1 . Evaporation

• Evaporation is a process by which water is transformed from liquid to gaseous state.
• It can occur in three conditions
  • High temperature
  • Low Pressure conditions
  • Fast moving wind

2. Condensation

• Condensation is process of conversion of water vapours present in air into water droplets .
• Condensation is caused by the loss of heat. When moist air is cooled, it may reach a level when its capacity to hold water vapour ceases. Then, the excess water vapour condenses into liquid form.
• Condensation takes place:
  • When the temperature of the air is reduced to dew point  or When moisture is added to the air  
  • Surface : Which may be natural like grass etc (making dew) or Hygroscopic Surface/ Nuclei

3. Sublimation

• If water vapour directly condenses into solid form, it is known as sublimation.

After condensation, the water vapour or the moisture in the atmosphere takes one of the following forms — dew, frost, fog and clouds.

1 . Dew

2. Frost

3. Fog

4. Smog

5. Mist

6. Cloud

• Clouds are tiny water droplets suspended in the air formed due to the condensation.

• To understand the nomenclature of Clouds, one must be aware of the meaning of some Latin words.

Classification of Clouds

The clouds can be classified based on their form, height and appearance as follows:

1 . High Clouds

2. Middle Clouds

3. Low Clouds

4. Clouds with vertical extend

Precipitation is the process by which all forms of water particles fall from the atmosphere and reach the ground.

Conditions necessary for precipitation

Forms of precipitation

1 . Rainfall

• Most common type of precipitation in temperate & tropical regions.
• When water droplets of more than 0.5 mm diameter falls from the atmosphere to the ground it is called as ‘Rainfall’.
• If the diameter is less than 0.5mm, it is called as ‘Drizzle’.

2. Hail

• When condensed moisture in form of raindrops is carried to great heights by strong convection currents & they get frozen due to low temp at greater heights=> when they come down they gather more water around them & size of pellets become large.
• Ice pellets has size of 5 to 50 mm or some times more. 

3. Snowfall

• Precipitation occurs at below freezing point and falls as thin ice flakes or powdery ice, called  ‘Snow’.

4. Sleet

• Precipitation in the form of mixture of raindrops  & ice pellets less than 5 mm in diameter.

Since rainfall is the major type of precipitation, we will look of type of rainfalls. It can be of various types depending upon process of rising up of air

1 . Convectional Rainfall

• As a result of heating of the surface air, the warm moist air expands and is forced to rise to a great height. As the air rises, it cools, reaches dew point and condenses to form clouds.
•  Cumulonimbus clouds are formed in this .
• This type of rainfall occurs
  1. Throughout the year near the equator in the afternoon. It is called as 4 ‘O’ clock rainfall region.
  2. In middle latitudes, convectional rainfall occurs in early summer in the continental interiors

2. Orographic Rainfall

• Air is forced to move up by landform features like   mountain, plateau , escarpment etc and air thus rising may cool below dew point causing rain.
• Windward side gets heavy rain whereas leeward side is rain shadow area.
• Most of rain occurring in India and world is orographic . In India, Western coast & North East India gets rainfall by this process.

3. Cyclonic Rainfall

• This type of precipitation is associated with a cyclonic activity (Tropical and Temperate cyclones)
• Cyclonic rainfall is associated with Cumulo-Nimbus  clouds. The rainfall is very heavy and accompanied with lightning and thunder and high speed winds which has the potential to cause damage.

4. Frontal Rainfall

• ‘Frontal rainfall’ is associated with fronts which form due to collision of different air masses.
• It can be of two types
  1. Warm Air Front Rainfall : In this , warm air invades cold air leading to formation of Nimbostratus clouds and gentle rainfall.
  1. Cold Air Front Rainfall : In this, cold air invades warm air leading to formation of Cumulonimbus cloud and violent rainfall with lightening.

1 . Pressure Gradient

1. If pressure gradient is more, velocity will be more in magnitude because differences in atmospheric pressure produces a force.
2. The wind always moves perpendicular to isobars.

2. Frictional Force

• Lower is frictional force, greater will be the speed .
• Over the sea surface the friction is minimal.

3. Coriolis Force

• If the earth did not rotate, the winds would blow in a straight path. Then the rotation of the earth results in Coriolis effect and it deflects the direction of the wind.

• Coriolis force is directly proportional to the angle of latitude. It is maximum at the poles and is absent at the equator.

Pressure belts lead to the formation of primary wind system resulting in Trade Winds, Westerlies and Polar Easterlies

1.1 Trade Winds

• The winds blow from the sub tropical high pressure belt towards the equatorial low pressure belt.
• Due to Coriolis Effect, these winds are deflected to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern hemisphere.
• As winds are named after the direction from which they originate they are called as the North East and South east trade winds.
• As the winds favoured trading ships they are called as ‘Trade winds’.

Side Topic : Tropic Deserts & Trade Winds (aka Trade Wind Deserts or Trade Deserts)

• Tropical easterlies/ Trade Winds flow from east to west  . Hence, windx becomes dry when they reaches the western coast of continent as all the moisture  is already shed in form of rainfall on eastern coast .As a result, in tropical region, deserts are found on western coasts of continents .They are also known as Trade Deserts.
• Apart from that, Cold Currents near the western coasts of continents also provides desiccating imapct on the surrounding lands leading to more dryness .

