(i) Indigo Commission was formed to enquire into the system of Indigo production following the movement of the ryots of Bengal against the British Indigo planters in the late 1850s.
(ii) The Commission held the planters guilty and criticised them for the coercive methods they used for indigo cultivators.
(iii) The Indigo Commission held the planters guilty and revealed how the planters forced the ryots to receive loan and sign contracts for the indigo cultivation. The indigo planters deprived the ryots of just prices for their crop. The commission also confirmed that the magistrates sided with the British planters in their torturous pursuits of indigo cultivation..

(i) The factors that made the under tenants depressed were as follows :
(a) Exorbitant interest on the cattle, seed and subsistence which were advanced to them.
(b) Excessive rent in kind. As a result, they could never disentangle themselves from the debt.
(ii) Under the Permanent Settlement, the ryots had to deposit the revenue to the Company. The amount to be paid was fixed permanently. The powerful ryots were asked to collect rent from the peasants and pay revenue to the Company. Thus, the revenue fixed was so high that the zamindars found it difficult to pay. So, they extracted as much as they could from the under-tenants; thus, making their condition miserable.

The East India Company introduced the Permanent Settlement in 1793 to increase the flow of its revenue.
According to the terms of the Permanent Settlement:
(i) The rajas and taluqdars were recognized as Zamindars.
(ii) Zamindars collected revenue from the peasants.
(iii) The revenue amount to be paid to the Company was fixed.
(iv) The revenue amount was not to be increased in the future.
(v) Zamindars were to invest in improving the land.

The Permanent Settlement of Bengal was introduced by the company officials to ensure a regular flow of income into the company's treasury. It was also assumed that the zamindars would invest in the improvement of the land. However, the zamindars did not invest any money in the improvement of the land even after benefit from the increased production of the land. The revenue fixed was very high and some zamindars found it difficult to pay the revenue and lost their zamindari rights
Zamindaris were either sold or auctioned off by the company officials. Zamindars gave out land to tenants and extracted rent from them at any cost. Tenants were undoubtedly at the receiving end of the settlement.

The British introduced different land settlement policies in different regions. Even two neighbouring districts or villages had different revenue systems, which was known as Land Tenure Policy of Britishers.
They introduced different tenure policies in India:
(i) Permanent settlement
(ii) Ryotwari system
(iii) Mahalwari system
Under the British, land revenue was more than 60% of all government revenues in 1840. This amount of collection stood at 15% of natural income.

(i) The first major revolt broke out in Bengal led by Sanyasis, soon after the British conquest of Bengal.
(ii) This revolt soon spread in many areas of the eastern India.
(iii) The peasants formed a very strong army. The troop sent by company to suppress them were met with defeat. It took about 30 years to put an end to this revolt.
(iv) The Chuar Revolt of Bihar and Bengal broke out in 1796 and continued till 1816. (v) The Moplah peasants of Malabar organised 22 rebellions within the period of 18 years (from 1836 to 1854).

powerful ryots did not cultivate, but instead gave out their lands to others (the under-tenants), taking from them very high rents.
In 1806, HT Colebrook described the conditions of these under-tenants in Bengal: The under-tenants, depressed by an excessive rent in kind, and by usurious returns for the cattle, seed, and subsistence, advanced to them, can never extricate themselves from debt.
In so abject a state, they cannot labour in spirit, while they earn a scanty subsistence without hope of bettering their situation.
Srikalahasti style and Machilipatnam style. 'Kalam' or pen is used for drawing of the subject in this art form.

(i) A weekly market (which is known as haat) in Murshidabad in Bengal is shown in the picture.
(ii) Peasants and artisans from rural areas regularly came to these weekly markets to sell the goods they produced and to buy the goods they required.
(iii) These markets were badly affected during the economic crisis. At the time of economic crisis, artisanal production was in decline and agricultural cultivation showed signs of collapse.

(i) Charles Cornwallis is shown in the above picture.
(ii) He was the Governor-General of India.
(iii) Cornwallis was appointed the Governor-General of India in 1786.
His greatest achievement in India was the reorganisation of the land taxation, known as the Permanent Settlement of 1793. He granted legal ownership of their land to the zamindars. In return, they had to pay the government 90 per cent of the rent which they collected from the farmers. As per Permanent Settlement, rajas and taluqdars were recognised as zamindars. The zamindars were supposed to collect the land revenue from the peasants.

(i) The picture in Fig A is Kalamkari print. It was created by weavers of Andhra Pradesh in India. The picture in Fig B is a floral cotton print. It was designed and produced by William Morris, a famous poet and artist of 19th century Britain.
(ii) In both of these prints, the blue colour was produced by indigo. This indigo gave rich blue colour and was produced in India.
(iii) Kalamkari is a type of hand-painted or block-printed cotton textile, produced in parts of India. It is also produced in Iran. There are two distinctive styles of Kalamkari art in India.