Ruling the Countryside Class 8 SST 🎯 || One Shot || Aditya Sir

Hello ji. So brother, what's up? Is life fun or not? Tell me that first. So today, your Adi bhaiya is back in front of you once again. What will we study today, Adi bhaiya? Tell me. So friends, today we will study a powerful one-shot of the entire Ruling the Countryside. Wherever your old SST book is running, this will be the third chapter of History. It's a very interesting chapter. It's full of stories. So it will be fun today in class. Get a notebook, a nice pen, sit cross-legged, put on your earphones, and wherever I tell a story, enjoy the story, and wherever I say, take down notes little by little. I promise that after this video, this chapter of yours will be so well-prepared that you will say, "Bhaiya, bring the paper! I'll go and write the answers right now." I'll write as many answers as you ask. It will be fun. Ready? So let's start. Today's class is full of energy. Full of positivity. We will start first with The Turning Point. So friends, if you remember a few stories, we had studied in the previous chapter, which was named? From Trade to Territory. How the British government, which came to India as traders, became rulers. How they captured territories. So, this story is well remembered, brother. Then what happens? Now, in 1765, what happens, friends? The British government gets the Diwani rights. Oh brother, what is this? Diwani rights, is it some Diwali right? No, not Diwali, it's Diwani rights. What does it mean? It means, from today, you are the owner of this area, brother. Which area? Bengal, brother. Bengal. So that year was 1765. What was the year, son? 1765 was a very important year for Indian history. After winning the Battle of Buxar. So you must remember, in 1757, the Battle of Plassey took place in Bengal, which was with whom? Remember with me, revise. Battle of Plassey was with whom? Yes, brother, I remember. It was with Siraj-ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal. He fought, but unfortunately lost due to Mir Jafar, his governor commander, who betrayed him. Like a Cut-piece situation. Then who came? Then came Mir Qasim. What happened with Mir Qasim? The Battle of Buxar took place. And there too, the British government won. But after winning, when did the Battle of Buxar take place? Son, remember, it was in 1764. Very good, brother. I remember. Very good. Now the British East India Company got the Diwani rights. From whom? From the Mughal Emperor. From whom? From Shah Alam II. He wasn't a very strong king, a weak king. The British government used to control him like this, "Whatever we say, you will do, and whatever we say, you will order." So the British government controlled him like this and said, "Hey, order us that we are the Nawabs of Bengal. We will collect all the Diwani, meaning taxes." So Shah Alam sahib said, "As you say, government, take it." So, brother, they got the Diwani rights. Now they got the Diwani rights. With this, the company, brother, the company got the legal right that now the company is no longer a trader, a businessman, brother. Now the company is officially, in a way, the ruler of a place. It will trade and collect taxes. This is a very dangerous, dangerous situation. This is a dangerous situation where now the land revenue will be collected, and this is called Diwani rights, right? The king himself made them, basically gave them Diwani rights. Understand the meaning of Diwani rights, understand the basics. The land tax, now the British government will have to pay it to the people living under them. This is called Diwani rights. Understood, brother? And civil justice in the provinces of, yes, the area. Look, Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa. Brother, they got big areas of India. And what more could they want? You got Bengal, you got Bihar, you got Orissa. You got a lot. Because they had come to India for trading. So, brother, they will remain as they were. Their dream of profit was still the same. What was the main goal? To earn so much profit. Wow, so much money, money, money! That was their goal, and they worked hard for it. Think about it, someone is bringing goods from England, bringing money, giving money to people here, buying goods, then taking them to England. So they are not earning money here. The people of India are earning money. This person thought, "This is not right. Here, the people of India are earning money, and we are losing. We are working hard, we are earning like mediators." So what's the problem? They said, "Let something happen so that we earn money from India itself, then it will be fun, brother. Then we will be the real rich." So they said, "Okay, we will do business. We will also collect this land revenue." Now, look, now we are getting money without doing anything. Now we don't have to bring it from England. These people are giving us money. Then we are getting work done by them. Then we are taking their goods to England and selling them to people there. So much fun. So much fun, morning and evening. The British were singing songs like this. But there was a problem. Oh, what was the problem? The problem was that the hunger, the hunger for revenue, to get more and more money, and why is that money needed? Understand that first. There are three points, brother. So that they can buy Indian goods. Buy Indian goods like cotton, silk, indigo, and sell them abroad. To pay for its army. Brother, you must remember, they brought a technique called Subsidiary Alliance, where they said, "The army will be provided only by us. No king will keep an army. If you take the army from us, then we will give our army." Now, up to here, it's fine. But if you take your army, you have to feed them, give them something to drink, pay their salary. So where will the money come from? So the money will come from here. Apart from that, to finance administration and trade. So that our rule continues. If someone is made Viceroy, someone is made Governor, you have to give them money, right? Where will that money come