1.2 Westerlies

1.3 Polar Easterlies 

Tertiary winds are formed due to pressure gradients which may develop on a local scale because of differences in the heating and cooling of the earth’s surface.

3.1 Sea and Land Breezes

• Sea Breeze :  During daytime, land heats up much faster than water. The air over the land warms and expands leading to formation of low pressure. At the same time, the air over the ocean remains cool because of water’s slower rate of heating and results in formation of high pressure. Air begins to blow from high pressure over ocean to the low pressure over the land. This is called as ‘Sea breeze’.

• Land Breeze : During night time, the wind blows from land to sea and it is called as ‘Land breeze’

Note :  Sea breeze and land breeze influence the movement of boats near the coastal region and fisher men use these winds for their daily fish catching. Fishermen go for fishing at early morning along the land breeze and return to the shore in the evening with the sea breeze.

3.2 Mountain and Valley Breezes

• Valley Breeze / Anabatic Winds  : During the day, mountain hillslopes are heated intensely by the Sun, causing the air to expand and rise. This draws in air from the valley below, creating a valley breeze.

• Mountain Breeze / Katabatic Winds  :  During the night the hillslopes get cooled and the dense air descends into the valley as the mountain wind

3.3 Warm and Cold Local  Winds

Cold Local Winds

• High Pressure  conditions are created in areas situated in high latitudes due to cold weather. As a result,   air starts to come down and diverge into different directions (forming anti-cyclones) blowing as ‘Cold and Dry Local Winds’ and reducing temperature of surrounding regions as well.
• In Siberia such anti cyclonic winds are created and diverge in different directions  . These winds are called Buran

Buran	Explained above
Mistral (Europe)	Cold northerly from central France and the Alps to Mediterranean
Bora (Eastern Europe)	North easterly wind from eastern Europe to north eastern Italy
Blizzard (USA & Canada)	Cold and dry snowy winds blowing in USA and Canada
Pampero (Argentina)	Cold and dry wind blowing in Pampas of Argentina
Southern Bursters	Cold and dry wind blowing in  Australia

Warm Local Winds

• Low  pressure develops  over Deserts and low latitudes in summers due to excessive heating of land . The air starts to move upward and diverges in different directions blowing as upper tropospheric wind. They carry sand and dust with them and raises temperature of regions over which they flow. These winds are known with different names in different regions like

Loo	India (Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, UP, Delhi etc)
Sirocco	From Sahara desert to Italy and Spain after crossing Mediterranean Sea
Khamsin	Egypt
Harmattan	From Sahara desert to Gulf of Guinea

• Other  type of warm and local winds like Chinook winds develop when warm, moist air blows from the adjoining ocean ( Pacific Ocean in this case) towards the Mountain range situated near the coast (Rockies in this case). In such situation, dry and warm air over the mountain will descend in the adjoining valley on the leeward side of wind .  Other such type of winds are Fohn and Zonda

Chinook	US and Canada	Rockies
Fohn	Europe	Alps
Zonda	Argentina & Uruguay	Andes
Santa Ana	California	Santa Ana Mountains

To understand formation of Jetstreams, it is important to know what are Geostrophic winds.

• Unlike air moving close to the surface, an air parcel in the upper troposphere moves without a friction force because it is so far from the source of friction—the surface. So, there are only two forces on the air parcel, the pressure gradient force and the Coriolis force.
• A useful heuristic (i.e. theoretical model) is to imagine that air parcel in the upper troposphere is starting from rest under the influence of ‘Pressure Gradient Force ”  moving from point of High Pressure to Low Pressure .
• Due to pressure gradient force and absence of friction force , speed of wind will  keep on increasing . Since, Coriolis force increases with increase in speed and acts perpendicular to Pressure Gradient Force,  situation will be reached when Pressure Gradient Force equals Coriolis Force  & these winds will deflect 90° (clockwise) . At this point, the flow is no longer  from high to low pressure, but parallel to the isobars. Such winds are called Geostrophic winds

• These are also known as Upper Tropospheric Westerlies
• Jetstreams are an example of Geostrophic winds .

Direction of Geo Strophic winds

Always move from WEST TO EAST  (hence called Westerlies)

• Jet streams are special type of Geostrophic winds .
•  These are strong and narrow bands of meandering wind blowing at height of 6 to 14 km ( just below Tropopause) at very high speed of upto 450 Km/hr. They occur at points where atmospheric pressure gradients are strong and friction force acting on moving air is absent.
• Jetstreams flow in wavy fashion and create alternate   High Pressure & Low Pressure zones .

Location of Jet Streams

• They aren’t found arbitrarily . They are situated at typical positions like  where two Meridional Circulations meet. (Reason : Point where  two air masses of different temperatures meet, the resulting pressure difference is highest.  Only in such condition, Pressure Gradient Force can increase the speed of wind to such an extend that Coriolis Force can balance the Pressure Gradient Force and rotate it by 90°) (I know it is hard to understand. To properly understand what is happening, you can refer this useful video What is the jet stream and how does it affect the weather?)

