Lessons from the lives of administrators and leaders
This article deals with ‘Lessons from the lives of administrators and leaders.’ This is part of our series on ‘Ethics’ . For more articles , you can click here
1 . S.R. Sankaran
1 . Administrators generally don’t project themselves and a good administrator always work unnoticed .
Sankaran was Andhra cadre IAS officer who entered into service at a time when Civil Services were considered just a routine exercise. In-fact , Sankaran is that brand of civil servant who literally changed the dynamics of the civil services from a legal- rational bureaucracy to moral-legal-rational bureaucracy.
2. Legal-Rational Bureaucracy : It is based on Weberian model of bureaucracy . In this, Decision making process is strictly based on laws & decision should be always rational
He brought other element of morality in the decision making. What he really meant was that administrators must not always go by the letter of the law but also by spirit of law
3. His notable performance was in the Anti Poverty programs . He brought significant changes in the life of millions of poor . He had uncompromising approach towards implementation of land reforms.
He was of the view that tribals should be helped because they need help . Hence, he took land reforms measures on war footing. The problem was that tribals don’t maintain the land records and hence , they place themselves in awkward situation. Sankaran with his hard work was able to explain tribals that since you are living on a forest land for well over generations and generations, hence they have developed a right . It was also on revenue rules that if somebody is living on a land for more than 12 years then he becomes entitled to land. He told the tribals that if revenue officer ever comes and ask you to show the records, you can say that it is the collector who has asked them to occupy this land and do cultivation. Gradually , revenue officers stopped tribals evicting from forest land.
4. He also played important role in the temple entry of Harijans
They
were not permitted to enter temples which resulted in some sort of difficulties
for them . Hence, he personally saw the situation and made sure that these
things shouldn’t happen.
5. Due to above incident, tribals and harijans started to term him as POOR MAN’S COLLECTOR. People named their colonies & children after him.
When he went to central
deputation , he was instrumental in getting coal
mines nationalised
because he was really moved by the plight & exploitation of coal
miners
His residence was always open
for people to come , put their grievances before them.
2. E Sreedharan
Had deep respect for the
humanity especially for common man. He built most ideal railway network of
the country (Konkan Railways) . After retirement, he was
again taken by govt to make excellent Mass
Transit System in Delhi .
He was awarded Padamshree in
2001 , Padamvibushan in 2008 . He is the President of Foundation for
Restoration of National Values.
Accoring to Sreedharan, many
factors have developed creating the corrupt environment but most
instrumental factors in increasing corruption are
Legacy of the British Raj :
Officers cant be questioned and they are mai-baap
Non Accountability : Most of
the officers are not accountable to anybody and take decisions on their
whims and fancies
Cost of delay : To avoid time
over run due to bureaucratic hurdles, people and contractors have no
choice but to bribe officials.
No Direct Responsibility
Sreedharan experimented in a beautiful way in Delhi Metro Project and many of his projects were ahead of time with no project overrunning time. How Sreedharan was able to achieve this ?
This was because of his commitment, honesty and integrity .
He was a creative & wise person
He was free from greed
3. DR Kartikeyan
He was former member of IPS & chief investigation officer in case of Rajiv Gandhi Assassination case, Director General of CRPF
He brought many things in his working
Honesty and Integrity : It was he who emphasized that honesty and integrity should never be compromised especially in the working of Police .
Fairness and Tolerance : The law enforcement agency has to be very fair and has to be in favor of oppressed . Also it has to develop immense tolerance & always remember that use of arms and ammunition should always be last resort.
Use of force and authority :
Performance of duty
Lawful order : Only lawful orders have to be carried . He was even against any order issued by superior which was illegal
Confidentiality : Officers have sensitive information about security and integrity of nation. They should never make any compromise on that.
4. Armstrong Pame
Armstrong Pame, an IAS officer in Manipur helped to build 100 km road now called “ People ’ s Road ” by roping in local people and online donations. His empathy towards peoples challenges and ability to actualize potential proved him to be an effective leader in this project
5. Sukmar Sen
First Election Commissioner of India.
Conducted biggest election in the world in a country with huge illiteracy.
Showed qualities like Leadership, Creativity, Planning etc. Eg : during first election post independence, he introduced things like
Party Symbols – So that illiterate can vote too.
Made 2,24,000 Polling stations so that people can vote even in the remotest parts of India.
6. Tarlok Singh
Member of ICS
Deviced plan for rehabilitation of Refugees from Pakistan => used his creativity and intelligence to solve the complex issue of allocation of lands to the farmers from Pakistani Punjab in India.
7. Amit Gupta
Member of IAS
Noted for his work against Manual Scavenging (working for Social Justice)
Although declared illegal but Manual Scavenging was still continuing in Budaun district . He started initiative to eliminate it
collect baskets and brooms in the village and burn them in the presence of everyone.
Rehabilitation package was developed which included loan schemes , pension schemes, special scholarships for children, rural housing schemes etc.
All dry toilets in rural areas were converted to flush latrines.
8. TN Sheshan
Cleansed Political System in the country
Example of courage and working fearlessly
9.Manjunath Shanmugam
He was working with Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and was graduate of the IIM, Lucknow.
He is noted for Whistle-blowing on adulteration by the petrol pump owners.
He was shot dead in 2005 for blowing the whistle against corrupt practice.
10. Satyendra Dubey
National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), exposed the rampant
corruption in construction
Found dead on 27th November,
2003.
The list can be endless. Student should keep on adding to the
Contributions of Moral Thinkers and Philosophers from India
This article deals with ‘Contributions of Moral Thinkers and Philosophers from India.’ This is part of our series on ‘Ethics’ . For more articles , you can click here
1 . Kautilya
In Arthashastra, Kautilya has
written how ideal king should conduct the affairs of state especially for
the welfare of the public
King has to personally attend
the person who had come to meet him
The people shouldn’t wait
long to meet the king especially women and old age
In the happiness of people
should lie his happiness
In time of calamity, king
should protect people in similar way as mother protects her child
All these things were driven by the human love , creativity, wisdom .
2. Gandhian Ethics
Gandhiji learnt from
New Testament : Service of Man, Love to Mankind, Niranakar Brahma (formless god)
Ruskin Bond’s Sermon on the Mount
David Thoreau : Civil Disobedience
Confusious : Treat other person in such a way that you want other’s to behave with you
Gita : Every shaloka of Gita is case study of human life and how to work in real situation
2.1 Seven sins of Gandhi
Seven Deadly Sins according to Gandhiji are
Commerce without
morality :
– Commerce = Sale and Purchase – For sale and purchase , Civil Law cant define every minute aspect Hence, Morality has big role to play
Science without
humanity
– Human must not become slave of science – It resembles Kant’s Ethics
Religion without
sacrifice.
– Religion is medium of internal peace – Gathering and collecting money or property on name of religion is sin – Internal peace cant be achieved without sacrifice .
Politics without
principle
– Politics is such a process in which based on ideology and philosophy, matter of human importance is taken up. – If it is mobilized without any principle for just vote bank, it is equivalent to sin. – This is the reason why Gandhi advised to end Congress after Independence as goals for what it was made were achieved.
Knowledge without
character
– In absence of Character, integrity cant be developed. – Better Character generates moral strength in person – If Moral Character is absent, then presence knowledge is dangerous and chances of it’s misuse are great.
Wealth without
work
– Nature has ownership over Wealth. We are normal possessioners who after fixed time keep on changing. Hence, person should act as trustee of wealth – Wealth acquired without any work is equivalent to sin .
Pleasure without
conscience
– Physical pleasure is not Real Pleasure as it is temporary – Real Pleasure is in the pleasure of others .
2.2 Ethical Religion
Ethics tells us what it ought to be , it enables man to know how he should act.
Man has two windows in his mind. Through one he can see his own-self as it is and through other he can see what it ought to be.
In path of morality, there is no such thing as award for moral behavior. If a man does some good deed, he shouldn’t do it to win applause but he does it because he must do it .
2.3 Nonviolence and Satyagraha
Satyagraha = Truth Force
Nonviolence doesn’t mean servile passivity. It means changing others heart by strong moral force. If harm is to be done, it is to be done on oneself’s body
Other examples of Person’s using Non-Violence : Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King
2.4 Ideal Morality
Moral Desires : We don’t wish for what we
have already but always value more what we don’t have . He taught to be
content with what you have. Although desire is good but if desire is
limited to self interest , then it is immoral. Other desire is to do good
for others, this is moral
Moral Action : Most of our actions are non
moral ie not involve morality . We think that if we go along convention
and prevailing rules, we are moral.
By doing this one prevents anarchy in society. But don’t think that this
is morality , this is the minimum that one should do. Morality begins
after when u start doing things
beyond non moral . Also any
good act isnt moral unless intention behind doing that act is also good.
2.5 Means and End
According to Gandhi , means may be likened to seed and ends to tree and there is same connection
between the means and end as between seed and the tree. As the seed will
be, as the tree will become.
Purity of the means is very
important because of the relationship he has proposed.
A good mean will result into
good end and bad means will result
into bad ends.
Gandhi said that if one take care of means, the ends will
take care of itself.
Hence, one must concentrate on means and end will be proportionate to the
means . That is why he stressed on achieving freedom by non violence
because he thought that what is
gained by sword will also be lost by sword.
2.6 Sarvodaya
Sarvodaya means ‘progress of all’.
Welfare of person lies in the welfare of society
No profession is small or big . Barber , Farmer and
Gandhi’s Ashrams (Phoenix Farm, Tolstoy Ashram, Sabarmati Asharam) were example of Sarvodaya experiment. Here persons lived, performed their function and every person was treated equally and shares the fruit equally
2.7 Trusteeship
Gandhi was of the view that
everything belongs to god and we are not the absolute owner. So the concept of ownership
is completely wrong.
All the things are for people
of god as a whole and not for particular individual. When individual has
more than his proportion , he become trustee for that resource for god’s
people.
Hence, he was not
against idea that person with great talent must not earn more but gave idea that whatever he
earns more has to be used as trustee.
2.8 Gandhi’s Talisma
His talisma is specially for the cases of dilemma .
While pursuing all these things, person can come across various dilemma. What should person do at that time?
Whenever you are in doubt or when self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest whom you may have seen and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him. Will he gain anything by it? Will it restore him to a control over his own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to Swaraj for the hungry and spiritually starving millions?
2.9 Gandhi’s Ramrajya
According to Gandhiji , there
will be no need of state,
police or army
when all people are ethically fully developed and self disciplined .
It is ideal state of
‘Stateless Perfect Morality’
This is Gandhiji’s
Sophisticated Anarchy.
3. Aurobindo Ghosh (1872-1950)
For moral life, moral consciousness is necessary. This can be seen in Aurobindo Ghosh . He presented that , for development of anything, three things are required ie Matter, Life and Mind. But these three things cant develop whole universe . For this, consciousness is required which is associated with internal aspects. If consciousness is moral and ethical, better and happy world. Hence, for moral development , person should increase moral development.
Poorna Yoga :
Aurobindo emphasised on
Poorna Yoga rather than Yoga. He was of the opinion that rather than
individual benefit which can accrue from Yoga, person should also look
towards societal good by adopting Poorna Yoga
Person can perform Poorna
Yoga only when he surrenders before his own Aatma ie soul and spirit
along with knowledge that he is Consciousness rather than matter .
Human Character : Sri
Aurobindo accepted that ultimate goal of life is param anand ie ultimate
pleasure and for this people try to use
method of fulfilment of physical and psychological needs which cant
help person to achieve param anand. Based on this, he presented 4 stages
of human conduct
Individual
needs , likes and desires
Goodness of group and society
Ideal Conduct
Law of Nature
Hence, moves from Individual => Society => Nature
In this way, Aurobindo’s teachings emphasize on Virtue and goodness .
4. Vivekananda(1862 -1908)
Main points of Vivekananda’s Philosophy
4.1 Yoga
Vivekananda
was influenced by Bhagwat Geeta and Yogasutra and emphasised on following Yogas
Raj Yoga : Controlling the mind . Such people should be present in Administration (can be equated with Plato’s Philosopher King)
Karma Yoga
Bhakti Yoga
Gyan Yoga
4.2 Darida Narayan
Dridra Devo Bhava ie Service of poor and downtrodden is the biggest service of god.
Very important for Civil Servant to cultivate Empathy and Compassion
Due to this, he established Ramakrishna Mission and acted like Missionary.
4.3 Self Realization
It is most important for
living ethical and moral life
It can be achieved with
strength => ‘Weakness is Death , Strength is God’
Only that person can live
ethical and moral life who has ability of self-realisation
We cant make new and progressive India with weak people
4.4 Focus on Means (rather than end)
Means are more important than
ends
If means are pure and good,
then person cant fail
4.5 Sarva Dharma Sambhava
God is one and there are many paths to reach that god
According to Vivekananda, no god supports injustice and naked exploitation. He found universality of every religion . Religion shouldn’t bring hatered but it should bring brotherhood, mercy, love, sympathy, mutual respect etc
Was influenced by his Guru Ramakrishna in this.
Availability of more paths is good as all people cant follow same path as strength of each person vary.
5. Rabindra Nath Tagore
5.1 Spiritual Humanism
Supreme reality could be realized only through love of man.
Love of God was thus translated into love of human.
5.2 About nature of States
States existed for the individual and its activities should aim at giving maximum liberty
5.3 On Education
Object of education was simply the accumulation of knowledge.
Education should give all round human personality- physical, intellectual, aesthetic and spiritual growth
5.4 On Society
Indian society has very much degenerated mostly because of the policy of our social rulers who didn’t care to preserve our social institutions and allowed them to degenerate.
6. Mother Teresa
The true lesson of Mother Teresa is to live your life on your values. Conditions should never deter one from his or her personal goals and mission. When we dedicate our lives to positive values we regain peace. We attain independence from the omnipresent stressful elements life brings. Our inner core values help us as an anchor that is changeless in a sea of constant change.
Devotion for great cause
Mother Teresa spent over 60 years of her life in the slums of Calcutta and devoted all of her life to service of the poor, especially lepers, the sick, the dying and the abandoned. It took a lot of resolve, determination and faith to keep going in the face of incredible difficulties and challenges.
Strong Personal Foundation
It means one should hold high moral and ethical values. Mother Teresa had a solid foundation that kept her going through all the turmoil and challenges in her life – her strong faith.
She gave following message
Service of poor is service of god
Poverty is not a curse
God helps them who helps poor
She was against abortion because she considered abortion is a murder in the womb and child is a gift of god .
The list is endless. We will continue to add in this article if any moral philosopher comes in news . We also advice the aspirants to keep on updating the list in their own notes as the situation demands.
This article deals with ‘ Swadeshi Movement – UPSC.’ This is part of our series on ‘Modern History’ which is important pillar of GS-1 syllabus . For more articles , you can click here
Introduction
Swadeshi Movement was major
leap forward in Indian struggle for independence.
Woman, students & large
section of urban & rural population actively involved in politics for
first time .
Change from
conservative moderation to political extremism , from socialism to incipient
socialism , from petitioning & public speeches to passive resistance
& boycott.
