Prologue continues....

With the firm control of the East India Company over most parts of

India, India became an ‘estate of the Company, and Indians their tenants’.

Earlier, goods manufactured in India were exported to Europe. But after

modern industries were set up and the manufacturing process was

revolutionized as a result of the Industrial Revolution, this trend was

reversed. Goods began to be manufactured in England and India was made

the market.

The immediate result was the collapse of Indian manufacturing

units and large-scale unemployment of artisans. In course of time, the

whole class of artisans was wiped out. Then the rulers turned to the land

and changed its ownership pattern, which resulted in the rise of big

landlords and the enslavement of small and marginal landholders. The

economy of India suffered irreparable damage.

The land revenue system

broke the backs of the small holders, who were squeezed dry by rapacious

landlords. Widespread starvation and deaths of peasants were the natural

consequence. This happened in many parts of British India. The famine

of 1770 which engulfed Bengal and Bihar is said to be the direct result of

the policy of the colonial government. It is said that almost a third of the

population of these two provinces perished in the famine.

The East India Company’s government was greedy, inhuman and totally

unmindful of the miseries they inflicted on the people. They destroyed

India’s industrial base and agriculture and converted the country into a

market for goods manufactured in England. Pandit Nehru sums up the

situation in the following words:

To be continued...