New Insights Into the Debates on Rural Indebtedness in 19Th Century Deccan

SPECIAL ARTICLE New Insights into the Debates on Rural Indebtedness in 19th Century Deccan Parimala V Rao The peasantry in the Deccan suffered from widespread n the pre-colonial Deccan of the 17th century the peasantry, indebtedness during the 19th century. In March 1881, as far as their liability to the state was concerned, comprised two categories – those who paid little or no rent to the State after touring the rural areas of Poona and Ahmadnagar I and those who paid high rent. The first category was dominated districts, which were still recovering from the by affluent Brahmins and elite Marathas who owned most of devastations caused by famine and the credit crunch the fertile lands as rent free or inam lands. The inams were land followed by the peasant revolt of 1876-79, grants often for the services rendered to the state. In the Deccan, villages and at times groups of villages were held as inam. In Mahadev Govind Ranade proposed the establishment of the Badami taluka of Belgaum district 76 complete villages and agricultural-shetkari banks. The nationalists led by 42% of arable land in the remaining 151 villages were held as Bal Gangadhar Tilak opposed the proposal. This article inam.1 So what was available for cultivation to the second cate- explores the debates on peasant indebtedness and the gory of tax paying peasants called mirasdars (holder of hereditary rights) and uparis (without hereditary rights) was intervention of nationalists on behalf of the less fertile land. This category comprised a few landlords who moneylenders to oppose even limited measures to assist were peasants from the Maratha-Kunbi castes and the rest owned peasants in the rural economy. less than five to 10 acres of land. Both the inamdars and the landlords hired wage labourers while the peasantry utilised family labour and offered surplus labour to inamdars and landlords. According to Utsa Pattnaik the “ratio of hired labour to family labour is [the] single most reliable criterion for categorising the peasantry”.2 The pre-colonial Peshwas collected taxes through tax collectors called mamlatdars who according to Sumit Guha were known to be “rigid, unfeeling and often corrupt tax gatherers”.3 The mamlatdars would seize the village crops until the revenue was paid.4 In case of famine, the peasants either perished or migrated to other parts. The famines of 1789-91 and 1802-03 drastically reduced the population.5 Ravinder Kumar states that the peasants could not complain against the mamlatdars and the Peshwa rule “imposed great suffering on the peasants”.6 Therefore, even before the British conquest, rural indebtedness was widespread in the Deccan.7 After the defeat of the Peshwa in 1818, Mountstuart Elphin- stone, who incorporated newly acquired territories, retained the entire structure of revenue administration but subordinated the mamlatdars to British collectors. In 1835, the ryotwari settlement called the Bombay Survey System was introduced. The assess- ment made in the settlement though it reduced the rates of revenue on poorer soils, was not based on a share of the gross produce, the net produce or the rental value for fixing the An earlier version of the article was presented at the Indian History revenue.8 William Wedderburn who worked as district judge Congress 2003. I would like to thank Eleanor Zelliot for going through throughout the Deccan criticised the government “for levying the article and sharing crucial insights. 20 rupees whether the crop is worth 960, 320 or 80 rupees”.9 Parimala V Rao ([email protected]) is at the Centre for Women’s He called this the “root cause of mischief for the misery of the Development Studies, New Delhi. Deccan peasants”.10 Economic & Political Weekly EPW january 24, 2009 55 SPECIAL ARTICLE The second important result was that the increase in the colo- and the indebtedness became grave. The scanty rainfall resulted nial government’s demand for land revenue compelled the peas- in crop failures and aggravated the already existing distress situ- ants to use as much land as possible for crop production.11 The ation. The gravity of the situation can be further judged by the cotton boom of the 1860s too encouraged this expansion. Accord- statistics provided by Amiya Kumar Bagchi. In 1839-40 in Poona ing to Brahma Nand’s calculation, this expansion was around district the tillage was 1,95,438 acres and land revenue collected 14.75 to 23.33 million acres or 60% during 1855-95.12 This com- was Rs 6,70,966, Rs 1,06,399 was remitted and the outstanding mercialisation of agriculture was wholly financed by the credit of amount was R s 4,944 whereas in 1875-76, the tillage was 18,75,475 merchant-moneylenders.13 The landlords who received credit at