perspectives in 19th century colonial...
TRANSCRIPT
CHAPTER-II
POVERTY AND HEALTH PERSPECTIVES IN 19TH CENTURY
COLONIAL INDIA
CHAPTER–II
POVERTY AND HEALTH PERSPECTIVES IN 19TH CENTURY COLONIAL INDIA
At the outset, have a general look on the economic, social and physical
structure of the country, as gleaned from the surveys, gazetteers and official
reports.
Geographical Condition and Habitation:-
The area under review is 19th century Colonial Indian region which
includes whole of the British India proper, excluding Burma, Andaman &
Nicobar, Sind and other princely States. India has an area of about 3.28 million
square km. India is located in Northern hemisphere. Geographically, India is
described as laying half to the North and half to the South of the Tropic of
Cancer (23o30N). From south to north, main land of India extends between
8o4N and 37o6N latitudes. From west to east, India extends between 68o7E
and 97o25E longitudes. India in general contains a great variety of physical
and meteorological conditions. The Imperial Gazetteer of India has described:
‘India presents a noteworthy combination of tropical and
temperate region conditions. Tropical heat, heavy and
frequent rain, and fierce cyclones are prevalent at one period
of the year; while moderate temperature and rain, with
shallow extensive storms obtain at another’5
5 Hunter W.W., Imperial Gazetteer of India: The Indian Empire, Vol.-I, (Descriptive)
op.cit., p.105.
22
Map-A.1. shows the general physical structure of the country.6
Generally the Northern part of the Country is subjected to great summer
heat while Southern parts experience lesser cold and heat. In general, India may
be divided into two parts:
6 Hunter W.W., The Imperial Gazetteer Atlas of India, Vol-XXVI, Pub. Under the
authority of Government of India – Oxford University Press, 1909, plate -5.
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‘Firstly- The area embraced by the great alluvial plains of the
North which include Punjab, Rajputana and Sind on the North
West, the United Provinces in the Centre and the great part of
Bengal Province with the deltas of the Brahmaputra and the
Ganges on the North-East; Secondly- the highlands of and
the low alluvial tracts of the South, which comprises the
Provinces of Madras and Bombay, the Central Provinces and
some, of the Chief native states of India’.7
Physically India has three particular regions. The Himalayas,- the largest
forest cover area of the country and from where, lower ranges run down on
both sides (East and West) to the sea. The Northern Plains – which stretch
between the Himalayas and the Vindhyas, comprising the rivers Indus, and
Ganges, with their thousands of tributaries. It is the most fertile and dense
region of India. Southern Table Land or Deccan - The Eastern Ghats Western
Ghats, the Nilgiries, the Vindhyas, the Narmada and Tapti rivers give the
region a meaning. The Deccan Plateau is highly rich in minerals.
(I)
Population and Occupational Structure:
There were marked geographical variations in the population growth in
19th century. We witness that the South and East India had a more dynamic
demographic regime while population in Rajasthan and upper North was stable 7 Holdich, T.H. India: Political, Cultural, Geographical and Historical, First Indian
Reprint- 1975, pp.130-131.
24
due to the harsh environment. The greatest density of population was found in
the great Gangetic Plains.8 For this variation in population density, natural and
economic conditions are responsible. As economic conditions are primarily
connected with agriculture so, rainfall, irrigation, cultivable lands fertility of
soil all determine the density of population. Bengal, Bihar United provinces
were more densely populated areas than any other part of the country because
of their fertility of soil and adequate rainfall.9 W.W. Hunter also had
emphasized that:
‘The character of the rainfall determines the quantity and
quality of the food and water supplies, and through these in a
large measure, the health of the community as evidenced by
the high and fluctuating birth and death rates and by the
frequent reversal of their normal relations; and this occurs not
only in specially unfavorable years but in certain months of
the year under ordinary circumstances’.10
Apart from climatic conditions, many other factors were also
responsible for demographic changes. In 19th century there occurred a big
change in occupational structure, and migration took place on a large scale. If
we examine the density of one state in relation to that of other states of British
India we come across with the following results: 8 Hunter W.W., Imperial Gazetteer of India: The Indian Empire, Vol.-I, (Descriptive)
op.cit. p.447. 9 Census of India-1911, vol.-I India Part-I Report, Calcutta Superintendant,
Government Printing, India, 1913, p.-26 10 Hunter W.W., Imperial Gazetteer of India: The Indian Empire, Vol.-I, (Descriptive)
op.cit. p.504.
25
Fig.2.1 -Population Density per square miles: 11
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
Punjab United Provinces
Central Provinces
Rajputana Madras Bengal Bombay
1800
1901
On the basis of above graph [figure No-1], we can say that climatic and
economic factors determine the density of habitation.
Various Estimates for the Population of India:
Pre-Census:-
11 The datas for Population density for 1800 are derived from the estimates
calculated by contemporary historians, while estimates for 1900 are derived from Census of India 1901, Part-1 vol-1, Report. Calcutta, Govt. of India, Central Printing Office.
26
We have various estimates of pre-census population of India. D.
Bhattacharya has estimated India’s population at 207 million for 1800.12 He has
also given the population estimates for other years.
Table-2.1. Estimates of Pre-Census Population
Year Population
1811 215 millions
1841 212 millions
1861 244 millions13
John D. Durand has estimated 195 million population,14 but one can
safely assume that India did not have a population of much less than 200
million in 1800.
Census:-
12 Bhattacharya, D. ‘Report on the Population Estimates of India, 1811-1820,
Eastern Region’ in Census of India, Vol.-III, Part-A, 1961, pp. xvii-xviii. 13 Ibid.,p.xxiii 14 John.D.Durand, ‘Modern Expansion of World Population’, in Proceedings of the
American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, III, No.3, 1967, cited in ,Kumar D, (edited) The Cambridge Economic History of India, Vol-2-1757-1970, first published ,Cambridge University Press 1982, Cambridge, p.466.
