British Rule in West Bengal
The Battle of Buxar gave a decisive victory to the British East India Company and laid the firm ground for the Britishers in the political sphere of the Indian subcontinent [Buxar, a small fortified town located within the territory of Bihar on the banks of Ganga]. With the Treaty of Allahabad in 1765, British East India Company emerged aa a significant power. Post the victory the whole Ganges valley lay at the Companys mercy. Eventually, Shah Shuja surrendered, and Company became powerbroker throughout Oudh and Bihar. But the Company Rule was subsumed by the British Crown after the Revolt of 1857 which then continued till 1947.
Mughal rule underwent dissolution with the formal grant of Diwani of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa by the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II on 12 August 1765. Robert Clive gained the legal recognition of the status of English in Bengal. Subsequently, the Bengal Province was reorganised as the largest sub-division of British India with its seat at Calcutta (now Kolkata). In this way the foundation of the British supremacy in Bengal laid. Bengal emerged as the economic, cultural and educational hub of the British Raj and contributed significantly to the industrial revolution in Britain.
Dual government means a double system of administration. Robert Clive established it in Bengal with the surrender of Shah Alam II instead of a pension of 26 lakhs per annum. This system remained in force until 1772. With this, the Company got both Diwani Rights and Nizamat Rights over Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. The English supervisors (Collectors) were appointed to control the revenues and Deputy Diwans were appointed (who were local Nawabs) to look after Diwani. Basically, the administration was divided between the Company and the Nawab, but the whole power was concentrated in the hands of the Company. The Nawabs remained as the mere pensioners of the East India Company.
The Bengal Presidency, a colonial region of British India, consisted of undivided Bengal, i.e. East Bengal (present Bangladesh), West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Odisha and Tripura. In the 19th century, Bengal Presidency extended from the North-West Frontier Province to Burma, Singapore and Penang.
In 1905, Bengal proper was divided into West Bengal and Eastern Bengal and Assam. With further re-organisation in 1912, the presidency included Bengal, Bihar, Orissa andAssam. In 1935, the Bengal Presidency became a province. Some associated highlights: Warren Hastings (1772-1785) integrated the presidency, thereby establishing British Imperial Rule over Eastern India. He also laid the foundation of civil service in India. Lord Cornwallis introduced the Permanent Settlement in Bengal in 1793. Permanent Settlement was an agreement between the British East India Company and the landlords of Bengal to settle the land revenue. Landlords were given the rights of the land if they paid a fixed revenue to the British Government. Permanent Settlement was unsuccessful and was not introduced in the North-Western provinces. By the first half of the 19th century, the East India Company had brought major portions of India under its control.
The Revolt of 1857 is marked the beginning of an armed revolution of the grandest scale. It was one of the most massive anti-colonial uprisings anywhere in the world in the 19th century. More than 1,25,000 soldiers of the Bengal Army joined the rebellion. The Bengal Army formed the bulk of India's three Presidency Armies. The army had been serving as the "sword arm" of British Imperialism not only in India but also in other countries as well. The army was engaged in continuously fighting for its masters between 1839 and 1857 from China to Crimea.
The usage of greased cartridges was particularly difficult for the Sepoys to accept due to their caste sensitivities. They had little scope for promotion and had to bear constant humiliation by their officers as people of an inferior race. Major social classes in India were adversely affected by the imperialism were from those areas were the Bengal Army Sepoys mostly came from. Some of the other reasons include hefty land tax. Also, the land rights of zamindars and peasants were being rendered increasingly vulnerable to forfeiture. Apart from the rural roots of the rebellion, there were also urban elements involved in it. Therefore, the revolt had its genesis in political, socio-religious, economic causes and military causes. The rebel soldiers immediately found a response in the civil population.