acres, the revenue collected was Rs 11,26,729 the amount remitted the rate of 12% essentially undertook this.14 was Rs 34,805 and the outstanding amount was Rs 7,037.22 The During the famine period, even the peasants who did not go refusal of the Bombay government to order the suspension of for agricultural expansion had to resort to borrowing from the large amounts of revenue in times of distress was the immediate moneylender for meeting his liabilities to the government and cause of the revolt. also to feed his family. Famines also reduced the cattle popula- The Poona Sarvajanik Sabha took an active interest in agrarian tion, which forced the average peasant to be dependent upon the problems. The sabha, was started by Ganesh Vasudeo Joshi who village moneylender for survival who charged an exorbitant was popularly known as sarvajanik kaka (“public uncle” for his interest rate of 25%.15 When a peasant borrowed from the money- tireless and unselfish efforts for public good) to act as a mediat- lender, the right of occupancy was transferred to the money- ing body between the government and the people of Poona. lender and the peasant continued to work on the same land as a Joshi was the first to wear and popularise khaddar or handspun tenant, his wife and children became virtual serfs of the money- cloth as a means of providing jobs to the rural poor and protest lender. Recurring famines transformed individual peasants into against the abolition of tariff on British imports in 1870. Under virtual tenants. the guidance of Joshi and Mahadev Govind Ranade the sabha Moneylending in the rural Deccan was dominated by the defended the interests of the peasants. It collected data on the affluent Chitpavan Brahmins along with Gujarati and Marwari peasants’ liability to the government, moneylenders, rainfall, moneylenders. They were called the sahukars. They owned a and grain reserves. It submitted a report to the government shop stocking the daily necessities of the peasantry like grains, questioning the validity of the enhanced land revenue, and cloth, vegetables oil, salt and ironware. Besides lending money extended its support to the peasants who were resisting the for these necessities they also advanced small sums of cash to pay newly revised revenue demand.23 Vasudeo Balwant Phadke a land tax. The peasants pledged their livestock and land as secu- young Chitpavan Brahmin was an employee at the Military rity for the loan. If a peasant borrowed Rs 10, at the end of 10 Finance Office in Poona. He came under the influence of Joshi. years from the date of the loan, after having repaid Rs 110 he He wore khaddar like Joshi and travelled extensively through- would still owe Rs 220 to the creditor, which was 33 times the out the Deccan assessing the effect of drought and the consequent sum actually borrowed.16 So the amount originally borrowed by distress state in 1875-76.24 the peasant was a small fraction of his total debt.17 The debt often Phadke went beyond his mentor. He organised tribal Ramoshis, continued for generations and usually the tenant was unaware of Dhangars-shepherds and Kunbi peasants. They made use of the actual source of the debt. The moneylender never returned weekly bazaars for communicating their ideas to the peasants in the land back to the cultivator and used the civil courts to take neighbouring villages and organised the village servants, crafts- possession of the land. The settlement officer of Hoshangabad men and agricultural labourers.25 They threatened the money- reported that “there is hardly a single moneylender who is not a lenders with acts of violence if they refused to handover docu- landlord”.18 ments and bonds to the rebels.26 The rebels systematically In 1851 it was estimated that about 95% of the peasants in destroyed the documents relating to loans. The impoverished Poona district were in debt to moneylenders and on an average, the Deccan peasants were interested in destroying the records of interest paid by the villagers exceeded the state revenue demands. debt transactions and they resorted to violence only when such Peasants who were paying Rs 10 to 20, as tax owed as much as attempts were resisted. The revolt took place throughout the Dec- Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 to sahukars.19 By 1870, a large number of can and Konkan but was intense in the districts of Poona and peasants were working on their own fields as hired labourers. Ahmadnagar. Over 1,000 peasants were arrested and special police posts were quickly set up in a number of villages.27 In 1 The Deccan Revolt July 1879, Phadke was arrested and Joshi put up a spirited The peasants were not the only ones to suffer at the hands of the defence in court but could not save him.

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