from? So they needed money. So the company began to focus on how to extract more money from Indian farmers. So the company focused on how to loot more and more money from Indian farmers. Loot money in abundance. And how will they loot? This entire chapter is about this story, friends. They started different experiments with Indian land revenue. Someone said, "We will collect revenue like this." Someone said, "No, let's do this." Someone said, "Let's do this." Different British officers came. Different people gave different systems. And in this series, we will study in this chapter. This is a series of experimentation, how different experiments were done with land revenues, and we will study three major experiments. How was the introduction? It's still the introduction. Now let's start. So the story starts from here, basically, the three revenue systems of British India. Three different types of revenue systems came. There were smaller ones too, but they were not that popular. They were subsidiaries of these. Meaning, someone made a slight change. These three were the main ones, among which the first is The Permanent Settlement. Which one? The Permanent Settlement. Its name itself is somewhat clear that something is permanent, and it is also known by the name of The Zamindari Story. What is this? I will try to explain it to you with a very simple example. So what used to happen, many years ago, when the British came to India, when they lived in England, meaning in Britain, it's the same thing. There, there is a landlord, who is called a landowner in English, I guess I have written that word. Yes, English Landlord. So, there is an English landlord. He has no work. His job is to see, this is my very large land. And on this land, what am I doing? I am getting people to work. That's my job. I don't do it. My job is nothing. It's my land. People will come and work on that land. In return, what do I get? Whatever money comes from it, I will get it. That's it. I am just the landowner. The British thought, "Let's do the same thing. What do we do? We will hire big landowners in India for ourselves. And who will they be? They will be ours, Zamindars." In Hindi, it's called Zamindar. Whoever has land is a Zamindar. So they said, "Okay, brother. Whoever has land is a Zamindar, and from today he will work for us." Simple. We will fix the tax. And he will just bring us as much tax as we have told him. This is called Zamindari. Now, look what happened. 1793, 1793. Okay, keep listening to the story. In 1793, the Governor at that time, who was he? Who was he, son? Understand carefully. Governor General. Governor General was Lord Cornwallis. Who, son? Say with me. Lord Cornwallis. Cornwallis must have eaten a lot of corn, that's why corn is in his name. Remember it like this. He introduced a system in Bengal, which he named? He named it Permanent Settlement. He said, "Let's do one thing. Look, if we change it repeatedly, you will feel bad, we will feel bad. For your well-being, for life, we will fix it permanently. For example, let's suppose 20%. This is an example, son. They might have said something like this. Let's do one thing, let's settle it at 20%. If you earn 100 rupees, or if you grow 100 kg of any crop, give us 20 kg of it, or sell it and give us 20 rupees. This is a simple tax. You have to pay this for life. Nothing more than this." Did some people like this? Some people liked it. The company appointed Zamindars. The company appointed Zamindars to collect taxes from small peasants. So there is a big Zamindar. He has a very large land under him. And he has rented out that land to poor peasants. Now those peasants come there. They do their farming. They grow something. Now what do they have to do first? They first have to pay money to the Zamindar for working on his land. And then they have to pay so much money to that Zamindar that he has to pay tax further. So the Zamindar used to take 70-80% of the money from them. So, brother, the problem started here. The Zamindar is taking so much money that nothing is left for the farmer. The farmer is still starving, even though he is working. The revenue rate was fixed. Here, it was important that the revenue rate would not change. It would be fixed. So some people are liking this very much. The British thought, "Wow, what is happening? A windfall has come. Now the earth will turn upside down. They have brought such a great idea." But it was not good for Indians, brother. For them, the tax was too high. If a Zamindar, and look, if any Zamindar fails. Meaning, if a Zamindar cannot pay. Cannot pay the tax, then what will happen? Not much. They will just take your land. What will they do? Your land will be auctioned. Auction, meaning, if anyone wants to buy it, buy it at a very low price. They will take your land. So, brother, now the Zamindar will be scared that his lands will be taken away. And out of fear, will he oppress the peasants or not? Yes, brother, he will oppress. He has to recover his money. What does he care? He is recovering the money. He is taking it forcefully. So who will be crushed? Brother, the Indian peasant, the poor Indian farmer will be crushed. And brother, that's what will happen. Now look, look. At first, this seemed beneficial. I told you, at first it seemed very good. What's the problem with this? The Zamindar will work like an English landlord. Agriculture will improve. And the company will get a fixed income. It's like a salary for the company, it will come every month. Now everything seems good, but there are problems. What are the problems? Look at the impact. But in reality, what happens? Brother, the tax rate was very, very high. What was it? The tax rate became very high. Because of which many Zamindars could not pay it, and they had to give up their land. Their land was lost. And this is where the anger started. Zamindars lost their land. Now, brother, many of these Zamindars did not invest in the land or help farmers. Many Zamindars, like the government, the British at that time, what did they think? They