With simmering discontent the unrest showed itself in West Bengal, first in Dum-dum, in January 1857; then, Mangal Pandey enacted the first bold act of defiance, in March at Barrackpore. The revolt soon engulfed larger masses of the civil population. The major centres of revolt include- Kanpur, Lucknow, Bareilly, Jhansi, Gwalior and Arrah in Bihar. The Revolt of 1857 lasted for more than a year and was suppressed by the middle of 1858. On July 8, 1858, fourteen months after the outbreak at Meerut, peace was finally proclaimed by Lord Canning.
Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India, carried out the partition of Bengal on 16 October 1905 on the grounds of better management. The partition separated the mostly Muslim eastern areas from the largely Hindu western areas. During the partition, the provincial state of Bengal had the Hindi speaking region of Bihar, the Odia speaking regions of Orissa (Odisha) and the Assamese speaking region of Assam. The former province of Bengal was divided into two new provinces: Bengal (which comprises of western Bengal and the province of Bihar and Orissa) and Eastern Bengal and Assam, with Dacca as the capital of the latter.
Following the partition, an anti-British movement formed in opposition. This movement involved non-violent and violent protests, boycotts and even an assassination attempt against the Governor of the new province of West Bengal. After partition, Hindu resistance exploded as the Indian National Congress began the Swadeshi movement. The people believed that the division of Bengal was the policy of divide and rule of British. People were furious that the centre of interest and prosperity of Bengal that was Calcutta would be divided into two governments Due to these political protests, the two parts of Bengal were reunited in 1911 and a new partition divided the province on linguistic, rather than religious grounds.
Bengal underwent partition twice; first in 1905 and second in 1947. These partitions left a permanent mark on the history and psyche of the people of Bengal. The predominantly Hindu West Bengal became a province of India, and the predominantly Muslim East Bengal became a province of Pakistan. Later, East Bengal became an independent country, Bangladesh after the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. The land that links West Bengal in India and Bangladesh is known as Teen Bigha Corridor.
Chakma, the largest ethnic tribe of Bengal (now in Bangladesh), was brought under the direct control of the colonial government. In 1733, the Chakma chief Shermast Khan had obtained a Zamindari Sanad for Chakla Rangunia, a hilly tract. The revolt by Chakmas carried out to oppose the enhanced rent in the Rangunia estate. It was asserted under the leadership of Ranu Khan, the diwan of the Raja. Ranu Khan was the supreme military leader and followed guerrilla tactics to oust the company from the Hill Tracts.
In 1798-99, the Chuar Rebellion, a massive rebellion that broke out in South-West Bankura district and North-West Midnapore district. The British East India Company and some Zamindars of Midnapore were engaged in curbing the revolution ruthlessly and subsequently was suppressed. Employing the usual policy of dive and rule it was further crushed down.
In 1855, the uprising of the Santhals began as a tribal reaction to and despotic British revenue system. Before the British advent in India, Santhals resided in the hilly districts of Manbhum, Barabhum, Chhotanagpur, Palamau and Birbhum. Santhals are known to live an agrarian lifestyle. But under the British regime, the landlords and moneylenders allured them by goods and loans, and gradually they became bonded labour to them. Santhals resented the oppression by revenue officials, police, moneylenders, landlords in general by the outsiders (whom they called Diku). Under the leadership of Sidhu and Kanhu, Santhals rose against their oppressors, declared the end of the Companys rule and asserted themselves independent in 1854. This uprising holds its significance as it spread in Bengal.
Indigo Revolution is regarded as the peasant movement. In 1859, the farmers revolted against the Indigo Planters as the farmers got no Profit growing Indigo. The areas where it was produced mainly was- Burdwan, Bankura, Birbhum, North 24 Parganas and Jessore (now in Bangladesh). Dinabandhu Mitra wrote "Neel Darpan" against this exploitation, which was later translated by Michael Madhusudan Dutta.
The Chittagong uprising is the armoury raids carried by revolutionaries in Chittagong, Bangladesh. The first raid was carried out on 18th April 1930 and aim was to destroy the British armouries and disrupt the railway and communication lines. Surya Sen, Nirmal Sen, Kalpana Dutta, Anant Singh and Lokenath Bal were prominent leaders of this uprising.
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