27
The first systematic enumeration of the whole India proper was
conducted in 1872, containing a wide range of information regarding
population and its occupational structure. These reports also bear the
information population density, climate and environment According to the first
Census of India, the total area of British India was about 1 ½ million square
miles and the population 240 million, out of which 50 million belonged to the
Native (princely) States (not under British Administration) and 190 million of
people were directly under British rule.15 The Famine Commission Report
1880-1885 has classified 190 million populations according to their
occupations, as given below.
Table-2.2: Population by Occupation
Occupation Population %
Agricultural section 56% or106 millions
Traders 18% or 34 millions
Laborers 16%or 30 millions
Professionals and servicemen 10% or 2o millions
Total 190 millions
15 Report of Indian Famine Commission – 1880-85. Part-I, Famine Relief, London,
Printed by Eyre & W. Spotiswoode, 1880-First Indian reprint, 1989, p.4.
28
By the end of 19th Century, the number of towns and villages in India was as follows as shown in (figure.2.2).16
The above graph shows that a large chunk of population was solely
engaged in agriculture in the 19th Century Colonial India. The level of
urbanization in India had been low, and therefore we see that a big number of
Indian population was involved in agriculture. They primarily lived in rural
areas. The graph in (figure. 2.3) shows the distribution of population by
occupation in certain provinces.17
Fig. 2.3- Population by occupation
16 Census of India 1901, Vol.-1, India, Part-I, Report, p.572. 17 Census of India 1911, Vol.1, India, Part-I Report., p.406.
29
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Professions
Commerce
Industry
Agriculture
Others
Obviously, rural population was far greater than urban population.
While classifying the population into rural and urban categories, Rajeshwari
Prasad, the Superintendent Census operations wrote:
‘Rural society presents a sharp contrast to urban society. Outstanding in the former is the preponderance of the agricultural occupations, a low density of population, small population aggregates, a high degree of ethnic and cultural homogeneity, and great territorial, occupational and social
30
stability. Urban society shows the opposite extremes of all these’.18
Since there was no uniform definition of classification of rural and urban
population, the Census officers used to treat the area with 5,000 persons as
town or urban area, but some areas having less than 5,000 populations, but
having urban characteristics as municipalities and cantonments etc, were also
considered as towns. However, the areas which served the commercial
purposes and owed their development entirely to the modern trade and
commerce were also considered as cities.
Rural areas were mainly composed of villages having agriculture as
primary occupation. People in rural areas were also engaged in handicraft,
supplying the simple needs of the villagers.19 The rural areas were mainly
comprised of Mauza and Village. Urban areas were mainly composed of Cities
and Towns having different non-agricultural occupations. We may classify the
Indian occupational structure mainly in two categories, Agricultural and Non-
Agricultural comprising the following structure:
Rural Occupational Structure:-
1. Agricultural Cultivators – Owned land, Un-owned land, Jhum, & shifting cultivators, Field laborers.
2. Non-Agricultural- Hunter-gatherers and nomadars.
18 Census of India, 1951, Vol.-II, Uttar Pradesh Part I-A, Report, p.109. 19 Census of India, 1911.Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and Sikkim, Part-I, Report, p.45.
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3. Industrial and Domestic Workers- Blacksmiths, Goldsmiths, Vaids &
Hakims, Patwaries, Pundits, Maulanas, Washer men, Sweepers,
Cobblers, Grosser and Pansaries etc.
Urban Occupational Structure:-
1. Administration-
2. Defense
3. Industries; including handicraft industries.
Mining, Construction, Commerce, Textiles
4. Service:
Transport, Civil Service, Service of Native and Foreign State and
Departmental Services
5. Factories:
Chemical Products, Manufactures, Metal Products and Beverages etc.
Since agriculture had been the main industry of the Country, it had
affected the whole social and economic life of the Indian Community. This
agricultural sector not only provided food grains but raw materials like cotton,
jute, oil seeds and a lot of cash crops as tea opium and indigo. There was
common trade between Urban and Rural Sector few goods like raw silk, indigo,
sugar, salt, saltpeter and many other agricultural productions were sold by the
rural sector. Rural and Urban artisans produced mainly for local consumers.
Rural industries included textiles of the coarser kind, pottery agricultural
implements like leather, oil, wood andiron tools and things etc.
Urban industries included finer textiles, carpets and shawls, pottery,
decorative metal ware and manufacture of arms etc. However, rural consumer
32
would hardly buy the urban produces.20The life of the agricultural laborers was
difficult. The Census report of 1881 offered a glimpse into their daily life;
He raises early and retires late; in the hottest time of the
year he works in the failed under the burning says of the sun;
at other reasons he had often to work in the rain drenched to
the skin he is to be seen in the fields on a bitter winter
morning, defying the cold, clad only in his simply cold
Kumbli (blanket). Thus his life is one of the continued toil
and exposure’.21
India had a strong village community. It had its self sufficient village
economy. In short, except in the south-western tip of the subcontinent, the
village community system flourished practically all over India. The working of
the village community system in different parts of India was described by
several East India Company officers, and on the basis of some of these notes a
general account was published in British Parliamentary Papers in 1812, on the
basis of which Karl Marx wrote:
‘The constitution of these communities varies in different
parts of India In those of the simplest form, the land is tilled
in common, and the produce divided among the members. At
the same time, spinning and weaving are carried on in each
family as subsidiary industries. Side by side with the masses
thus occupied with one and the same work, we find the chief
20 Roy Tirthankar, The Economic History of India; 1857-1947, published Oxford
University Press, India, -2000, p.26. 21 Report of the Census, 1881, Bombay: Education Society’s Press, 1882, p.111.