thought, "The farmer is poor. He has no money. What will he do? We will Zamindars." They had a good idea. People did not execute it. Now their idea was that we will take money from the Zamindars. So the Zamindar has land, so what will he do? He will help his farmers. How can I get them fertilizers, make the soil fertile, get good seeds, so that basically their crop yield increases, and if the crop yield increases, then more money will come, which means it will come to me too. And the British government, the British government said, "This is win-win in every way. Everyone is happy." But the opposite happened. The Zamindars were lazy. The Zamindars said, "Why should we invest money from our own pockets? We need profit. We need maximum profit." Everyone is greedy. They said, "Okay, put it on the farmers. Let the farmers die of hunger, we don't care. Just give us our money." Even if the Zamindar had helped the farmers in between, supported them, maybe this wouldn't have happened. Do you understand? So because of this, the problem arose here. Zamindars did not invest. They said, "We don't care." Peasants were exploited. The poor farmers were exploited. They had to pay even if the crops failed. Now, see how bad it is. Whether your crop grew or not. Your crop failed. Still, the Zamindar says, "I don't care. You pay me my money." "I don't care. Give it from somewhere, borrow it. I don't care. My land should not be taken away." Such a situation arose. So, brother, the peasant was very troubled. What should he do? The company's income, and on top of that, brother, the company initially thought it was great. Having fun. Having fun. Having fun. Then they saw, "Oh, the company's income has become completely fixed. How will it increase? This is a problem for life that we will only earn 100 rupees for life." "Oh, but inflation is increasing. And more money is needed every year. Everyone's salary increases." So this was also a problem. So the Permanent Settlement failed to benefit both the company and the cultivator. That, brother, the company also suffered losses. What seemed like, "Wow, wow, wow, what a system they made. The world turned upside down, the earth turned upside down." It turned out to be a complete mess. That, brother, neither the company benefited nor the poor farmer cultivator benefited. Everyone suffered losses. Thus, the Permanent Settlement failed. What happened? Failed. Permanent Settlement was brought. Now revise. When did it come? 1793. When did it come, son? 1793. Who brought it? Lord Governor General Cornwallis. Governor General Lord Cornwallis brought it. Where did he bring it, son? In the Bengal region. Okay, now let's talk. Further. We understood, brother, Permanent Settlement. So, son, now comes the Ryotwari System. First, Permanent Settlement. Second, Ryotwari System. Now, what is this Ryotwari System? Where is it from? First, understand this. It is from Madras and Bombay. Meaning, the South. Now we are going a bit south in India. Here the system was different. We were in the North, meaning in the Bengal region. So in the Bengal region, there were Zamindars, so Zamindari was happening. But here in Madras, in Bombay, there were no Zamindars. Here, the farmers had small plots of land. Someone had 50 yards, someone had 30 yards, someone had one acre, someone had 10 acres, someone had 100 acres. So these small farmers, who had their own land, son. They are called Ryots. What are they called? Ryots. Understand the meaning of the word. In South India, the British noticed there were no Zamindars. Here the land was mostly cultivated by individual farmers. Individual farmers, who are called Ryots. What are they called? Ryots. Yes, brother, it's simple. Understood? Now, look further. So these Ryots. Now, brother, there is no Zamindar here. So what to do? So they wrote this. So a new system was introduced. Who introduced it? Thomas Munro sahib. Who is he? Thomas Munro, a powerful man, brother. Look, now Thomas Munro sahib said, he said, "Let's do a different system." Meaning, he thought like a scientist. He said, "I am a scientist. I will bring something different." He said, "I will go to each person because everyone's land is different. Some small, some big, some fertile, some non-fertile." Then he said, "Let's form a committee. We will appoint government officials. They will go to everyone's farm and check, test, and then on the spot, 'Yes, brother, your land is very good. You also have a lot of money, meaning the land is big, fertile. We will take 40% from you.' They went to someone else. His land is barren, poor fellow. He said, 'Okay, your land is also small. Your land is not barren either. Let's do one thing, you give 8%.' So they made a system like this, which was called? The Ryotwari System. Okay? So the company dealt directly with the farmers. Directly with the farmers. And the tax was fixed. What? On the basis of soil quality and crops being grown. On two factors. What is the first factor? What is the quality of your soil? And what is the second factor? What crop do you grow? Based on these two factors, what happened? They decided the tax. Which the farmer would pay annually. Pay once a year. But again, it didn't happen as they thought. What problems might have arisen in this? It's worth understanding. The first biggest problem was wrong estimation. Meaning, how would the government official who came to estimate know what the situation would be in the future? There was no technology. He was guessing, talking to people. "Oh, Mr. Sharma's farm yields a lot. Let's take 40% from Mr. Sharma." So, brother, the revenue rates were still very high. Too high. They made them so high, brother. They thought, "300 kg of sugarcane will grow." "Sugarcane will grow here, 100 kg." Now, 30% of 300 kg, think about it, around 90 kg. They said, "Give us 90 kg as tax." The farmer said, "Okay." "Oh, the sugarcane will only grow 100 kg." And they asked for how much? 90. "Oh, that's 90% of his produce." So this is how the problem happened. This is how the problem happened.