Saw major breakthrough in
Indian art, literature, music, science & in Indian society as a whole.
It taught the people to challenge
& defy the authority of the
Government openly in public & took away from the minds dread of police . To go to prison was
seen get badge of honour and not as hitherto a brand of infancy.
It’s Genesis
Started as Anti-partition movement to oppose British decision to partition Bengal
Administration Proposed the transfer of Chittagong Division , Dacca & Mymensingh districts & Assam (CDMA) to East Bengal , Chota Nagpur to Central Provinces & Bengal would receive Sambhalpur, Feudatory states of Central Provinces & Ganjam district from Madras
As a result two states would be formed
1 . Eastern Bengal & Assam
Population
31
Million
Muslims
18
Million
Hindus
12
Million
2. West Bengal
Population
54
Million
Hindus
43
Million
Muslims
9
Million
But here
Bengalis will be outnumbered by Hindi & Oriya speakers
Partition of Bengal
The partition of Bengal was first time officially declared in December 1903
Official
claim
– Bengal was too large to be administered as one province (there isn’t any doubt that Bengal with population of 78 million had indeed become administratively unwidely but the way in which division was done was objectionable) –Assam will become Lt. Governors province with separate Civil Service cadre & will lead to substantial commercial benefits to tea gardens, oil & coal
Real
motive
– Policy of divide & rule – Divide Bengal on the religious lines into East Bengal (Muslim ) and rest of the Bengal (non Muslim majority) . Had it been purely for administrative purpose, government would have accepted the alternate proposals by civil servants to partition the province on linguistic basis rather than a religious division
– It was result of Anti – Bengali feeling of Curzon . He desired to weaken the politically articulate community & this was his main motive . He believed that Congress is manipulated from Calcutta & if Calcutta is dethroned & alternate centers of activity is encouraged , congress will be weakened
– Bengali Bhadraloks were made religious minority in Eastern Bengal & Linguistic Minority in Western Bengal
Lord
Curzon’s words – partition
would dethrone Calcutta’ from
its position as the ‘centre from which the Congress Party is manipulated
throughout ‘
To woo Muslims Lord Curzon said, “With partition Dacca could become the capital of the new Muslim majority province (with 18 million Muslims and 12 million Hindus) ‘which would Invest the Mohammedans in Eastern Bengal with a unity which they have not enjoyed since the days of the old Mussulman Viceroys and Kings.’
Main Problems to which
Bengali pointed finger
Bengalis
would be in minority in new Bengal that would be formed with Bengali
speaking population of 17 million & 37 million Oriya & Hindi
speakers
Why to divide
Bengali from Bengali?
Reason for spread of Movement
Britishers had clearly underestimated sense of unity among the Bengalis—
rooted to some extent in a
history marked by long periods of
regional independence and greatly fostered, at least among the literate, by the cultural
developments of
the nineteenth century.
Calcutta had become a real metropolis
for the educated Bengali bhadralok. It attracted students from all
districts, sent out teachers, lawyers, doctors and clerks all over the
province and often beyond it, and contributed to both regional writing
and regional pride through the evolution of a standard
literary language,
a growing number of newspapers and periodicals and a modern literature
which with Rabindranath Tagore was on the threshold of world recognition.
Such things—along with less
worthy factors like
The evident (although
gradually diminishing) educated Bengali lead in professions, government
services, and politics over much of India due to the advantage of earlier
English education—fostered a new self-confidence which came to be further
stimulated by the growing Hindu revivalist mood best typified by
Vivekananda.
International
developments also played a part—British reverses in the Boer War, the
unexpected Japanese victory over Russia in 1904-05 which sent a thrill of
pride through Asia and was ecstatically hailed by the Bengal press (even
children were given nicknames like Togo or Nogi, after Japanese leaders),
news of the
Chinese boycott of American goods in protest against immigration laws
and of the popular revolution against autocracy in Russia.
Bureaucrats
anticipated the opposition to Partition entirely in terms of elitist
interest-groups. They wrote Vikrampur babus were worried about their
clerical jobs, zamindars with estates in both Bengals disliked having to
appoint two sets of agents and pleaders, the Bhagyakul Roy family with raw jute
and rice trading interests near Calcutta were jealous of a possible rise of
Chittagong, and Calcutta lawyers were afraid that a new province would
ultimately mean a new High Court
cutting into their practice.
Bureaucratic expectation that protests would die down quickly, and in any case would never leave the beaten track of meetings and petitions, was soon totally belied by events in Bengal and some other provinces.
Spread of Movement
Instead of dividing & weakening Bengalis , it further united them
Dec 1903 : Partition proposals became known & spontaneous protests followed. In two months more than 500 meetings held
Sumit Sarkar (1973) has identified four major trends in Bengal – Moderate Trend , Constructive Trend , Political Extremism & Revolutionary terrorism
Under Moderates (1903-05)
Led by
moderate leaders like SN Banerjee, KK Mitra etc
They
adopted two fold methods:
Resolutions against partition of Bengal were forwarded to British as
prayers and petitions
Creation of public opinion through mass meetings
and newspapers in
India & England
Three main
newspaper were used in this
Bengalee
Sanjibani
Hitabadi
Under Extremists (1905-08)
In this two trends were visible – Political Extremism & Constructive Phase
Government remained unmoved to
above methods & despite protests partition of Bengal was done on
19/07/1905 . This gave opportunity
to extremists to launch mass based movement
The formal proclamation of Swadeshi – Boycott Movement was made at public meeting on August 7, 1905 at Calcutta Town
Hall by Aurobindo Ghosh
Boycott
Of
British goods, education institutions
, courts, police etc
Swadeshi
Development
of local industry , promotion of local culture, languages, educational
institutions in hands of locals etc
16 Oct 1905 – partition came into effect & people tied rakhis on hands of each other to show that they are united & day was observed as Day Of Mourning all over Bengal
Manchester cloth & Liverpool salt was boycotted & their sale reduced almost 10 times. Bande Mataram became theme song of movement
People coming to mass meeting contributed for carrying out movement & in single meeting sum as huge a ₹50,000 was collected
Eventually, Extremists demand enlarged to attainment of Swaraj & in 1906 INC at Calcutta Session under Dadabhai Naoroji declared attainment of Swaraj ie Self Governance like other British colonies as their goal.
Boycott and public burning of foreign cloth, picketing of shops selling foreign goods, all became common in remote corners of Bengal as well as in many important towns and cities throughout the country. Women refused to wear foreign bangles and use foreign utensils, washermen refused to wash foreign clothes and even priests declined offerings which contained foreign sugar.
Corps of Volunteers or Samitis were organised and used as major form of mass mobilisation . Most important one was Swadesh Bandhab Sabha set up by Ashwini Kumar Dutt which had 159 branches & reached to even remotest corners of Barisal district having unparalleled mass following among Muslim peasantry . They setup indigenous arbitration boards too
Samitis of different kinds came up gradually
Down to the summer of 1908, most samitis were quite open bodies engaged in a variety of activities: physical and moral training of members, social work during famines, epidemics or religious festivals, preaching the Swadeshi message through multifarious forms, organizing crafts, schools, arbitration courts and village societies, and implementing the techniques of passive resistance
But these physical culture samitis , later became the recruiting grounds for revolutionary movement & became secret societies.
Most important Aspect of Swadeshi Movement was ATMASAKTI or SELF RELIANCE ie re-asserting of national dignity, honor and confidence.
Social Reforms
Campaigns against evils such as caste oppression, early marriage, the dowry system, consumption of alcohol, etc.
Education
– On Basis of Tagore’s Shantiniketan , Bengal National College was founded with Aurobindo Ghosh as Principle
– National Council of Education was established & scores of school sprang up run by nationalists with medium of instruction that of vernacular languages
– For technical education, the Bengal Technical Institute was set and funds were raise to send students to Japan for advanced learning.
Mills
– Mushrooming of Swadeshi textile mills, soap and match factories; tanneries, banks, insurance companies, shops, etc . Although many of these enterprises, whose promoters were more endowed with patriotic zeal than with business acumen were unable to survive for long
– Most famous & successful – Bengal Chemical Factory by PC Ray
Literature
– Songs composed at that time by Rabindranath Tagore, Rajani Kanta Sen, Dwijendralal Ray, Mukunda Das, Syed Abu Mohammed and others later became the moving spirit for nationalists of all hues
– Rabindranath’s Amar Sonar Bangla, written at that time, was to later inspire the liberation struggle of Bangladesh and was adopted as the national anthem of the country in 1971.
– Collections of fairy tales such as, Thakurmar Jhuli (Grandmother’s tales) written by Daksinaranjan Mitra Majumdar which delights Bengali children to this day.
Art
– Abanindranath Tagore broke the domination of Victorian naturalism over Indian art and sought inspiration from the rich indigenous traditions of Mughal, Rajput and Ajanta paintings. – Nandlal Bose was first recipient of a scholarship offered by Indian Society of Oriental Art founded in 1907.
Science
Jagdish Chandra Bose, Prafulla Chandra (PC) Ray, and others pioneered original research that was praised the world over.
One disturbing
trend emerged in this movement which had wide implications
After 1906 when
Congress declared Swaraj to be its goal ,they needed wide mass mobilisation
Religion was looked by leaders like Aurobindo
Ghosh as a means
to reach the masses &’religious revivalism was main feature of new
politics that emerged . Bhagvad Gita & other hindu signs were
frequently began to be used to mobilise the masses
This alienated the
muslim masses
& failed to attract lower caste peasant
Outside Bengal
This
movement spread outside Bengal
Tilak
Poona
& Bombay
Ajit Singh & Lala Lajpat Rai
Punjab
Syed Haider Raza
Western
Parts – Rawalpindi etc
Chidambaram
Pillai
Madras
Limitations
Membership was mainly limited to high caste and educated Bhadraloks. Swadeshi leaders rampantly deployed the tool of social coercion or social
boycott exerted
through caste associations and nationalist organisations-to punish
collaborators or to produce consent among the reluctant participants which
alienated them further
Use of religious symbols by leaders for mass mobilisation created unbridgeable
differences between Hindus and Muslims
. To some extent it is rightly said ‘ partition
of Bengal was the stepping stone to
partition of India
‘ upsc question mains
They were not able to garner the support of the Muslim
masses especially
Muslim peasantry . In response to this and safeguard Muslim interests, All
India Muslim league was set up in 1906 by Nawab Sailimullah of Dhaka
& Agha Khan was the president
Swadeshi
alternatives were often more expensive than British goods; national
schools were not adequate in number.
The other method of mass
mobilisation of the swadeshis was to organise labour
strikes, primarily in the foreign owned companies. But here too the nationalists
could penetrate only into the ranks of white-collar workers, while the
vast body of Hindustani labour force as well as the plantation labour
remained untouched by such nationalist efforts.”
Reasons leading to end of the Swadeshi Movement
The open phase of the movement
came to end in 1908 and there were many reasons for it, major being internal
squabbles leading to Surat Split of 1907 leading to reduction in momentum of movement . After 1908, movement was
left leaderless .
Many leaders were arrested . Aurobindo Ghosh & BC Pal retired
from the active politics
Due to vary nature of mass
movements that it is difficult to sustain mass based movement for long
because of the limited capacity of the masses to sacrifice
Leaders failed to
create an effective organisation of the party structure with proper cadre based system
Severe
government repression : ban on public meetings, students participating in movement were
expelled from colleges, fined & even beaten by police
Although aroused people, but did not know
how to tap the newly released energy
Achievements
First mass based movement. Swadeshi & Boycott
practised for first time on such large scale
Emphasis on setting up of
national industries, educational institutions &
promotion of the Indian culture
Although movement ended in
1908, spirit of swadeshi &
boycott continued till independence and formed the cornerstone of the
movement
Abdul Rasul
at Barisal Conference
“What couldn’t be done in 100
years , Britishers has done that in 6 months”
Large number
of Unions came up in Bengal during this period eg Jute Workers Union,
Printers Union etc . Hence swadeshi
movement marks the beginning of labour unionism & leadership was provided
by Swadeshi Movement leaders
Surat Split
British Plan to end Congress
Elaborate plan – repression – conciliation –
suppression
The extremists/ militant
nationalists were to be repressed,
although mildly in the first stage, the purpose being to frighten the
Moderates. The Moderates were then to be placated through some concessions
and promises and hints were to be given that further concessions would be
forthcoming if they disassociated themselves from the Extremists. The
entire objective of the new policy was to isolate the Extremists. Once the Moderates fell into
the trap, the Extremists could be suppressed through the use of the full
might of the state. The Moderates, in turn, could then be ignored.
Events leading to split between Moderates & Extremists /Surat Split of 1907
In December 1905, at the Benaras session presided over by Gokhale, the Moderate-Extremist differences came to the fore.
Extremists wanted to extend
Swadeshi & Boycott from Bengal to rest of country & also to
extend boycott from foreign goods to all
forms of association with Government (destructive boycott)
But moderates
wanted to restrict it to Bengal & foreign goods only (constructive
boycott)
As a compromise, a relatively mild
resolution condemning the partition of Bengal and the reactionary policies of
Curzon and supporting the Swadeshi and Boycott programme in Bengal was passed. This succeeded in averting a split for the moment.
Calcutta
Session of 1906 : Matters nearly came to a head over the question of its
Presidentship. A split was avoided by choosing Dadabhai Naoroji, who was
respected by all the nationalists as a great patriot. Four compromise
resolutions on the Swadeshi, Boycott, National Education, and
Self-Government demands were passed but Moderates were able to introduce
clause that this would be applicable only in Bengal. Throughout 1907 the
two sides fought over differing interpretations of the four resolutions.
By the end of 1907, they were
looking upon each other as the main political enemy.
Extremists
under Aurobindo Ghosh felt time has come to part ways & Moderates
under Pherozshah Mehta were thinking same too
But Tilak &
Gokhale knew
outcomes of that event & didn’t want split in any case.
Lord Minto & Lord Morley
(Secretary of State) started discussions for new reforms & Moderates
thought their dream of Indians sharing political & administrative
power was going to come true
Surat Session (1907)
Extremists wanted a guarantee
that the four resolutions would be passed. To force the Moderates to do so
they decided to object to the duly elected President for the year, Rash Behari
Ghosh. Both sides
came to the session prepared for a confrontation. In no time, the 1600
delegates were shouting, coming to blows and hurling chairs at each other.
In the meantime, some unknown person hurled a shoe at the dais which hit Pherozeshah Mehta & Surendranath
Banerjea. The police came and cleared the hall. The Congress session was
over. The only victorious party was the rulers.
Tilak wrote virtual letter of
regret to his opponents, accepted Rash Behari Ghosh as the President of
the Congress and offered his cooperation in working for Congress unity.
But Pherozeshah and his colleagues would not relent.
The antagonism
that split the Congress in Surat was also the product of a fierce struggle
between ‘the Tilakites of Poona’ and Moderates of Bombay, led by
Pherozeshah Mehta.
Government suppression
Extremist newspapers were
suppressed.
Tilak, their main leader, was
sent to Mandalay jail for six years.
Aurobindo Ghosh, their
ideologue, was involved in a Revolutionary Conspiracy case and immediately
after being judged innocent gave up politics and escaped to Pondicherry to
take up religion.