• Hence , 4 permanent Jet streams are always found .

2 Polar Jet	Between Polar cell & Ferrel cell.
2 Sub Tropical Westerly Jet  (STWJ)	Between Ferrel cell & Hadley cell.

Apart from that, there are some temporary Jet-streams like

• Tropical Easterly Jetstream
• Somali Jetstream

Speed of Jetstreams

Importance of Jetstreams

1 . Sub Tropical Westerly Jet Stream (STWJ) & Indian Weather

• It is centred around 25° N & S at altitude of 12 km & is strong in winter season with velocity of 40 mph.
• It greatly determines the weather of Indian Sub continent .
  1. During summer until it is present over Indian subcontinent , High Pressure is maintained over there & monsoon can’t start. Only when STWJ moves above Himalayas & low pressure is created over Indian subcontinent  , monsoon hits India.
  2. Western Disturbances : STWJ comes to India after passing over Mediterranean Sea where rainfall occurs during  winter. STWJ bring those cyclonic disturbances to north India along with it. This results in winter rain & hailstorms in North India  & occasional high snowfall in hilly areas  .

2. Jetstreams and Frontal / Temperate Cyclones

• Jetstreams play important role in formation of Temperate Cyclones which are important feature of the climate of temperate regions like Britain etc .

3. Tropical Easterly Jet and Somali Jetstream

• These Jetstreams play important role in the Indian Monsoon.
• More about this can be read in (chapter) Indian Climate .

4. Role in Aviation Industry

• If aeroplanes moves in the direction of Jetstream, it can lead to large fuel savings and vice-versa

Impact of Climate Change on Jetstreams

1 . Temperature

• As the temperature increases, air expands because of which its density decreases resulting in low pressure over area.
• On the other hand, cold climate makes air denser resulting in high pressure over area.
• Equatorial regions have low pressure because of high temperatures. On the other hand Polar regions have high pressure due to low temperature.

2. Height from Sea

• The pressure at sea level is highest and keeps on decreasing rapidly with increasing altitude because of the progressive reduction of the mass above the point where it is measured.

3. Humidity

• Water vapours are light in weight therefore pressure of humid air is less compared to dry air.

4. Gravitation of Earth

• Atmosphere glues around the Earth due to its gravitation
• Due to shape of earth,  Polar regions are nearer to core of the Earth as compared to Equatorial regions and hence have higher air pressure.

5. Rotation of Earth

• Rotation of Earth results in centrifugal force.  Centrifugal force pushes things away from its core.
• Centrifugal force is highest over equator and zero over poles. Hence,  air pressure will decrease in Equatorial regions as compared to that in polar regions.

Horizontal distribution of pressure is studied by drawing isobars . Isobars are lines connecting places having equal pressure. In order to eliminate the effect of altitude on pressure, it is measured at  sea level. These distributions change with season as well.

Atmospheric pressure belts envelope on the surface of the earth. They are equatorial low pressure belt, sub tropical high pressure belts, sub polar low pressure belts and polar high pressure belts

1 . Equatorial Low Pressure Belt

• Region extending between 5° N latitude  to 5° S
• Following are the reasons creation of low pressure belt over this region :
  1. Rays of sun fall vertically => High temperature creates low pressure.
  2. Owing to high temperature, evaporation process is also very fast => large amount of water vapours decrease the weight and density of air resulting in reduction of air pressure.
  3. Rotation of Earth and resulting centrifugal force has its maximum magnitude on Equator 
• When air moves upward , it leads  to formation of clouds . Hence, it rains heavily in these  areas  (Cumulonimbus clouds & Convectional rainfall) . There is single  season throughout the year ie high temperature & high rainfall .
• Advection is absent in this region because gradient of pressure is low  . Hence known as Belt of Calm / Doldrum .

2. Sub-Tropical High Pressure Belt

• At about 30°N and 30°S latitudes on both sides of equator
• Air which rises in equatorial region begins to cool when it reaches higher altitude over equatorial region and flows towards the poles. This wind collides with the wind coming from the polar region at higher altitude and subsides down over sub tropical latitudes. This leads to formation of high pressure belt
• It is said that to avoid the slowing down of ship due to high pressure, the horses were thrown into the sea. So this belt is called as ‘Horse latitude’.

3. Sub Polar Low Pressure Belt

• These are low pressure belts found at 60°N and 60°S latitudes on both sides of equator
• The warm westerly wind from sub tropical region moves towards the pole and collide with the cold polar easterly wind from polar high pressure region and raises up to form sub polar low pressure belt.

4. Polar High Pressure Belt

• Region at poles on both sides of equator
• In this region, high pressure is formed because temperature remains low for whole of the year.

 Side Note : Basis of formation of pressure belts

• Air temperature of a particular place denotes the degree of hotness or coldness of air at a given place. It is generally measured in Celsius

Heating  process of Atmosphere

There are different ways of heating & cooling of the atmosphere.