Farmers had to borrow money to pay taxes. Did farmers have to borrow money to pay taxes? And which was the problem? Because if they, poor things, if they failed to pay taxes, if, let's say, the monsoon failed, the crop failed, they wouldn't be able to pay the money, and they would get trapped in the cycle of loans for their entire lives. Often they would commit suicide, or their land would be taken away from them.

Now, during the time of the zamindars in our Bengal, what was it like? A big zamindar, man. If his land was snatched, no problem. He wouldn't feel that much pain and would buy more land. And he would have other lands too. A poor farmer didn't have his own land. But here, the farmer, brother, has his own land. He has 100 yards of land. On that, he used to grow food for himself, he lived. He lived happily. The British snatched that land from him. So he would commit suicide. Why would he? Because for him, that was everything, man. That land was the most important asset of his life. On that very land, he used to grow his food. He didn't care about having a job. He knew he grew his own food, ate it, and sustained his family, and that land was taken away. So, this system failed terribly, terribly. The Ryotwari system failed badly. Understood? All three systems failed. There is no doubt about it. I'm telling you beforehand. Which was the first one we studied? Permanent Settlement. Lord Cornwallis brought it to Bengal. It failed, it failed. Why did the Ryotwari system fail here? Because, brother, the tax rates were still very high. Farmers had to borrow money to pay loans, and the situation there also became bad. So, they failed here too. And who introduced this? Remember this. Remember this. Lord Munro, right? Thomas Munro sahib. Remember their names. Okay? Two are done, brother. I've understood two. Now, which one is left, child? One last one remains, which is called the Mahalwari System. Is there any mahal in this? Yes, there is a mahal, but it's not the mahal you've heard of. This is a different mahal. So, what was the Mahalwari System? Let's not write here, let's write a bit lower. So, in the Mahalwari System, the word 'mahal' basically means, what does it mean, child? Village. What is it? Village. You all must have your own village too. Tell me, which is your village? Although, it's not necessary. I don't have a village. My parents' village is there. I don't have a village. My father belongs to Agra, my mother to Aligarh, so they are from cities. So, it's not necessary for everyone to have a village. It's okay. Okay, child? So, 'mahal' means village. If we talk about the North-West, meaning the Uttar Pradesh region, in our Uttar Pradesh region, you'll see this system came, which is called the Mahalwari System. And what was this system? It was a new system. It came in 1822. Think, 1793, and this came when? At least 30 years after the first Permanent Settlement came in 1793. This came in 1822, brought by Holt Mackenzie. Holt Mackenzie sahib brought it very late. And if you've seen that movie, Lagaan, with Aamir Khan, where there's a cricket match, and at the end, you know, have you seen the movie Lagaan? So, the story shown in the movie Lagaan is of this very system. It's the Mahalwari System there. The Mahalwari System is basically simple: look, in your village, you have great unity. You live with love and affection. Everyone is happy. They are happy in the village. So, why not do one thing? Let's set a fixed target for the entire village. The village's target is to pay revenue. How much? Let's say, 100 kilos of revenue. So, the entire village has to give 100 kilos of grain together. As simple as that. Now, who is responsible for this? The village headman, the panch, it's his responsibility, man. He will manage it somehow in his village. So, this is the system. Mahalwari. So, what is the Mahalwari System? The revenue is collected village-wise, which is called mahal. The village headman, who is the sarpanch, will collect it and go and give the money to the company. And the revenue will be revised periodically, once a year. It's not permanently fixed. It means, this year it might be 30%. Next year it might be 50%. Or this year it might be 100 kilos. Next year it might be 300 kilos. It totally depends on what the company's mood is, man. Just like in that match game, if you watch that movie, they say that if you win the cricket match against us, if you win the cricket match against us, then the revenue of your village will be waived. But if you lose, then how does he say? You'll have to pay double the revenue. Double, double the revenue. This is for the entire village. So, that's the story here: the revenue is collected from the entire village.