B.C. Pal temporarily retired
from politics
Lajpat Rai, who had been a
helpless onlooker at Surat, left for Britain in 1908 to come back in 1909
and then to go off to the United States .
Hindu Revivalism as cause of Extremism and Cultural Nationalism
This article deals with ‘ Hindu Revivalism as cause of Extremism and Cultural Nationalism – UPSC.’ This is part of our series on ‘Modern History’ which is important pillar of GS-1 syllabus . For more articles , you can click here
Introduction
Political extremism that started at end of
19th century was not just a reaction to
moderate failures but it drew inspiration & ideology from a cultural
& intellectual movement that developed
simultaneously with & parallel to moderate politics. This movement is vaguely referred to as HINDU REVIVALISM
It was an attempt to define Indian nation primarily in terms of Hindu
Religious symbols, myths & history
Hindu Revivalism vs Reformism – How Hindu revivalism was born
Reform movements in India attempted to bring changes in Hindu social organisation & practices from within to bring them in conformity with new rationalist ideas of west . They were influenced by Western post enlightenment rationalist ideas. It was response to challenge of westernising forces & their critique of Hindu Civilization
Second response to critique led to REVIVALISM . It was conceptualization of a glorious Hindu past believed to have been degenerated under Muslim rule & threatened by the British
Late 19th century witnessed the gradual weakening of the reformist trend & the strengthening of revivalist forces
Swami Vivekanand & Revivalism
Among reformist organisations,
the Brahmo Samaj was more modernist in its approach . But it was weakened after 1870s by
internal dissent
. It was followed by Ramakrishna – Vivekananda movement . Ramakrishna was not a
revivalist per se because he inculcated a form of religious eclecticism
which later was followed by Vivekananda
Vivekananda had a missionary zeal . He condemned other reform movements as elitist &
invoked the idea of social service . According to Vivekananda ,
best way to serve the god is to serve poor people & founded
Ramakrishna Mission in 1897 as philanthropic organisation
. To describe him as revivalist would be to
ignore his Universalist aspects of teaching.
Neverthless he begun to draw inspirations from Vedantic
Traditions , exhibited faith in the glories of Hindu civilisation &
nurtured faith that it was
degenerated in recent times
He evoked Hindu glory & mixed it with patriotism . He sought to restore the masculinity of the Indian nation denied to them by their colonial masters which had tremendous impact
on popular minds
His evocation
of the glories of Hindu past was popularised but his trenchant condemnation of the evils
of Hinduism was conveniently forgotten. His criticism of Brahmanical
& gender oppression was never taken seriously & he became patron prophet for whole generation of extremist leaders &
military revolutionaries
Other Aspects
At more obscurantist level ,Sasadhar Tarkachudamoni (editor of paper Bangabhashi) began to invent precedents
in ancient India for every modern scientific discovery of the west &
tried to show that everything modern west claimed to have invented was
already known to Indians
Bankim
Chandra Chatterjee
portrayed Krishna as modern politician & a nation builder & in Anandamatha , he invented the
Mother Goddess ie Bharat Mata & the song Vande Mataram( Hail mother), song in praise of once
beautiful mother became anthem of national movement
Even moderate such as RC Dutt wrote about the martial valour of the Hindus in response to Britishers
assigning position of martial inferiority to Indians .
Reformist Acts & Hindu Revivalist forces
Numerous acts were passed & with passing of Age of Consent Bill, 1891(10 to 12) , voice against interfering
with the personal affairs of people was raised . Conservative
& obscurantist sentiments now converged with nationalist argument that
foreign rulers had no right to interfere with the religious & social
customs of the Indians
Age
was raised after intense debate due to Ramabhai’s case in which Ramabhai was married as an
infant and after eleven years of separate living, she argued, that
unconsummated marriage was no longer binding on her . After long campaign
of Behramji Malabari, Government raised
age by 2 years. First act against child marriage had been passed in 1860 and it prohibited consummation of
marriage for a Hindu girl below ten years of age; the new act only
proposed to raise that age of consent from ten to twelve. The earlier act
had been passed without much opposition, but the new one provoked a
powerful orthodox Hindu backlash, which had a much wider mass base than
the reformist movement. Conservative and obscurantist sentiments now
converged with the nationalist argument that foreign rulers had no right
to interfere with the religious and social customs of the Indians. However,
just government intervention was not the issue, as during the same period,
Hindu orthodox opinion seldom hesitated to accept government legislation
against cow slaughter.
Family & household which
Hindu society had always regarded as impermeable or inviolate , a sovereign
space that couldn’t be colonised . But now the
Hindu males were about to lose even the last solitary sphere of
autonomy . Response to these reforms were intense & violent
Bal Gangadhar Tilak & Revivalism
In Maharashtra , movement was
led by Tilak & his Poona Sarvajanik Sabha . They frequently invoked
Hindu , Brahman & Maratha glory . He proposed that education rather
than legislation was the most legitimate way of eradicating the evil
But all this was propaganda
according to Prof RG
Bhandarkar
because Tilak was arguing against increasing age of consent from 10 to 12
& that marriage should be done before puberty according to Hindu
tradition but his own girl was single till 14 . These men were hardly ever
obstructionist in their personal life. But in
this debate they found powerful self confident rhetoric against foreign
rule. Hinduism now became a useful rhetoric for organising a more
articulate & sometimes even militant opposition to foreign rule
Cow Politics
Took militant form in North
India through Arya Samaj & its cow protection movement .
In Ancient Time , Cow was not
regarded as sacred or inviolable . Veneration of cow increased during medieval period when rate of cow
slaughter increased but it was
never a cause of communal conflict
In 19th
Century, communities started to organise and most of communities did
around their holy books but Hindus
didn’t had a single holy book. They
started to mobilise around symbol of cow because it was acceptable
across regional, linguistic or denominational barriers
First used by
Kuka (reformist sect of Sikhs) in 1871 in order to galvanise & win
more support . Rapidly spread to North West province, Awadh &
Rohilkhand. Arya Samaj converted this to all India movement &
Gaurakshini Sabhas were established
1893 : first riot around this issue happened in Azamgarh
& spread to 31 riots. Although these movements were against Muslims ,
the spirit of discontent was definitely Anti-British & cow question was merely a war cry to arouse lethargic
hindus. COW ITSELF WASN’T IMPORTANT , IT WAS BEING USED AS A
SYMBOL FOR COMMUNITY MOBILISATION
Congress was not directly involved in this but it
remained silent & even patronised it. After Nagpur session of 1891 , Gaurakhsini Sabha was held
within Congress pavilion & attended by many congress delegates. This alienated Muslims from Congress as
Muslim participation gradually decreased after 1893
Note – Gyanendra Pandey (1983) has shown that the cow-protection movement did not yet indicate a complete communal polarisation of Indian society. The construction and articulation of the communal category was entirely in the interest of the elites, while various other groups participated with various other motives. The zamindars by leading the gaurakshini sabhas tried to reassert their social power that had been slipping away from their hands because of the various changes instituted by colonial rule. The peasant participants came mainly from the Ahir community, who had been socially mobile and, therefore, had to legitimise their new status by projecting their Hinduness. This did not mean that the barriers of class had been dismantled or permanently effaced. On other occasions they fought against their Hindu zamindars along with other Muslim peasants. And apart from that, there were many regions, which were not at all affected by the cow-protection sentiment. But the movement put an unmistakable Hindu stamp on the nationalist agitation.
Hindi – Urdu Controversy
Began in 1860s in NW
provinces & Awadh but was revived in 1882 with great enthusiasm &
spread to other Hindi speaking areas like Punjab & Central provinces .
Hindi &
Urdu is same language written in two scripts but problem was Hindi was
identified as language of Hindus & Urdu as language brought by Muslims
. But since Urdu was officially recognised , there was a concerted
campaign to get Hindi recognised for all official purposes as well although many Hindu
communities like Kayastha were in favour of Urdu
Association of leaders like MM Malviya with campaign gave it
political colour. In 1900, they passed resolution giving Hindi equal
official status in NWP & Awadh
Protagonists of Urdu to offer
an emotional defence to Urdu formed Anjuman Taraqqi e Urdu
Ganpati & Shivaji Festivals
Ever since the days of Peshwas
, God Ganpati enjoyed official patronage & was a deity equally
respected by Brahmins & non Brahman lower castes. But it was always a
domestic affair
1893 : Cow Riots in Bombay & Tilak & Chitpavan Brahmins of Poona
decided to organise an annual public festival to bridge gap between Brahmins & non-Brahmin masses. Alleging the government’s partiality for Muslims he urged Hindus
of Poona to boycott their Muharram & participate in Pooja of Lord
Ganpati . Hindus
which previously used to participate in Muharram now largely boycotted
& flocked to Ganpati festivals . After 1895, it spread to
every other part of Deccan
1897
: Tilak introduced Shivaji festival to commemorate the coronation of Shivaji who upheld self respect of
Hindus & who gave particular direction to religion
Although Bombay government didn’t view immediately these
festivals as direct threat to British rule , it did inspired number of
revolutionaries . Eg Chapekar
Bros who killed Lt Ayerst (although attack was against Rand , the hated
Superintendent of Plague commission)
were associated to Ganapati festival & Tilak
But all these events alienated Muslims although had very little impact on Non
Brahmins
Problems with concept of Hinduism & Revivalism
Revivalist ideas has certain problems . First is idea of Syndicated Hinduism to large extend is construction of 19th century western hermeneutics . Term Hinduism was historically to convey wide variety of meanings : in general it meant anything native or Indian (living in land beyond Sindhu aka Indus or Hindu( as pronounced by Persians) ) . In 1881 when census data came , Hinduism was not recognizable as religion . Instead of Hindu , people mentioned their sect or caste & this problem continued to haunt Census authorities till 1901 . Hindu therefore appears to be a colonial construct & idea of homogeneous Hinduism was constructed by post Enlightenment Europe who sought to define not only true west but also true east .
Term Revivalism remained problematic too . Not all social customs were being revived & only selective absorption of specific aspects of the past & adapting them to present day needs was done . It was called by many as IMAGINARY HISTORY
This article deals with ‘ Extremist Phase – UPSC.’ This is part of our series on ‘Modern History’ which is important pillar of GS-1 syllabus . For more articles , you can click here
Rise of Extremists
Failure of Moderate politics
became quite apparent by end of 19th century & new trend that rose was
that of extremists
Extremism developed in 3 main
regions under
three leaders
Bepin
Chandra Pal
Bengal
Bal
Gangadhar Tilak
Maharashtra
Lala
Lajpat Rai
Punjab
Reasons for rise of Extremism
1 . Recognition of true nature of British Rule
Early nationalist leaders exposed the true nature of British rule in India. They conclusively proved by elaborate data that British rule & its policies were responsible for the economic ruin of India & deepening her poverty
MG Ranade : Essays in Indian Economics(1898)
Dadabhai Naoroji : Indian Poverty & un-British Rule in India(1901)
RC Dutt : Economic History of India
With their economic critique & Drain Theory , they exposed real nature of British rule.
Thus extremist ideology was next & logical step to these developments in political thinking.
2. Dissatisfaction with Congress’s achievements
Younger elements within the
Congress were dissatisfied with the achievements of Congress during first
15-20 years & also with cold & reactionary attitude of the
government . They lost their faith in British sense of justice & were
strongly critical of the peaceful & constitutional means
On his return from England in
1905, Lala Lajpat Rai said that British democracy was too busy with their
own affairs & British press is unlikely to champion their cause. They
have to make a blow for freedom themselves.
3. Curzonian Administration
Curzonian administration magnified this nationalist anger further .
Initiated number of unpopular legislations & administration measures which hurt educated Indians
Indian Universities Act : placed Calcutta University under complete government control
Indian Official Secrets Act, 1904 : placed restrictions on press
Reform of Calcutta Corporation(1898) : Reduce the elected members by increasing official members because large number of nationalist leaders were getting birth from this institute
Partition of Bengal
4. Deteriorating economic condition
Large number of famines in 1890s
Total toll of 90 lakh
Government did nothing & people not satisfied with government efforts
5. International Influence
1896 : Ethiopia defeated Italy
Russia defeated by Japan
Irish, Turkish movements
All this gave impression to nationalists that United India can take on British & that Europeans are not invincible
6. Partition of Bengal
Worst & most hated work of
Curzon’s policy.
From 1903-1905 , Moderates
were in commanding position . It was made public in 1903 that partition
would be done & finally took place in 1905 & in meantime ,
Moderates were not able to do anything
Utter disregard of Curzon
showed to public that Moderate’s policy of ‘petition, prayers &
protests’ wasn’t going to work
Fighting Factions in different regions : Moderates vs Extremists
At start
of 20th century , there was great deal of faction fighting at almost all levels
Bengal
Bitter
journalistic rivalry between Bengalee
edited by Moderate SN Banerjea & Amrita Bazaar Patrika by Radical leader Motilal Ghosh
Maharashtra
– Competition between Gokhale & Tilak for controlling Poona Sarvajanik Sabha . – Split in the Congress at Surat was the product of a fierce struggle between ‘the Tilakites of Poona’ and Moderates of Bombay, led by Pherozeshah Mehta.
Madras
Three
factions fighting with each other
Punjab
Arya Samaj divided after death of Dayanand between Moderate College group & Radical Revivalist group
These
factions in all parts fighting for supremacy was ultimately won by
Extremists
Side Note – Historians of the ‘Cambridge school‘ have been trying in recent years to present the emergence of Extremist dissent as basically a set of factional quarrels for the control of the Congress. Certainly there was no lack of factionalism in Congress circles during the 1890s. Yet Cambridge scholars surely press it much too far. It is difficult to understand why dissidents should have been so eager to capture the Congress—not yet a real political party with power and patronage opportunities & not more than an annual platform with very inadequate funds—unless it was because they had certain alternative strategies and ideals to put forward. Above all, such scholarship ignores entirely the fairly systematic critique of Moderate politics which was emerging in the 1890s, most notably in the three principal bases of later Extremism—Bengal, Punjab and Maharashtra.
Goal of the Extremists
Their goal
was SWARAJ but different people
interpreted it differently
Tilak
Indian
control over the administration but not a total severance of relations with
British
Bipin Pal
Believed
no self government was possible under British paramountcy & for him
swaraj meant complete autonomy free from
British control
Aurobindo Ghosh
Absolute political freedom
Most others
Self rule within Parameters of
British imperial structure
Methods of Agitation
Passive resistance :
opposition of colonial rule through violation of its unjust laws , boycott of British goods &
institutions
Development of indigenous alternatives ie Swadeshi
& national education
Revivalism & Extremists
They gave Revivalist discourse . They sought to invoke an imagined golden past & used symbols from a retrospectively constructed history to arouse nationalist passions. Historical figures who had demonstrated valour & prowess were now projected as national heroes . Tilak started Shivaji festivals in Maharashtra . Marathas , Rajputs & Sikhs stereotyped as martial races by Britishers were now placed in Aryan tradition & appropriated as national heroes
Some of the leaders like Tilak & Aurobindo Ghosh also believed that use of Hindu mythology & history was best mean to reach the masses & mobilise them in support
Vivekananda’s teaching effects – physical culture movement started with great enthusiasm with gymnasiums coming up in Bengal to reclaim physical prowess
Indian Political leaders also looked back to ancient Indo -Aryan traditions as an alternate to Anglo -Saxon political systems . Extremists tried to define Indian nation in terms of distinctly Indian cultural Idioms which led to religious revivalism invoking glorious past
More on Revivalism in next article. Click here to jump over to article.
