The south-east Punjab was acquired by the British East India Company from the Maratha Chief Daulat Rao Sindhia on 30 December, 1803. In early days, in this region whole administration was handed over to the Presidency of Bangal with a resident posted at Delhi. Thus the territory lying between the Yamuna and the Ganges came under the authority of the British. The British organized the region of Delhi under two heads: One of the parts of Delhi Territory, which was small, was termed as ‘Assigned Territory’, under the control of the Company and the second part, which was so big, was divided among the feudals and chieftains, those who helped the Company during the first Maratha war.
Assigned territory was by the side of the Yamuna and lay 60 km in north and 60 km south from Delhi. It comprised, in the north of Panipat, Samalkha, Ganaur, Hawely Palam, and Sonipat, and in the south of Palwal, Nuh, Nagina, Hathin, Ferozpur-Jhirka Bhada, Tapu Kada Sohna and the parganahs of Rewari. By this arrangement, the British had two benefits, firstly the friendship of the ‘feudals’ was maintained and secondly, a buffer state was created between British territories and those of the Sikhs and the ‘kings’ of Rajasthan.
The reasons for taking this territory under the direct control were three fold. In the first place the occupation of this territory was very essential for an effective hold over the historic city of Delhi. In the second place, this territory would provide financial provision for the royal household. And in the third place, since its situation was of highest strategic importance, it would provide military bases for security of the company’s possessions from the Sikhs and other in the north-west and the Rajputs from the side of Rajasthen.
After 1809, the administrative system was placed under the Resident. In 1811, Charles T. Metcalfe, the Resident, introduced a new administrative system known as the Delhi System, based upon ‘a chance and a discovery’ combining ‘native practice and regulation spirit’. It was the confirmations of custom and the changes. In the broader sense he was the first British administrator who studied the complicated problems of the region seriously and minutely. He paid attention towards the agrarian problems of the peasants like the system of land assessment, mode of revenue collection etc. but in practice Metcalfe could not make any remarkable change. Mode of collection also remained vigorous and ruthless.
In 1819, civil administration was entrusted to a Commissioner and the assigned territory was then organized into three divisions, where the assistants of the commissioner worked. In 1825, civil administration was again given to the Resident, but four years later a bifurcation again became necessary. This administrative system carried on up to 1833, when British possessions in India were broadly divided into two parts, Bengal and North-Western Provinces, with Agra as its headquarters. It had six divisions, one of them being the Delhi division, comprising of the six districts, called Panipat, Hissar, Gurgaon, Rohtak and Delhi, each under a District Magistrate’ cum- Collector.
The administration of northern part of this region, i.e. present Districts of Karnal and Ambala, was conducted through an official designated as superintendent of the political affairs and agent of the Government the territory of the protected Sikh and Hill Chiefs, at Ambala, until 1849 when they were placed under the charge of the Punjab Government. The district and princely state-wise population, etc., of the region has been given in Table-2.1:
Table: 2.1
Administration Arrangement, villages, Towns, Area and Population in the south-east Punjab 1855
Districts No. of town
& villages Area (sq. miles) Population No. of persons per sq. mile
Panipat 538 1270 389085 306
Hisar 653 3294 330852 100
Delhi 568 790 435744 552
Rohtak 300 1340 377013 281
Gurgaon 1274 1939 662486 342
Princely States No. of town
& villages Area (sq. miles) Population No. of persons per sq. mile
Bahadurgarh 28 48 14400 300
Ballabhgarh 121 190 57000 300
Dugana 31 71 6390 90
Faruknager 18 22 4400 200
Jhajjar 250 1230 120700 180
Loharu 54 20 18000 90
Pataudi 40 74 6660 90
Total 3875 10468 2422730 212
It remained a part of the North-Western Provinces till the end of the British East India Company, and the proclamation of Queen Victoria of November 2, 1858 at Allahabad by Lord Canning, the first Viceroy of British Crown.