• Conduction :The air in contact with the land gets heated by conduction . Conduction is important in heating the lower layers of the atmosphere.
• Convection : The air in contact with the earth rises vertically on heating in the form of currents and further transmits the heat of the atmosphere. This process of vertical heating of the atmosphere is known as convection. The convective transfer of energy is confined only to the troposphere.
• Advection : The transfer of heat through horizontal movement of air is called advection.  (In northern India, during summer season local winds called ‘loo’ is the outcome of advection process).
• Radiation (Green House effect)  : The insolation received by the earth is in short wave form and it heats up  surface. The earth after being heated itself becomes a radiating body and it radiates energy to the atmosphere in long wave form. The long wave radiation is absorbed by the atmospheric gases particularly by carbon dioxide & other Green House Gases. Thus, the atmosphere is indirectly heated by the earth’s radiation.

The earth as a whole does not accumulate or loose heat. It maintains its temperature. This can happen only if the amount of heat received in the form of insolation equals the amount lost by the earth through terrestrial radiation. This is known as Heat Budget of Earth

This is done in following way

Suppose 100 units are coming to earth

1 . Latitude of the place

• Insolation received by any place depend upon latitude because when we move from equator towards pole, sun-rays become slanted . In slanted sun-rays, same energy is diffused over large area
• Conclusion : Temperature decreases from the equator to the poles.

2. Distribution of Land and Water

• Compared to land, the sea gets heated slowly and loses heat slowly. Land heats up and cools down quickly.
• So more land mass in northern hemisphere leads to higher average temperature than the southern hemisphere

3. Presence of warm & cold current

• Places located on the coast where the warm ocean currents flow record higher temperature than the places located on the coast where the cold currents flow.

4. Air mass circulation

• The passage of air masses also affects the temperature. The places, which come under the influence of warm air-masses experience higher temperature and the places that come under the influence of cold airmasses experience low temperature.

5. Cloudiness

• Cloudy  sky obstructs the solar radiation from the sun to reach earth. Hence, clear sky increases the temperature of place.
• Due to this, Maximum insolation is received over the subtropical deserts, where the cloudiness is the least. Equator receives comparatively less insolation than the tropics because of clouds.

6. Nature of Surface

• Albedo ie ability of surface to reflect the sunrays also impact temperature of place.
• Fresh snow has albedo of upto 90% and  more reflection from the snow surface leads to low temperature accumulation compared to bare land.

7. Local aspects

• Depend on position to position.

• The temperature decreases with increasing altitude from the surface of the earth.
• Reason : Atmosphere is indirectly heated by terrestrial radiation  from below. Therefore, the places near the sea-level record higher temperature than the places situated at higher elevations.
• The vertical decrease in temperature of troposphere is called as ‘Normal Lapse Rate’ which is 6.5 C per 1000 meter of ascent.

• Normally , within Troposphere, temperature decreases with increase in  height . But if  reverse happens,  it is called Temperature Inversion .
• Since cold air is denser/heavier than warm air , in case of temperature inversion, air will not be able to move upward .

When Temperature Inversion can happen

• At Tropopause :  Temperature starts to increase from here . As a result,  air  packets reach  till Tropopause & then starts moving downward . There is  no vertical air movement after that
• A cool winter night with no clouds and stable air : Air above cold surface gets cold but layer  above cold air is still warmer & hence it cant move upward . This phenomenon is prominent till 400 m above earth’s surface.

• Valley Inversion/Air Drainage  :  In winter, mountain top becomes cold quickly compared to  valley . As a result, cold air  comes down to occupy valley . This  uplifts warm air of valley & situation is created when lower layer is cold & upper layer is warm 

• Frontal inversion occurs when a cold air mass undercuts a warm air mass and lifts it 

Implications of Temperature Inversion

1 . Formation of Fog

• As we have seen in currents ,  where ever warm & cold current meet , fog is created
• In same way , when warm air & cold air meets , fog is created . This lowers the visibility in region.

2. Atmospheric Stability

• Temperature Inversion prevents upward & downward movement of air.
• Hence, it discourages rainfall.

3. Impact on Agriculture

• Frost formed due to valley inversion damages crops in foothills, whereas trees and vegetation at top of hills and mountains are not damaged. The valley floors in the hills of Brazil are avoided for coffee cultivation because of frequent frosts.

• (Beneficial Case : Though generally fog (caused due to temperature inversion) is unfavourable for many agricultural crops such as grams, peas, mustard plants, wheat etc. but sometimes they are also favourable for some crops such as coffee plants in Yemen hills of Arabia where fog protect coffee plants from direct strong sun’s rays. )

4. Environmental problem

• In winters, concentration of pollutants raises to very high levels in cities as due to temperature inversion, air gets trapped . Eg : Delhi’s pollution levels are more in winters than summers.

An urban heat island is an urban area or metropolitan area that is significantly warmer than its surrounding rural area due to high concentration of high rise concrete buildings, metal roads, sparse vegetation cover and less exposure of soil. These factors cause urban regions to become warmer than their rural surroundings, forming an “island” of higher temperatures.

• Earth’s atmosphere is composed of a mixture of various gases .
• It is held to earth by gravitational forces
• Atmosphere is denser at sea level & thins or gets  rarefied rapidly upward . It should be noted that, 99% of the mass of atmosphere is confined to height of 32 km
• Percentage of different gases (by volume) in atmosphere is as follows :-

• Atmospheric gases don’t interact with each other chemically & don’t lose their own property.