Main Leaders During Extremist Phase
1 . Bal Gangadhar Tilak
1856-1920
Known as Lokmanya and father of Indian unrest
He began his political career as moderate but turned extremist by beginning of the 20th century
Pioneer in many ways:
Use of religious orthodoxy as a method of mass contact through organisation of Ganpati festival in 1893
First to develop patriotic cum historical cult through organisation of the Shivaji festival in 1897
Experimented with kind of non revenue campaign among the famine stricken peasants of Maharashtra in 1896-97
Vision on social reforms :
Although a radical in politics , he was conservative in social reforms
He said both were distinct & political freedom must come before social freedom
He opposed any initiative by British government as it was an alien government as well as by congress as it would estrange masses from it
Education & Press
He was prominent member of DECCAN
EDUCATION SOCIETY
He helped to found new English
school later known as Ferguson
school
Editor of 2 newspapers :
Maharatta
In
English
Kesari
In
Marathi
Freedom struggle
Also founded Home Rule League
in 1916 April
Gave
slogan : Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it
He was imprisoned twice for
his nationalist activities :
1897
For 18 months
1908
For 6
years to Mandalay
Prominent role in anti
partition movement (1905-08). Made
it an all India movement
2. Lala Lajpat Rai
1865-1928
Known as Punjab Kesari
Leader of the ‘college faction’ of Arya Samaj
Played role in anti partition movement 1905
Deported to Burma in 1907
Went to USA after his release & in 1914 founded INDIAN HOME RULE LEAGUE there
Editor of newspaper PUNJABEE, KOHINOOR & VANDE MATARAM
Wrote biographies of Mazzini, Garibaldi, Shivaji and Shrikrishna; stayed in America for some time; and was also elected to the Central Assembly.
Wrote Book named UNHAPPY INDIA, YOUNG INDIA
Died of lathi charge injuries in protests to Simon commission
3. Bipin Chandra Pal
1858-1932
Father of
revolutionary thought in India
Began his journalist career
with PARIDARSAK
Started NEW INDIA to propagate nationalism
He started his political
career as a moderate but after partition of Bengal switched to radical
methods
He and Aurobindo Ghosh were
exponents of new nationalism – swaraj + boycott+ swadeshi + national
education
After the end of anti
partition movement he retired from active politics
4. Aurobindo Ghosh
1872-1950
Wrote New
lamps for the old
Advocated the Doctrine
of PASSIVE RESISTANCE in series of articles in 1907 in VANDE MATRAM of which he was editor
Part of swadeshi boycott
movement
Principal of Bengal National College started in
Calcutta as a part of scheme of national education
Arrested
in 1908 for Kennedy murders and immediately after being judged innocent
gave up politics and escaped to Pondicherry to take up religion.
Moderates versus Extremists
Moderates
Extremists /Militant
Nationalists
Social base
: Anglicised Upper Class of Urban Areas
Social base
:Educated middle class and lower middle classes in towns
Ideological
inspiration: Western liberal thought and European history
Ideological
inspiration : Indian history ,cultural heritage and Hindu traditional
symbols
They
claimed social equality & share in British Government of India on grounds
that they were British subjects
They
demanded social & political equality as their birthright .
Believed
in England’s providential mission in India
Rejected
providential mission theory as illusion
Believed
that political connections with Britain were in India’s social,political and
cultural interests
Believed
that political connections with Britain would perpetuate British exploitation
of India
Professed
loyalty to British crown
British
crown was unworthy of claiming Indian loyalty
Movement
should be limited to middle class intelligentsia ,masses not yet ready for
participation in the political work
Immense
faith in the capacity of masses to participate and to make sacrifices
Demanded
constitutional
reforms, limited
self-government within the imperial framework and share for Indians in the
services
Demanded Swaraj
Insisted
on use of only constitutional methods
Did not
hesitate to use non constitutional methods like boycott and the passive
resistance
They
were patriots but did not play the role of comprador class
They
were patriots who made sacrifices for the sake of the country
Unlike the Moderates who drew upon the ideas of Gladstone, Disraeli and Burke to refine their political strategy, the Extremists found Bankim’s Anandamath, a historical novel that narrated the story of the rise of the Hindu Sannyasis visavis the vanquished Muslim rulers and Vivekananda’s interpretation of Vedanta philosophy. The poem “Bande Mataram” in Anandamath clearly set the tone of the Extremist philosophy in which the notion of ‘Mother’ seemed to be prominent. But by overlooking the non-Hindu tradition completely and accepting the Hindu tradition as Indian tradition, they however, nurtured a narrow view of history which is misleading given the cross-fertilisation of multiple traditions in Indian civilisation.
Assessment of Extremism
Extremist as a political
philosophy wasn’t consistent
philosophy .
Advocates of extremism ranged from
Active revolutionaries who werent even objected to non
violent acts to those who opposed all violent methods
Their definition
of Swaraj wasn’t consistent either
However, all extremist leaders were one in realising the evils of
foreign rule & in demanding some degree of independence from colonial
stranglehold.
They broadened the social base of nationalist movement .
Most of them represented the urban lower middle class & aimed at
spreading the message of Congress to the people. They spoke , wrote & edited newspapers in vernacular
languages &
thus succeeded in conveying their message to larger audience
Socially speaking , their ideology proved to be a
reactionary development. In contrast to Moderates , the Extremists became
revivalist & obscurantists in matters of social reforms. Tilak’s opposition to Age of Consent Act & his
association with Anti-Cow killing societies & his organisation of
Ganesh & Shivaji festivals projected them as leader of Hindu
orthodoxy.
Although the revivalist dimension of Extremist politics was mainly
directed against the foreign rulers , it developed an unhealthy
inter-relationship between religion & politics & encouraged Muslim separatism
Side Note – Age of Consent issue , revealed how much
the climate of educated opinion had changed since 1860, when sexual intercourse
with a girl below the age of ten had been declared to be rape without much
protest from anyone. The relatively minor reform raising this age from ten to
twelve, in 1891 provoked massive
opposition, particularly in Bengal and Maharashtra. Frankly conservative
and obscurantist sentiments mingled here with the nationalist argument, put forward most notably by Tilak, that foreign rulers
had no right to interfere with religious and social customs. The
latter argument, it must be added, was slightly specious, since Hindu orthodox
groups in the same period seldom hesitated to plead for legislation against
cow-slaughter. Such legislation would surely also have
been an interference with the religious and social customs of a big part of
Indian society—the Muslims.
This article deals with ‘ Use of Press by Nationalists – UPSC.’ This is part of our series on ‘Modern History’ which is important pillar of GS-1 syllabus . For more articles , you can click here
Rise of Press in India
Portuguese brought press to India & first book published was Jesuits of Goa in 1557.
1684 – East India Company setup printing press in Bombay
For a century no newspapers were published in Company’s territory because servants didn’t wish to make news of malpractices & abuses of private trading public & reach London.
First attempt to publish newspaper in India came from disgruntled employee who wanted to expose malpractice of Private trade (William Bolts in 1776) but he was stopped from publishing.
First newspaper in India was started by James Augustus Hickey named The Bengal Gazette /Calcutta General Advertiser in 1780 (Governor General at time was Warren Hastings) but he was too outspoken & criticized Governor General & Chief Justice & his press was seized in 1783.
Later other newspapers came up
Calcutta Gazette (1784)
The Oriental Magazine of Calcutta (1785)
The Calcutta Chronicle (1786)
The Madras Courier (1788)
The Bombay Herald(1789)
Rise of the Nationalist Press
Introduction of printing press
in India was an event of revolutionary significance in the life of Indian
People because it led to awakening
& growth of national consciousness among them & gave rise to nationalist press
Raja Rammohan Roy was the founder of nationalist
press . Although
few newspapers before him were started by others but his Sambad Kaumudi (1821-Bengali) &
Mirat ul Akhbar(Persian – 1822) were first indian newspaper with distinct nationalism in
it .
Vernacular newspapers published even from small towns
discussed nationalist issues. Eg Bengali newspapers discussed on large
extent issue of increase in excise
duties on cotton in western India.
Congress
solely relied on press in the early days to propagate resolutions and
proceedings . These
newspapers were started not as a profit making venture but as a national
service & acted as source of
the political education & participation
More Vernacular & English
newspapers were started later
Language
By
Year
Bombay
Samachar
Gujarati
Faroonji
Murzban
1822
Bang Dutt
Bengali
Dwarkanath Tagore , Prassana kumar Tagore
1830
Jam e
Jamshid
Gujarati
PM
Motiwala
1831
Raztgaftar
Gujarati
Dadabhai
Naoroji
1854
Shome Prakash
Bengali
IC Vidyasagar
1858
Sir Surendra
Nath Banerjea started Bengalee in 1879 , an English daily to
propagate his moderate nationalist views . He was even imprisoned for 2
months for Contempt of Court
Sir Dayal
Singh Majeethia ,
on advice of Surendra nath started The Tribune of Lahore in 1877 . It propagated views of liberal nationalist hue
Fight to secure Press Freedom
Raja Rammohan Roy(1824) had protested against a regulation restricting the freedom of the Press. In a memorandum to the Supreme Court, he had said that every good ruler ‘will be anxious to afford every individual the readiest means of bringing to his notice whatever may require his interference. To secure this important object, the unrestricted liberty of publication is the only effectual means that can be employed.’
Use of Press for Indian National Movement
Role of
newspapers in making nations in times when nations didn’t
exist has been
recognised by various scholars (eg Anderson in his book Imagined Communities)
During Revolt of 1857 : Many
papers were in operation in the country.
In 1857 itself , Paygam-e-Azadi started publication in Hindi
and Urdu, calling upon the people to fight against the British.
During peasant unrests , Newspapers came forward to take up their cause
. Eg : During Indigo Rebellion ,
Hindoo Patriot and Somprakash came on side of Peasants .
Press was a weapon in the
hands of nationalist groups to popularise the idea of
representative government , liberty, democratic institutions , home rule,
dominion status & independence . These newspapers had
wide reach till remote villages
& acted as local libraries . People would gather around a single
newspaper and discussed each &
every part of news .
Newspapers like Amrita Bazar Patrika of Sisir Kumar Ghosh
ruthlessly examined each and every policy of Britishers and shook the
moral foundations of Raj
Most of the work of Congress atleast in Moderate Phase was also carried out through press & interestingly nearly
1/3rd of founding fathers of congress were journalists. Eg : Surendranath Banerjee’s Bengalee etc
Without press, all india conferences of nationalist organisations could not have been held and
movements like Swadeshi Movement, Home Rule League, NCM etc couldn’t have
been organised . Eg
All national workers would
look to Young India of Gandhi for directions
Home Rule League : Commonweal etc used by Annie Besant
Swadeshi & Boycott : Sanjibani, Hitabadi etc
During his stay in South
Africa, Gandhiji had brought out Indian
Opinion and after
settling in India, he started the publication of Young India. Tilak also used Kesari and Mahratta to propagate message of freedom movement and was also
jailed for spreading Sedition .
Revolutionaries : They also used it to popularise idea of
overthrowing the Raj by Armed rebellions . Eg : Ghadar Movement’s ‘Ghadar’ , Yugantar by Barindra Nath Ghosh etc
Indian Nationalists settled abroad also used newspapers to popularise their cause . Eg : Shyamji Krishna Verma started ‘Indian Socialist‘ and Madam
Bikaji Kama’s ‘Bande Mataram’
Press was effective weapon in
the hands of social reform
groups to expose
the evils such as caste fetters , child marriage, ban on widow remarriage
etc and helped to organise their propaganda at large scale (Eg : ICV Shomeparkash, RRRR Sambad
Kaumudi)
Press also brought to the
Indian people knowledge of happenings
in the international world . Press also became weapon to construct solidarity ties
between the progressive forces of different nations
Newspapers and person’s associated with them (important for Prelims)
Hindu & Swadesamitran
G Subramaniyam Ayer
Bengalee
SN Banerjee
Amrit Bazaar Patrika
Sisir Kumar Ghosh
& Motilal Ghosh
Kesari (in Marathi)Mahratta (in English)
Tilak
Sudharak
GK Gokhale
Leader
MM Malviya
Hindustani Advocate
GP Verma
Tribune &
Akhbar e Aam
Dyal Singh
Majithia
Punjabee Kohinoor Vande Mataram (Urdu)
Lala Lajpat
Rai
Hind Prakash Dhyan Prakash Gujarati Sandhya
Brahmabandak
Upadahya
Yugantar
Barinder
kumar ghosh
Indian Socialist
Shyaamji
Krishanji Varma (in London)
Gadar
Lala Hardyal
Reformer
Prasann
Kumar Tagore
Bahishkrit
Ambedkar
National Herald
JN Nehru
Bande Mataram
Bikaji Kama
Vande Mataram
Aurobindo Ghosh
New IndiaCommonweal
Annie Besant
Al Hilal & Al
Balagah
Maulana Abul Azad
Pakhtun
Khan Abdul
Ghaffar Khan
Kudi Arasu
Naicker
Young India Indian Opinion (South Africa)
Gandhi
Young India
Home Rule league
of Tilak
Government policy of oppression & Methods deployed by nationalists to escape
1 . Section 124 A of IPC (Sedition)
Since 1870 – whoever attempts to excite feelings of
disaffection to the Government was to
be punished with transportation for life or for any term or with
imprisonment upto three years.
Methods adopted by Indian Journalists to evade this
Since Article 124A excluded persons whose loyalty to Government was undoubted , they prefaced their vitriolic writing with effusive sentiments of loyalty to Government of India & Queen
They used to publish anti-imperialistic extracts from London based Socialist & Irish newspapers eg sympathatic treatment of Russian terrorist activists against Tsar would draw parallel between Government of India & Indian revolutionaries
2. Vernacular Press Act 1878
An unfortunate legacy of
Revolt of 1857 was spirit of racial
bitterness grew among rulers & ruled
European
press
Always
sided government in all political controversies
Vernacular
press
Became
more vocal & increasingly critical of government policies
Passed because Indian Newspapers became too critical of the policies of Lord Lytton & especially his inhuman approach towards victims of famine in 1876
Act empowered Magistrate
Require printer & publisher of newspaper to enter into a bond binding them not to print or publish anything likely to incite the people against government
To warn as well as to confiscate deposit in case of violation
Magistrate’s action was final with no appeal could be made to a court of law
Only applicable to vernacular newspapers.