33
inhabitant, who is judge, police, and tax-gatherer in one; the
book-keeper who keeps the accounts of the tillage and
registers everything relating thereto; another official, who
prosecutes criminals, protects strangers travelling through,
and escorts them to the next village; the boundary man, who
guards the boundaries against neighboring communities; the
water-overseer, who distributes the water from the common
tanks for irrigation; the Brahmin, who conducts the religious
services; the schoolmaster, who on the sand teaches the
children reading and writing; the calendar-Brahmin, or
astrologer, who makes known the lucky or unlucky days for
seed-time and harvest, and for every other kind of
agricultural work; a smith and a carpenter, who make and
repair all the agricultural implements; the potter, who makes
all the pottery of the village; the barber, the washer man, who
washes clothes, the silversmith, here and there the poet, who
in some communities replaces the silversmith, in others the
schoolmaster. This dozen of individuals is maintained at the
expense of the whole community.’22
There were tribal communities who lived in hilly areas of Aravali,
Satpura, Vindhya. They lived in small Nomadic bands. Most of them were
engaged in terrace farming and many of them were affianced in hunting and
gathering. They would gather wild leaves, roots and fruits, manufactured ropes
22 Marx Karl, Capital: Critical Analysis of Capitalist Production, Vol.-I (translated
from the IIIrd. German Edition by Samuel Moore and Edward. A, and edited by Frederick Engles) Text written – 1887, first published 1954 (Moscow Progress Publishers, pp.350-352.
34
from wild creepers and would collect honey for exchange with agricultural
produce.23
It was generally assumed that a community or caste followed one
occupation which was primarily traditional to it. There were a large number of
occupations like bird trapping, acrobatics juggling etc, which were intimately
connected with the state of environment at that time. Hence we can say that
there were more than 50 types of traditional occupations in rural India apart
from agriculture.24
In totality we can say that the largest numbers of communities were
followed by agriculture comprising unskilled laborers, business, trade industry
etc. The hunters, food gatherers, shifting cultivators were concentrated in hilly
forest and tribal areas while fishing port operations went on with the mode of
subsistence in the coastal regions. Regarding the economy, India had been
considered as the agricultural mother of Asia and the Industrial workshop of
23 Chief Tribes of India: Assam and adjoining hill states - Garo, kuki Naga, Khasi Bengal & Bihar - Polia, Santhal, Munda Orissa, Madras, Kerala - Chenchu, Toda, Kota. Bombay, Gujarat, Rajasthan - Bhil, Koli Madhya Pradesh - Gands, Korku. Andhra Pradesh - Gonds, Chenchu, Uttar Pradesh - Tharu, Majhi, Khawar, 24 Singh, K.S. (Editor), People of India, National Series, An Introduction, Calcutta,
Anthropological Survey of India, 1992 p.55.
35
the world.25 Till 18th century weaving was a National industry. Cambay,
Calicut, Beram, Nasik, Poona, Murshidabad were famous trading centres.
(II)
Economic Exploitation and Growth of Poverty:
By the end of 18th century we see economic deterioration in India which
led the Indian people to poverty. This economic deterioration reached to its
climax under the rule of East India Company whose object behind the
country’s conquest was commercial one.
Its discrimination and exploitation of Indian provinces was followed by
drain of wealth, competitions with machine made goods26 destruction of Indian
shipping27 & cheap imitation of Indian goods by British manufacturers and
heavy duties imposed on Indian goods imported into England.28 The effect of
drain of wealth has been analysed by scholars. Irfan Habib argues:
‘The total Gross National Produced (GNP) of Bengal, Bihar, Banaras, the North Circars, etc., should therefore have been under Rs.20 crore per year during the period 1784-89, to which the calculation of Grant and Shore relate. Taking
25 Mukherjee R.K., Economic History of India, 1600-1800, Allahabad, Kitab Mahal ,
1967. 26 Dutt, R.C., Economic History of India, under Early British Rule ,Vol-1, Pub.-1903,
London, first Indian edition 1960p.278. 27 Ibid,, pp.114-115. 28 The custom duty levied open the British cotton manufacturers, when imported
into India was 3.5% only while India had to pay 10% custom duty when its goods were imported into England Similarly English woolen manufacturers paid 2% custom duty when imported into India while India had to pay 30% in England. Cited from - Encyclopedia of Economic History vol.-I, edited by Joel Mokyr, Oxford University Press, 2003, New York, p.118.
36
Furber’s estimate (based on prime cost in India) for the drain during 1783-84 to 1792-93, we find that the tribute amounted to 9 per cent of the GNP a crippling drain for any economy’.29
Taxation and Economic Drain: -
Like in northern, eastern and southern India, wherever else the Company
extended its power, its policy became to extract as much as possible from the
territory and the people in the form of land-tax. Thus, with the destruction of
her industry and trade, firstly, India was reduced to become only, or mainly, an
agrarian country, and, secondly, she was transformed into the revenue
producing agricultural farm of England.
Throughout India, revenue collections went on at an increasing tempo.
The Colonial Government would levy various kinds of taxes apart from land
revenue. There was no exemption from revenues. Indian people were treated
very badly .The following table and graph shows the estimates for gross
revenue of Colonial India 1856-57 which the Colonial Government was
receiving from the common people. 30
29 Irfan Habib, ‘Colonization of the Indian Economy’, in Essays in Indian History:
Towards a Marxist Perception, Tulika, New Delhi, 1955, pp.304-305. 30 A Historical Atlas of South Asia, (Edited) Joseph E. Schwartzberg, University of
Chicago Press Chicago & London, 1978, p.61.
37
Table.2.3- Gross Revenue of British India in Thousands of Sterling
Gross Revenue 31.707
Land Revenue 17.722
(Sale of land, water irrigation, forest
excise) Miscellaneous
4.656
Stamps 0.662
Customs 0.976
Salt 2.686
Opium 5.002
Fig.2.4- Gross Revenue of British India in Percentage31
Land Revenue, 55.90
%
Opium, 15.80%
Miscellenous, 14.70%
Stamps , 2.00%
Customs, 3.10% Salt, 8.50%
, 0
31 Ibid. p.61.
38
The average incidence of land revenue per capita was also indicated by
the Famine Commission which shows that the areas where commercial crops
were grown were paying higher land revenue.32
Table.2.4-Average incidence of land revenue and per capita cultivated areas
Province Average incidence of land revenue per person in decimals of 1 English
pounds
Per capita cultivated areas
Punjab 0.11 1.0
N.W.P. 0.14 0.7
Bengal 0.07 0.8
C. Province 0.07 1.4
Berar 0.23 1.6
Bombay 0.19 1.3
Madras 0.10 0.8
Needless to say, such enhanced taxation affected the Indian people
brutally and led them towards impoverishment. Bishop Heber, who toured
India during 1824-26 noted.33
32 ‘Relations of the Government to the land holders, and of land lord and Tenant,
Section-I:’ in Report of the Indian Famine Commission: Chapter-III London. Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1880, p.112.
