Economic factors were important since they impacted a big portion of Indian culture. Since the British were granted Diwani in 1765, land income has been a major source of concern. The British government implemented "pocket area transformation," which included the establishment of Permanent Settlements in Bengal, Mahalwari settlements in Central India, and Ryotwari settlements in southern India. Peasants were poor as a result of the 'Drain of Wealth,' and they took part in the 1857 revolt. This article will explain to you the Economic Cause of the Revolt of 1857 which will be helpful in Modern Indian History preparation for the UPSC Civil service exam.

Economic Causes

• The East India Company's colonial practices shattered Indian society's conventional economic foundation.
• Due to severe taxes, peasants were forced to take out loans from moneylenders/traders at exorbitant interest rates, with the latter frequently evicting the former from their property for non-payment of debt dues.
• While the issue of landless peasants and rural indebtedness has plagued Indian society to this day, these moneylenders and businessmen emerged as the new landlords.
• The zamindari system, which had been in place for a long time, had to be dismantled.
• The artists and handicrafts people suffered during the British administration as well.
• Furthermore, British policies discouraged Indian handicrafts while emphasizing British items.

Economic Exploitation of all sections

• The Company's sole objective was to gather as much money as possible with the least amount of work.
• Industry, trade, commerce, and agriculture declined as a result of their colonial practices of economic exploitation, and India became de-industrialized, poor, and debt-ridden.
• The annexation of Indian states resulted in the loss of employment and authority for Indian aristocrats, as well as their economic and social standing and advantages.
• The ancient economic fabric of Indian society was undermined by British colonial policy.
• The British policies affected peasants, Taluqdars, artisans, traders, and ordinary people.
• "The Indians were victims of both physical and economic kinds of class oppression by the British," Karl Marx notes.

Ruin of the Mercantile Class

• The British purposefully hampered Indian trade and commerce by levying hefty tariffs on Indian commodities.
• They, on the other hand, supported the importation of British products into India.
• As a result, by the mid-nineteenth century, Indian exports of cotton and silk textiles had all but vanished.

Discontent among the Zamindars and a New Land Revenue System

• The English administrators had brought the peasants and the British government into touch with one another by introducing a new land revenue system in the newly acquired States, thereby removing the middlemen between the two parties.
• As a result, the great Talukdars and Zamindars, who used to collect land tax before that, lost both their income and their position.
• Those who had land freeships were required to produce the letters of grant issued to them to the government in order to confirm the validity of their proprietary rights in that area.
• In 1852, Lord Dalhousie ordered the Inam Commission to investigate the landlords' title papers.
• Those who failed to present documentary proof of their property rights, on the other hand, were stripped of their rights.
• Their lands were stolen and auctioned off to the highest bidder. 20,000 properties were therefore seized in Western India alone.
• In Awadh, the epicenter of the Revolt, 21,000 Taluqdars had their estates stolen, leaving them without a means of income.
• Removing Indian soldiers from the army and the British government's severe reliance on documentation proof to justify their ownership rights in the country, Oudh became a hotbed of resistance to the British.
• The newly implemented land revenue system in freshly acquired regions drove aristocratic households to abject poverty.

Destruction of Indian Manufacturers

• The British strategy of promoting the import of cotton goods from England to India destroyed all Indian cotton textile businesses.
• Prior to British domination in India, communities were self-sufficient in all fields. Villagers used to create their commodities to meet their wants and requirements.
• When British goods began to flood the Indian market, it threatened to destroy Indian manufacturing. Because the things produced in the industries of England were both beautiful and inexpensive, Indians began to utilize them.
• India's handicrafts could not compete with those of England. It annihilated India's small-scale and handicraft industries.
• The East India Company's administration made no steps to avoid the disaster. It eventually resulted in the demise of Indian manufacturers as well as the devastation of local economies.
• It believed that free trade and the failure to apply protective duties on English-made machine-made items destroyed Indian manufacturing.

Pressure on Land

• The collapse of Indian industry and trade rendered many people unemployed, and a lack of other occupational opportunities forced a huge portion of the urban population to rely on the rural economy.
• As a result, millions of bankrupt artisans and craftsmen, spinners, weavers, smelters, smiths, and others from towns and villages had no choice but to engage in agricultural activities, putting a strain on the land.
• India was turned from an agricultural country to a British Empire agricultural colony.

Exploitation on European Plantations

• They were in need of raw materials as a result of the Industrial Revolution in England, which could not be met by the English industry.
• As a result, British colonists in India monopolized plantation businesses such as indigo, jute, tea, and coffee.
• In addition, they used various land revenue strategies to maximize their profits. As a result, the British administration in India made life more difficult for the planters.
• Farmers found it more difficult to make ends meet. The lives of Indigo planters, in particular.
• Indigo producers' lives were made more difficult by the inhumane treatment and persecution they received from European plantation owners.

Economic Drain

The British government's colonial control in India had a policy that drained India's wealth to England by fair or unfair means or methods:

• British servants and officials enjoyed all of India's advantages and utilized all legal and illegal ways to amass the country's wealth.
• British soldiers, civil servants, and employees who worked in India used to receive the highest pay.
• Their savings, pensions, and other profits from India were being sent to England in the form of wealth.
• In every way imaginable, the drain of Indian riches was transmitted to England.
• The majority of the gold, diamonds, silver, and silk had been carried to England as tax and occasionally sold in open auctions, depleting India's formerly vast treasure in precious stones.
• The British's continuous agenda of economic exploitation had a negative impact on the average man.
• Furthermore, poverty, unemployment, famines, sickness, malnutrition, and economic despair have deteriorated the economic situation.

Conclusion

The British strategy of economically exploiting India was the most significant source of public resentment. This harmed people from all walks of life. Due to heavy tax expectations and a stringent revenue collection program, peasants suffered. The large-scale inflow of inexpensive British manufactured products into India devastated artisans and craftsmen, making their hand-made goods uneconomical to create. People who made a living via religious and cultural interests lost their source of income as a result of the relocation of the old governing elites, which resulted in the removal of royal patronage.