Was later repealed by Lord Ripon in 1882
Was bitterly criticised by Indians
because
Discriminatory Act – restrictions were imposed only on vernacular papers and english papers were out of its ambit
Moderate respectable Indians would retire from the field of journalism
Sound & healthy political growth would be retarded
Even the government would be deprived of all trustworthy sources of keeping itself well informed of the real inner feelings & thoughts of the people towards it
How Indian Newspapers escaped this
Was mainly aimed at Amrita Bazaar Patrika which was published in both Bengali &
English but the day Act passed , overnight it converted to English
Newspaper stopping Bengali edition. Hence, it was out of the ambit of law
Main personalities who fought for freedom of press
1 . Surendranath Banerjea
First person to go to jail for performance of his duty as journalist
He wrote editorial in his newspaper Bengalee, condemning Judge of Calcutta High Court (Norris) by declaring him unworthy of his post who deeply hurt feelings of Bengali Hindus with objectionable remarks against some idol
Jailed for two months for Contempt of Court
2. BG Tilak
Militant Nationalist &
started two newspapers with GG Agarkar – Kesari (Marathi) & Mahratta(English) &
used them to spread discontent against British Rule & preach
national resistance
Other vehicles used by Tilak
Ganapati
Festivals
The political recruitment of God Ganapati
Started in 1893 to
propagate nationalist ideas thru patriotic songs & speeches
Shivaji
Festival
Started
in 1896 to stimulate nationalism among Maharashtrians
1897 : published poem in Kesari titled Shivaji’s Utterance in which he justified Shivaji’s killing of Afzal Khan . Parallel was drawn by justifying killing Britishers by Indians
1897: Plague broke out in Poona & Government took severe measures of segregation & house searches. Tilak stayed in city to help people but at same time criticized harsh & heartless measures of government . Popular discontent was already there & Chapekar Brothers killed Lt Ayerst ( although attack was against Rand , Head of Plague Committee) . Government decided to use this opportunity against Tilak & arrested him under 124A on charge of sedition . He was sentenced 18 months of rigorous punishment leading to discontent in whole nation . Protests even by moderates & Tilak became national hero overnight
Swadeshi movement : Press played major role & Tilak was front-runner in that . Published articles like Arrival of the Bomb & condemned use of violence & individual killings. Arrested in 1908 & 2 years imprisonment – massive public reaction – Bombay remained close for week in protest.
Legislations to control Press
Liberation of Indian Press , 1835
– Lord Bentinck adopted liberal policy towards the press & considerable discussion was done about giving freedom to the press. –It was Metcalfe as Governor General who liberated Indian press & Lord Macaulay (true Whig) supported and encouraged him to do so. – New Act required publisher to make declaration giving true & precise account of premises of the publication to open it & inform while closing
Note : Metcalfe = Liberator of Indian Press
Licensing Act, 1857
– After mutiny, it was found necessary to put restrictions on press – Compulsory for each newspaper to obtain license & government reserved the discretionary right to grant licence or revoke it at any time . – It was a temporary measure . Soon all restrictions were withdrawn & consequently many newspapers like Indian Mirror, Amrit Bazar Patrika came up
Registration act of 1867
– Every book & newspaper was required to have printed legibly on it the name of printer & publisher and place of printing – Within 1 month of publication of book , a copy of the book had to be supplied to local government free of cost
Vernacular press act of 1878
Dealt above
Repeal of Vernacular Press act
– Vernacular press act was resented as an attempt of government to curtail free expression of opinion – When Liberal Party’s government came to power – Lord Ripon became Governor General – he repealed this act Even Article 124A & its sedition principle was not used very frequently – Indians praised Lord Ripon for this gesture of goodwill but English condemned this act saying that a free Indian press was bound to criticize the acts of omission & commission of the government & thereby bring it into disrepute
Newspaper (incitement to offences) Act , 1908
Press was criticizing Lord Curzon’s policy of repression . With this Act, Government did following – Empowered district magistrate to confiscate press & property connected with newspaper which published objectionable material which served as incitement to murder or acts of violence – Editors of newspapers were given option to appeal High Court within 15 days of order of forfeiture
Rigorous nature of act was resented by Indian press & several important newspaper like Yugantar, Sandhya & Vandemataram stopped their publication
Indian Press Act, 1910
– Act of 1908 wasn’t able to stop Anti-British campaign . Hence more stringent act was made – Empowered Local Government to demand deposit not less than ₹500 & not more than ₹2,000 from the keepers of newsprinter presses & forfeit security & annul registration of offending newspapers. Fresh registration could be made by security of not less than ₹1,000 & not more than ₹10,000 & forfeit security, confiscate press if persisted to publish objectionable material – Definition of objectionable matter whose publication was to be curtailed – all attempts direct or indirect to reduce persons as employed in His majesty’s defence forces or to intimidate people to give money for revolutionary work or to prevent them from giving help in discovering or punishing revolutionary crime – Aggrieved party can move to Special Tribunal of High Court against forfeiture within 2 months.
In 5 years, action against 991 presses was taken & confiscated securities amounted to ₹5 Lakh.
Defence of India Rules (WWI)
Repression of the free public criticism during World War I
Press committee 1921
– Chaired by Tej Bahadur Sapru as part of Government of India Act, 1919 – Recommended repeal of the Press Acts of 1908 and 1910 => accepted in 1922
Indian Press(Emergency Powers) Act, 1931
– Civil Disobedience movement (CDM) was in full flow & government reacted by imposing harsh control – Owners of presses asked to deposit security & amount to be decided by government – Penalty for printing objectionable material – 6 month imprisonment – Also restrained publication of pictures of the leaders of CDM & their news
Foreign relations Act, 1932
– Any book, newspaper or other document containing such specified defamatory matter which tend to prejudice the maintenance of friendly relations between his majesty’s government & Government of such state would be retained in same manner as seditious literature
Defence of India rules (WW2)
– Press censorship – Amendments to act of 1931
At one time, publication of all news related to congress activity was declared illegal
This article deals with ‘ Economic Critique – UPSC.’ This is part of our series on ‘Modern History’ which is important pillar of GS-1 syllabus . For more articles , you can click here
Economic Critique of Colonialism by Moderates
Of national movement of all
countries , Indian national movement was most deeply & firmly
rooted in understanding of nature
& character of economic
exploitation & domination.
Moderates were the first in
the 19th century to develop an economic critique of colonialism. This critique
was, also, perhaps their most important contribution to the development of
the national movement in India .
They raised basic questions
regarding the nature and purpose of British rule & clearly understood
the fact that the essence of British imperialism lay in the subordination of the Indian economy to the British
economy .
They were able to see that colonialism no longer functioned through the crude tools of
plunder and tribute and mercantilisin but
operated through the more disguised and complex mechanism of free trade & foreign
capital investment.
They did economic critique using following arguments
Drain Theory
Critique of Railways
Deindustrialization of India
Main persons who carried out the process of Economic analysis of British Rule
1 . Dadabhai Naoroji
Dadabhai Naoroji, the Grand Old
Man of India.
Born in 1825, he became a
successful businessman but devoted his entire life and wealth to the
creation of a national movement in India.
Founded Dnyan Prasarak Mandali (Society for Promotion of
Knowledge) in India during early
age and then East India Association
in London
Made poverty
his special subject and spent his entire life awakening the Indian and
British public to
the ‘continuous impoverishment and exhaustion of the country’
Main proponent of Drain Theory
Wrote book
titled – Poverty &
un-British Rule in India
First Indian to become member of House of
Commons on Liberal Party’s Ticket from Finsbury.
Participated in International
Socialist Council in 1904
Put forward demand of self
government & treatment of India like other British colonies
Respected
equally by both Moderates & Extremists
Gokhale called him Gladstone
of India
2. Justice MG Ranade
Taught an entire generation of Indians the value of modern industrial development & said that if India is poor today it is through operation of economic causes
3. Romesh Chandra Dutt
Retired ICS
officer, published The Economic History of India at the beginning of
the 20th century in which he examined in minute detail the entire economic
record of colonial rule since 1757.
Also explained Drain Theory in his book(written below)
Position of Indian Economy at time of European Arrival
India was self sufficient
India was self governing
Village economy was self sufficient – whole economy was
union of agriculture & handicraft
Relationship with land was
based on custom
Overall, economic system was very stable
In Mughal India, unlike medieval Europe, there was no sharp division between
urban centres where industries were concentrated & the countryside which
supplied primary produce. Industrial production in India continued to be
a largely rural based activity.
But negative aspect of Indian economy
Closed economy
No mobility of labor
How pattern of trade changed after East India Company (EIC) became political power?
1 . Before EIC became political power
East India Company (EIC) came
as trading company
Was using metals & their own goods in return of Indian Textile
(not cotton) & spices . These items had
huge demand In England . Huge profit was made after selling them.
This trade was based upon the price differential between Asia and the rest of
the world. That
is European merchants bought goods at a low price in India and sold them
for a much higher price in the European markets. The profits were based on the difference
between the purchase price and selling price.
As export increased , local ruler were earning too & they welcomed Britishers
By 1664, the English EIC imported more than 7,50,000
pieces of cotton goods from India, which accounted for 73 % of total
trade. In the following two decades the figure further increased to 1.5
million pieces with cotton textiles now contributing to 83 % of the total
import value. This unprecedented growth of
Indian textile imports into Europe was accompanied by a steady inflow of
bullion into India
from the buyer nations
But Britishers in Britain were unhappy because of
Indian cloth all around & put
pressure on British government to do something . Law was passed
forbidding Indian textile but
Indian market was so huge that despite laws & huge import duty , Indian manufacturers held their foreign markets
2. After EIC became Political power
Two important things changed all wrt India
Industrial Revolution in Britain
Battle of Plassey – East India Company controlled Bengal & Diwani Rights . They used this revenue to finance its Indian goods & no bullion from Britain was required. Even Indian revenue was used to finance their imports from country like China
East India Company progressively abandoned free competition to secure its goods in the local markets. The producers of these goods were forced to supply their produce to the Company at low prices arbitrarily fixed by Company
Up to 1753, the English Company depended on the Indian merchants to procure cloth: these merchants were called dadni merchants since they were the agency through which dadan or advance was given by the Company to the artisans or weavers. After the battle of Plassey the increasing political power in the hands of the English enabled them to make these merchants just commissioned agents . Finally, in 1789 the system of ‘direct agency’ was introduced, dispensing with Indian middlemen altogether.
Phases of Economic Exploitation of India
Did by ‘RP Dutt’ in
‘India Today’ (MFFC)
First
Phase
– 1757 to 1813 (monopoly of East India Company ended by Charter Act) – Period of Mercantilism – Direct plunder – Main principle was that British bullion wouldn’t be used to buy goods from other nations. Indian revenue was used for this . – Favorable balance of trade in favor of Britain – East India Company used its monopoly in trade along with coercive power of state to buy cheap and sell dear.
Second
phase
– 1813 – 1858 (Company’s rule ended) – Classical age of free traders . – Industrial Revolution started in England & Industrial Capitalists needed a market to sell finished goods and get cheap raw material to produce finished goods at great pace . – Tools : Free trade policy and commercialization of agriculture –There was no import duty on finished goods in India and British markets were protected with high export duties charged on Indian goods (specially textile) . – India was becoming market of British textile & also became source of Raw material .
Third
Phase
– 1858 – 1947 – Age of Financial Capitalism. – Investment in Britain was not much attractive and there was surplus capital in Britain . Hence, huge investment was coming through capitalists to make profits in India. – British capitalists were investing in India with guaranteed system (profit assured ) . Eg in Railways , investors were assured returns using Indian tax payers money
Each stage developed out of conditions developed during earlier stage and different mode of colonial exploitation overlapped, old form of colonial exploitation never ceased but got integrated in to new pattern.
Deindustrialisation of India
Refers to the process of a continued and marked industrial decline.
Proportion of national income generated by industry & the % of population dependent on it are commonly used as quantitative measures of industrial growth or decline. Increase means industrialization & decrease means deindustrialization
Indian nationalists used the destruction of Indian craft industries under early British rule to substantiate their point that India was being exploited under British rule. The nascent free trader group in Britain attacked the East India Company’s monopolistic control over India by criticizing the destruction of the country’s traditional crafts under the Company rule.
Early nationalist economists such as R.C. Dutt and subsequently Madan Mohan Malaviya (in his dissent note at the Indian Industrial Commission) argued that India underwent de-industrialization; their evidence was statistics of import of manufactures, particularly import figures of Manchester made cotton cloth.
In 1968, Essay by Morris David Morris challenged this arguing that increase in imports of cloth cant justify the De-Industrialisation Theory because there was not much direct evidence of the decline of India’s traditional industries and the nationalists had ignored the possibility of increase in demand curve for cloth in India. If we assume that there was an expansion in the domestic market for textiles in India because of the increase in the population of the country and the increase in the purchasing power of the people there would be little or no decline in traditional artisanal production. But Bipin Chandra and Tapan Raychaudhury strongly responded against this arguing that
First of all these authors argued Morris had ignored a large body of evidence about the decline in traditional handicrafts and the economic position of the weavers which was easily available and scattered in a wide variety of sources ranging from government and famine reports to eye-witness accounts.
Secondly domestic market could well have grown a little because of an increase in the population, but there was very little evidence to suggest that there was an increase in the per capita income of the country during the 19th century. In fact all the evidence pointed towards either a decline in the per capita income or stagnation
Causes of De-Industrialisation
Forcible reduction of purchase prices in India was resorted to by the Company to increase the difference between its buying and selling price and consequently increase its trading profits.
Import restrictions on Indian textiles in England with their market protected by heavy excise Duties.
Flooding of Indian markets with cheap industry made cloth without payment of Custom duties .
Fowler Commission artificially fixed exchange of ₹ high at 1 Shilling 4 Pence to make Indian exports uncompetitive
Decline of Indian rulers and princes
New Middle Class had taste for British goods and clothes.
Expansion of Railways : Cheap factory made products could reach to hinterland easily.
The income of weavers and spinners were drastically reduced, thereby restricting any possibility of capital accumulation and technological innovations in this traditional industrial sector.
Attitude of Nationalists towards foreign Capital
In
1899, Lord Curzon said that foreign capital was ‘a sine qua non’ to the national advancement’ of India.
But Nationalists were firmly against the investment of
foreign capital in India
They wanted that industrialisation of India should occur but
not through foreign capital but Indian Capital . They saw foreign capital
as an unmitigated evil which did not develop a country but exploited and
impoverished it .
The key to India’s development could only be industrialisation with
Indian capital, while investment of
foreign capital meant drainage of wealth through expatriation of
profit.
What mattered in the case of foreign trade, was not its volume but its pattern or the nature of goods
internationally exchanged and their impact on national industry and agriculture.
And this pattern had undergone drastic changes during the 19th Century,
bias being overwhelmingly towards export of raw materials and the import
of manufactured goods.
Foreign
capital has economic
as well as political implications
Economic
– Instead of encouraging and augmenting Indian capital, foreign capital replaced and suppressed it, led to the drain of capital from India and further strengthened the British hold over the Indian economy. – To try to develop a country through foreign capital, was to barter the entire future for the petty gains of today.
Political
– Penetration of a country by foreign capital inevitably led to its political subjugation. – Foreign capital investment creates vested interests which demands security for investors and, therefore, perpetuate foreign rule.