33 Quoted in, Dutt. R.C. The Economic History of India under Early British Rule, Vol.-1, op.cit., p.369.
39
‘Neither Native nor European agriculturist, I think can thrive
at the present rate of taxation. Half the gross produce of the
soil is demanded by Government and this… is sadly too much
to leave an adequate provision for the present, even with the
usual frugal habits of the Indians, and the very inartificial and
cheap manner in which they cultivate the land’.
Perhaps the worst effect of the Company’s rule, which again was
inherent in its policy, was to take away India’s wealth and resources to England
without providing her with anything in return. This was characterized by Indian
historians and economists of early twentieth century as ‘Economic Drain’.
Referring to the Colonial rule in India which began from the conquest of
Bengal in 1757, Karl Marks wrote in 1853.-
‘England had to fulfill a double mission in India: One
destructive and the other regenerating – the annihilation of
old Asiatic Society and the laying the material foundations of
Western society in Asia…… Arabs Turks, Tartars, Moguls
who had successively over-run India, soon became
Hinduised, but the British destroyed it by breaking up the
native communities, uprooting the native industry, and by
leveling all that was great and elevated in the native society.
The historic pages of their rule in India report hardly anything
beyond that destruction. The work of regeneration hardly
40
transpires through a heap of ruins. Nevertheless it has
begun’.34
The above statement clearly and fairly gives a complete account of the
activities of the East India Company as a ruler in India. During the last quarter
of 19th century various Indian elites began to raise their voices against
economic deterioration. Mahadev Govind Ranade started the quarterly journal
Poona Sarvajanik Sabha in 1870s, in which the matters of Indian economy
were discussed, Dadabhai Naoroji wrote his paper, ‘Poverty of India’35 in 1876,
R.C. Dutt wrote his celebrated work ‘Economic History of India’ (in two
volumes) in 1901-03.36 Bipin Chandra Pal started his militant weekly New
India from Calcutta in 12 August 1901 Amrit Bazar Patrika also raised the
issue of poverty in its columns.
De-industrialization and Disintegration of Indian Economy:-
Outside agriculture, the production of cotton employed the largest
number of persons in India in various stages of cotton processing as seed
separation, carving, spinning, weaving, bleaching dying and printing etc, and
34 Marx Karl, ‘Future Results of British Rule in India’ –first published in New York
Daily Tribune, August 8, 1853, quoted in Dutta R.P., India Today, People’s Publishing House, Bombay, 1949, p-203.
35 Noroji, Dadabhai, ‘Poverty of India’, 1873 published in his book, Poverty and Un British Rule in India, London, 1901; Reprint Delhi, 1988.
36 Dutt R.C., Economic History of India under Early British Rule, Vol.-I and Dutt R.C., Economic History of India in Victorian Age, 1837-1900, Vol.-II, London, 1903.
41
finally its consumption into the National and International market.37 Most of
the cotton produced was locally consumed. The cultivators processed raw
cotton and manufactured yarn and cloth for their own consumption as well as
for the market. Before the British conquest, ‘The weaving of cotton fabrics,
such as saries, khadis, dhoties, and paggries of rough and common make (was)
carried on in many villages throughout the province.
A large number of the people associated with textiles lost their jobs, when raw cotton was exported from the country. This process of decline of textile industries is termed as de-industrialization by the historians of modern economic history. They have worked out in this direction by presenting various statistics. Shireen Moosvi has studied it in terms of demographic change or shift (town to village migration) and later on again (village to town migration) and has compared the population of big towns of the country, to suggest Deindustrialization.38 Table-2.5: Population of big towns: Town Year Population Population in 1871-72
Patna 1812 312,000 158,900
Bihar 1811 30,000 13,282
Calcutta 1822 179,917 447,601
Rai Barelli 1838 96,000 29,218
Lucknow 1856 530,670 970,625
She has also given the figures in details how the different class of weavers, craftsman and artisans changed their occupations and shifted to agriculture. This major shift agriculture overburdened agriculture. Irfan Habib studies it in terms of export and import of raw materials and manufactures .According to him export of raw materials led the Indian cottage industries towards destruction. He presents the following figures to suggest that annual export was increasing:39 37 Irfan Habib, A People’s History of India, Series 28, Indian Economy 1858-1914,
first published in 2006, p.94. 38 Shireen Moosvi, ‘De-Industrialisation, Population Change and Migration in 19th
Century India’ in Indian Historical Review, Vol.-16 (1-2) 1989-90, pp. 149-169. 39 Irfan Habib, ‘A People’s History of India, Series -28, Indian Economy 1858-1914,
op.cit., pp 94-98.
42
Table.2.6-English cotton manufactures annually imported into India Year English cotton manufactures annually imported into India
1831-35 6.5 million kgs
1856-57 72.8 million kgs
1880-81 158.0 million kgs
Regarding the export of raw material he says raw Jute exported from Bengal rose from 0.49%
in 1849 to 7.33% in 1872. Similarly raw wool exported from Kashmir raised from 8.89 million kgs in 1901 to 22.82 million kgs in 1906.
Fig.2.5: Jute exported from Bengal.
Fig. 2.6: Wool exported from Kashmir:
43
Fig 2.7- Cotton manufacturers exported from India.
Figure2.7shows the increase of export of cotton manufactures(yarn).The decline in Jute woolen and other industries over burdened agricultural sector and a number of people were forced to become landless laborers. The so called ‘Self sufficient village community, which was a prevailing social system of India lost its existence.