Now, what are its advantages and disadvantages? Let's talk about the impact. It was supposed to be more flexible. It was made so that it would be quite flexible. But the burden still fell on the peasants. The problem is that every time, what is happening? Even if the responsibility is someone else's, like the sarpanch here, or the zamindar there, the one who is suffering at the end is the farmer. Because the money has to be paid by the farmer, or the grain has to be given by the farmer. Now, the sarpanch is a big man. He has more land. He's not facing any difficulty. But the poor farmer, poor thing, is facing a lot of difficulty. Because 40-50% of his income is gone. How will he run his household with 40-50%? How will he raise his children? How will he take care of everyone? He won't be able to, right? Earlier, it wasn't like the wife was also earning, and the husband was also earning, like it is today. The husband is earning, and the wife is also earning. It wasn't like that before. Before, only one person used to earn. So, there was a lot of pressure on him. What could he do, poor thing? Nothing. The officials, meaning the officers, used to overestimate the land's productivity. The same thing: 500 kilos will definitely come from your village. Man, your village is great, man, very much so. Now, the villagers are troubled, thinking, man, the entire village together can barely produce 700-800 kilos of grain. And out of that, they will take 500 kilos from us. So, how will it work? So, basically, the British government used to overestimate. They would say, if this much is real, they would say, no, no, this much will definitely come, and give this much tax. Now, if it was less in reality, they wouldn't change the tax. The tax was fixed beforehand. So, villages suffered from a heavy tax burden. Villages suffered from a heavy tax burden and finally, this system also stopped. In fact, this system continued for a very long time, for a very long time. Then, after some time, this system had to be stopped. Understood? Understood? So, did you understand these three systems in an interesting way? Very good. Because here, we have conquered half of the chapter well. Now, the remaining half is about a particular crop called Indigo. Did you understand everything up to here? So, make a revision note. How will you make it? I'll tell you. Write just as I am writing. So, you write like this. Put a heading. Three Revenue Systems. Okay? Write. Just write as much as I say. If you write even this much, your work will be excellent. Which ones are they, child? Tell me. Say it with me. Which was the first one? Which one? Yes, it was Permanent Settlement, right? Very good. Say it with me. The first one, brother, was Permanent Settlements. Permanent Settlements. And when did these Permanent Settlements come? They came in 1793. And who started it? It's important to know who started it. Lord Cornwallis did. Okay? The spelling might be wrong. It's okay. Understood? Yes, understood. Now, let's talk about the second one. Revision. The second one, brother, was Ryotwari System. Ryotwari System. Yes, brother. Okay. Who brought this, sahib? Who brought this? Tell me. Lord Cornwallis was here. Who will be here? Thomas Munro. Thomas Munro. And which area is this from? Remember, Bombay and Madras, meaning the current Chennai. This is done. Now, brother, the last one, which we just taught, which one is it? It's the third one, Mahalwari System. Okay? You will get these notes, don't worry, but still, write it. Just write as much as I tell you with me, child. You won't have any tension in the exam. That's my promise. When did this come? Yes, remember this. 1822. It came much later, right? And who brought it? Lord Mackenzie. M-A-C-K-E-N-Z-I-E. Lord Mackenzie. Okay? And where did it come? In UP, parts of the Uttar Pradesh region. Okay? So, this is our complete revision. Take a screenshot of this, or write it with me right now, by pausing. Because if you write this now, you won't forget these three systems: Permanent Settlements, Ryotwari System, Mahalwari System. In Permanent, what did they fix? Here, in Ryotwari, what is not fixed? But they will check each person's land. And in Mahalwari, what will they collect from the entire village at once? These were the three systems. It's clear. Now, let's talk about the crops of Europe. Now, let's change the story a bit. We understood everything here, it was fun. Now, let's talk about another story. This story will change completely now. Let's go to Europe. So, what crops are grown in Europe? Let's talk about that.