• These gases can be divided into two groups based on their distribution horizontally

• Based on vertical distribution, they can also be grouped into two groups. Heavy gases like Nitrogen , Oxygen and Methane have high composition near earths surface. While going up, composition of lighter gases keep on increasing but since there is high turbulence, no effective separation occurs in most of gases except for  two gases.

Side Note : Important gases in Atmosphere ( not on basis of percentage but function )

• Magnetosphere lies above Atmosphere and extends from 1000 km to 36000 km from earth’s surface
• Although it isn’t  part of atmosphere but plays important part in shielding earth from solar & other cosmic winds .
• Magnetosphere is formed due to earth’s magnetic field and it prevents most of  solar winds(highly energised particles) from reaching earth .

Polar cusps: regions above geomagnetic poles where solar wind can enter relatively easy to earth’s atmosphere.

Magnetospheric Storms

• Magnetospheric storms are temporary disturbances in earths magnetic field  caused by occurrence of  magnetic flares & sunspot. In this process,  material from solar  coronal mass ejection  hits earth
• Major effect in such event is global disruption of radio & telegraphic communication.

Aurora

• Luminous  phenomenon observed in high latitude regions .
• May appear as rolling lights or coloured streaks .
• Produced by entry of charged particles from sun into earth‘s atmosphere  &  collision of these charged particles with ionised particles in ionosphere .  They emit energy on interaction leading to formation  of aurora.
• Entry of these charged particles occur at Cusp . Hence, formed at particular places on earth (& not everywhere)
• Occur in Ionosphere.
• Most frequent during intense period / solar minimum of sun spot cycle(sun spots have cycle of 11yr).

Side Topic : Sunspot , Sunspot Cycle & Solar Minimum

When RBI decreases Repo Rate, Banks don’t decrease their interest rates proportionately.

a. Banks don’t depend on RBI

• In India(& all developing countries ) ,RBI is not the main source of money to banks . Common people are main supplier(mainly because people don’t have much option to invest money in alternate investment facilities eg mutual funds etc )

b. Small saving schemes  rate not reduced

• Transmission is limited by high small savings rates. Banks worry that if they cut their deposit rates, customers will flee to small savings instruments. 

c. High Statutory Liquidity Ratio

• Large money has to be kept idle as SLR which banks cant lend
• This reduces their ability to pass the benefit to consumers .

d. Banks increasing their Spread

• Due to losses incurred to banks as a result of high NPAs & lowering of Credit Demand , Banks are increasing their Spread  in order to maintain their profits in absolute term.
• This has reduced the capacity of banks to decrease Lending Rates.

Timeline

• Banks to calculate lending rate on monthly basis.
• Lending Rate to be calculated using CRR Cost, Operating Cost, Marginal cost of funds (calculated using Repo Rate) (don’t need to go into detail. Just remember, MCLR has Repo Rate as component)

Lending Rate = MCLR + Spread (to be decided by banks)

Benefits?

• Better transmission of Monetary Policy
• Transparency & accountability to borrowers.

RBI’s Janak Raj internal study group(2017) showed MCLR did not yield all benefits . Banks keep on increasing ‘Spread’ based on their discretion .

So new method  was introduced

• Applicable from April 2019 (on recommendations of Dr. Janak Raj Committee)
• NEW loans to be linked with External Benchmark  system.

In this system

• Bank will be asked to choose any benchmark like
  • Repo rate   or
  • 91-day T-bill yield  or
  • 182-day T-bill yield   or
  • any other benchmarks by Financial Benchmarks India Pvt. Ltd.
• It has to be updated atleast every 3 months.
• Lending Rate of Bank will be External Benchmark + Spread (eg if Bank choose Repo Rate as External Benchmark, then Interest Rate will be Repo Rate + Spread)

Benefits?

• Better transmission of Monetary Policy
• Better transparency and accountability

There were various reasons for this

• Several ideological influences in Britain, such as Evangelicalism, Utilitarianism and free trade thinking.
• For renewal of Charter of company
• Pro socio-religious reform thrust in contemporary England => because Progressive Whig Party came into power back in Britain. 
• Role of Christian missionaries was also noticeable.

But the Company’s government was still tentative about interfering for fear of adverse Indian reaction unless a section of the Indian society was prepared to support reform. Such a group was soon to emerge through the introduction of English education

• Status of woman became the main focus of the reforming activities of colonial state as well as educated Indians
• At that time, way in which  civilisations were ranked , position of woman was one of the important criteria & here Indians were increasingly under attack by western observers from missionaries to civilians . Indian civilisation was  despised because it assigned such a low status to women .
• Hence, Indian Intelligentsia responded to this civilisation critique by advocating & supporting reforms to improve status of woman in Indian society.
• But such reforms remained very restricted to only few women belonging to high class because women remained  recipient of male patronage & never became involved in these reformist projects as conscious subjects of their own history .

Upper Class Women vs Peasant Women

• Peasant woman were better compared to Upper caste woman during that time
• They didn’t practice Purdah System , Right to Remarry was there  & Sati was also not that widespread among Peasant class unlike Higher caste

a. Confined only to narrow social group

• Reformist spirit appealed only to a small elite group who were primarily the economic & cultural beneficiaries of the colonial  rule .