44
The British broke up the Indian hand loom and destroyed the spinning wheel and this ruination of artisans and traders, had a far reaching effect on agriculture, firstly because the artisans in the villages were also partly peasants and secondly agriculture became the only source of livelihood for the Indian people. Such major decay of urban economy was also reported by Montgomery Martin, to the Select Committee of the house of the Commons, enquiring into the affairs of East India Company:
‘The decay and destruction of Surat, of Dacca, of
Murshidabad and other places where native manufactures
have been carried on, is too painful a fact to dwell upon, I do
not consider that it has been in the fair course of trade; I think
it has been the power of the stronger exercised over the
weaker’.40
Bipan Chandra, the Modern Indian Historian also reported that
traditional textiles Centres of India had been disappeared. 41 R.P. Dutta by
presenting the logical conclusion, as given by the comparative data of
demographic migration, suggest the over burdening of agriculture.42
1881 - 51.00%43
1891 - 61.01%
1901 - 66.05%
1911 - 72.00%
40 Cited in Dutt , R.C., The Economic History of India in Victorian Age, 1837-1900,
Vol.-2, op.cit., p.80. However in 1968 Morris D. Morris rejected this nationalist perception of de-industrialization and argued that there was no deindustrialization at all and the net effect for the economy was a positive one in terms of per capita real income. Please see Morris D. Morris, ‘Towards Re-interpretation of Nineteenth Century Indian Economic History’ written 1963 and reprinted in Indian Economic and Social History Review (IESHR), Vol.-V, No.1, March 1968, pp-7-10.
41 Chandra Bipan, ‘Re-interpretation of Nineteenth Century Indian Economic History’ in Indian Economic and Social History Review, (IESHR), Vol.-V, No.1, March 1968, pp.36-60.
42 Dutt, R. P., India Today, op.cit., p.203. 43 This data is however not an actual figure as Census 1881 provides the
information about 115 millions male workers out of which 51% were considered as agriculturalists.
45
Above all the revenue policy of the East India Company increased the poverty
of agricultural masses.44 The Land Settlement affected the rights of peasants.
M. Martin describes in his survey report -
‘It is indeed alleged by the farmers that their poverty is not
owing to an imprudent anticipation of their produce; but has
arisen from the rapacity of their landlords who exact much
more from them than the rent mentioned in their leases’45
Not only were the industries and trade of India devitalized in the first
phase of the Company’s rule and not only was the social life in India was
disturbed, but the exploitation by the company and its servants attacked the
very basis of the Indian economy. India up till the eighteenth century was a
great manufacturing as well as a prosperous agricultural country, and the
products of Indians looms supplied the markets of Asia and Europe. But
although as mentioned before a new system of exploiting the labour of the
artisans by the rising entrepreneurs was coming into existence. The Colonial
rule attacked the very base of her economic foundation.
44 Please see map No.A.2 in Appendix-1. 45 Martin, M.M., History and Antiquities, Topography and Statistics of Eastern
India, Surveyed under the orders of Supreme Government, EIC, Volume-3, first published in 1838, p.909.
Under the Permanent Settlement a kind of land lordship was imposed on Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and coastal Andhra by setting a fixed amount of revenue on each estate its Zamindar, as the revenue payer being deemed to be also its owner. In the major parts of U.P.Haryana and upper Narmada Basin in M.P. Mahalwari Settlement was imposed where revenue was assessed collectively on small circles (mahals). In Madras presidency, a different form of Ryotwari Settlement was instituted with assessments made for periods of thirty years. In all the three systems the common people had to suffer to pay the revenues imposed upon them.
46
Indian industries were ruined and this ruination of the artisans and
traders had a far-reaching effect on agriculture, firstly because the artisans in
the villages were also partl y peasants, and, secondly, because the peasants were
also equally oppressed by the agents of the English to supply them the crops
they demanded at a nominal or no price at all, and, thirdly, henceforth
agriculture became the only source of livelihood for the mass of Indian people.
The urban economy was also no less affected. Prosperous territories, towns and
market-places became desolate, and only the ruins of a prosperous past stood
witness to the devastation wrought by the Company and its servants, and its
army and other appendages.
D. Bhattacharya has quoted the words of Ashok Mitra the Census
Commissioner of India, which gives the complete picture of demographic
changes as a consequence of British destructive policy-
‘It is a matter of no little instruction that between 1790 and 1872 the population remained almost stationery and even declined. In other words the normal growth that might be expected for the province during 80 years (1790-1872) and again between 1872and1921 during which period the increase was only 20.5 percent) was sacrificed to extension of cultivation inquitions tenancies and share cropping traditions, natural calamities and prenatural decay of indigenous industries. The counter balancing factors of a foreign contact, a network of railways and roads, of improved public health, and famine fighting methods, of settled peace and stable administration were of little avail. The price of permanent settlement in terms of human sacrifice was thus more
47
considerable than a series of 130 years – 1790-1921. The natural growth of population was only 12% on the estimated population of 1794’.46 There was a rapid growth of industries in India by the IInd Half of the
19th Century. The coal mine industries were established in Bihar and Calcutta
Sansui belt. Port cities were developed where day labor was required for cargo-
lifting. All these new industries required a very large number of daily
employments.
These workers were either landless laborers or tenants at will who
inhabited around the industrial areas along with their families. Since these
industries required a number of unskilled laborers women and children also
were employed at a low wage.47
This labour class had to live around industrial areas in poor
environmental condition; moreover they had to work in small places crowded
with fellow workers. The above arguments are enough to suggest that the
country was falling into poverty. The surveys of Francis Buchanan and
Montgomery Martin and others also show extreme poverty in all over the
Country. People of Assam lived in small ill ventilated houses48
46 D. Bhattacharya, ‘Report on the Population Estimates of India, Vol.-III, Part-A,
1811-1820, Eastern Region’, in Census of India, 1961, op.cit., p.xxvi. 47 B.C. Allen , E.A. Gait & H.F. Howard, (compiled) Gazetteer of Bengal and North
East India, 1901, pub. Delhi-1984, p.226. 48 Ibid., p.48.