So, the British persuaded or forced cultivators in various parts of India to produce other commercial crops. See what happens? Europe, man, things are very expensive there. Because the cost is high there, everything is expensive. So, these things, like jute, tea, are not there. At most, what is there? People are very fond of dyeing clothes. They want beautiful clothes to be dyed, so life is enjoyable. But dyeing is very expensive there. So, what to do about dyeing? They have to grow it from somewhere. So, brother, what do they do? They grow things that are known in Europe in India. For example, they will grow jute in Bengal, tea in Assam, sugarcane in our Uttar Pradesh, wheat in Punjab, cotton in Maharashtra, and rice in Madras. These are the things. The British used a variety of methods for increasing the cultivation of crops that they needed. Now, what is the most amazing thing in this? There is one crop, Indigo, which had a great worldwide demand. Now, let's talk about Indigo. What is this Indigo, brother? And why is there so much demand for it? Why the demand for Indian Indigo? We will talk about this. So, this demand for Indigo starts because, as I told you, people in Europe are very fond of clothes. And this flower you see here, this is the Indigo flower. The blue color that comes from it is a very royal blue color. Besides this, other colors also come in blue, but they are not good. They are dull, faded colors. They are not enjoyable. The blue color that comes from Indigo in clothes gives a royal look. And it sells for a lot of money. So, that's why there is a great demand for Indigo, brother. People in Europe are going crazy, thinking, man, if we can get clothes dyed with Indigo from somewhere, it would be great. So, the British said, okay, brother. Okay. So, by the 13th century, Indian Indigo was being used by cloth manufacturers in Italy, France, Britain to dye clothes. But the price of Indigo was very high. European cloth manufacturers therefore had to depend on another plant called 'woad' to make violet and blue dyes, which were pale and dull.

Now, what happens, brother? Before the 13th century, they used to import dyes, Indigo, from different places. But in the 13th century, something particularly dangerous happened. What happened in the 13th century? The cultivation of Indigo worldwide stopped. And there is a secret reason for that, which I will tell you later. You will understand later in the story why Indigo cultivation stopped worldwide in the 13th century. It stopped everywhere. Only one place was left: India. They said, okay, grow it in India. They started growing it, brother, vigorously in India. They started using different techniques, because they had to export it to Italy, France, Britain, everywhere. They started doing it. Now, the European cloth manufacturers, who didn't have this, what could they do? They had to depend on another plant called 'woad' to make violet and blue colors to dye clothes. But it's very dull. I told you, it's not enjoyable. So, they wanted Indigo. But what is the problem with Indigo wherever it is grown? The secret is, whoever starts growing Indigo, stops after a few years. You will understand its secret later. The poor Indians didn't understand. They didn't know what was going to happen to them. What was happening to them, and they started with them. Now, what will happen next? The cloth dyers preferred Indigo. I told you, they wanted Indigo. The French began cultivating Indigo in Saint-Domingue in the Caribbean islands, Portuguese in Brazil, English in Jamaica, and the Spanish in Venezuela. By 1783-79, the production of Indigo worldwide fell by half. Cloth dyers started looking for new sources of supply from India. The same thing I told you: brother, earlier the French used to get Indigo from a place called Saint-Domingue in the Caribbean, the Portuguese from Brazil, the English from Jamaica, from different places. But I said 13th century, sorry, by 1789-1780, the worldwide production of Indigo had halved. And why this happened, I will tell you. And when this happened, the people who dyed clothes in Britain, brother, started looking for an alternative. And who comes forward as an alternative, brother? Our dear India. What, child? Our dear India. It emerges as a contender. As Britain turns to India. It is written, Britain. Now it will turn to India. India is already their colony. They are ruling Britain wonderfully. So, let's grow it from India. So, what did the company do? They saw India to expand the area under Indigo cultivation. They said, brother, now we will cultivate it vigorously in India. By 1810, by 1810, 95% of the Indigo imported into Britain was from India. Now, what a big deal that is. Think about it. 95% of the Indigo being grown, reaching Britain, is from India. 95%. So, think about how much Indigo is being grown in India. Now, many company officials left their jobs, and numerous Scotsmen and Englishmen came to India and became planters, attracted by the prospect of higher profits.