• Indeed the high caste  character of the early 19th century explains to a large extent the relative silence on caste question & untouchability which had to wait till Gandhi

b. Faith in benevolent nature of colonial rule

• They had great faith in the benevolent nature of colonial rule & infact existence of these classes depended on Colonial rule .
• Because of faith , they relied more on legislation for imposing reform from the above

c. Colonial Character of the reforms

• Dominant colonial assumption was religion was the basis for Indian society &  this religion was encoded in the scriptures . Social evils were thought to be result of the distortion of scriptures by self seeking people , in this case the cunning Brahmins who had the monopoly over this textual knowledge .
• Civilising mission of the colonial state thus seen to lie in giving back the natives the truth of their own little read & even less understood shastras .
• Whole debate over Sati was grounded in scriptures & its abolition was not based on fact that it is  morally & ethically wrong but when government was convinced that custom was not enjoyed by the scriptures .
• As the colonial rulers gave supreme importance to scriptures, the Indian reformers too, as well as their detractors, referred to ancient religious texts to argue their respective cases. The brutality or the irrationality of the custom, or the plight of women, whom the reform was intended for, were lesser concerns in a debate

Note : The intellectuals did not however attacked the social system as a whole; their attack centred only on the perversions and distortions that had crept into it. They did not advocate a sharp rupture in the existing social structure of the country. They did not stand for structural transformation; changes were sought within the framework of the very structure. They were advocates of reform and not revolution.

a. Female Infanticide

b. Sati Abolition

• Sati Abolition was the greatest achievement of Lord Bentinck .
• Sati is self immolation of wife on funeral pyre of dead husband. 
• According to social reformers , it has always been there much the exception rather than a rule in Hindu life & during Mughal period, it was practiced in Rajputs & Kingdom of Vijayanagara . But during British period, it revived on much larger scale & experienced highest rate of development.

Reasons for practice of Sati

• Earlier it was practiced by Upper Caste Hindus but during British rule, it started in peasant families of lower & intermediate  caste who achieved social mobility & then sought to legitimize their new status by imitating their caste superiors.
• Greed of the relatives –   Child marriage was widespread at that time & many a times bride who has not even lived with groom was forced to perform Sati in order to get property of that man.
• Sati was widespread in areas where Dayabhaga school of personal Hindu law was applicable  . Areas where ] Mitakshara school was applicable, it was less prevalent because Mitakshara school gives lesser rights to wife to inherit property

Campaign against it

• First started by Christian Missionaries
• But very strong campaign under Raja Rammohan Roy gave real momentum
• Finally  in 1829 , Governor General Bentinck prohibited Sati by Govt Regulation Act XVII. Pressure was also put by the Court of Directors because they wanted to present credible image of Company’s rule in India in the British Parliament before renewal of Charter pending in 1833.

Although it reduced very much after that but the idea & myth of Sati persisted in popular culture & was continually reaffirmed through epics, ballads & folktales . Case of surfaced even in 1987 ( Roop Kanwar Case of village Deorala in Rajasthan).

c. Widow Remarriage

d. Child Marriage

e. Thugee

f. Slavery

• Renaissance literally means ‘rebirth’. It refers to the revival of Graeco-Roman (classical) learning in 15th-16th century after long winter of dark ages. In Indian context , intellectual revolution that took place in the nineteenth century in the fields of philosophy, literature, science, politics and social reforms is often known as Indian Renaissance. An important part of this Renaissance was reforming Hinduism from within on the basis of Post Enlightenment Rationalism.
• Very much like the Italian Renaissance, it was not a mass movement; but instead restricted to the upper classes. 
• Response of the educated Indian elite to civilisational critique was to reform  Hinduism from within,  in  the boundary  of post enlightenment rationalism . Such phenomenon is known as Bengal Renaissance
• Movement was started in Bengal by Raja Rammohan Roy who is often described as Father of Modern India .

Works done by Brahmo Samaj

• It propagated Monotheism (discarded the faith in divine Avataras) .
• It was against  idolatry and idol worship
• It attacked Casteism & Untouchability
• Any scripture could enjoy the status of ultimate authority transcending reason & conscience .
• It took no definite stand on the Doctrine of Karma & Transmigration of soul & left it to the individual Brahmos to believe either way.
• Worked for respectable position of the women in the society and for this
  1. Condemned Sati
  2. Favoured abolition of Purdah System
  3. Discouraged Child Marriages & Polygamy
  4. Crusaded for widow remarriage etc

• After Roy’s death in 1833, the leadership of the Brahmo movement was taken over by Debendranath Tagore who provided the movement with a better organisational structure and ideological consistency
• But the movement was actually taken out of the limited elite circles of Calcutta literati into the district towns of east Bengal by Bijoy Krishna Goswami and Keshub Chandra Sen in the 1860s.
  1. Goswami bridged the gap between Brahmoism and the popular religious tradition of Vaishnavism
  2. Sen’s specific focus was to reach larger numbers of non-Westernised Bengalis in the eastern Gangetic plains and to take the movement outside Bengal to other provinces of India

Schisms & other Developments

First schism in the Samaj in 1866

Basically, as Meredith Borthwick has shown, it was a schism between Keshav’s followers, for whom social progress and reform were more important than anything else, and the followers of Debendranath, who preferred to maintain their identification with Hindu society.This rift was, as it became clear soon, more about an identity crisis than about any fundamental difference of ideology: while some of the Brahmos wanted to define themselves as separate from the Hindus, others began to seek a position within the great tradition of Hinduism.

