Question

Consider the following statements relating to Indigo Revolt 

1. The Indigo Revolt is particularly memorable for the role played by the intelligentsia to uphold the cause of the movement. 

2. After the revolt, the colonial authorities set-up the Indigo Commission to enquire into the grievances of the Indigo cultivators. 

Which of the statements given above is/are correct? 

(a) Only 1 (b) Only 2 (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer 1

(c) The Indigo revolt of Bengal was directed against British planters who forced peasants to take advances and sign fraudulent contracts which forced the peasants to grow Indigo under terms which were the least profitable to them. Digambar Biswas and Bishnu Biswas who organised the peasants into a counter force to deal with the planters lathiyals (armed retainers). In April 1860 all the cultivators of the Barasat subdivision and in the districts of Pabna and Nadia resorted to strike. They refused to sow any indigo. It led to the appointment of an Indigo Commission in 1860 by the government by which some of the abuses of Indigo cultivation was removed.