Agriculture was the major occupation of the people of the south-east Punjab. It was the chief means of livelihood for the people. Agriculture being the only major occupation, a large number of people, somehow or the other, were either associated with it or were dependent on it. The rural sector of the region had two main categories of landowners and tenants whose combination produced the maximum food-grains in the fields. The public assessment upon land had never been fixed and according to established usage and custom. The rural economy was self-dependent. All categories of the village as the proprietors, the cultivators and other castes were locked by economic and religious ties into an intimate inter-dependence. They knew that neither could exist without the other and, therefore, both cared for the existence and well-being of each other. In other words, the village communities were like little republics having nearly everything they want within themselves.
In the early nineteenth century, there were no records of rights in land, and peasants cultivated land individually. But their rights over the land were defined and limited by the social structure of the village communities. In all villages the right of property in the land is clearly recognized in the present agricultural inhabitants, by descent, purchase or gift . Each village was imagined to have belonged to mainly one caste or clan of inhabitants as Jats or Gujjars etc. The smaller villages had more generally preserved their integrity in this respect than the larger. In deserted villages the proprietary right had not been clearly stated to be in the parties inhabiting them, it was yet pretty well understood to have belonged to them.
The villages were usually divided into an indeterminate number of superior divisions called Panas, seldom exceeding four or five in the village, which were again sub–divided into Tholas, of no fixed numbers, and these were again subject to still smaller separations. The divisions by Panas and Tholas were more nominal than practical with respect to the definition either of the extent of the proprietary right in the lands or to the proportion of the public demand, although families, clans or classes and regulate the quota of the aggregate Jumma or public demand chargeable .
After the advent of the British in the south-east Punjab, they observed that the largest important occupation of the people was agriculture and land revenue was the main source & income for the government. Therefore, the British took a serious interest in agrarian conditions soon after they assumed power. The British introduced the new land revenue policy. According to this policy, land revenue was fixed and was generally half of the total produce, or even more. The farmers were neither consulted nor their consent obtained in any way. In fact, with the Settlement Officers, at that time, the law of pressure mostly worked its way. The testimony of the later Settlement Officer admits that when the early Settlements were made, headmen of villages were almost imprisoned till they agreed to the terms offered and furnished security for payment. Mainly, the people of this region depended on rainfall for agriculture, and were not able to pay the land revenue at a high rate.
The Government is also justifying our land revenue policy by saying that “from the earliest time to the present period, the public assessment upon land has never been fixed and according to established usage and custom, the rulers have exercised a discretionary and despotic authority. The tenants and cultivators of the soil have been exposed to rapacity and oppression. The government had, therefore, decided in order to induce the cultivators to feel secure to make three year settlement with them, to be followed by a second for the same period and then by one of four years”.
In accordance with the Regulation IX of 1805, the early revenue officials, ridings on horses and elephants like the Rajas and Nawabs, accompanied by a band of troupers toured the region in 1807 and made a settlement for one year, After some time, triennial settlements were made, As time elapsed and conditions became settled, longer settlements were effected with bigger villages. By 1820 there were settlements ranging from three to twenty years. But it did not make much difference in those days whether the settlement was for short duration or longer period, for all the settlements were very heavy- only less than 50 percent of the gross produce was left with the peasant. In spite of applying coercion of the worst type, the Government could not collect their full dues. The following table covering the period from1811-1818:
Table: 2.2
Land Revenue Increase in South-Eastern Districts, 1811-1818
Year Land Assessment in Rupees Outstanding balances
Rs. Annas Pais Rs. Annas Pais
1811-12 987030 11 6 10073 6 11
1812-13 1039560 0 0 60304 15 6
1813-14 1256502 12 0 18967 2 1
1814-15 1215470 13 6 34215 8 3
1815-16 1388978 0 0 95913 3 0
1816-17 1701663 0 0 124318 0 0
1817-18 1723691 0 0 268797 0 0
The Table 2.2 shows that between 1811 and 1818 the amount of the land revenue increased in the south-eastern area by 74 percent, while the outstanding balance by 2568 percent. For many poor farmers the accrued revenue debt proved to be an unbearable burden. As a result, they became defaulters and had to visit jail four to five times, in a matter of a few years. After some time, some changes were effected in the revenue system. But despite these changes, the settlements continued to be harsh. The mode of collection of land revenue was oppressive. The collections were made in February and September, long before the harvest. The people opposed that mistimed collections. But the British made their collections with the help of forces. This made the conditions of the peasants still worse, with the result that many of them were ‘obliged to leave their hearths and homes.’