Second Schism in 1878

• A band of Keshub Chandra Sen followers left him
• On account of
  1. Marriage of Sen’s minor daughter to Prince of Cooch Bihar
  2. Also because he became devout follower of Ramakrishna and tried to bridge Brahmanism and Brahmo Samaj.
• They Started  Sadharan Brahmo Samaj and worked mainly for the social work & female education and famine relief . Consisted of Anand Mohan Bose & SN Shastri
• Thus Brahmo samaj also contributed prominent nationalists who later formed the backbone of the moderate phase of congress

In 1881, Sen formed his Naba Bidhan (New Dispensation) and started moving towards a new universalist religion. But by this time , successive ideological rifts and organisational divisions had weakened the Brahmo movement, confining it to a small elite group.

Limitations

• Limited to urban areas only
• Lot of internal rivalries

Achievements of Brahmo Samaj

• Abolition of Sati : Pressure was  put by the samajis & as a result Anti Sati legislation was passed  by Lord William Bentinck in 1829

• Worked for
  1. Abolition of the caste system and dowry system
  2. Emancipation of the women
  3. Improving educational system

• Brahmo Samaj ultimately failed and emerged as sectarian religious order after continuous schisms but nevertheless , its achievements were huge
  1. Rabindranath Tagore  admitted the failure of Samaj but also recognised the very important role played by Samaj of providing a shock to static Indian society and made it to think on rationalist lines.
  2. According to Bipin Chandra Pal , main impact of Samaj  was on Political Culture . It was from Brahma Samaj that idea of free thinking individual emerged who would be able to absorb democratic & western ideals.

• Derozio (Anglo-Indian Teacher at Hindu College) started Young Bengal Movement
• At age of 17, he started Young Bengal Movement.
• He was much more modern than Raja Ram Mohan Roy.
• He was a free thinker and a rationalist, helped promoting  a radical & critical outlook among his students who questioned authority, loved liberty and worshipped truth.
• Most radical at that time & was inspired by French Revolution
• First nationalist poet of Modern India
• Derozians, the followers of Derozio, were staunch rationalists; they measured everything on the yardstick of reason. He organised debates where ideas and social norms were freely debated. In 1828, he motivated them to form a literary and debating club called the Academic Association.
• In  1838, they formed ‘Society for the Acquisition of General Knowledge‘, where they discussed various aspects of Western science, and stood for a number of social reforms, such as the prohibition of caste taboos, child marriage,  polygamy etc.
• Young Bengal followed classical economics, and was composed of free traders who took inspiration from Jeremy Bentham, Adam Smith, and David Ricardo.
• They were passionate advocates of women’s rights and demanded education for them.
• He  was dismissed from the Hindu College in 1831 because of his radical views, and shortly afterwards he died of Cholera at the young age of 22.
• Derozians carried forward Rammohan’s tradition of educating the people in social, economic and political questions through newspapers, pamphlets and public associations. They carried on public agitation on public questions such as the revision of the Company’s Charter, the Freedom of the Press, better treatment for Indian labour in British colonies abroad, Trial by Jury, Protection of the Ryots from oppressive Zamindars, and Employment of Indians in the higher grades of government services. 

Why they didn’t succeed?

• Social conditions were not yet ripe for their ideas to flourish. The common people , who were not acquainted  with those ideologies, considered those young as arrogant. 
• Their total faith in the British and in English education, their rationalism and scientism derived from the west, set them apart from the masses of Indians and they never succeeded in organising any social movement in support of their proposed reforms.

• He was son of Dwarkanath Tagore , father of Rabindra Nath Tagore and a close friend of Raja Ram Mohan Roy .
• In 1839 , he started Tattvabodhini Sabha to disseminate the knowledge of the Upanishads
• Tattvabodhini Patrika was the principal organ of the Sabha to propagate the ideas .
• After death of Raja Rammohan Roy, he became the main organiser of Brahmo Samaj.
• In 1850 , he wrote  book called Brahmo Dharma where he
  • Emphasised on monotheism
  • Supported rationality and reject scriptural infallibility
  • Rejected Caste distinctions and idolatry
• Inspired his sons into reform movement ,most famous being Rabindranath Tagore
• He was part of Landholders Society and played important role in formation of British India Association

Introduction

• His original name was Ishwarachandra Bandopadhyay.
• He was born on 26 September 1820 in the Paschim Midnapore District of West Bengal to impoverished Brahmin parents.
• During the period from 1829 to 1841, Ishwar Chandra studied Vedanta, Vyakaran, Literature, Rhetorics, Smriti and Ethics in Sanskrit College. And in 1839 the title ‘Vidyasagar’ was conferred on him for his unusual talent.
• In 1841, at the age of twenty one years, Ishwar Chandra joined the Fort William College as a head of the Sanskrit department. In 1851 , Vidyasagar became a professor and later on the Principal of the Sanskrit College

