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q A major revolt occurred in Ganjam in 1835. It F ind Outind Out
was put down by a large military campaign.
Find out more about Champaran Movement.
q A peasant revolt occurred
in Bundelkhand in 1842
under the leadership of REVOLTS BY INDIGO CULTIVATORS
Madhukar . The Gonds too The indigo cultivators were those who grew
joined them. The British indigo on their land, but indigo planters were
took about a year before those landlords and British officials who forced
the revolt was pacified. Gond Tribals indigo cultivators to grow indigo. As the
cultivation of indigo destroyed the fertility of land
Activity
and rendered it useless for other crops, the indigo
Imagine, and draw your imagination on paper to cultivators rose in revolt. The movement of indigo
show the peasant revolt of British India. cultivators occurred in 1858-60 and covered a
vast area in Bengal and Bihar. They resisted to
Quiz Time grow indigo. They even attacked and plundered
Write True or False : the British companies of the indigo planters. Some
1. The British too got a regular income groups of peasants, such as Lathials and Raiyats ,
from land revenue. _______ armed themselves to resist this.
2. The first major peasant revolt occurred However, the peasants were rendered helpless
in Bengal. _______ before the brute British force. Their revolt was put
down violently, but the resistance continued well
3. All people were not troubled by the into the twentieth century.
British. _______
4. A major revolt occurred in Ganjam Info Bits
Info Bits
in 1845. _______
5. A cultivator was recognised as the The writers too shared the plight of indigo
owner of the land. _______ cultivators, as we can see from numerous stories.
One of the famous drama is Neel Darpan written by
In addition to the above, there were widespread Dinabandhu Mitra.
revolts in the Punjab and other provinces, such as
the Chuar revolt in Bihar and the Moplah revolt in
Malabar.
v The British ruled impacted Indian people, both rural and urban, socially, politically, economically and
culturally.
v The British agrarian policy destroyed Indian agriculture and impoverished the rural people completely.
v The four systems of land revenue were ijardari, permanent settlement, ryotwari and mahalwari systems.
v The land was made a saleable commodity as the peasants could be evicted from land on non-payment of
revenue.
v The cultivation of crops was commercialised, often by force.
v The peasants rose in revolt in the whole of India in order to protest the wrong policies of land revenue.
v The indigo cultivators were the worst placed, so they too rose in revolt, but it did not help them much.
Contemporary Social Science-8
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