The District Gazetteer of Hisar gives interesting details about the district: “The demand of the first settlement from 1815-25 was so high that is exceeded by almost 20 percent the revenue which has in 1890 been fixed for the same villages; but although it was and though the actual collections came to have decreased, the demand was increased in the second and third settlements to such an extent that the assessment fixed the same tract in 1890 is 32 percent less than the average demand for the last five years of the third settlement viz. Rs. 488609”.
The conditions of the peasants made also miserable due to decline in the prices of agricultural products, especially after the 1840. The following Table gives details of these prices.
Table: 2.3
Fall in Prices of Agricultural Products (1841-1856)
Year Price of wheat per maund Price of Indian corn per maund
Rs. Annas Pais Rs. Annas Pais
1841-51 2 0 0 1 11 16
1851-52 1 0 0 0 14 16
1852-53 1 3 16 1 1 16
1853-54 1 3 16 1 2 16
1854-55 1 0 0 0 13 16
1855-56 1 0 16 0 14 16
The Table 2.3 shows that the prices of wheat and corn declined practically by 50 percent during 1851-56. This made the condition of the farmers still worse. In these circumstances, the farmers could not have enough money to pay their land revenue. For this they had gone to bania to borrow money to pay their land revenue. In this way the problem of growing agricultural indebtedness became started in the south-east Punjab.
Therefore, the British had decided to make the new policy of settlement and decided the type of land tenure developed in each region. The salient features of the settlement policy of the south-east Punjab had a proper field survey with the results embodied in a field map and register, a full enquiry into the rights and liability of all persons having an interest in the soil, and the records of these rights and liabilities in permanent register. The settlement in the south-eastern region was ‘Mahalwari’, for example, the assessment unit was an ‘estate’ or groups of holdings owned under one title, for example, by a single owner or by a community or a proprietary body. The tenures of the south-east Punjab were classified into four categories:
(1) Zamindari
(2) Pattidari
(3) Bhaichara
(4) Mixed or imperfect Pattidari or Bhaichara.
The zamindari was possessed with full proprietary right by a single owner; pattidari was meant to cover cases in which land was divided and held ‘in severalty’ by different proprietors according to ancestral or customary shares; and in bhaichara, land was held ‘in severalty’ without reference to any ancestral or customary shares. In the fourth, mixed or imperfect bhaichara/pattidari, the lands are held partly in severalty and partly in common.
Due to the diversity of forms of landholding and the region-wide differences in the socio-economic level, the agrarian system was extremely complicated in the south-east Punjab. British agrarian policy was not uniform in all Indian provinces; it was changed with the passage of time and as well as specific regions. The aim of the policy was suppression and exploitation of the colonial people. The first stage of suppression shifted towards exploitation in the second stage. Several factors were responsible for this shift, for example, the very geographical conditions of the area, potentialities for agriculture, colonial needs, nature of peasantry, colonial understanding of land-rights and political hold over the territory others.
Besides the actual owners of the soil, among whom the village lands were either divided or undivided, as mentioned above, and with who alone rested the right of property as heirs to those of remoter days, these were four classes of cultivators– the old residents (royat), the itinerants (pahee), the hired (kamera) and the partial cultivators (kameen).
The old residents or royat were usually ancient family residents of the village and had cultivated the same lands. They attained to the highest rights in the village subordinate to those of the proprietors. So long as they continue to discharge their proportion of the public assessment due, they were not liable to ejectment from them. But if they failed in this and no individual sharer should have an exclusive right, it reverted to the division.
