Deccan Riot of 1875 – Background

• In 1875, peasants in the Bombay Presidency rose in rebellion against the agrarian crisis that faced them.
• In the Bombay Deccan region, the British had introduced the Ryotwari settlement as the system of land revenue.
• Under this system, the revenue of land was fixed on a yearly basis.
• In the Ryotwari system, the agreement was between the government and the ryot (cultivator) directly.
• The revenue was fixed according to the soil-type and the paying capacity of the farmer. However, the revenues were so high that farmers found it extremely difficult to pay their dues. Any failure in the rains would deteriorate the situation.
• To pay their revenues farmers generally took loans from moneylenders. Once the loans were taken, the farmers found it impossible to repay them since the interest rates were steep.
• Peasant indebtedness became a serious problem in the rural areas.
• In 1861, civil war broke out in the USA. USA was the largest supplier of cotton to Britain. Once the civil war broke out, the demand for cotton from India became high and this led to a surge in cotton cultivation in India and there was a period of ‘boom’ then.
• However, once the war in America ended, cotton demand sunk and this affected the farmers adversely.
• The moneylenders, who during the time of the civil war were generous with their loans, once again refused the farmers loans.
• This infuriated the farmers because they were completely dependent on the moneylenders, who were insensitive to their plight.

Source: Source: Themes in Indian History – Part III