To quote Dadabhai Naoroji , “materially” British rule caused only “impoverishment”; it was like “the knife of sugar. That is to say there is no oppression, it is all smooth and sweet, but it is the knife, notwithstanding. “
Critique of Railways
Railway represented not economic development
but colonisation & underdevelopment . Railways had not been coordinated with India’s
industrial needs.
Objective of setting up railway was quite clear
Enable imported English manufactured good to reach interior of the country
Facilitate the collection and export of raw materials and agricultural goods from the interior
Allow an opportunity for the investment of English capital in railway companies operating in India
Mechanism of administrative control through rapid movements of troops and faster communication network.
To serve the first two objectives, it would also be convenient to have a rate of freight charges which would allow cheap transport of manufactured goods from port cities to the interior & of agricultural products from the interior to port cities. Opposite operation charges were high .
The railway companies were set up in England as joint stock companies. In order to encourage investors and bring confidence in them ,assured 5% interest was offered to them . This was ‘Guaranteed interest contract‘ with right to pull money any time
The companies were given free land with ninety-nine years lease, after the expiry of which the line would become government property. But any time before that – even a few months before the expiry of the lease-the companies could return the lines to the government and claim full compensation for all capital expended. In other words, they could enjoy 5 per cent guaranteed profit for ninety-eight years and then get back all their capital. This made the railway projects, as Sabyasachi Bhattacharya describes them, “an instance of private enterprise at public risk“.
State started to feel the heat after 1869 as the fiscal burden of bearing the cost of guaranteed profits of private companies increased due to depreciation in the value of rupee and rise in interest rates on govemment borrowings abroad. State started direct construction by engaging engineers in some places & shifted from ‘broad-gauge’ system to ‘metre-gauge’ to cut down the expenditure of govemment on railway construction. In case of private investors, Guaranteed Interest was reduced to 4%.
The outcome was not good for India in a number of ways
A government guarantee of interest means that irrespective of profit or loss the interest had to be paid out of Indian tax payers’ money to the English investors. This encouraged over-expenditure
The English railway companies imported into India engines, rail and the machinery and even the coal for the engines (coal was imported for a decade or so). In most other countries railway construction had encouraged auxiliary industries like the engineering industry, iron and steel production, mining etc (backward linkage’ effects). India was denied the benefit of such auxiliary industrial development too
As late as 1921, only 10% of the superior posts in the railways were manned by Indians, so the diffusion of new skills also remained limited
In certain cases the construction work disturbed ecology, subverted the natural sewage system, and in Bengal for example, created malaria epidemic in the nineteenth century
Nationalists main objection was against the selection of Railway as priority area for such public investments, as many of them believed that irrigation would have been a more suitable area for such investment promising higher social benefits. For a colonial government looking for profits, there was obviously less incentive for investment in irrigation. Thus the railways, as it seems, did not encourage Indian economic development as it did in industrializing Europe.
Drain theory
Main & first proponent of Drain theory – Dadabhai Naoroji ( The Poverty & Unbritish Rule in India )
Large part of India’s capital and wealth was being transferred or ‘drained’ to Britain in the form of
Salaries and pensions of British civil and military officials working in India,
Interest on loans taken by the Indian Government,
Profits of British capitalists in India,
Home Charges or expenses of the Indian Government in Britain (Secretary of State & India office in London created in 1858)
& from these India got
no economic or commercial return
According to the nationalist
calculations, this drain amount to one-half of government
revenues and over one-third of India’s total
savings. The
drain was the basic cause of India’s poverty and the fundamental evil of
British rule in India.
In Naoroji’s calculation this
huge drainage amounted to about £12 million per year.
R.C.
Dutt made the drain the major theme of his Economic History of India. He
protested that “taxation raised by a king, says the Indian poet, is
like the moisture sucked up by the sun, to be returned to the earth as
fertilising rain; but the moisture raised from the Indian soil now
descends as fertilising rain largely on other lands, not on India. So
great an Economic Drain out of the resources of a land would impoverish
the most prosperous countries on earth “
Moreover, the drain theory had
the great political merit of being easily grasped by a nation of peasants.
Money being transferred from one country to another was the most easily
understood of the theories of economic exploitation, for the peasant daily
underwent this experience vis-a-vis the state, landlords, moneylenders,
lawyers and priests.
This theory was supported by Gandhi later on
Note – Many Indians, too, were subordinate beneficiaries and agents of colonial exploitation, and the nationalists generally ignored this. Nationalist opinion also usually refused to concern itself with the plight of Indians working in Indian-owned factories, in sharp contrast to that of those employed by foreigners, for whom (as for the Assam coolies) humanitarian sentiments were often expressed.
Result of Economic Critique
The nationalist economic
agitation gradually undermined moral
foundations challenging the whole concept
of paternalistic imperialism of British rule in India. It corroded
popular confidence in the benevolent character of British rule
The economic development of India was offered as the
chief justification for British rule by the imperialist rulers and
spokesmen. The Indian nationalists controverted it forcefully and asserted
that India was economically backward precisely because the British were ruling it in the
interests of British trade, industry and capital, and that poverty and
backwardness were the inevitable results
They cut at the
political roots of the empire and sowed in the land the
seeds of disaffection and disloyalty . This was one of the major reasons why the
period 1875 to 1905 became a period of intellectual unrest
The failure of moderate politics was quite palpable by the end of the nineteenth century and their future was doomed as the less sympathetic Torries returned to power in Britain at the turn of the century. Nevertheless, the moderates created a political context within which such an agitation was to develop later on.
This article deals with ‘ Moderates in Legislature – UPSC.’ This is part of our series on ‘Modern History’ which is important pillar of GS-1 syllabus . For more articles , you can click here
Introduction
Legislative councils in India had no real power till 1920 , yet work done in them by nationalist leaders played important part in growth of national movement
Role of Legislative Councils
1861 to
1892
– After Mutiny of 1857 , government thought main reason for Revolt was Indian vies were not known to rulers & decided to include them in councils . But didn’t serve the purpose because persons those were selected were Princes, big zamindars & merchants who didn’t represent common people – Although nationalists from beginning believed that India should eventually become self governing but till 1892 their demand was only limited to expansion & reform of Legislative councils because they were afraid of government declaring their activities as seditious
1892
– Nationalists were totally dissatisfied with the Act of 1892 – Saw it as mockery of their demands. Councils still impotent & despotism still ruled – Demanded Right to vote on Demand & raised slogan “No Taxation without Representation”
Use of Legislatures by Nationalists
Lord Dufferin designed Act of 1892 in such a way that it enjoyed no
real power & its members can make only worldly speeches & indulge
in empty rhetorics.
But Indian leaders soon
reformed impotent councils into forums for ventilating popular grievances,
exposing the defects & shortcoming of bureaucracy & submitted the
acts & policies of government to ruthless examination regarding their
intention, methods & consequences
Changed SAFETY VALVE TO MAJOR CHANNEL FOR
NATIONALISTIC PROPAGANDA
Most important Members who used Legislative Councils for National Awakening
1 . Pherozshah Mehta
Born in 1845 & was influenced by Dadabhai
Naoroji when he
was studying in London
Dominant figure of INC from 1890 to 1915 & exercised
autocratic authority
Powerful
debater +
speeches marked by boldness & lucidity
Mehta was accused of
changing the role and character of the colonial legislatures . Although press was used to
condemn policies of government but
Mehta took that voice in Legislative Assembly
First Major
intervention in Imperial Legislative Assembly came in 1895 on a bill for amendment
of Police Act of 1861 which enhanced the power
of the local authorities to raise a punitive police force in an area and
to recover its cost from selected sections of the inhabitants of the area.
Mehta pointed out that , “the measure was an attempt to convict and
punish individuals without a judicial trial under the garb of preserving
law and order.” We may not find
these remarks very strong today but they were like bomb thrown on civil
services which considered itself beyond criticism in those times
Other intervention
on Cutting government
spending on Higher education because it was producing
‘discontended and seditious babus’
. Pointing
to real motives Mehta said most of the
bureaucrats looked upon ‘every Indian college (as) a nursery for hatching
broods of vipers; the less, therefore, the better.’
Also criticised
the Bill in 1901 on taking away
of peasants‘ right of
ownership of land to prevent them from bartering it away . Government passed it away
using its official majority but he performed first
walkout in Indian
History
Retired from legislative council in 1901 due to bad health & his place was taken by Gopal Krishna Gokhale who was to prove more than worthy successor
Presided
Congress session of 1890 .
2. Gopal Krishna Gokhale
Outstanding intellectual &
trained in economics by Justice Ranade & GV Joshi
Not a great
orator like Dadabhai, Tilak, Mehta or RC Dutt but relied upon
his detailed knowledge & careful ,logical analysing power
Gokhale gained great fame for his budget speeches & he transformed
legislative assembly into open university for imparting political
education
Criticised
government for presenting surplus budget & said that surplus
budget is coming at time of depression & suffering when people are
dying out of drought & famines .
Analysed that even during famines land & salt revenue was
continuously increasing
Condemned large expenditure on
army & territorial expansion beyond Indian frontiers & demanded
greater expenditure on education & industry instead
Such was fear of his budget
speeches that in 1910 , Lord Minto appointed RW Carlyle one of the greatest economist of
times as Revenue member so that they can defend Gokhale in assembly
This article deals with ‘ Moderate Phase – UPSC.’ This is part of our series on ‘Modern History’ which is important pillar of GS-1 syllabus . For more articles , you can click here
Introduction
For first 20 years, politics of Congress is referred to as moderate politics because Congress was hardly a full fledged political party by then . It was more in nature an annual conference which deliberated & adopted resolutions during 3 day tamasha (name given to them by extremists (rival group within Congress))
Moderates were basically influenced by Utilitarian theories of Edmund Burke, John Stuart Mill& John Morley
Moderates represented what can be said as Indian Liberalism . They wanted gradual or piece-meal reforms . Their complaint was only against “un-British rule” in India perpetrated by the Viceroy, his Executive Council and the Anglo-Indian bureaucracy-an imperfection that could be reformed or rectified through gentle persuasion
They had intrinsic faith in the providential nature of British rule in India, they hoped that one day they would be recognized as partners and not subordinates in the affairs of the empire and be given the rights of full British citizenship.
Expectation of the Moderates was that full political freedom would come gradually and India would be ultimately given self governing right like those enjoyed by other colonies. But before achieving self government , Indians should be enlightened via education so that they can become responsible citizens (many Congress leaders were associated with educational institutions like Gokhale , SN Bannerjee)
Methods of work in Initial Years
Early Congressmen had an implicit faith in the efficacy of peaceful and constitutional agitation.
Press and the platform at the annual sessions were their agencies. However, the press was the only agency through which the Congress propaganda was carried out throughout the year. Many leaders, in fact, were editors of either English or Indian language newspapers and wielded their pen powerfully.
Congressmen had great belief in British sense of Justice. They worked under the illusion that all would be well if British could be acquainted with true state of affairs in India . They thought that it was bureaucracy that stood in the way of their rights & intended to inform the Britishers about their problems & remind them their duty towards India . They send delegations to Britain to present Indian viewpoint . Dadabhai Naoroji spend his life in England
They took recourse to making earnest appeals , sending applications & petitions , holding meetings, organizing public opinion , propaganda through press (Key word : Petitions , Prayers and Press (PPP) )
Demands of the Moderates
All they
wanted was Limited Self Government within the imperial framework
Indianization
of Civil Services and Simultaneous examination for the I.C.S. in India and
England (Indianized civil service would be more responsive to the Indian
needs. It would stop the drainage of money, which was annually expatriated
through the payment of salary and pension of the European officers. )
Abolition or reconstitution of the India Council,
Separation of the Judiciary from the Executive,
Repeal of the
Arms Act,
Appointment
of Indians to the commissioned ranks in the Army,
Reduction of
military expenditure
Introduction
of Permanent Settlement to other parts
of India.
Expand &
reform the Legislative Councils for elected
representatives of people
Budget to be referred to legislature which should have right to discuss & vote
Military
expenditure which used Indian
exchequer to fight imperial wars should be evenly shared by India &
Britain
These demands were
repeated year after year but there was hardly any response by the Britishers
They worked for the political unity of the country , for welding diverse people into a nation . For
this, they kept
all issues & demands which would bring one class in conflict with other out of their political agenda
Social demands too weren’t part of their agenda. Congress to them was a political body to represent political aspiration of Indian people as a whole & not a platform to discuss social reform. Separate organisation called Indian Social Conference (1887) was formed for this.
Moderate leaders
D Naoroji
B Tyabji
Pherozshah Mehta
MG Ranade
G K Gokhale
D E Wacha
S N Banerjee
Anand Mohan Bose
Rash Behari Ghosh
How many of their demands were met ?
Lord Cross’s Act or Indian Councils Act , 1892
Provided for marginal
expansion of Legislative Councils (LCs) both at centre & provinces but members were to
be selected & not elected
Budget can be
discussed in
Legislatures but not to be voted on
Government
was given power to legislate without referring to Legislatures . Role of LC was recommendatory & not mandatory
Reformation of Administration : Charles Wood who was president of Board of Control opposed their demand of simultaneous holding of ICS exam in India & Britain on ground that there was no institution in India that can train boys but Public Service Commission was appointed later under Aitchison which recommended simultaneous exam .
None of other demand was even considered by British authorities like
Income tax, abolished in the
1870s, was reimposed in 1886
Salt tax was raised from Rs. 2
to Rs. 2.5
Customs duty was imposed, but
it was matched by a countervailing excise duty on Indian cotton yarn in
1894
Fowler Commission artificially
fixed the exchange rate of rupee at a high rate of 1 shilling and 4 pence.
British attitude towards Moderates
From the beginning, Government was hostile towards development of nationalist forces. Dufferin was critical of its formation. He even suggested to Hume that Congress should devote itself to social rather than political affairs but congress leaders refused to make the change . But they couldn’t be openly hostile to Congress . They hoped that Congress would keep itself busy with academic discussions confined to handful of people
Soon, it became clear (by 1887) that Congress & other nationalist associations & newspapers would not confine themselves to such a limited role. Newspapers reached out to people & Congress began to publish pamphlets in Indian languages . British couldn’t tolerate political awareness spreading among common people . This was nothing but sedition for administration because they exposed real, exploitative face of imperialism
Officials now publicly began to criticize & condemn Congress & other nationalist spokesperson. They were branded as disloyal babus, seditious Brahmins & violent villains
In 1887 , Dufferin attacked Congress by ridiculing it to be representing only a microscopic minority of people
British authorities pushed further their policy of Divide & Rule to counter nationalist movement
Encouraged Sayyid Ahmed Khan, Raja Shiva Prasad & Pro-Britishers to start anti congress movements. This started to drive a wedge between Hindu-Muslims
Cleverly exploited a controversy around Hindi & Urdu & give it a communal touch
Cow protection movement started by Hindu nationalist was used for same purpose
Achievements & contributions of Moderates
Creation of national
awakening among
the people and trained people in the art of the political work
Popularise the idea of democracy
& nationalism
among the people
Exposition of the exploitative character of the British imperialism eg
drain
of wealth theory & Economic Critique of
moderates was their greatest achievement
Creation of
the common political & economic programme around which Indians gathered
and waged political struggles
Providing sound base for foundation on which Indian national movement build up the
momentum
They adopted the values of
women empowerment , equality in the society and secularism and democracy
Shook the very belief that British Rule was for benefit
of Indians –
turned legislatures into forums
Limitations of Moderates
Don’t have much of political success to their credit but however meagre their success is it has to be seen in the context of prevailing political circumstances & colonial conditions they worked in
The movement under them failed to acquire roots in the masses and mobilise them & their programme remained confined to educated elite called Bhadraloks
Landed interests dominated : For initial few years British Indian Association of landlords was major source of their finance + among lawyers most of them had landed interest . They demanded extension of Permanent Settlement only in interest of zamindars + in 1898 pro zamindari amendments were added to Bengal Tenancy Act,1885 on their demand .