The itinerant or pahee cultivators were always residents of a different village. The scarcity of good uncultivated land in their own village and the desire to avoid in their own village contributing as zamindars, they reaped as pahee in the neighboring villages. These cultivators could abandon and the owner of the land could prohibit the pahee at pleasure, mutually, though from the desire to profit by the cultivation of the super abundant lands the proprietors generally favor these people and they usually got terms equal to a contribution of a fourth less of their produce than established cultivators.
The hired cultivators or kamera were of all castes and classes, being mostly of the description of daily laborers whom had in India under the denomination of coolies. They were employed chiefly by those who were above actual labor themselves and in good circumstances. They were permanently or temporarily engaged. In the former case they earned from three to four rupees per month or they agree to receive 1/6th or so of the produce of the land with half seer of grain per day and each harvest certain clothing. In the latter case they got their clothes and food per day with a rupee or two at the end of the month. When their services were not wanted out of the season of cultivation and harvest, they obtained a livelihood by other employments such as cutting grass, firewood etc. They were encouraged to settle by the proprietors.
The partial cultivators or kameen were those whose occasional leisure from their primary occupations permits them to cultivate a few bighas of land. They were either the professional men of the villages as carpenters, blacksmiths etc. or the servants of it as sweepers and messengers etc. The term kameen denoted inferiority and was applied to that part of the community by the landowners who conceived themselves to be of the first rank and the other was low condition. The kameens often contributed to the realization of one or more of the three last species of taxation imposed by the proprietors as would be noticed hereafter in the Choubacha plan. They were almost paid for their professional assistance by the proprietors at a stated allowance of grain from each plough.
There were the agriculturist castes of Ahirs, Jats, Rajputs, Ranghars, Meos and Gujjars. The non-agriculturist classes were the Brahmins and Banias and the required class of menials who received at the harvest time a certain acknowledgement dues for which they rendered fixed service besides pursuing their special calling. These were divided into two classes – those whose labour was intimately concerned with agriculture viz. the blacksmith, carpenter and tanner and secondly those whose services were rendered in other ways and less regularly, just as the weaver, barber, potter waterman, washer man and sweeper.
At the first regular settlement (1852-64), proprietary rights were conferred on hand full of persons who were selected arbitrarily by the settlement offices from among the general body of cultivators. All land brought under cultivation was brought within the right of occupancy. It was then recorded that 27 percent of total cultivated area were under the landlords. While nearly 66 percent were held by tenants and others. An important step taken at the first regular settlement was to confine the right to break up new land which had been opened to all the tenants in most villages to the few individuals. It was decided that henceforth no tenant might bring new land under cultivation except with the consent of the landlords.
The Jajmani system
The Jajmani system had been a most important institution of socio-economic relations in rural society of the south-east Punjab during the early 19th century. The agriculturist castes were called the jajmans, meaning the hosts. The other view is ‘yagman’ which means Yaj + Maan; Yaj means ‘do the work’ and Maan means ‘honour’. So the menial did the work for the upper castes (honorary person) and received goods and services in return. These lower castes received services from the upper caster and they also called the kameens, the menials. Therefore, the lower and upper strata live and worked jointly, locally called Bhaichara; and services taken by menials called Sheodi. The main purpose of the jajmani system was to ensure constant labour supply for the agriculturist castes . The kameens were almost paid for their professional assistance by the proprietors at a stated allowance of grain from each plough. Their designations with the allowance which they usually receive are as follows :-
Table: 2.4
Allowance during the early nineteenth in the South-East Punjab
S.No.