Works toward Education

• He firmly believed that the regeneration of India was possible only through education.
• His work was aimed at extending the benefits of learning to common people. He stressed upon instruction through vernacular language.
• He also opened the doors of the colleges and other educational institutions to lower caste students, which was earlier reserved only for the Brahmins. For his immense generosity and kind-heartedness, people started addressing him as “Daya Sagar” (ocean of kindness).
• Having spent his early life in village Ishwar Chandra could realize the sorrowful condition of the womenfolk. He rightly believed that the emancipation of women was not possible as long as they remained ignorant. Ishwar Chandra, therefore, took upon himself the task of promoting the cause of female education.

Pioneer in the women upliftment

• Started girls schools in Bombay and Calcutta
• Encouraged women to study in the colleges
• He also collaborated with Drinkwater Bethune in establishing the Hindu Female School (at present known as Bethune School and College) in 1849.
• Took initiative in pushing the Widow Remarriage Act ,1856
• Instrumental in passing the Special Marriages Act of 1872.
• Wrote book for women emancipation titled BAHUVIVAH

Social Reforms

• He initiated the concept of widow remarriage and raised concern for the abolition of child-marriage and polygamy. He demonstrated that the system of polygamy  was not sanctioned by the ancient Hindu Shastras.
• He took the initiative in proposing and pushing The Hindu Widow Remarriage Act XV of 1856 in India during Governor-Generalship Lord Canning.

Bengali Connoisseur

• He brought a revolution in the education system of Bengal. In his book, “Barno-Porichoy” (Introduction to the letter), Vidyasagar refined the Bengali language and made it accessible to the common strata of the society.
• Vidyasagar invented Bengali prose through translation as well as own writings. 

• Paramhans Mandali’s transformation into Prarthana Samaj was the direct consequence of two visits of KC Sen to Bombay in 1864 & 1867
• It was founded by Atmaram  Pandurang in 1867 inspired from the Brahmo Samaj & the main spirit behind formation was MG Ranade who was ably assisted by KT. Telang & Bhandarkar 
• All leading members were Western educated Maratha Chitpavan Brahmins .
• It’s ideology was almost similar to Brahmo Samaj
  • Preached Monotheism
  • Denounced idolatry & priestly domination
  • Denounced caste distinctions
  • Favoured Widow Remarriage & raising age of marriage for both males & females . 
• Later they connected themselves with Maharshtrian Bhakti Tradition .
• Prarthana Samaj maintained distinction from Brahmo Movement of Bengal & the most notable distinction was they were moderate & more accommodative. They didn’t signal a sharp break & this gradualist approach made it more acceptable
• It’s branches were opened in Surat, Ahmedabad , Poona & reached even in South India where leader was Veerasalingum Pantulu
• It faced crisis in 1875 when  Swami Dayanand visited Gujarat & Maharashtra & offered possibilities of a more radical & self assertive religious program .  A group of Samaj members under SP Kelkar broke & felt attracted to Arya Samaji ideology of Dayanand .

Side Topic : MG Ranade

• He was co-founder of Prarthana Samaj
• He was a product of the Elphinstone College, Bombay & was Judge of the Bombay High Court during 1891- 1901.
• He held that the caste distinction was the main blot on Indian social system. 
• Under his guidance the Paramhans Sabha was reorganised in 1867 under the name Prarthana Samaj. 
• He was the founding member of Indian National Congress , member of Bombay Legislative Council and founding member of Indian Social Conference (1887)
• He was the editor of the Anglo Marathi paper – Induprakash

• He was from Satara , Maharashtra
• In 1873, Phule established the Satyashodhak Samaj, an organization for challenging Brahmanic supremacy.
• He promoted  women education along with his wife Savitribai Jyotirao Phule  by opening women schools.
• He also worked for widow remarriage and to prevent female infanticide, he opened homes for newborn infants.
• He wrote book titled  GULAMGIRI

Ideology of Satyashodak Samaj

• It was against  untouchability & caste system  
• It opposed idolatry and  Brahmin’s role as intermediary between person and god 
• Promotion of rational thinking
• It also rejected Vedic supremacy

• Started by Gopal Krishna Gokhale in 1905
• Aims
  • Create a band of dedicated workers for nation building
  • Carry out activities for the upliftment of Indians 

• Sri Narayan Guru was social reformer born in 1854 in Kerala into Ezhava family

• He championed
  • bhakti for spiritual freedom
  • social equality
  • rejected casteism
  • Rejected divisiveness based on caste, religion etc
• He was a pioneer reformer who rejected the caste system and stressed on the equality of man. He gave the universal message, “One caste, one religion, one God”
• He was influenced by Vedanta.
• He supported Temple entry  movements.
• Sri Narayana Guru  condemned animal sacrifice
• He urged the Ezhavas to leave the toddy tapping profession and even to stop drinking liquor.

• Dr. Palpu, a devotee of Guru established the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP Yogam) in 1903 to further Narayana Guru’s message