Didn’t take pro worker stand – They opposed factory reforms to improve living condition of the workers & were pro industrial class always .They were opposed to factory reforms like the Mining Bill, which proposed to improve the living condition of women and children and restrict their employment under certain age. They also opposed similar labor reforms in Bombay on the plea that they were prompted by Lancashire interests. However, they supported labour reforms for Assam tea gardens, as capitalist interest involved there was of foreign origin
Early moderates were all mainly Hindus barring notable Bombay politician Badruddin Tyabji . From 1892 to 1902- 90%. Hindus & 6.5 % Muslim delegates & among Hindus 40% were Brahmins & rest upper class Hindus . When congress demanded elected councils it was not liked by Sir Syed KHAN who feared that it would mean Hindu Majority rule . On cow protection issue although it has no sympathy with Hindu nationalists didn’t speak against them fearing losing Hindu votes & all this further alienated Muslims from them
This article deals with ‘ Revolt of 1857 – UPSC.’ This is part of our series on ‘Modern History’ which is important pillar of GS-1 syllabus . For more articles , you can click here
General Survey
Series of local risings &
civil disturbances was not a rare occurrence in British India . Novelty of
this mutiny lay in the wide extent of
area covered & its military potentiality . Revolts of 1857 in parts of central &
northern India resulted in the nearly collapse of British rule in these
regions until the spring of 1858
Revolt
witnessed extraordinary amount of violence unleashed on both
sides
British
Counter insurgency measures
Public Execution of rebels – blowing them off
from cannons & indiscriminately burning of their villages
Rebels
Rebels
massacred white civilians – women & children included . Bibighar Massacre in Kanpur was the most notorious
among all
Revolt ended the rule of the
EIC in 1858 by an act of the
Parliament . India was taken over by British crown
Revolt for long was mistaken to be mere mutiny of the Indian
Sepoys in Bengal army , was indeed joined by an aggrieved rural
society of the North India
Causes of Revolt
1 . Military Causes
1.1 Composition of the Army
Company while raising a standing army since mid 18th century respected traditions and customs of the indigenous communities . High caste identity of the army was deliberately encouraged . All sepoys were from Brahmin, Rajput & Bhumihar caste & their caste rule, dietary & travel restrictions were respected under instructions from Warren Hastings
But from 1820s , things began to change . Army reforms were initiated to make it more universalized & from 1830s army begun to curtail some of the caste privileges & pecuniary benefits
1.2 Bengal Regiment & Revolt
Mutiny mainly affected Bengal army : Madras & Bombay regiments remained quiet
while Punjabi & Gurkhas soldier actually helped to suppress the
rebellion (but half of the total army was in Bengal regiment ) . If we want to
know why revolt happened, we have to concentrate here.
Composition of the Bengal Army was to be blamed for
High caste background of the sepoys mainly recruited from Awadh gave it a homogeneous character
They were nurturing for a long time number of grievances : their religious beliefs had lately come in conflict with new service conditions .
They were refused to wear their caste marks
Forced to cross seas which was forbidden in their religion &
In distant campaigns forced to eat whatever necessary for survival which led to their boycott from society
Their salary levels dropped & they suffered discrimination in matters of promotion & pension
In 1856 , new service rules abolished their extra allowance for service outside their own regions
1.3 White soldiers vs Sepoys
By the 1850s, there were other
reasons for their discontent. The relationship of the sepoys with their
superior white officers underwent a significant change in the years
preceding the uprising of 1857.
In the 1820s, white officers made it a point to maintain
friendly relations with the sepoys. They would take part in their leisure activities – they
wrestled with them, fenced with them and went out hawking with them. Many
of them were fluent in Hindustani and were familiar with the customs and
culture of the country. These officers were disciplinarian and father
figure rolled into one.
In the 1840s, this began to change. The officers developed a sense of superiority and
started treating the Sepoys as their racial inferiors,
riding roughshod over their sensibilities. Abuse and physical violence
became common and thus the distance between sepoys and officers grew. Trust
was replaced by suspicion. The episode of the greased cartridges was a
classic example of this.
1.4 Christian missionaries in Army
There was constant fear among the Indian sepoys that British are determined to convert them into Christianity
Presence of missionaries , rumors about mixing cow & pig bone dust in flour & finally controversy about the cartridge of enfield rifles , all fitted well in this conspiracy theory
1.5 Other Religious beliefs shattered
In 1856, Act was passed under which new recruits had to give an undertaking to serve overseas, if required. Conservative beliefs of the sepoys were thus shaken & they sometimes reacted strongly.
This issue of crossing sea was sensitive & earlier in 1824, the 47th Regiment of sepoys at Barrackpore refused to go to Burma by sea-route because their religion forbade
1.6 Annexation of Awadh
Annexation of Awadh in 1856 had special adverse effect on the morale of Bengal army as 75% was recruited from this region
Governor General was earlier warned that every agricultural family in Awadh perhaps without exception sends one of its member into British army . Annexation of Awadh shook the loyalty of Sepoys & for them it was the proof of untrustworthiness of British
1.7 Sepoys = Peasants in uniform
Sepoys were peasants in uniform & they were anxious about the declining conditions of the peasants due to summary settlements in Awadh
Revolt was preceded by about 14,000 petitions from sepoys about hardships relating to revenue system
1.8 Introduction of greased Cartridge
Late Jan 1857: rumors started to circulate among sepoys in Dum Dum near Calcutta that the cartridges of new Enfield Rifle introduced to replace old Brown Bess musket has been greased with cow & pig fat
This confirmed the sepoys old suspicion about the conspiracy to destroy their religion & caste and convert them to Christianity . Although the production of these cartridges stopped immediately but trust that was breached was never restored
It is much
more difficult to explain the civilian revolt that accompanied the mutiny.
Regions and people who were
beneficiaries of colonial rule did not revolt.
Bengal and Punjab remained
peaceful; the entire south India remained unaffected too.
On the other hand, those who
revolted had two elements among them-the feudal elements and the big
landlords on the one end and the peasantry on the other.
2. Exploitation of the peasants
To extract as much money as possible Company’s Administration devised new systems of land settlements – Permanent, Ryotwari and Mahalwari -each more oppressive than the other. Proprietary rights of the peasants were taken from them . This affected their social position to great extent . They were now mere tenants & owners of the land were zamindars
Peasants had to pay beyond their means & any adverse natural shifts like droughts or flood compelled them to go for loans to the money lenders who charged exorbitant interest. This made them heavily indebted to moneylenders & forced them to sell their lands
Peasantry was also oppressed by petty officials in administration who extracted money on the slightest pretexts. If the peasants went to the law court to seek redress of their grievances, they were bound to be totally ruined.
This nexus between the lower officials, law courts and money lenders created a vicious circle which made the peasantry desperate and ready to welcome any opportunity for change of regime.
3. Alienation of the Middle & Upper strata of Indians
During Mughals or even in administration of local princes & chieftains , Indians served at all the positions – both upper & lower but British administration deprived the Indians of higher posts which were taken mainly by British & Indians served only at subordinate positions.
In Military services, the highest post attainable by an Indian was that of a Subedar on a salary of ₹ 70 & in Civil Services that of Sadr Amin on a salary of ₹500 per month.
The cultural personnel like poets, dramatists, writers , musicians etc who were earlier employed by native states were now thrown out
Religious Pandits & Maulvis also lost their former power & prestige
4. Annexation of Princely States
Major grievances were
Annexations under Doctrine of Lapse : Satara, Nagpur, Sambhalpur
, Bhagat, Jhansi & Udaipur(sns buj) were taken like this in quick
succession . This amounted to British interference
in traditional system of inheritance & created a group of disgruntled
feudal lords . Their
right to succession wasn’t recognised .
Annexation of Awadh in 1856 : Awadh was annexed on excuse of
mismanagement & king was deported to Calcutta. This annexation didn’t affected nawab
&’his family but entire aristocracy
The Muslim feelings were hurt. Bahadur
Shah II , the Mughal Emperor was an old man who might die any moment.
Britishers recognised the succession of Prince Faqir ud Din but imposed many restrictions on him. Fakir died in 1856 & Lord Canning announced that the
Prince next in succession would have to renounce the regal title &
ancestral Mughal palaces in additions to renunciations agreed upon by
Fakir. These acts
greatly unnerved the Indian muslims who thought English wanted to humble
the House of Timur
Absentee Sovereignty-Ship of British Rule in India was also important
reason. Earlier rulers like Mughals or Afghans after conquering India had
settled here & became Indians. The revenue collected from the people were spent in
India only but in case of Britishers they were ruling from England &
draining India of her wealth.
Hence, various rulers took
arms against Britishers
Nana Sahib
– Leader at Kanpur – Adopted son of Peshwa Baji Rao II , who wasn’t recognised as next Peshwa
Begum Hazrat Mahal
Took control over Lucknow
Khan Bahadur Khan
Rohilkhand
Rani Jhansi
– Took control at Jhansi – Although she was earlier prepared to accept British paramountcy if her adopted son was recognised as legitimate heir to the throne
Case of Awadh
(This topic is explained at great length in NCERTs . Hence, we are covering this in detail)
Area which was the breeding ground of Revolt / Mutiny was Awadh. Here various events happened which made Prince , Taluqdars, Peasants and Soldiers to join hands with each other to oust their common enemy that is East India Company.
Important to study because majority of army that rebelled was from this region
Case of deposing
the King
The Subsidiary Alliance had been imposed on Awadh in 1801. By the terms of this alliance the Nawab had to disband his military force, allow the British to position their troops within the kingdom, and act in accordance with the advice of the British Resident who was now to be attached to the court. Deprived of his armed forces, the Nawab became increasingly dependent on British to maintain law and order within the kingdom. He could no longer assert control over the rebellious chiefs and taluqdars.
In the meantime the British became increasingly interested in acquiring the territory of Awadh. They felt that the soil there was good for producing indigo and cotton.
By the early 1850s, moreover, all the major areas of India had been conquered: the Maratha lands, the Doab, the Carnatic, the Punjab and Bengal. The takeover of Awadh in 1856 was expected to complete a process of territorial annexation that had begun with the conquest of Bengal almost a century earlier.
Lord Dalhousie’s annexations created disaffection in all the areas and principalities that were annexed but nowhere more so than in the kingdom of Awadh in the heart of North India. Here, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was dethroned and exiled to Calcutta on the plea that the region was being misgoverned. The British government also wrongly assumed that Wajid Ali Shah was an unpopular ruler. On the contrary, he was widely loved, and when he left his beloved Lucknow, there were many who followed him all the way to Kanpur singing songs of lament.
Case of Taluqdars – Summary
Settlement
Countryside of Awadh was dotted with the estates and forts of Taluqdars who for many generations had controlled land and power in the countryside. Before the coming of the British, Taluqdars maintained armed retainers, built forts, and enjoyed a degree of autonomy, as long as they accepted the suzerainty of the Nawab and paid the revenue of their taluqs.
Some of the bigger Taluqdars had as many as 12,000 footsoldiers and even the smaller ones had about 200. The British were unwilling to tolerate the power of the taluqdars. Immediately after the annexation, the taluqdars were disarmed and their forts destroyed.
The British land revenue policy further undermined the position and authority of the taluqdars. After annexation, the first British revenue settlement, known as the Summary Settlement of 1856, was based on the assumption that the taluqdars were interlopers with no permanent stakes in land: they had established their hold over land through force and fraud. The Summary Settlement proceeded to remove the taluqdars wherever possible. Figures show that in pre-British times, taluqdars had held 67% of the total number of villages in Awadh; by the Summary Settlement this number had come down to 38%.
Case of Peasants
British land revenue officers believed that by removing taluqdars they would be able to settle the land with the actual owners of the soil and thus reduce the level of exploitation of peasants while increasing revenue returns for the state. But this did not happen in practice: revenue flows for the state increased but the burden of demand on the peasants did not decline. Officials soon found that large areas of Awadh were actually heavily overassessed
The dispossession of taluqdars meant the breakdown of an entire social order. The ties of loyalty and patronage that had bound the peasant to the taluqdar were disrupted. In pre-British times, the taluqdars were oppressors but many of them also appeared to be generous father figures: they exacted a variety of dues from the peasant but were often considerate in times of need. Now, under the British, the peasant was directly exposed to overassessment of revenue and inflexible methods of collection. There was no longer any guarantee that in times of hardship or crop failure the revenue demand of the state would be reduced or collection postponed; or that in times of festivities the peasant would get the loan and support that the taluqdar had earlier provided.
Case of Sepoys
The grievances of
the peasants were carried over into the sepoy lines since a vast majority
of the sepoys were recruited from the villages of Awadh.
Sepoys were peasants in uniform & they were anxious about the declining
conditions of the peasants due to summary settlements in Awadh . Revolt
was preceded by about 14,000 petitions from sepoys about hardships
relating to revenue system
5. Eroding feeling of British Invincibility
British
rule’s invincibility was eroding now .
British suffered reverses in wars
First Afghan war 1838-41
Punjab wars 1846-49
Crimean / Ukraine wars – 1854-56
Santhal Rebellion defeated British .
6. Administrative Causes
The administrative machinery
of East India Company was insufficient & inefficient . The land
revenue policy was very unpopular. Many districts of newly acquired states
were in state of permanent revolt & military had to be sent to collect
the land revenue . In the district of Panipat there were 136 horsemen for
collection of land revenue but only 22 for performance of police duties.
They eliminated
the middlemen by directly establishing contact with peasants . But the tax charged was
exorbitant . They alienated Taluqdars as well as peasants .
Confiscation
of estates on large scale was done. The Inam Commission appointed in 1852 in Bombay confiscated as many as 20,000
estates . Hence,
aristocracy was driven into poverty making them their staunch opponents .
7. Social & Religious Causes
Like all conquering people the
English rulers of India were rude & arrogant towards the subjects .
However, the English were infected with a spirit of racialism. The European officers in
India were very exacting & over bearing in social behaviour. The
Indian was spoken as nigger & addressed as a
suar or pig . It
may be easy to withstand physical & political injustices but religious
persecution touches tender conscience & forms complexes that are not
easy to eradicate .
That one of the aims of English was to convert Indians into Christianity was made clear by Directors of East India Company in House of Commons . Sepoys were promised promotions if they accepted the True Faith. The missionaries were given ample facilities & American Missionary Society at Agra had setup an extensive printing press .