English names Native
names Lowest
allowance Highest
allowance Average
Allowance
Per plough
1 Charpenter Lohar 20 seers 1 ½ maund 1maund
2 Blacksmith Burhye 20 ,, 2 maunds 1 ,,
3 Potter Coomhar 10 ,, 1 maund 20 seers
4 Washerman Dhobee 10 ,, 1 ,, 20 ,,
5 Barber Naee 10 ,, 1 ½ maund 1maund
6 Tailor Durzee 20 ,, 20 maunds 15 seers
7 Cotton-stuffer Dhoonia 10 ,, 10 ,, 10 ,,
8 Priest Brahmin ½ seer 1 seer ¾ seer
9 Messenger Bullahur 5 seers 20 seers 10 ,,
10 Sheomaker,
Leather-dresser Chumar 1 maund 20 maunds 1½ maund
The above Table 2.4 shows that the allowance was usually given from the gross produce before the bach or division of the grain was made. It forms a charge of from 8 to 15 maunds on each plough. The average might be 10 maunds, but the quantity and receipt of the allowance were regulated greatly by the state of the produce, whether it had been full or scanty.
The feeling of security and safety was, usually, a common hallmark of village communities in the south-east Punjab. People rendered to each other friendly and essential aids, particularly, when in distress, and were commonly known to provide milch cattle to till the lands, themselves, and contribute money when a sharer-brother of the village fell on hard times. This help was commonly extended to windows and demands of the family were looked after. The so-called Kameens, artisans and menials also received similar protection from the village communities. No doubt, there were inter community and intra-community quarrels and clashes, but these clashes were, usually, short lived and assemblies of the community settled them without government interference a fact that remains so even today. Of course, with growing development and modernization the role and influence of the community negatively declined.
The experience of the south-eastern region under British rule was both qualitatively and quantitatively different from that of the Punjab province as a whole. The agrarian sphere was based on the diverse geographical situation of this sub-region and its earlier experience under British rule. The process of agricultural expansion, which marked the entire region and had significant impact on all aspects of life, was somewhat absent in this part of the region. In fact, the purpose of the British imperialists at the time of revenue assessment was to squeeze the maximum tax from the farmers. The colonial state used the system of taxation to secure and serve its basic colonial interests especially maintenance of colonial administration and military structure. The colonial officials were of the opinion that land revenue formed an insignificant proportion of the land owner’s income.
The assessment introduced by Robert M. Bird and J. Thomson under the Mahalwari system were too much. The payment of revenue in kind was also replaced by cash. The poor farmers when could not afford to pay the revenue, had to go to jails. In the pargana of Karnal to escape such oppression the inhabitants of some villages, nearly en mass had abandoned their lands and homes. The same painful picture of the people of Sonepat pargana was seen when the villages of Pabuera, Pattibrahma, Chidi, Yusufpur, Chansnali, Ghyapur, Supura, Bagh and many others were deserted completely in 1842. In the district of Hisar the revenue demand was so high that it ruined the cultivators. There was no regard or consideration for bad season.
The British gave low priority to any improvement of agriculture in south-east Punjab. This region was seen primarily as suited for the supply of draught animals to the rest of the Punjab, as also to certain other parts of India. The determined efforts of the British to retain it as such are reflected in their irrigational policies, emphasis of low value food cum-fodder crops with increasing acreage under fodder cultivation and in their attempts to curb the limited efforts being made at substitution of fodder crops by other crops, which might adversely affect this sub-region’s cattle wealth.
Droughts and famines became a regular feature and the breaking out of deadly epidemics at regular intervals made the life of the masses intolerable, miserable, atrocious and wicked. Many such factors which hurt the national psyche prepared the ground for an uprising against the administration of British East India Company in the south-east Punjab .
The poverty stricken masses when pressed hard to pay the revenue had to run away into the native-states in the neighbourhood. The over-assessment really ruined the economy of this region. As nothing was left with the peasants, whenever monsoon failed, they experienced a terrible famine and government did not help. The people experienced horrible distress and great loss of human and animal life. Some of the noted famines experienced in the south-east Punjab like many other regions of India were in years of 1812-13, 1817, 1818, 1824-25, 1833-34, 1837-38, 1841-42, 1851-52 A.D.
