Question

The British along with the zamindars created conditions that led to widespread revolts in the 19th century. Explain the reasons that led to the protests.

Answer 1

Use the points pertaining to vetti, caste bias, forced labour, the discouraging attitude of zamindars towards investment in land and in the end give the example of Doras of Hyderabad to show how these points were common across all regions and led to exploitation.

Answer : The zamindars across the southern region were using the farmers and their hard work for their own gains. Instead of investing in land, the zamindars increased the tenants on their farms and took high rents from them.
But apart from these reasons, the following are some of the other reasons that led to peasants rising in protests against the zamindars:

1. The practice of forced labour known as Vetti was a source of resentment amongst the tenants and villagers. Under this practice, the zamindars could forcefully make tenants work on their agrarian lands without paying them. Due to this practice, the farmers did not find time to work on their lands and this led to neglect of their cultivable land.
2. Tenants and cultivators were discouraged from investing in their land since they had no rights over their land. If they invested in land, the landlords were known to increase the revenue or rent and this led to tenants paying higher revenues without anything left for their own consumption.
3. Zamindars were also known to evict tenants who did not pay their rents. In some villages, the big landlords forced lower caste people to work on the lands of upper-caste villagers. This led to deep social resentment amongst the lower castes who were not even allowed to wear slippers or turbans, unlike the upper caste villagers.
4. In most areas zamindars did not allow farmers to improve their land, fearing that they would claim the land as their own. This resulted in farmers remaining dependent on monsoons for rain and could not improve their farms.
5. In Hyderabad, for e.g. the big landlords were known as Doras who also acted as money lenders. They exploited their tenants, forced them to work for free and evicted farmers and grabbed their land if they failed to pay back their loans.