Now, understand this: it's not just the government doing this. Meaning, the British East India Company had become a kind of government. Although they were businessmen, they acted like a government in India. Brother, people from Scotland, England, Britain are coming to India, leaving their jobs, leaving their jobs, and coming to India, buying land, and growing Indigo there. Buying land and growing Indigo, and making such huge profits because there is a lot of poverty in India. They are growing it in poverty. But there, in Europe, its prices are skyrocketing. So, brother, they are selling it at skyrocketing prices there. A wonderful system. They said, brother, there is blind money, earn, earn, earn as much as possible, enjoy. Now, two techniques were used to grow Indigo in India. There were two methods: the first was called 'Nij' cultivation. Which one? Nij. Which was the second? Raiti cultivation. The same old Ryotwari system, that same Raiti. This is Nij, something new. We will discuss Nij and understand it. Then both of ours will be clear. It's very easy. Very easy. See, there were two simple structures. The first one is the Ryoti System. Actually, the second one came. Let's study the first one first. What is Nij cultivation? What is Nij? What does Nij mean? I gave you an example earlier: people are coming from England, buying land in India, and just sitting like kings, and employing people? Yes, brother, you work, you work, you work, you work, and just earn profits. This is that system. So, brother, a planter is a person here. Who is it? A planter. Anyone who owns land. So, brother, whoever owns a large piece of land. And what are they growing there? They are growing Indigo there. Growing it. They are not growing it themselves. Okay? Understood? The word 'planter' is understood? The planter produces Indigo in lands that he directly controlled. The lands that he directly controlled. Planters found it difficult to expand the area under Nij cultivation. But the planter was facing a lot of difficulty in expanding Nij cultivation. Why was he facing difficulty? You will understand. Indigo could be cultivated. Now comes that secret point which I was holding back for a long time. You are saying, brother, you keep saying I will tell you, I will tell you, but when will you tell me, and what are you talking about telling? That, child, is this point. The secret was that Indigo had a special characteristic. First thing, Indigo only grows on very fertile land, very fertile, extremely fertile. And if you grow Indigo, your fertile land will stop being fertile. It will gradually become barren and spoiled. This is the secret. This was the reason why, by the 17th century, the worldwide production had halved. Because the land became barren. The farmers who were growing it, poor things, became millionaires for a time. They earned money, then became completely poor. Because on that land, you can't grow anything anymore. You can't grow anything. It became so spoiled. So, this was a very big secret problem. So, brother, Indigo could be grown on fertile land, and where there was fertile land, brother, it was already very expensive. The land was very expensive, and it was very difficult to buy it. So, large plantations required a large number of laborers. So, if you do large plantations, you will need a lot of labor. You will have to hire people. Okay? At a time when peasants were usually busy with their rice cultivation. And the time for growing this comes, the time when most farmers are growing rice. Right? In India, rice is a staple diet. Rice is the main thing. So, their focus is also on growing rice or cultivating it. Now, they are employing us in Indigo. What is Indigo for? It also required many plows and bulls. It requires a lot for this. To till the land. By the late 19th century, planters, they were...

Reluctant. Reluctant means to avoid. They used to avoid expanding the area under nij cultivation. So, basically, in simple words, nij cultivation is this: there is a person called a planter. He has a lot of land. He will come and hire people. He will buy bullock carts, ploughs, horses, carts, bullock carts, everything. He will buy the whole system. Then he will hire labor and get farming done. This is called nij cultivation. But the problem with this was that buying large tracts of land was already very expensive. On top of that, labor was not available because all the labor at that time went to grow rice. Bullock carts meant a huge investment. So people often couldn't do it. This was called nij cultivation.

Now, what was the second option? Ryoti. This was a bit more common. I told you there were more problems with that because very few people could do it. Ryoti cultivation was a bit more common. You probably know the meaning of ryot. What does ryot mean? Remember? What did ryot mean? If you remember that, you will remember the whole concept. Ryot means an individual farmer. Remember? Individual farmer. This is called a ryot. So, forcing the peasant. What was happening here? Those poor small farmers who had their own land. Now they will make them grow indigo. How they will make them grow it, you will see the cleverness, the technique. This was more widespread. So what did the planters do? They were giving loans to those poor people who owned land. They were giving loans to Indian farmers, saying, "Brother, do this one thing: if you grow anything else, I won't give you a penny. I won't give you a single rupee. But if you grow indigo, then brother, I am giving you the full loan. Go ahead, I am giving you money to grow it. Don't worry. I am giving it. Just grow indigo, grow what I am telling you." In return, the ryot had to grow indigo on part of their land. And in return for that land, they had to grow indigo on a major part of their land. They said, "Okay, you can grow a little bit of your own too, but definitely grow indigo. You have to grow indigo on half the part." They said this. The planters paid them very little. The planters, those rich men, paid very little. Much less than the market price. For example, if the rate for 1 kg of indigo was ₹3000, they would give them how much? "Bring it, we bought it from you for ₹1200 per kilo." The market price for 1 kg of indigo is ₹3000. A poor farmer grew 10-15 kg. Now he is thinking that he can earn ₹20,000-25,000. That will cover his expenses for a year. At that time, a year was a lot. ₹20,000-25,000 was a huge amount. They would buy it for? "Bring ₹1200, give it to us for ₹1200." So they would do this injustice, these planters, to the poor farmers. So, the farmer was again trapped in debt, in loans, and their soil gradually became barren after indigo. I had already told you this was a secret. They didn't know that their land would become barren. And once it became barren, the peasants wanted to get out of it somehow. But they were trapped by the contract. The British trapped them, saying, "No, we have made you sign a contract." And British officers backed the planters. The British officers supported the planters, saying, "No, we support the rich man. You signed a contract, so now you have to work. You have to repay the loan money." "Okay, we will do it." What happened because of this? A resistance grew.