The south-east Punjab particular region was the part of Delhi division in the North-Western Province. This region was surrounding area of Delhi. On the other hand, there were some small princely states also the parts of this territory. That’s why company rulers were not much concern about the welfare and relief at the time of famine. Due to the dry track, people of this region were also concentrating on the cattle breeding which clearly shows in cattle mortality.
Therefore, no observations were made in any part of the North-Western Provinces in these days, as the amount of rainfall and the information regarding the degree of its failure was very imperfect. Abnormal character prevailed throughout July and August, and all the signs of alarm and anticipation of a great calamity were apparent. There were few natural resources of irrigation in this particular region. Almost crops were dependent upon the monsoon. It became dual burden on the peasants. On the one hand, there was empty rainfall and on the other hand, there was oppressive land revenue policy of the British.
In this situation peasants had to go towards village money-lenders or bania. Money-lenders were forced to pay high rate of interest. Not only this, tenants had to sale their crops to bania on lower rates of prices. Similarily, bania sold food grain on very high rates. And when prices rose the condition became more critical. Mr. John Lawrance, collector of Gurgaon wrote, “I have never in my life seen such utter desolation as that which is now spread over the parganas of Hodal and Palwal”.
During the period of the Company rule, the condition of people was very severing. The Company had exercised political power in this region. Although, the British were powerful and technical strong but, one should keep in mind that it was a foreign rule. Their main concern was secure maximum benefits. Their working pattern was based on achieve benefits. Therefore, period of Company rule from 1803 to 1857 was the period which was based on tyrannical and suppressive rule. The people were totally disillusioned with their rulers. The British slowly but steadily worked to destroy the village communities, the little Republics and brought about social instability in the society. The economic exploitation of the masses turned them into paupers. The work of Christian missionaries, who had with them the blessings of the British officials, hurt the very inner selves of the masses. On May 10, 1857, the ‘great uprisings’ also known as the First War of Independence in the History of India was started. It spread throughout the country. The people of the south-east Punjab participated in it.
To sum up: The south-east Punjab was acquired by the British East India Company in 1803. In early days, in this region whole administration was handed over to the Presidency of Bangal with a resident posted at Delhi. The British organized this region under two heads namely ‘assigned territory’ under direct rule, and the ‘feudals territory’ given to the feudals. After some time, this region merged with the north-western province as a part of Delhi division.
The major part of this region was less fertile. Thus the company established new land revenue policy in this region. Firstly, the British made records of rights in land. The main object of the British was to obtain a record of liability for revenue which depended wholly upon cultivating possession. In fact, the purpose of the British imperialists at the time of revenue assessment was to squeeze the maximum tax from the farmers. The colonial state used the system of taxation to secure and serve its basic colonial interests especially maintenance of colonial administration and military structure.
The British had decided to make the policy of settlement and decided the type of land tenure developed in each region. They introduced a new land revenue policy in the south-east Punjab which was quite different from the permanent settlement and the ryotwari settlement which were implemented earlier in Bengal and Madras respectively. The land revenue settlement introduced here was called the Mahalwari settlement. The land tenure system of this region was divided into four groups as Zamindari, Pattidari, Bhaichara and Mixed or imperfect pattidari. The cultivators were also divided into four classes- the old residents (royat), the itinerants (pahee), the hired (kamera) and the partial cultivators (kameen).
Droughts and famines became a regular feature and the breaking out of deadly epidemics at regular intervals made the life of the masses intolerable, miserable, atrocious and wicked. Their main concern was secure maximum benefits. The period of Company rule from 1803 to 1857 was the period which was based on tyrannical and suppressive rule. The people were totally disillusioned with their rulers. The British slowly but steadily worked to destroy the village communities, the little Republics and brought about social instability in the society. The economic exploitation of the masses turned them into indigents. Many such factors which hurt the national psyche prepared the ground for an uprising against the administration of British East India Company in the south-east Punjab.