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Chapter 1

The document discusses the ecology and environment of colonial South Asia, focusing on the river systems and delta of northeast South Asia. It also examines the impact of British interventions like the Permanent Settlement on the peasant societies and agrarian systems in East Bengal.

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26 views3 pages

Chapter 1

The document discusses the ecology and environment of colonial South Asia, focusing on the river systems and delta of northeast South Asia. It also examines the impact of British interventions like the Permanent Settlement on the peasant societies and agrarian systems in East Bengal.

Uploaded by

mit global solutions
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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Chapter-1

In order to understand politics and society of colonial South Asia, understanding the ecology of
this area is important. North-eastern South Asia covers high mountain peaks, followed by deltaic
plain and ends with a vast coastline of the Bay of Bengal. The combined river system of the
Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers together constitute the largest delta on the earth. This
river system carries a huge amount of sediment forming new lands called char and diaras. This
huge amount of silt impedes the ocean currents resulting a huge sand deposit in the coastal
regions.

The complex political intervention caused the decay of East Bengal’s ecology, in particular the
decay of river and forest systems, which resulted in communal struggles which shaped the
political, social and economic incidents of the 20th century.

The Permanent Settlement introduced in 1793 created zamindars having absolute power over
land and revenue collection on behalf of the colonial state. This system has been criticized as the
major reason of economic stagnation and socio-political problems among different communities
in 19th and 20th centuries. In 1950s, the governments of East Bengal (Pakistan) and West Bengal
(India) abolished this system but this abolishment could not bring the expected mobility and
development in the following 6 decades.

This failure brought ‘return of the peasant’ in South Asian historiography into focus. In case of
East Bengal, mainly Muslim peasantry can be examined under three broad aspects:

i. patron-clientelist
ii. world capitalist
iii. subalternist

The richer section of the peasant society, termed as jotedars had been a very powerful factor in
social matters in Mughal period. They continued the patron-client relationship by extending
credit and market facilities over the vast majority even after the introduction of zamindars
through the Permanent Settlement.
According to ‘world capitalist’ analysis of Bengal agrarian society by the time the zamindars lost
some of their power, richer peasants had already gained some sort of authority by extending
credit and other facilities to poor peasants.

According to subaltern analysis, because of ‘false consciousness’ peasants formed allies with
their co-religionist rather than decided to be dominated by the Hindus which did not help them
improve their economic position.

Some environmental historians of South Asia consider colonial power as the conserver of nature,
others consider as the destroyer of nature. In both cases state is in focal point. The subaltern
resistance in both conservation and destruction of nature also show the power of the state. In past
three decades C.A. Bayly’s thoughts have changed this notion. He pointed out that state was not
the only force. As the colonial rulers had lack of knowledge about south-western Jungle Mahal
until the cadastral survey in the early 20th century, there were some exceptional administrative
‘zones of anomaly’.

Fall of state income and criticism to handle the famine of 1770 forced East India Company to
seek ways to generate revenue through new land reclamation. After the depression of 1830s, this
reclamation of forests and chars became very normal worldwide in the mid-nineteenth century.
Peasant society in this period was living a better life. The peasant movement of 19th century, the
Faraizi movement, showed the power of peasant and it was basically an agrarian movement. It
emerged at the heart of agro-ecological frontier of Bengal and declined with the insurgence of
nationalist movement in the beginning of the 20th century.

Cyclones and floods were the main environmental problems of Bengal Delta. Life in coastal area
has always been vulnerable to cyclones while people of mainland have mastered the techniques
of using flood in the most productive way.

The arrival of railways in the beginning of the 20th century changed the long-lasting agro-
ecological domain of East Bengal. The criss-cross railways divided the delta into ‘innumerable
compartments’, disturbing free-flowing water system. Water hyacinth, a Brazilian weed, which
came to this delta in the 1910s complicated the situation by choking small and large water
bodies. Between 1910 and 1930, railways and water hyacinth reduced agricultural production
and increased water related diseases which prepared the background of the great depression of
1930s.

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