48
F. Buchanan found a number of villages in the regions of Bengal, Bihar
Mysore, Malabar and Canara in a miserable condition, where the houses were
absolutely made of mud. Almost in every province people lived in utter poverty
Dr. D. Brandis noted this while on a tour of the Province in the late 1870s:
‘During my journey through Berar I have been forcibly struck
by the fact that compared with other parts of India the houses
of the peasants are poor; and that very small quantities of
timber and bamboos are used by them’.49
Montgomery Martin saw that people in Eastern India took coarser kinds
of grains, millet and summer rice and rich food items as ghee & spices were
very little used by them.50 In the District of Shahabad he saw few brick stone
houses and a number of clay houses with hardly any window. The course
grains most common in use were barely, peas and Chana. At many places
flowers of Manhuya and the Kernels of the Mango and kend fruits were used as
substitutes for grains.51 Similarly in Bihar and Patna the house made by rough
stones clay and mortar was a clear proof of extreme poverty. They were unable
to procure oil daily and they use to collect wild leaves and some plants as
49 Brandis D., Suggestions Regarding Forest Administration in the Hyderabad
Assigned Districts, Calcutta : Office of the Superintendant of Government Printing, 1979, p.11
50 Martin M.M., History and Antiquities, Topography and Statistics of Eastern India, Vol-5, op.cit., pp.491-492.
51 Ibid., Vol.1, p.472 & 478. See also F. Buchanan An account of the District of Shahabad in 1812-13, pub. on behalf of the Bihar and Orissa Society, printed by 1934, Patna Law Press, pp.156-163.
49
mustered which cost them nothing for food.52 Even Bamboo was commonly
gathered for food by the poor inhabitants in the forests of Chinnapattam.53
Similarly in North Western Provinces many other plants were used as food as
leaves and stems of Biskhapra (Trianthema Obocordata. Rox) which was stated
to had produced diahorrea and paralysis.54 It was further observed that all the
dwellings were ill ventilated with poor sanitation which supported to give birth
to many diseases.
In fact all the evidences suggest ruin of the urban handicrafts,
particularly spinning and textile handicrafts as an economic activity which had
affected the economy of the peasants having manifold consequences – leading
to consolidate nefarious hold of merchant money-lender on the peasants and
the artisan. The rural artisans were also affected forcing a large no. to leave
the crafts and many of them had secure tenant at will.55
The statement of expenditure on education, irrigation and railway by the
Colonial Rulers also indicate the Colonial bias. There was uniformly high
52 Ibid., vol.1, pp.114-121. See also F. Buchanan ‘An Account of the District of Bihar
and Patna- 1811-12’, Vol.-I, pp.272-283. 53 Buchannan F., Journey from Madras through the countries of Mysore, Canara
and Malabar 1807, London, Vol.-I, published under the authority of Directors of East India Company , p.32-34.
54 Report on the Food of the inhabitants of the District of Bijnor, by Stavard J.L., Civil Surgeon, in Selections from the records of the Government, North –Western Provinces, Vol-II, Allahabad, Government Press, N.W.P., 1866, pp.488-89.
55 Chandra Bipan, ‘Re-interpretation of Nineteenth Century Indian Economic History’ in Indian Economic and Social History Review (IESHR) , op.cit., pp.36-60.
50
expenditure on railways where as social sector received uniformly low
expenditure.
Table.2.7- Statement of Expenditure in different fields.56
Year Expenditure Railways
(Rs. Crores)
Capital Irrigation (Rs.
Crores)
Education (Rs. Crores)
Medical & Scientific
Department (Rs. Crore)
1875 3.2 1.1 0.8 0.98
1876 2.9 0.9 0.8 -
1877 4.1 0.8 0.8 -
1878 3.4 0.7 0.8 -
1879 2.9 0.5 0.8 -
1880 3.0 0.6 0.8 -
1882 1.8 2.7 0.9 -
1883 3.3 0.7 0.9 -
1884 4.7 0.5 1.0 -
1885 4.7 0.5 1.0 1.09
1886 5.1 0.5 1.0 -
1887 2.2 0.5 1.0 -
1888 1.1 0.4 1.0 -
1889 2.7 0.3 1.0 -
1899 3.6 0.9 1.3 1.98
56 Vakil C.N., Financial Development in Modern India, 1860-1924, Bombay, 1924
cited in Bipan Chandra, ‘Re-interpretation of 19th Century, Indian Economic History’, in Indian Economic and Social History Review IESHR, op.cit., pp.67-68.
51
The data suggest that emphasis of state was largely on the Railways and
in span of about 25 years, the Government made allocation for medical and
scientific Department only thrice as in 1875 (Rs.. 98 crore).
The ruination of handicraft industry in the urban centres and consequent
de-urbanization has increased pressure on the agriculture as well as the socio-
economic sphere of the village appears to be stressed. Often they were not able
to reach subsistence level for survival which was further accentuated by the
recurrent famines and diseases.
(III)
Famines and Diseases:-
The weather records of India show that famines had been notorious
killers throughout the century, effecting the normal life and condition of the
people. The earliest famine in the 19th Century British India occurred in 1802-4
which affected Bombay presidency, Hyderabad and North Western Provinces.
Though some relief measures were adopted by Lord Wellesley but few years
later the area experienced the wide spread famine in 1806-07 including
Carnatic. The following table furnishes details about famines and draughts that
occurred in the region, throughout the century.
52
Table.2.8- Area of famine or scarcity
Sources:- * Report of the Indian Famine Commission 1880-1885, Part-I, Famine Relief – London- 1880, pp.21-22. ** Irfan Habib, ‘A People’s History of India’ Series 28, Indian Economy 1858-1914, First Pub.
2006, p.83. The reasons given by the Famine Commission report for the occurrence
of famine was the failure of rains.57 However only failure of rains is not
responsible for famines but any factor that can produce high food prices or low
57 Report of Indian Famine Commission 1880-1885, part-I, Famine Relief, op.cit., p.-
7.
Year Area of famine or scarcity
1803* Deccan and Hyderabad
1804* North-Western Provinces and scarcity in Central India and Rajputana.
1813* Kutch and Kathiawar; intense in parts of Rajputana. Scarcity in parts of North-Western Provinces and of Madras.
1833* Northern districts of Madras, Gantur, Scarcity in Hyderabad and Southern Maratha districts.
1838* Central Doab and trans-Jumna districts of North-Western Provinces, and in Delhi and Hissar divisions of Punjab.
1861* Upper Doab of North-Western Provinces, in Delhi and Hisar division of Punjab, and in adjoining parts of Rajputana, Scarcity in Kutch.