What happened because of this? A resistance grew. Now, understand, this is the matter of 1850. It's 1850. Does anyone remember what happened in 1857? What happened in 1857? Do you remember? Yes, very good. The Sepoy Mutiny, the first revolt happened. It was the biggest revolt. Mangal Pandey started it, and the revolt reached the Mughal Emperor in Delhi, and it became a revolt on a very large scale. It became so difficult for the British government to suppress it, you can't imagine. It was very difficult. So, finally, they were scared from 1857, and in 1859, all this system was happening. This ryoti system, people started getting scared. Now, because of this, a new revolt will begin, which is called The Blue Rebellion.

Let's talk about indigo on the land of the ryot. So, in the ryoti system, the planters used to pressurize the village headmen to sign the contract. I told you they used to get contracts signed. On behalf of the ryots. Because the poor farmer wouldn't do it. Instead, they would get the village headman, the panch, to sign it. They would get the contract from them forcefully. And those who signed the contract got cash advances from the planter and loan rates of interest to produce. Whoever signed got money, and a loan to produce indigo. But the ryot had to cultivate indigo on at least 25% of the area. At least, at least, you have to grow indigo on 25% of your area. This is the rule. And when the crop was delivered to the planter after the harvest, a new loan was given to the ryot, and the cycle... Now, when they would return the indigo, they would get another loan. And this cycle would continue throughout their lives. Loan repayment, loan repayment, loan repayment. They would never be able to earn anything in their lives. The prices provided to the peasants for the indigo they produced were very low. I told you the same thing. This is what we discussed: they gave them very low prices. If the price was ₹3000 per kilo, they would give ₹1200 per kilo. Okay? So, this is the same thing written here.

Now, I told you, the last topic is The Blue Rebellion. People became so fed up with indigo. Brother, in our country, India, no one has any desire to dye clothes and wear beautiful clothes. We want freedom, that's our desire. We want to eat simple food, that's our desire. Why should we grow indigo? You are not giving us money, and we don't have any particular desire for it. What's the benefit? And on the contrary, it became a burden for us. So, gradually, people became resentful of indigo. They decided they wouldn't grow indigo, no matter what. This resentment turned into The Blue Rebellion in 1859. Two years after the 1857 revolution, the revolt of 1857, the indigo revolt happened, where all the indigo ryots, all the farmers who grew indigo, felt that they had the support of local zamindars and village headmen in the rebellion against the planters. So, the planter, who was forcing them to grow it, the village headman was also fed up. The local zamindars were also fed up because they didn't want this either. They were also from the same village. If they signed on behalf of the people, would the people let them remain headmen? They would remove them. "Go away. You are causing us harm." So, for this reason, people supported the farmers, saying, "No, brother, you are right. We are with you." And this rebellion started to spread. But as soon as it spread, the British government was scared. They knew they had been badly beaten just two years ago. In 1857, they quickly formed a committee. A committee was quickly formed, and the committee said, "No, absolutely, this is wrong. The farmers are absolutely right. No one will be forced." They immediately resolved the problem. They knew that if this fight continued, they would be beaten badly again. So, it was better to appease them quietly. At least they would stay in India. So, they came to the indigo districts. The mystery of the ryot's tyranny, the tyranny, meaning the bad behavior of the planters, and the horror of the indigo system. The government did what? They set up an Indigo Commission. This is very important, brother. What happened? An Indigo Commission was formed. Basically, a group of five or six people was formed, who had to decide what to do. This system was for inquiry. This commission found the planters guilty. They said that the planters, brother, are at fault. They are forcing people. They criticized their rude methods of growing indigo, their greedy methods. And after the revolt, indigo production shifted to operations in Bihar. And indigo production shifted only to Bihar.

Now, for this reason, friends, you know that in Bihar, in 19... you see, I'll tell you, in 1918, in Bihar, the first person who fought for indigo was in the Champaran district. C-H-A-M-P-A-R-A-N, Champaran district of Bihar. The first fight was fought by Mahatma Gandhi. His first fight in India was this. He reached Bihar in 1918 and fought for the indigo cultivators in Champaran. And with this, the chapter ends, brother. Tell me, did you enjoy it or not? If you enjoyed reading, then quickly write "OP OP" in the comment section so that I know. And give your lovely feedback. And trust me, if you are watching the video this far, brother, I am very, very proud of you. And I guarantee that you will get very good marks. You will get very good marks. This is my heartfelt promise. Our journey will continue like this. We will study the entire social science together, and not only will we get full marks in our exams, but we will also understand the fun of social studies. We will become a part of good stories. So, this continues, friends. I hope you enjoyed today's class. You learned something. And had a lot of fun. We will meet again, friends, in another class where we will conquer another chapter. So, until then, friends, bye-bye, take care, keep having fun, and Jai Hind.