cultivation of indigo
- Government control over the planters
Show answer
Answer: (b) · UPSC official key
The Pabna movement and the Deccan riots
| Pabna (1873–76) | Key facts |
|---|---|
| Where | Yusufshahi pargana, Pabna district, East Bengal |
| Grievance | Zamindars raised rents illegally and tried to stop tenants from gaining occupancy rights |
| Method | An agrarian league; rent strikes and court cases, mostly peaceful and legal |
| Leaders and support | Ishan Chandra Roy, Shambhu Pal, Keshab Chandra Roy; backed by Bankim Chandra, R.C. Dutt and the Indian Association |
| Result | Bengal Tenancy Act, 1885 |
| Deccan riots (1875) | Key facts |
|---|---|
| Where | Poona and Ahmednagar districts |
| Deccan riots (1875) | Key facts |
| Grievance | Ryotwari revenue and debt to Marwari and Gujarati moneylenders, made worse when cotton prices fell after the American Civil War |
| Method | Social boycott of moneylenders; then attacks to seize and burn debt bonds |
| Result | Deccan Agriculturists’ Relief Act, 1879; the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha (Ranade) took up the issue |
Mains box: analysis and answer points
- Under British rule, peasants carried heavy revenue, high rents, debt and forced cropping.
- In the 19th century they mostly fought particular planters, landlords or moneylenders, not British rule as a whole.
- Likely next angle: Press and protest
Practice
Practice MCQs (8)
The Deccan Riots of 1875, which began at Supe in the Poona district, were directed mainly against
Answer (a) & explanation
In May 1875 ryots at Supe attacked the houses and shops of sahukars, seized and burnt their bonds and account books, and drove many of them out; the riots spread through the Poona and Ahmednagar districts. The anger came from debt: the cotton boom of the American Civil War years had ended in 1865, revenue demands under the ryotwari system were high, and moneylenders who refused further loans or used decrees to take land were seen as betraying custom. There were no zamindars of the Bengal kind in the Deccan, and indigo planters were a Bengal and Bihar phenomenon.
Consider the following pairs: Peasant struggle of the 1930s-40s : Region
1. Punnapra-Vayalar : Travancore
2. Warli revolt : Thane district
3. Bakasht struggle : Bihar
4. Telangana movement : Hyderabad State
Which of the pairs given above are correctly matched?
Answer (d) & explanation
All four pairs are correct. Punnapra-Vayalar (October 1946) was a rising of coir workers and agricultural labourers near Alleppey in Travancore. The Warli adivasis of Thane district (Bombay Presidency) rose in 1945 under the Kisan Sabha against forced labour and exploitation by landlords and forest contractors. The Bakasht struggle in Bihar (from 1937) resisted zamindars who seized tenants' land as bakasht (self-cultivated) land. The Telangana movement (1946-51) was fought in the Nizam's Hyderabad State against jagirdars and deshmukhs.
Which one of the following laws was passed as a remedial measure after the Deccan Riots of 1875?
Answer (c) & explanation
After the riots the government appointed the Deccan Riots Commission, whose report described the indebtedness of the ryots. It then passed the Deccan Agriculturists' Relief Act, 1879, which gave the ryots some protection against moneylenders, for example by restricting arrest and imprisonment for debt and allowing the courts to examine the history of a loan. The Bengal Tenancy Act, 1885 followed the Pabna unrest, and the Punjab Land Alienation Act, 1900 dealt with land transfers to moneylenders in Punjab.
Consider the following statements about the Indigo revolt of 1859-60 in Bengal:
1. It began in the Nadia district, where the Biswas brothers of Govindapur village led the ryots in refusing to sow indigo.
2. Dinabandhu Mitra's play Nil Darpan portrayed the oppression of the ryots by the planters.
3. The government appointed an Indigo Commission in 1860 to inquire into the system.
4. The government then issued a notification that ryots could be compelled to grow indigo under their contracts.
How many of the statements given above are correct?
Answer (c) & explanation
Three statements are correct. In 1859 the ryots of Nadia, led at Govindapur by Digambar and Bishnu Biswas, refused to take advances and sow indigo, and the refusal spread across Bengal. The Bengali intelligentsia backed them through newspapers such as Harish Chandra Mukherji's Hindoo Patriot and through Nil Darpan (1860). The government set up the Indigo Commission in 1860. Statement 4 is the reverse of the truth: in November 1860 the government notified that ryots could not be compelled to sow indigo and that disputes would be settled by legal means. By the end of 1860 indigo cultivation had in effect been wiped out of Bengal.
With reference to the Pabna agrarian unrest of the 1870s, consider the following statements:
1. An agrarian league was formed in 1873 in the Yusufshahi pargana of Pabna district to resist enhanced rents.
2. The struggle relied mainly on legal methods such as rent strikes, the collection of funds and suits in the courts.
3. It had an anti-Hindu communal character because most of the zamindars were Hindus and most of the ryots were Muslims.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer (b) & explanation
Statements 1 and 2 are correct. Zamindars in east Bengal tried to raise rents beyond legal limits and to stop tenants acquiring occupancy rights under the Act of 1859. In May 1873 the ryots of the Yusufshahi pargana formed an agrarian league, organised rent strikes, raised funds and fought the zamindars in court; violence was rare. Statement 3 is wrong: although most zamindars were Hindu and many ryots Muslim, the movement was not communal; leaders included Ishan Chandra Roy, Shambhu Pal and Khoodi Mollah. Its demands were partly met by the Bengal Tenancy Act of 1885.