1866* Ganjam and Bellary districts of Madras, in Orissa (intense), and in Behar, Scarcity in all adjacent parts of Madras, Mysore, Hyderabad, and Bombay, and in Central and Western Bengal.
1869* Western, Rajputana (intense), in trans-Jumna districts of Allahabad and Delhi, and Hissar divisions of Punjab, Scarcity in adjacent parts of North-Western Provinces and Punjab in Guzerat Kutch, and North Deccan, and in the north and south-east districts of Central Provinces.
1877* Madras, Mysore, Bombay, and Hyderabad
1878* North-Western Provinces and Cashmere, Scarcity in Punjab.
1888-89** Orissa, North Bihar
1890-92** Madras Presidency
1896-97** N.W.P, Deccan (Bombay and Madras) Central Provinces, Punjab.
1898** -do-
1899-1900** Central Provinces, Berar Bombay Presidency Punjab, Ajmer Rajputana.
1905-06** Bombay – Deccan, Bundelkhund Districts
1907-08** North Western provinces.
1911** Bombay Presidency
53
wages can cause a famine.58 Natural disasters as floods and famines had also
been defined as the episodes of taking lives, jobs and Health. And the European
scholars’ historians and physicians who visited here during the 19th century
also emphasized the events as epidemics and calamities more dramatically.
No doubt the famines represented the acute failure of food provisions
but the situation became more chronic when there was a heavy price rise as in
1896-1908 in Punjab, the heavy price rise worsened the situation of famine as
the most victims were the poor people. Similarly there are several cases when
these poor people were not deprived of the revenue demand.59 At many places,
construction work disrupted the transportation and poor people could not avail
the facilities of famine relief camps and became the victims of diseases. 60
Yet there is another reason for the occurrence of severe famines in the
late 19th century. As Commercialization of Agriculture encouraged the
production of cash crops, it thus reduced the availability of food stock at
home.'61As in Berar, the area under cotton cultivation increased from 21.1%
in1860-61 to 35.8% in 1900-01 and peasants shifted from growing food grains
to cotton cultivation.62 Export of food grains in India increased in Colonial
58 The Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic History, Vol.-I, op.cit., p.37. 59 Bhatia B.M., Famines in India: A Study in Some aspects of the Economic History
of India 1860-1965, Asia Publishing House, Bombay, 1963.pp 91-100. 60 Ibid.91-100. 61 Roy Tirthankar, The Economic History of India 1857-1947, op.cit., p.87. 62 Irfan Habib, A People’s History of India, series 28, Indian Economy1858-1914,
op.cit., p-59.
54
period. The following table furnished the details of percentage share of expert
value of some commercial items from 1811-1911.
Tab-2.9- Exports from India: Commodity consumption, percentage share of selected items in total export value, 1811-191163
year Indigo Opium Raw cotton
Tea Food grains
- 1811-12 18.5 23.8 4.9 - -
1814-15 20.0 - 8.0 - -
1828-29 27.0 17.0 15.0 - -
1839-40 26.0 10.0 20.0 - -
1850-51 10.9 30.1 19.1 0.2 4.1
1860-61 5.7 30.9 22.3 0.5 10.2
1870-71 5.8 19.5 35.2 2.1 8.1
1880-81 4.8 18.2 17.8 4.2 17.1
1890-91 2.1 9.2 16.5 5.5 19.5
1900-01 2.0 8.8 9.4 9.0 13.1
1910-11 0.2 6.1 17.2 5.9 18.4
The above table illustrates that between 1811-1850 commodities is-
Indigo, opium raw cotton were major commodities. The second half of the
century witness slight decline in exports of these commodities and energy once
of other items mainly food grains which shows that commercialization has
been the dominant factor of exploitation of the peasants and artisans.
63 Cited in Chaudhary, K.N. ‘Foreign Trade and Balance of Payments (1757-1947)’,
in, Kumar D. Cambridge Economic History of India, Vol-II, 1757-1970, op.cit., pp.842-844.
55
The opening of Suez Canal in 1869 and construction of railways helped
in the export of food grains that led to the heavy price rise.64 The people were
unable to eat enough food and were compelled to take coarser kind of grains in
their meals. The result was malnutrition and under nutrition, which according
to Watkins S.C fails the immune system and the poor people are more likely to
die from infections disease than the individuals who are well nourished.65
Since the British Government was totally indifferent towards the welfare
of the people, it did not stop the export of food grains even during the worst
famine years. The year 1876-79 saw the outbreak of severest famines in all
over the colonial India. Due to the export of food grains the left over grains was
so high that it was beyond the reach of poor class. So mortality rate grew
higher in these years. People died from disease and malnutrition. The average
yearly ratio of deaths per mile in colonial India is presented in the following
table.
Table-2.10: Average Yearly Ratio of Deaths per mile in Different Provinces of British India: 1869-76. 66
64 Ibid., p.-850. 65 Watkins S.C. & Walle E., ‘Nutrition Mortality and Population Size: Malthus Court
of last Resorts’, in R.I. Rotburg and T.K. Rabb (Edited), Hunger and History: The Impact of Changing Food Production and Consumption Patterns on Society, Cambridge University Press, America 1985, p.20.
66 Report of the Indian Famine Commission, Appendix, Vol.-III: Evidence Reply to Inquires of the Commission, London: Eyre and Spottiswood, 1880, Chapter-I ‘Condition of the Country and the People’, p.88, cited in Laxman Satya, Medicine, Disease and Ecology in Colonial India, p.48.
56
Provinces Rate per mile Year
Punjab 23.1 1869-77
N.W.P and Oudh 20.2 1871-07
Bengal 17.36 1876-78
Central Provinces 26 1874-78
Berar 29.4 1871-77
Bombay 21.7 1871-76
Madras 18 1869-76
It is noticed that the most famine victims had been the laborers, who
died because their wages were too low to allow them to buy enough food, and
therefore the people who survived during and after famines undertook
malnourished and undernourished food. S.C. Watkins and E. Walle ties
relationship between malnutrition and disease and say:
‘Disease impact can be worsened by social factors like
starvation and malnutrition can we ken human host, perhaps
leading to the failure of immune system. 67
Many epidemics like cholera malaria and small pox were often
mentioned in the wake of famines. The following table shows the outbreaks of
the epidemics during famines, which caused heavy mortality.
