The Deccan Agrarian Distress

In 1875, a major agrarian outbreak erupted in Maharashtra's Poona and Ahmednagar districts. Land revenue was paid directly to the peasant, who was also recognised as the owner of his land, under the Ryotwari system. The Deccan peasant, like peasants in other Ryotwari areas, found it difficult to pay land revenue without falling into the clutches of the moneylender and losing his land. As a result, tensions between peasants and moneylenders, the majority of whom were outsiders — Marwaris or Gujaratis — grew.

 

•    At the same time, three other events occurred. The American Civil War had caused a surge in cotton exports in the early 1860s, driving up prices. The end of the Civil War in 1864 resulted in a severe drop in cotton exports and a price crash. 

 

•    The peasants' feet were slipping out from under them. At the same time, in 1867, the government increased land revenue by nearly 50%. A series of poor harvests aggravated the situation.

 

•    Under these circumstances, peasants had no choice but to go to the moneylender, who used the opportunity to further tighten his grip on the peasant and his land. 

 

•    The peasant began to resent the moneylender, whom he saw as the source of his woes. To start the fire, all it took was a spark.

 

•    In December 1874, a spontaneous protest movement erupted in Sirur taluq's Kardab village. When the village peasants failed to persuade the local moneylender, Kalooram, that he should not act on a court order and demolish a peasant's house, they organised a complete social boycott of the 'outsider' moneylenders in order to force them to accept their demands in a peaceful manner.

 

•    They refused to shop in their establishments. No peasant would cultivate his or her land. Barbers, washermen, carpenters, ironsmiths, shoemakers, and other bullotedars (village servants) refused to serve them.

 

•    Nobody would work in their homes, and nobody would agree to drive their carts when the socially isolated moneylenders decided to flee to the taluq headquarters. Peasants also imposed social sanctions on peasants and bullotedars who refused to join the moneylender boycott. 

 

•    The social boycott quickly spread to villages in the districts of Poona, Ahmednagar, Sholapur, and Satara. When the social boycott failed to work, it was quickly transformed into agrarian riots. On the bazar day of May 12th, peasants gathered in Supa, Bhimthari taluq, and launched a systematic attack on the houses and shops of moneylenders.

 

•    Debt bonds and deeds signed under duress, in ignorance, or through fraud decrees, and other debt-related documents were seized and publicly burned. Within days, the unrest had spread throughout the Poona and Ahmednagar districts.

 

•    There was very little violence in this account reconciliation. There was no need for further violence once the moneylender’s oppressive instruments of oppression debt bonds were surrendered. 

 

•    The riots were, in most cases, expressions of popular sentiment and the peasants' newly acquired unity and strength. Moneylender’s homes and businesses were looted and burned in Supa, but this did not happen elsewhere.

 

•    The government acted quickly and successfully suppressed the movement. The movement's active phase lasted about three weeks, though there were sporadic incidents for another month or two. 

 

•    The Deccan uprisings, like the Pabna Revolt, had very specific goals in mind. There was no evidence of anti-colonial consciousness once more. As a result, the colonial regime was able to provide them with some protection from moneylenders through the Deccan Agriculturists' Relief Act of 1879.

 

•    The peasants' cause was once again supported by Maharashtra's modern nationalist intelligentsia. The Poona Sarvajanik Sabha, led by Justice Ranade, had already organised a successful campaign against the land revenue settlement of 1867 among the peasants, as well as in Poona and Bombay, in 1873-74. 

 

•    A large number of peasants had refused to pay the increased revenue as a result of it. This agitation instilled in the peasants a resistance mentality, which aided in the rise of peasant protest in 1875. The D.A.R. Bill was also supported by the Sabha and many nationalist newspapers.

 

•    Peasant resistance grew in other parts of the country as well. Malabar was plagued by Mappila outbreaks. Vasudev Balwant Phadke, an educated clerk, organised social banditry on a large scale in Maharashtra in 1879 by raising a Ramosi peasant force of about 50. 

 

•    Baba Ram Singh led the Kuka Revolt in Punjab, which had elements of a messianic movement. In 1872, it was crushed when 49 rebels were killed by a cannon.

 

•    During the years 1893-1894, a series of peasant riots erupted in Assam's plains due to high land revenue assessments.

 

•    Countless people were killed in gruesome shootings and bayonet charges.