With reference to the Champaran Satyagraha of 1917, consider the following statements:
1. Under the tinkathia system the ryots were bound to grow indigo on three-twentieths of their land.
2. Raj Kumar Shukla, a local cultivator, persuaded Gandhi to come to Champaran.
3. The planters finally agreed to refund the entire amount they had illegally collected from the ryots.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer (b) & explanation
Statements 1 and 2 are correct. In Champaran (north Bihar) European planters forced ryots under the tinkathia system to grow indigo on 3/20 of their land; when synthetic dyes made indigo unprofitable, planters demanded enhanced rents or lump sums to release ryots from the obligation. Raj Kumar Shukla brought Gandhi there in 1917, and with Rajendra Prasad, Mazharul Haq, J.B. Kripalani and others Gandhi recorded the ryots' statements. Statement 3 is wrong: the Champaran Agrarian Committee, of which Gandhi was a member, got the planters to refund only 25 per cent of the money taken; the tinkathia system was then abolished.
With reference to the peasant movements of the 19th century (such as the Indigo revolt, the Pabna unrest and the Deccan Riots), consider the following statements:
1. The peasants fought mainly against their immediate oppressors, such as planters, zamindars and moneylenders, rather than against colonial rule as such.
2. The peasants often looked to the colonial state, or to the Queen, for protection against these oppressors.
3. The movements were sustained by a continuous, all-India peasant organisation.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer (a) & explanation
Statements 1 and 2 are correct. Bipan Chandra notes that 19th-century peasant movements were directed at immediate enemies (the planter, the zamindar, the moneylender) and at specific grievances, and that they did not grasp colonialism as the larger cause. The Pabna ryots even declared that they wished to be ryots of Her Majesty the Queen and of Her only. Statement 3 is wrong: these movements were territorially confined and lacked continuity or a long-term organisation; an all-India peasant body came only with the All India Kisan Sabha in 1936.
With reference to the Eka movement, consider the following statements:
1. It surfaced towards the end of 1921 in the Hardoi, Bahraich and Sitapur districts of the United Provinces.
2. Rents about 50 per cent higher than the recorded rates, the oppression of thekedars and the practice of share-rents were among its grievances.
3. Some small zamindars, unhappy with the heavy land revenue demand, also took part in it.
4. It stayed within the discipline of Congress non-violence throughout.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Answer (b) & explanation
Statements 1, 2 and 3 are correct. Bipan Chandra describes the Eka movement as arising at the end of 1921 in Hardoi, Bahraich and Sitapur, against rents about 50 per cent above the recorded rates, the oppression of thekedars (rent collectors) and share-rents. It also drew in some small zamindars who resented the heavy land revenue. Statement 4 is wrong: once grassroots leaders such as Madari Pasi took over, the movement moved away from Congress control and would not remain confined to non-violence; it was suppressed by March 1922.
0 / 0 correct
Prelims PYQs on this topic (2)
Satya Shodhak Samaj organized
Answer (c) & explanation
Satyashodhak Samaj was an anti-caste movement in Maharashtra (c). Jyotiba Phule founded it in Pune in 1873 to free the lower castes and women from Brahminical domination. It held marriages without priests, and Phule and Savitribai Phule ran schools for girls and Dalits. His book Gulamgiri (1873) compared caste with slavery. The other options are wrong: Bihar's tribal movements were Birsa Munda's Ulgulan (a), Gujarat had no such temple-entry campaign (b), and Punjab's peasant movements were unrelated (d). The best-known temple-entry movements were Vaikom (1924–25) and Guruvayur in Kerala.
Phule was given the title "Mahatma" in 1888. Notice how his ideas later shaped the non-Brahmin movement and Dr Ambedkar, who called him one of his three gurus.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
The demand for the Tebhaga Peasant Movement in Bengal was for
Answer (a) & explanation
Reducing the landlord's share from half to one-third is correct (a). In the Tebhaga movement (1946–47) in Bengal, led by the Bengal Provincial Kisan Sabha (linked to the Communist Party), sharecroppers (bargadars) demanded that the jotedar's share of the crop be cut from half to one-third; 'tebhaga' means 'three shares'. The movement drew on the Floud Commission's recommendation (1940). (b), (c) and (d) are wrong: ownership of land, abolition of zamindari and writing off debts were not the core demand.
Notice the legacy: the demand was partly met by the Bargadars Act (1950), and later by Operation Barga (1978) in West Bengal, which registered sharecroppers. Other peasant risings of the 1940s include Telangana (1946–51) and Warli (1945). Trap: tebhaga is about the share, not ownership.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Write an answer
In 150 words, explain the significance of Peasant Movements with one recent example.
Flashcards (7)
Leaders of the Indigo Revolt?
Digambar and Bishnu Biswas.
Play on indigo planters?
Nil Darpan, Dinabandhu Mitra.
Paper that backed indigo ryots?
Hindoo Patriot (Harish Chandra Mukherji).
Where was the Pabna movement?
Yusufshahi pargana, Pabna.
Result of the Pabna movement?
Bengal Tenancy Act, 1885.
Targets of the Deccan riots?
Marwari and Gujarati moneylenders.
Act after the Deccan riots?
Deccan Agriculturists' Relief Act, 1879.
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