67 Ibid, pp 20-28.
57
Table.2.11- Famines & Epidemics
Year Famines and Epidemics
1812* Plague out break
Kathiawar, Kutch, (Gujarat)
1888-89* Cholera out break
Ganjam (Orissa)
1896-97* Cholera, Malaria, Smallpox
NWP, Bengal, Central Provinces, Berar, Delhi
1896** Plague
Bombay Presidency
1911** Plague, Influenza
Bombay Presidency
Sources: * Kumar Dharam (editor), Cambridge Economic History of India, vol-2, 1757-1970, Cambridge University Press, pub.-1982 pp.528-529. ** Mc Alpin, ‘Famines Epidemics and population growth: The Case of India’ in R.I. Rotburg
and T.K. Rabb (Editor), Hunger and History: The impact of changing food production and consumption patterns on society, Cambridge University Press, America 1985, pp- 157-158.
Forest loss also have had indirect effect on the health of the people as it
was noticed that deforestation in Mysore had reduced the amount of water in
58
the Kaveri River and raised summer temperature in Tanjore and Trichunapoly
in 1842.68
Similarly there was a great forest loss in the Doab region covering
Etawah, Aligarh, Agra and Kanpur which increased the summer temperature.
The demand of timber for constructing railway sleepers, military cantonments,
ships, fuel wood, furniture, iron smelting and farming increased, which
destroyed the Teak forests in Ratnagiri, Sal trees in Subhimalyan forests of
Kumayun & Garhwal and the forests of Melghat and North Arcot, which were
crowned with timber in 1800, were laid bare. It is mentioned it the Gazetteer of
Dehradun-
‘Reckless waste was evitable and the fine Sal forest began to
disappear rapidly…. And the forest department established
for the preservance of forests did nothing but became a forest
revenue collecting agency.’69
It is also mentioned in Madras District Manual -
‘The Jawadis (Jawadi hill Arcot) used to be covered with fine
forests, but these were most entirely destroyed when the
construction of South West line of railway was in progress,
enormous quantity being at that time felled for sleepers’.70
The result was the altering cycles of flood and draught which affected
the production. The result was poor health conditions of the people due to
68 Gadgil Madhav & Guha Ramchandra, This Fissured Land: An Ecological History of
India Delhi Oxford University Press, 1992, pp.116-119. 69 Walton H.G., ‘District Gazetteer of United Provinces of Agra and Awadh’,
Dehradun, Vol.-I, printed by Superintendent, Government Press, 1911, p.15. 70 Cox A. F. (Compiled), Madras District Manuals, North Arcot,, Vol.-I, Printed
Superintendent, Government Press, Madras 1895, p.5.
59
malnourishment. Many fatal diseases were prevalent in the Indian subcontinent
measles were very fatal and choleras were frequent in the spring71 Even
Syphilis was not uncommon.72
M. Martin has given accounts of two febrile diseases, common but not
epidemics were Sanni Patik (swelling and pain in Sub-maxillary glands
accompanied by fever) and the other Nasdar Nakra (fever accompanied by
much drowsiness and general pains in neck and shoulders). It is mentioned in
the ‘Gazzetteer of Bengal and North East India also that the tracks of at the
foothills Assam were extremely malarious and the most prevalent diseases
were fever (Kala-azar) Bowel complaints, Pelmontery infection Cholera
worms and smallpox etc. Every year Assam witnessed heavy death toll due to
these diseases.
The sanitary conditions were far from satisfactory.73 Leprosy called
Durda and Kushta was confined to the poor people.74 Dysenteries were very
common but not fatal while choleras had done considerable harm in Delta
regions of past and West Bengal.75 Donald Butler also observes that:
71 Martin M.M., History and Antiquities Topography & Statistics of Eastern India,
Vol.-5, op.cit., p.484. 72 Ibid. Vol.3, p.690. 73 Ibid. Vol.-3, p.694. see also B.C.Allen, E-Aaait and H.F. Howard, Gazetteer of
Bengal and North East India, op.cit., pp.45-46. 74 Buchanan Francis, Journey from Madras through the countries of Mysore,
Canara and Malabar, Vol.-1, pp.32-34. 75 Buchanan, Francis, An Account of the Districts of Bihar and Patna, 1811-12, Vol-1,
op.cit., pp 272-73.
60
‘In the districts of Oudh which are highly favored regions of
Gangetic plains; subject to such universal epidemics and
contagions, as influenza, cholera and smallpox with its
common predecessor measles, and although intermittent
fevers with their squeal of dropsy occur during August,
September and October’,76
Apart from it several diseases due to poisons as fish bite, scorpions,
spiders, hookworms etc. where every time present among the poor who had to
work barefoot into the fields. Imperial Gazetteer of India has put the cases of
sickness into three main classes.
1. Specific fevers:- Malaria, smallpox, influenza Malta fever etc.
2. Those affecting organs:- Cholera, enteric fevers dysentery, diahorrea.
3. Lung diseases: tubercle, pneumonia bronchitis.77
Among the epidemics smallpox and plague 78 had been the worst hits.
They were a number of diseases which are not mentioned in the records or
accounts but these diseases affected the health conditions of the people. The
question comes to our mind what were the causes behind the prevalence of
such a great number of diseases. India had all the social, economic and material
conditions for the spread of epidemic diseases.
76 Butler, Donald, Topography and Statistics of Southern District of Oudh, 1839,
edited by Safi Ahmad 1982, p.168. 77 Hunter W.W., Imperial Gazetteer: The Indian Empire, of India, Vol.-I, (Descriptive)
op.cit., , p.523. 78 M. Martin, History and Antiquities Topography & Statistics of Eastern India, Vol.-
V, op.cit., p.484.
61
As described earlier that India’s population was extremely poverty
stricken, sunk in debts and was suffering from serious food shortage and
malnutrition. The frequent spread of epidemic diseases added to their miseries.
Let’s now discuss about the factors responsible for the diseases.