Thus, right from the beginning, indigo cultivation became synonymous with coercion and oppression. The latter used the right to force the raiyats to cultivate indigo, and threatened to enhance rent unless the raiyats increased the production of indigo the planters also deprived the raiyats of the due price for their crop. The raiyats also felt the adverse effect of the acquisition of new rights by the planters. Thus, the Bangali zamindars could see the emergence of a rival group backed by the government.
Indigo meaning bangla full#
With the acquisition of zamindari powers, the planters also had full authority over their raiyats. Like the Bengali zamindars, the European indigo planters also obtained new powers and concessions with regard to the land. The relationship deteriorated further after 1837, when the government passed laws permitting the planters to own land. The zamindar's demand for high rate for their land often had been the bone of contention between these two parties. The zamindars leased out lands for indigo cultivation to the agents of the planters, while the agency houses of Calcutta advanced money to the planters at a high rate of interest. The planters also did not have sufficient capital required for the cultivation. In 1788, the company terminated the contracts and decided to support the European planters who were attempting to cultivate indigo in Bengal.Īt the earlier stages of the indigo cultivation, the European indigo planters were not allowed to own land. The East India Company had earlier entered into contracts with a number of private traders who, instead of setting up factories, supplied the company with indigo from Agra and Oudh at an exorbitant price. It would be produced by the subsistence rayats under conditions of the merchants. The company decided to encourage the cultivation of indigo in Bengal. Moreover, to enable the company's servants and private traders to transfer their personal funds from India to England, export commodities were needed for sale in Europe. Thus, an extensive cultivation of cash crops was considered essential for reviving Bengal's economy. Due to massive destruction of manufacturing industry and agriculture, following the company's occupation of Bengal, the economy of the country was in ruin. That was exactly what the company's government wanted. In a letter to the Governor-General-in-Council on 12 July 1787, Blume mentioned that he had tried as early as 1778 to cultivate indigo in order to improve agriculture and create a new commodity for commerce. Carel Blume, another early planter, had erected his factory in 1779, twenty-five miles from Calcutta, somewhere in hughli. Settled in Chandernagar, Frenchman Louis Bonnard was the first European planter to enter Bengal in 1777.
The stabilisation of the east india company's political power in Bengal combined with appropriate climate and cheap labour, made some Bengal districts highly suitable for indigo production. When the indigo planters of these areas switched to more profitable crops in the later part of the 18th century, the growing cloth industry in England had to look for an alternative source for indigo. Subsequently, in the 17th and 18th centuries, West Indies and America produced superior quality of indigo. Western India was the centre of the indigo cultivation. India produced and exported indigo from time immemorial. Indigo Planters forced raiyats (cultivators) to produce indigo for the world market.
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