Religious Disabilities Act ,1850 (Lex Loci Act) modified Hindu customs, a change in religion didn’t debar son from inheriting the property . Strange rumors were current in India that Lord Canning had been specially selected with the duty of converting the Indians to Christianity . In this surcharged atmosphere even the railways & telegraph & steamships began to be looked upon as indirect instruments for changing their faith.
8. Role of Rumors and Prophecies
According
to Britishers Rumours and Prophecies had most important role in this
That bullets of Enfield Rifle were greased with cow and pig fat which will defile the religion of Hindus and Muslims
Cow & Pig bone dust in atta (wheat flour)
British conspiracy to convert Military into Christianity
Battle of Plassey happened on 23 June 1757. They said there is prophecy that British rule will come to end after century ie 23 June 1857. Response to the call for action was reinforced by the prophecy
Discussion is not
whether those rumours were representing truth or not. But why people believed
those rumours
Rumors circulate only when they resonate with the deeper fears and suspicions of people. The rum ours in 1857 begin to make sense when seen in the context of the policies the British pursued (as mentioned above)
Events in military mutiny
29 March
– In Barrackpore near Calcutta , Sepoy by name of Mangal Pandey (of 34th Native Infantry) fired at European officer & his comrades refused to arrest him when ordered by European superiors – They were soon apprehended, court martialed & hanged in early April – Incidents of disobedience & arson were reported from army cantonments in Ambala , Lucknow & Meerut
24 April
– Meerut: 90 men of 3rd Native Cavalry refused to use greased cartridges – 85 dismissed & 5 given imprisonment of 10 years
9 May
In Meerut sepoys rescued their arrested comrades who previously refused to accept new cartridge , killed their European officers & proceeded to Delhi
12 May
– Killed all the Company’s officers in Red fort of Delhi (Simon Fraser was first to be killed) – Proclaimed Bahadur Shah as Emperor of Hindustan – From Delhi uprising soon spread to other army centers in North West provinces & Awadh & soon took shape of civil rebellion
Leaders of the revolt
Who were the leaders
To fight the British, leadership and organisation were required. For these the rebels sometimes turned to those who had been leaders before the British conquest ie Kings, Zamindars, Rajas etc
Along with that, at some places religious leaders especially Maulvis also emerged as leaders. Maulvi Ahmadullah was the most famous such leader
Elsewhere, local leaders emerged, urging peasants and tribals to revolt. Shah Mal mobilized the villagers of pargana Barout in Uttar Pradesh; Gonoo, a tribal cultivator of Singhbhum , became a rebel leader of the Kol tribals .
Whether leaders especially Kings were
joining the revolt on their own ?
One of the first acts of the
sepoys of Meerut was to rush to Delhi and appeal to the old Mughal emperor
to accept the leadership of the revolt. This acceptance of leadership took its time in coming. Bahadur Shah’s first
reaction was one of horror and rejection. It was only when some sepoys had
moved into the Mughal court within the Red Fort, in defiance of normal
court etiquette, that the old emperor, realising he had very few options,
agreed to be nominal leader of rebellion.
Elsewhere, similar scenes were
enacted although on a minor scale. In Kanpur, the sepoys and the people of
the town gave Nana Sahib, the successor to Peshwa Baji Rao II, no choice
save to join the revolt as their leader. So was Kunwar Singh, a local
zamindar in Arrah in Bihar.
In Awadh, where the
displacement of the popular Nawab Wajid Ali Shah and the annexation of the
state were still very fresh in the memory of the people, the populace in
Lucknow celebrated the fall of British rule by hailing Birjis Qadr, the young son of the Nawab,
as their leader.
Delhi
– Soldiers proclaimed Bahadur Shah as leader but real authority lied with soldiers – 3rd July : General Bakht Khan reached Delhi to lead the soldiers – Formed a Court of soldiers consisting of both Hindus & Muslims who took all decisions in the name of emperor – Fall to British on 20 Sept 1858 => Emperor taken as prisoner & his sons were butchered – Dealt by : John Nicholson ( from Punjab)
Bareilly
–General Bakht Khan led the troops to Delhi after defeating local British army – In Delhi , troops proclaimed Bahadur Shah Zafar as leader of the movement – After Bakht khan ,movement was led by Khan Bahadur – Dealt by JOHN NICHOLSON
Lucknow
– Begum Hazrat Mahal led the revolt after her adopted son Bijris Qadir was refused to continue to rule – Dealt by Colin Campbell
Kanpur
– Nana Sahib / Dhondu Pant – adopted son of last Peshwa Baji Rao II – Tantia Tope (Full name – Ram Chandra Pandu Ram Tope ) who was Guerrilla warfare expert was appointed as commander in chief and General of Nana Saheb but was betrayed by Man Singh – Siege of Kanpur – BIBIGHAR MASSACRE or Sati Chaura Ghar Massacre in which British entered into a promise with Nana Saheb & declared the area to be safe for British. But later he declared that he was with rebels . 200 Europeans including women & children were killed in Kanpur – Dealt by : Colin Campbell
Allahabad
– Led by Liyakat Ali – Dealt by Colonel Neil
Bihar
– Kunwar Singh who was zamindar of Jagdishpur (Bihar Arrah district) in his 70s led the revolt after British acquired his land – Most formidable challenge was posed by him to British Authority – Dealt by VINCENT EYRE
Faizabad
Maulvi Ahamadullah, native of Madras led the revolt
Jhansi
– Led by Rani Lakshmi Bai – Damodar Rao , her adopted son was refused as successor after demise of his husband Gangadhar Rao – Met Tantiya Tope at Kalpi, place between Jhansi and Kanpur – General Hugh Rose said about her => here lay the woman who was only man among the rebels (Indian National Army’s first female unit was named after her) – Dealt by : Hugh Rose
Demands of Rebels
As victors, the British
recorded their own trials and tribulations as well as their heroism. They
dismissed the rebels as a bunch of ungrateful and barbaric people. Apart from few proclamations and ishtehars (notifications) , we have nothing to
reconstruct the history of Revolt from their prespective. Sepoys were
common people mostly illiterate and hence didn’t wrote any of their
experience. Attempts to reconstruct the events of
Revolt of 1857 is thus heavily relied on what British thought.
Azamgarh Proclamation (25
August 1857) by Bahadur Shah
Repression by Britishers
It wasn’t easy for the Britishers to put down revolt.
Before sending out troops, large number of laws were passed and whole of North India was placed under Martial Law. Even military officers were given power to try and rebels only had one punishment – death
They, like the rebels, recognized the symbolic value of Delhi. The British thus mounted a two-pronged attack. One force moved from Calcutta into North India and the other from the Punjab – which was largely peaceful – to reconquer Delhi. British attempts to recover Delhi began in earnest in early June 1857 but it was only in late September that the city was finally captured. The fighting and losses on both sides were heavy. One reason for this was the fact that rebels from all over North India had come to Delhi to defend the capital.
In the Gangetic plain too the progress of British reconquest was slow. As soon as they began their counter-insurgency operations, the British realized that they were not dealing with a mere mutiny but an uprising that had huge popular support.
Military wasn’t the only thing they used. They tried to break away leaders from the rebels because they knew that rebels without leaders can be easily suppressed. In Awadh, many Taluqdars were promised their old estates to be given back to them. Rights of the rulers were promised to be recognized. Hence , they were able to break unity with diplomacy
Nature of Revolt
Various historians have given various interpretations at different point of times. Some of them are discarded now .
1 . Primarily a Mutiny of the sepoys , civilian participation being secondary phenomenon
The movement began as military mutiny which led to collapse of administration & law , other elements which had their own grievances also jumped into it
What began as a military mutiny ended in certain areas as outbreak of civil population
2. SEPOY MUTINY confined to army only
British historians like Kaye, Trevelyan , Lawrence, Holmes have painted it as mutiny confined to the army which didn’t command the support of the people at large
Similar view was held by many contemporary Indians like Munshi Jiwan Lal, Moinuddin (both eye witnesses at Delhi) , Durgadas Bandyopadhyaya (eye witness at Bareilly) & Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (Sadr Amin at Bijnor in 1857)
3. Revolution jointly organised & carried on by both the Hindus & Muslims
Some writers view it as
Hindu-Muslim conspiracy to replace British Government by national one
The great rebellion was outcome of
Mohammedan conspiracy making out capital of the Hindu grievances
Bahadur Shah’s indifference in
the beginning was a political trick which he wanted to play upon the
English through which he wanted to trap them
Not
accepted by historians now.
4. Religious war against Christians
Not accepted by Historians
One of the cause of the revolt
was certainly religious
But they revolted not to
uproot the Christianity but to defend their religion & afterwards
rebels forgot their religious motive
5. A Revolt started by Discontented rulers
Some historians opine that it
was revolt against the British only by those discontented native rulers whose territory, jagirs ,
pensions & allowances had been taken away
But those scholars who don’t
subscribe to this view say that neither all discontented feudal elements
nor all rulers had taken part in this revolt eg Jagirdars in Punjab who
has lost their land didn’t participate in it
6. Racial struggle for supremacy
According to some of the
English historians it was racial struggle for supremacy between the Black
& White
But this view is not accepted
. Certainly all whites were on one side but all blacks were not on other
side
7. War of Indian Independence
Vir
Savarkar , Ashok Mehta & JL Nehru hold this view
First given by VD Savarkar in 1909 in his book Indian war of Independence . Although his claim was vigorously denied by many &
said it was not war of independence but it can be
certainly said to be first
combined attempt by many classes of people to challenge a foreign power.
Later Historiography,
though accepting the popular character of the Revolt, laid emphasis on its backward -looking character. Bipin Chandra has
stressed this point: “The entire movement lacked a unified and forward
looking programme to be implemented after the capture of power”
Conclusion : It was something more than a Sepoy mutiny but something less than a national revolt
It was not national because
the popular character of the revolt was limited to North India alone while regions & groups
who were benefitted from colonial rule remained loyal & infact helped
in crushing the revolt
There was no consensus
or national cause for which they were fighting for . Everybody was fighting for
his/her petty gains & even if Britishers accepted their terms, they
were ready to join them
RC Majumdar – It was neither first nor national not war of independence
Its importance was indirect and posterior . As it is said that Julius Caesar dead was more powerful than when he was alive. The same thing can be said about the Mutiny of 1857. Whatever might have been its original character, it soon became a symbol of challenge to the mighty British power in India . It remained a shining example before the nascent nationalism in India in its struggle for independence from British yoke.
Was it organised , planned revolt or spontaneous ?
No reliable account left hence it is difficult to ascertain
Our study of history is based on British record of revolt of 1857 . Rebels did not leave any record . British suppressed any favorable mention of the revolt
If one look at the Chronology of events , it looks like the start of Revolt was spontaneous without any planning of mass uprising at same time . After it started , there was some communication between Sepoys of different regiments, Leaders of different places & some elements of organisation and planning was also present . But element of planning and organisation can’t be overemphasized.
Arguments for
Spontaneous Start
Bahadur Shah vacillated at the thought of becoming the Shahenshah-e-Hindustan to lead the revolt. If it was fully planned , then this wouldn’t have happened.
All the rebellious troops didn’t rise simultaneously
If one observes the dates of mutiny it would appear that as the news of the mutiny in one town traveled to the next , the sepoys took up arms.
Elements of
Organised Revolt later on
Bahadur Shah, after initial
vacillation, wrote letters to all the chiefs and
rulers of India urging them to organize a confederacy of Indian states to
fight and replace the British regime (as shown in Azamgarh
Proclamation)
Tantya Tope , commander of Nana Sahib later faught with Lakshmi Bai suggesting correspondance
between different leaders and mobilisation of resources in each other’s
help
It is clear that there was communication between the sepoy lines of various cantonments.
Sepoys or their
emissaries moved from one station to another to join revolt . People were thus planning
and speaking about the rebellion
Charles Ball noted that nightly Panchayat
of Sepoy leaders gathered in the Kanpur sepoy lines
to decide on further actions. What this suggests is that some of the decisions were
taken collectively.
Earlier there were theories that Message was conveyed to common public by circulation of chapattis, lotus flowers , propaganda by sanyasis , faqirs and mandarins. But this is uncertain and highly unlikely.
Causes of failure of Revolt of 1857
Revolt lacked universal support – various sections remained alienated – princes, merchants, intelligentsia
Lack of unity among Indians
Soldiers of Punjab & South India didn’t revolt & even helped to suppress mutiny
Possibility of revival of Mughals created fear among Sikhs who had faced much of oppression from Mughals earlier
Rajput Chieftains & Nizam of Hyderabad was suspicious of Maratha power
Zamindars in Bengal were creation of British & they supported them
Revolt lacked central & effective leadership. Strength & energy of insurgents couldn’t be channelized in absence of effective leaders . Although Indians had Rani Lakshmi Bai, Tantya Tope etc but they were no match to professionals like Havelock etc
Revolt was poorly organised & no unity of action & coordination . Many a time resurgent acted like unruly mob
Revolt was retrogressive in character . Leaders were devoid of modern outlook . They wanted to go to old order & hence intelligentsia not only remained aloof but helped in suppressing the revolt
Leaders were suspicious & jealous of each other . Begum of Awadh quarreled with Maulwi Ahmadullah . Similar was the case between Ahmadullah and Mughal Nawab
British had superior arms & backed by industrialized nation who can keep the war machinery running for long time & on other side rebels were short of ammunition .
Luckily for the Britishers, Crimean & Chinese wars were concluded in 1856 & as a result soldiers numbering 1,10,000 poured into India from all parts of the world to suppress revolt.
Railways, post & telegraph helped in fast movement of troops + facilitated exchange of info to coordinate their operations
British attitude after Revolt
1 . Transfer of Power
Power to govern passed from East India Company to British Crown through Act of 1858
Reason was political opinion in England which held that Company’s economic & administrative policies were responsible for widespread discontent among different segments of Indian society erupting in form of Revolt of 1857.
Now Secretary of State for India aided by a Council was to be responsible for governance of India . Earlier this power was with Directors of Company
2. Change in Military Organisation
Number of
European soldiers was increased and fixed at one European to two Indian soldiers in
Bengal Army and two to five in Bombay and Madras armies
European
troops were kept in key geographical and military positions. The crucial branches of the
army like artillery were put exclusively in European hands.
Organisation of the
Indian section of the army was now based on the policy of
“divide and rule”. Regiments were created on
the basis of caste , community and region to prevent the development of any
nationalistic feeling among the soldiers .
3. Divide & Rule
British thought that revolt was a conspiracy hatched by the Muslims & they were severely punished and discrimination made against them in public appointments
Later, Policy of preferential treatment of the Muslims was adopted towards the end of the 19th century. This contributed to the growth of communalism.
4. New Policy Towards the Princes
Earlier policy of annexation was now abandoned and the rulers of these states were now authorized to adopt heirs.
Authority of the Indian rulers over particular territories was completely subordinated to the authority of the British. They were converted into a Board of Privileged Dependents.
5. Search for new friends
Found in Zamindars whose existence depended on
them