Impact of British Rule on India
ICSE Class 8 · History & Civics · Chapter 7
What this chapter covers
- British economic policy
- Land revenue systems
- Exploitation of artisans and weavers
- Drain of wealth
- Wood's Despatch
- English language in India: pros and cons
Key points
- British economic policy made India a supplier of cheap raw materials and a market for British goods.
- Company monopolies and duty-free private trade by Company officials ruined many Indian merchants.
- The Permanent Settlement (1793, Lord Cornwallis) made zamindars owners of the land and fixed their revenue for ever in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.
- It gave the Company a certain income, ruined many old zamindars and left tenant cultivators at the mercy of rising rents.
- The Ryotwari system collected revenue directly from peasants; the Mahalwari system settled it with the village community. In both, the demand was revised and kept high.
- Company agents and cheap British machine-made cloth ruined Indian weavers and artisans, many of whom were pushed on to the land.
- The drain of wealth, explained by Dadabhai Naoroji, was the flow of Indian money to Britain through Home Charges, salaries, pensions and profits.
- Macaulay's Minute (1835) favoured Western education in English.
- Wood's Despatch (1854) gave India a plan of education from village schools to universities; universities opened at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras in 1857.
- English united educated Indians and spread new ideas, but it divided society and neglected Indian languages.
Questions answered
What was the main aim of British economic policy in India?
The main aim was to make India a supplier of cheap raw materials to British factories and a market for British machine-made goods.
Who introduced the Permanent Settlement, when, and in which regions?
Lord Cornwallis introduced it in 1793 in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.
Give two reasons why the cultivators suffered under the Permanent Settlement.
The zamindar could raise their rent whenever he wished, and they could be thrown off the land if they failed to pay, even in a year of drought or flood.
How did the Ryotwari system differ from the Permanent Settlement?
Under the Ryotwari system, revenue was collected directly from each peasant, with no zamindar in between, and the amount was revised every twenty to thirty years instead of being fixed for ever.
What was a mahal under the Mahalwari system?
A mahal was a village or group of villages with which the revenue was settled as a whole.
State two ways in which British policy ruined Indian weavers.
Company agents forced weavers to sell cloth at low fixed prices, and cheap machine-made British cloth, entering India with low duties, took away their market.
What was meant by the drain of wealth? Name the leader who explained it.
The drain of wealth was the steady transfer of India's money and resources to Britain without anything of equal value in return. Dadabhai Naoroji explained it.
Give two objectives of the British in introducing English education.
They wanted cheap Indian clerks who knew English, and they hoped English-educated Indians would stay loyal to British rule.